EDITOR'S NOTE: Ever wonder how a world-class coach actually trains? Wonder what it's like to train as a "mature athlete?" Welcome to the athlete journal of Charles Staley. A big believer in practicing what ... Continue Reading
Yeehaw and Namaste: Cowgirl Yoga for Breast Cancer Survivors
Cowgirl Yoga speaks for itself. It’s “yeehaw” and “Namaste” all at once. I know exactly what you’re thinking. How can you do yoga on a horse? Well, that’s not exactly what we’re talking about here. I’ll ... Continue Reading
Metabolic Breathing Ladders: Training in a State of Controlled Panic
For the majority of us, breathing is one of those qualities that we loftily take for granted. We depend on inhaling thousands of breaths a day, but do so without conscious thought of when they actually ... Continue Reading
How to Maximize Strength and Size With Bodyweight Exercise
One of the biggest debates in strength and hypertrophy training has always been about whether or not you can get strong and swole from bodyweight training only. Perhaps the reason this question even comes ... Continue Reading
Flat Running Is Better Than Uphill Running
Running hills is a very common prescription by coaches for all variety of sports, including running sports. Running is a great enough exercise on its own, being one of the best cardiovascular and ... Continue Reading
The Muay Thai Roundhouse: Simple and Effective
With the popularization of mixed martial arts in the past decade, muay Thai has become quite popular within the American martial arts community. Ten years ago if you wished to learn muay Thai, you would be ... Continue Reading
May I Make an Observation? The Benefit of Letting Our Senses Do the Work
In my academic life, one of the courses I teach is on qualitative research methods. Qualitative methods are distinct from quantitative methods, which identify statistical relationships between two ... Continue Reading
How Gait and Posture Change With Age and Exercise
Any good trainer knows the importance of biomechanics, specifically in simple activities like standing or walking. Posture and gait are perhaps two of the most important aspects of biomechanics when it ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Pat McCarty, Entry 16 – 6/12/2013
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of CrossFit trainer and masters athlete Patrick McCarty. Patrick competed in the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games in the 45-49 age bracket and has his sights set on ... Continue Reading
Interview With 2013 World Jiu Jitsu Championships Bronze Medalist Josh Presley
For weeks at Titans Fitness Academy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, an empty protein tub sat on the ledge at the main entrance. A hole was cut into the lid and the sign taped to the tub said, “Send Presley to ... Continue Reading
Kinesio Tape: What Is It and What’s the Hype?
Many of you have probably seen some sort of taping applications on TV of different athletes and sporting events. If you are curious, this type of taping is called Kinesio tape application method. So what ... Continue Reading
The 3 Missing Pieces in Your Training Program Puzzle
I remember when I was a little kid I spent a lot of time putting together jigsaw puzzles with my family. On one particular occasion I remember we were right near the end of a five thousand piece puzzle and ... Continue Reading
The Real Way to Know a Power Lift From a Full Squat Lift
In recent weeks I have talked about various lift percentages that need to be kept in mind if you want to achieve balanced lifting (and you should). One figure I threw around for the power versions of the ... Continue Reading
Heart Rate Monitoring: An Effective Test for Overtraining
One thing I’ve always recommended my athletes do is check their resting heart rate every day. Your heart rate can sometimes tell you whether it’s a good day to train or not. Maybe you’re about to get sick, ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Chris Duffin, Entry 54 – Rough Week
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the Athlete Journal of world champion powerlifter Chris Duffin. Follow Chris as he trains and competes in various events over the coming year. Chris's journal will be posted every ... Continue Reading
Infographic: 10 Essential Yoga Postures for Strength Athletes
A lot of people associate yoga with really skinny, flexible people. But can it help you get stronger? Athlete and coach Brandon Hofer demonstrates ten essential poses for athletes that are easy to ... Continue Reading
There’s No Such Thing as Willpower: How to Identify Triggers of Bad Habits
Do you find yourself feeling envious of your friend who can skip the brownies or the pizza without flinching? Or does it amaze you that your buddy can hit the gym every day like clockwork no matter how ... Continue Reading
Judo and Life: From Beginners to Elites With AnnMaria De Mars and Kayla Harrison
Most high school football players will not be drafted into the NFL, and most judo students will not have the opportunity to join the U.S. national team. When I spoke to judo teacher Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, ... Continue Reading
The Domesticated Life of the Somewhat Feral Athlete
Recently I’ve been thinking about taking up a new hobby, and it caused me to reflect on my apparently rather violent proclivities. When I was younger I was heavily involved in music and dance, so I thought ... Continue Reading
Why a Non-Yoga, Non-Hippie Guy Thinks You Should Do Yoga
I’m not a yogi, but from time to time I play one on television. Seriously, I do take the occasional yoga class and despite not being a ‘yogi,’ I like yoga, sort of. I have dabbled in yoga over the years, ... Continue Reading
Take the Stand Up Challenge: 52 Ways to Get Up Off the Floor
Bodyweight exercises are great. But most people focus on limited applications in using them to get stronger and fitter. A largely untouched area is doing all manners of movement as a true exploration of ... Continue Reading
How to Sprint Your Way to a 6-Pack
Why Sprint Training Is the Best Abdominal Workout There are so many great abdominal workouts out there and in the gym that are based around resistance training, but very few of these will give you the ... Continue Reading
Endurance and Strength Together Are Effective: Adding Sprints Does Nothing
Many gym-goers are concerned with how much cardio they do because they believe it will hinder their strength or size development. In reality this seems to be false. Although doing a lot of cardio might ... Continue Reading
Sunday Seven: The Week’s 7 Most Popular Articles, Vol. 62
Every Sunday we post the "Sunday Seven" so you can quickly see the 7 most popular articles of the week. This week: yoga for athletes, the dangers of deli meat, the kettlebell swing, gender and BJJ, Dan ... Continue Reading
