“Your daily nutritional regimen, including your diet and any supplements you take, is incredibly important because it affects not only the training load of a given session, but also the phase that ... Continue Reading
Addicted to Yoga: Owl Meditation for Examining Darkness
Through the years yoga has undergone many transformations and evolutions. One such change I never would have anticipated is the use of yoga as a form of addiction. It has been confessed to my ears on ... Continue Reading
Oog Make Fire, Man Make Fitness Cults
I recently heard a really good quotation that went something like this, “If men are huddled together for warmth around a fire and the fire moves, do they stay where the fire was, on the cold ground, or do ... Continue Reading
The Psychological Requirements of Weightlifting
When someone from weightlifting is interviewed by the media, he or she often feels the necessity to balance the physical strength aspect of our sport with something that is more cerebral. This is a long ... Continue Reading
Why Does Your Pre-Workout Ritual Make a Difference?
Ever notice the odd rituals that many professional athletes across all sports have in preparation for competition? This preparation is huge in baseball, for example. Think Garciaparra and how ritualized ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Chris Duffin, Entry 34 – Some Progress and a Setback
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
Pregnant Athlete Journal, Week 16: My Chat with Bryan Kest
My belly is popping out now as I’m officially at four months. I wore a festive, clingy outfit on New Year’s Eve and it’s the first time people squealed, “Oh my God! Look at your baby bump!” before putting ... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Feed a Family With $100 or Less Per Week
In 2012, the USDA released a document entitled “Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels.”This document estimates how much individuals and families will spend if they follow the USDA ... Continue Reading
Dear Self: Let Go of Excuses and Move Forward
Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless ... Continue Reading
The Best Tactics for Teaching Your Child to Eat Well
Parents looking to promote a healthy diet for their children face a set of unique challenges. What steps can parents take to promote healthy eating from kids? This difficult question is the subject of a ... Continue Reading
5 Simple Tips for Postpartum Mental and Physical Health
Often in today’s standard American culture, a woman has a baby and not much thought is given in regards to the postpartum period or the aftermath. That is still the same woman you used to see in your ... Continue Reading
Sunday Seven: The Week’s 7 Most Popular Articles, Vol. 40
Every Sunday we post the "Sunday Seven" so you can quickly see the 7 most popular articles of the week. This week's most popular posts include the top 10 articles from 2012, how to overcome fear, the bench ... Continue Reading
Understanding Why I Don’t Like to Accept Help
As I was writing my recent story about the things I deprive myself and others of when I refuse to accept help, I also started thinking about the reasons that tend to guide my refusals. Why on Earth ... Continue Reading
Vertical Jump Performance: The Effects of Strength, Power, and Training Surface Stability
One of the conventional tests used to assess explosive power is the vertical jump. A superior vertical jump typically correlates well with leg strength, sprinting speed, and other leg-power activities. ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Charles Staley, Entry 26 – Ringing in the New Year
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
The New Mid-Life Crisis: Testing Our Limits Before We’re Too Old
Doing what you can already do, plus just a little bit more each and every time (consistently) is one of the safest and most powerful methods to continuously grow and progress toward your goals. Crisis ... Continue Reading
5 Ways You Can Help Prevent Childhood Obesity
It would be a gross understatement to say that childhood obesity has become a serious problem in America over the last several years. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ... Continue Reading
Dangers of Open Water Swimming: Hypothermia and Hyperthermia
Open water swimming presents a myriad of variables that pool swimmers usually don’t need to deal with. From living creatures, visibility, sun exposure, chaffing, feeding, currents, and waves, the list goes ... Continue Reading
Motivation: What Is It and How Do You Build It?
When SUNY Cortland linebacker John Stephens agreed to become a blood marrow donor, he was probably thinking about how his donation might help a little girl with leukemia. It probably never occurred to him ... Continue Reading
Mixed Method Training May Develop Power Best
Most sports are all about power. It doesn't matter if you're strong if you're slower than Christmas. It doesn't matter if you're fast if a stiff wind can knock you over. You have to be both strong and ... Continue Reading
I Got 99 Problems But a Bench Ain’t One
Coming up through the fitness-ranks over the last twelve years, starting as a teen-bodybuilder, then a competitive sprinter, and now a CrossFit addict, I’ve never been asked a singular fitness question ... Continue Reading
Breaking Muscle Top 10 Articles of 2012
This past year was a year of personal records here at Breaking Muscle, and we hope you hit some personal records in 2012 in your training, too. We brought more coaches online to write for us, featured some ... Continue Reading
Sally’s 8 Week BJJ Tournament Training Program: Mental Toughness
The term mental toughness brings to mind images of fighters withstanding seemingly intolerable punishment and persevering. We equate it to fighters like Frankie Edgar who has taken brutal beatings in the ... Continue Reading
New Year’s Resolutions For Weightlifters
Well, I did a fantasy Christmas gift list for weightlifters a couple of weeks ago, so now I better come out with a list of New Year’s Resolutions. This is intended for weightlifters in particular and other ... Continue Reading
