Recently, someone asked me to do a piece on confidence. I asked, "What about it?" She responded, "How do we build it?" A tall task, particularly for one who hasn’t quite solved that problem for himself. It ... Continue Reading
Working Towards Powerful Mobile Glutes
The gluteal muscles. Peaches. The thick musculature that generates the forces needed to run, jump, and propel you forward. It’s an area that receives a lot of attention and people have a lot of opinions on ... Continue Reading
Back to the Grind: Your Guide to Crushing the Transition to a New Season
Dear High School and College Athletes, Let’s be honest. Your summer habits are not that healthy. I know you attended summer workouts, but what did the other 160 hours of your week look ... Continue Reading
HIIT versus HIRT
Your feelings don’t matter! That is, your subjective feeling of the effectiveness of a workout is not important as what science tells us is important to building an impressive base of endurance and ... Continue Reading
Using 4 Billion Years of Nature’s Research to Fight Obesity
Chemical intervention is about unsavory as it sounds, although it is often the only choice science and pharmacologists provide for some ailments. Professor Philip Demokritou, Director of Harvard's Center ... Continue Reading
Low Testosterone? You Could Be Overtraining
The principle of no pain, no gain has become a saying for many athletes, bodybuilders, and gym enthusiasts. Ignoring the possibility of being over-trained, many of them go on to train two times a day, ... Continue Reading
Tackle the Kettlebell Bent Press: Part 1
If you know much about old-school strongmen like Arthur Saxon, Eugen Sandow, and Sig Klein, chances are high that you’ve heard of the bent press. Typically performed with a barbell, strongmen would use the ... Continue Reading
Tackle the Kettlebell Bent Press: Part 2
If you know much about old-time performing strongmen, then chances are high that you’ve heard of the bent press before. Names like Arthur Saxon, Eugen Sandow, and Sig Klein probably ring a ... Continue Reading
Happier People Exercise, Never to Excess
The largest observational study of its kind, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal1, found that people who exercise report having 1.5 fewer days of poor mental health compared to people who do not ... Continue Reading
Overcoming Temptation
If adherence is the principal player in the triumph of our goals; temptation is its villain. If fitness programs proceeded unimpeded, “results” would be the norm. New Year’s Resolutions would become ... Continue Reading
Magnetomechanical Neuromodulation Takes Pain Management to Warp Factor One
Bioengineers at the University of California and Los Angeles (UCLA) have shown some interesting results in the lab to show how chronic pain could be managed through the use of physical forces. Using ... Continue Reading
3 Common Health Complaints & 3 Remedies You Already Have
I am a huge fan of folk remedies. Passing down family cures from one generation to another was how the vast majority of medical knowledge was transferred before the days of hospitals, cars and the ... Continue Reading
Ideal Body Weight: Is There Such a Thing?
One of the most common questions I am asked when I sit down with a client to establish a plan is, “What should I weigh?” That is understandable amidst the sea of opinions and cultural pressures. ... Continue Reading
4 Signs You Are Taking Too Many Probiotics
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You Cannot Crunch Your Way to Abs: Science Says So
When I give my Strength Training 101 presentation to new recruits at the St. Louis Police Academy, one of the questions I hit them with is this: All other factors being equal, which of these three ... Continue Reading
Embrace Pistol Squats in Your Training
Pistols have a wide array of athletic and real-world applications. The fundamental skill that pistols teach is how to exert power through the entire range of motion of your stance, all while on one leg. ... Continue Reading
The Benefits of Eating with Your Non-Dominant Hand
Like you and everyone you’ve ever met, I love to eat. It doesn't seem to matter if I’m preparing the food or going out to dinner, when that full, pristine plate looks up at me I experience a euphoric sense ... Continue Reading
10 No Equipment Needed Exercises for Strong Legs
Your legs are the foundation of your body. They connect you to the ground and are from where you generate your power. When you travel or go on vacation, it is more likely for you to find a universal ... Continue Reading
Mistakes Teach Us as They Reveal Our Humanity
I have made countless mistakes, all of them, by my own hubris; stretching from romantic blunders to financial faults. I’ve accepted when I should have declined and rejected when I should have approved. My ... Continue Reading
Fitness Improv – An Educator’s Approach to Movement
Jennifer Pilotti has a 2,100 square foot space in Carmel, California, that she shares with a couple of other trainers and where she sees private clients only. If you have never been to Carmel, the city ... Continue Reading
Lifters: Take Pride in the Shared Discipline of Iron
Having been a weightlifting technical official for nearly a half century I have often found it useful to investigate the technical niceties of other sports. There is always something that can be learned by ... Continue Reading
Don’t Laugh, Hate, or Yawn Watching the CrossFit Games
Image courtesy of CrossFit Inc Image courtesy of CrossFit Inc Full disclosure: I really believe, deep in my heart, that CrossFit changed the gym business for the better over the last decade. I ... Continue Reading
Muscle Confusion is Stupid – Strategic Variation is Smart
A successful training program should be built around a core group of key exercises which you rotate through several phases of training. Your exercise variation shouldn’t be random, haphazard, based on the ... Continue Reading
Don’t Be a Wimp; Train Your Willpower
Monday through Sunday, I’m up by 5, immediately jumping into a movement circuit and then whatever creative work I’ve prioritized for the day. To an outsider, it would appear I have discipline down. With ... Continue Reading
