You might look like a beast grinding through heavy weight, but you're not doing yourself many favors in the hypertrophy department. Pushing top-end weight with sub-optimal form may help you increase ... Continue Reading
Build 360-Degree Strength: Rotational Exercises for All Sports
Building strong external obliques isn’t just for bodybuilders or fighters. Training rotational force helps athletes of all sports develop strength in an upright position. ... Continue Reading
The Time Is Now: Stand Up for Gender Equality in CrossFit
In Part One of this series, I discussed gender inequality in CrossFit and in women’s sports at large. It takes more for women to have an equal playing field with men - the “more” being a hypersexualized ... Continue Reading
Avoid Pain and Injury With Two Simple Triceps Stretches
Whether your goal is performance or aesthetics, triceps training is a major component of most fitness regimens. Prioritize your triceps stretching routine after any pressing or arm-based workout to ... Continue Reading
So You Want to Be a Lion?
I see a lot of programs online with tough-guy inspired themes. These plans promise to turn you into a lion, with names like tactical this or operator that. But as I said at the recent Strength Matters ... Continue Reading
Everybody Wants to Be a Lion…
I see a lot of programs online with tough-guy inspired themes. These plans promise to turn you into a lion, with names like tactical this or operator that. But as I said at the recent Strength Matters ... Continue Reading
Sit Better to Move Better
We can talk technique, sequencing, and programming, but the truth is, if you want to move better, you need to rest better. Exercise and rest are two sides of the same coin, but few trainers really address ... Continue Reading
A Baseball Player’s Guide to Off-season Success
For many young baseball players, the off-season is a time filled with little direction. It’s unfortunate that this lack of structure can be detrimental to the athlete’s progress from year to year, since ... Continue Reading
Be Better at Life: How to Find More Time to Train
Training can have a remarkable effect on all aspects of your life. Improving physical fitness will make you healthier and better able to cope with stress. You will look better and feel more confident. Your ... Continue Reading
3 of the Best: This Week’s Top Articles, Vol. 6
Welcome to our brand new weekend roundup, Three of the Best! Every Sunday, we'll post up Breaking Muscle's top three articles of the week. These pieces have caught your attention throughout the last seven ... Continue Reading
The Mental Side of Injury: How to Adapt and Overcome
Often when I’m talking with people, I mention the activities and training I engage in. When I ask if they train or play sports, their standard answer is, “Well, no. I used to, but I got injured. If you had ... Continue Reading
Kettlebells Work: But Can You Endure the Chain of Pain?
No title of a workout has ever lived up to its name like this one. I’ve come up with dozens of routines: Hells Bells, FML, and Helter Skelter to name a few. The former athletes of mine who are reading this ... Continue Reading
Will Online Programming Make or Break Your Training?
Online coaching and programming is a good method of getting expert tuition for a fraction of the price. With the right mindset, focus, and coach it can help you achieve brilliant results and take your ... Continue Reading
The Real Reason Your Hard Work Isn’t Paying Off
There is a woman who has been coming to my HIIT exercise classes for over three years. Self-admittedly, she hates it. She is in her fifties and, also by her own acknowledgement, could stand to lose some ... Continue Reading
Say Yes to Banded Pull Ups (But Not for Assistance)
A while back I wrote that banded pull ups were like drugs. Once you start, you have a hard time quitting. For beginners I still agree there are much better ways to learn how to do strict pull ups. But for ... Continue Reading
Regain Your Training Focus: Ask Yourself This
Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get some real perspective regarding health and training. Please post feedback or questions to Charles directly in the comments below ... Continue Reading
Gender Equality Is Broken: In CrossFit, Sex Sells
Sex sells. The axiom I put forth is that in CrossFit, with a few exceptions, a female athlete is more likely to get noticed, develop a following, and be able to craft a brand if she conforms to the “sex ... Continue Reading
Feats of Strength: How to Bend a Nail in Half
Bending nails is hugely satisfying. Sure, lifting weights is cool, but there’s something special about turning useful nails into a heap of useless metal at your feet. This destructive desire is also ... Continue Reading
6 Plank Variations to Test Your Core Strength
Planks are effective for all athletes, regardless of age, gender, or level of athletic ability. The plank’s power to improve core strength and balance and develop better upper and mid-body static strength ... Continue Reading
3 Strategies to Conquer the Pain Cave
The workout of the day is set. You look on the whiteboard and see suffering written all over it. If you’ve been around CrossFit long enough or have done any kind of serious strength and conditioning work, ... Continue Reading
The Power of 5-Minute Practice Snacks
One of the most common obstacles to training is a lack of time to practice, play, move, or whatever you want to call it. In various stages of my life, I’ve had the same problem, or at least the same ... Continue Reading
Does Processed Meat Cause Cancer?
Wow, what a week. The World Health Organization classified processed meats and, to a lesser degree, red meat as cancer causing.1 Vegetarians and vegans rejoiced. Facebook blew up with bacon ... Continue Reading
Are You Ready for Your Athletic Comeback?
Everyone loves a comeback story of someone who scaled the heights then hit the skids, but regained his or her past glory through superhuman effort. A sports comeback can be defined as “an athlete’s return ... Continue Reading
3 of the Best: This Week’s Top Articles, Vol. 5
Welcome to our brand new weekend roundup, Three of the Best! Every Sunday, we'll post up Breaking Muscle's top three articles of the week. These pieces have caught your attention throughout the last seven ... Continue Reading