You can’t build a strong, stable spine by moving in just one plane of motion. More importantly, you can’t build a resilient spine without providing a challenging stimulus for it to respond to. ... Continue Reading
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Stop Apologizing for Your Goals
It seems like it’s birthday season at work. You worked hard to limit the damage through the holidays, and the endless carry-ins and banquets and family gatherings. You even stayed on track through Super ... Continue Reading
Talent Doesn’t Lift Weights, You Do: Own Your Practice
When the Olympics came to London in 2012, not only did it provide the British public with an enthusiasm extravaganza rarely seen in a long and chronically reserved history, it brought one of the most ... Continue Reading
“Hot or Not” Is No Way to Pick a Coach
Let’s call it the Kardashian Effect: you can’t help but look. We’re in the age of “made-you-look” marketing, where the latest nude celeb post, vacation bikini pic, nip slip, and hottie bulking up for a ... Continue Reading
How Tough Is Your Mind?
At the pinnacle of every grueling workout live two types of athletes: those who choose grace, and those who choose chaos. Certain workouts reveal these qualities more than others, like a descending ... Continue Reading
3 of the Best: This Week’s Top Articles, Vol. 24
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 Athlete With the Best Brain Wins
Why do we even have a brain? Most people presume it's to "perceive the world or to think," but neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert says that assumption is completely wrong. The actual purpose of our brain is to ... Continue Reading
2 Overlooked Reasons Your Hamstrings Are Tight
Do you have tight hamstrings? Conventional wisdom says that to fix them, you just need to stretch. When that doesn’t work, just try to stretch some more. After all, if something is tight, you need to be ... Continue Reading
Bulky Is a Lie: Why Women Need to Lift Weights
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
Do You Need Extra Grip Work?
Anyone who has ever trained in judo or Brazilian jiu jitsu for any length of time will know this simple truth – if you can’t hang onto your opponent, you can’t control them. Grip is a large part of any ... Continue Reading
Mobilize Your Hips and Quads to Get More From Your Core
As a coach, not a day passes without someone saying to me, “I need a stronger core.” Nobody will argue that a strong core is bad for you. But I think what most of us mean to say is that the ... Continue Reading
Advice for the Newbie Weightlifter
Your awkward reverse-curl-clean and slow press-jerk are dead giveaways. The skin on the inside of your thumbs is still smooth, and you don't have any calluses. You're a newbie Olympic weightlifter, and you ... Continue Reading
How to Train for the Zombie Apocalypse
People love to talk about the apocalypse. Maybe it's a useful way to sort out the important issues, the non-starters and non sequiturs. Perhaps it helps them to think critically and objectively. Some even ... Continue Reading
A New Method to Step Up Your Spice Game
Our bodies appreciate variety in the kitchen as well as in the gym. If I don’t spice things up, my meals get stale and stop providing the best of what I need to fuel my body and workouts. Our ... Continue Reading
It’s Time to Reform America’s Bad Habit Factories
Habits, more than anything else, dictate our behaviors and daily actions. But society has come to view habits as external conditions that happen to us. William James, the father of psychology, once said, ... Continue Reading
Specificity: It’s All About Context
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
Hit Your Weakness With a Hammer
Let’s travel back to the first article I wrote for Breaking Muscle. In that article, I mentioned one implement that I want to examine more closely today. It’s something that anyone can afford. With ... Continue Reading
Transform Your Tap Water: Safe, Delicious Hydration for Athletes
I sweat the minute I begin to move, so my hydration needs to be on-point from the start to the end of my workout. Otherwise, my body becomes a cramping machine all day long. Unfortunately, staying hydrated ... Continue Reading
The Recipe for Effective Kettlebell Sport Programming
Programming for any sport can take you deep down the rabbit hole, and kettlebell sport is no exception. To ensure an athlete is in his or her best condition on the day of competition, you must account for ... Continue Reading
The Unwritten Rules of the CrossFit Open
Whatever you think of the CrossFit Open, there’s no denying it’s a huge undertaking for all involved, from Castro, to box owners, and all the way to you, the athlete. But whereas Castro seemingly ... Continue Reading
How to Handle the Hill: A Physics Lesson for Cyclists
Race organisers always include some cheeky climbs at this time of year. If you want to survive the hillier sportives, you need to learn how to produce power effectively on them. We’re going to start with a ... Continue Reading
5 Kettlebell Drills to Add Real Function to Your Fitness
In the thirteen years since I received my RKC certification as a kettlebell instructor, I have seen some interesting evolutions in kettlebell training. When I started the RKC program, probably at least 70 ... Continue Reading
It’s Not the Years, It’s the Miles: Training After 50
Most people have an age that they fear. Often, you hear women claim to be 39 for decades, as if somehow that year makes everything go south. Fifty sits there with its own Roman numeral, “L,” and also has ... Continue Reading
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Resisted Rock
Looking for a simple and powerful way to strengthen your core while stretching your central pillar? Your central pillar is your hip-to-shoulder zone. Look no further, the resisted rock will do it. A key to ... Continue Reading
