Which type of athlete are you? The one who never stops training? The athlete who tries to out grind the competition? Or are you the one constantly looking for a way to hack the ... Continue Reading
Why You Should Audit Your Training
If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated that your efforts haven’t delivered the results you wanted, and you are spinning your wheels, then the answer is a simple, yes. You should audit your training. ... Continue Reading
The Benefits of the Smith Machine Floor Press
The floor press is an excellent exercise. It is a particular favorite of mine for guys with long arms. I often use it instead of the bench press for these guys. Here are five benefits of the floor ... Continue Reading
The Benefits of Side Lying Dumbbell Reverse Flyes
If I surveyed 100 meatheads and asked them, “what is the best exercise for the rear delts?” 99 of them would answer “reverse flyes.” The seated reverse flye is the most common exercise used to ... Continue Reading
Training Is Data Driven, But Not How You Think
A real training program has to have a few attributes that make it a training program and not an exercise program. The difference is not subtle. Training should be progressive. Training should be ... Continue Reading
An Exercise In Stress Management
Training comes down to stress management: it’s my job to determine how much and what kind of stress to apply, and it’s your job to get yourself ready to handle as much stress as possible. ... Continue Reading
Muscle Meditation
Photography by J Perez Imagery> of Oahu, Hawaii Photography by J Perez Imagery> of Oahu, Hawaii The beauty that is the human neuromuscular system is so complex in both structure and ... Continue Reading
Exceed Your Limits with Functional Overreaching
Overtraining for long periods of time is bad. Short-term, planned overtraining, however, can be a massively powerful tool. Functional overreaching is essentially short-term overtraining where you have a ... Continue Reading
Everything Is Connected
"Enlightenment, for a wave in the ocean, is the moment the wave realizes it is water." Thich Nhat Hanh A wave is not separate from the ocean. It's just water moving in different ways. If ... Continue Reading
HIIT: What’s the HI in IT?
In the fitness community there are always things that come and go. The key to success is learning the difference between those things that are trends or fads. Trends are usually longer lasting and usually ... Continue Reading
Raise Your Ceiling
“Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” Barry Switzer “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” Barry ... Continue Reading
The Role of Fear
There are lots of things that scare me. My close friends would recognize this and probably have a good laugh at my expense. I'm scared of heights, I'm scared of the ocean, and I'm scared to feel out of ... Continue Reading
Use Kettlebell Training to Gain Muscle and Strength
I’m not here to tell you that lifting a barbell is stupid or that everyone should be training to get stronger with super heavy lifting. I will tell you that there has been a huge trend in the fitness ... Continue Reading
The Pyramid of Athletic Development
To begin your pyramid, think of the different tools you can use to help improve your performance as situated in a pyramid shape. At the peak of the pyramid is the sport specific skill you are trying to ... Continue Reading
Recovery Is About Creating Balance
Recovery is about creating balance—with training and in life. Stress greatly effects your overall ability to recover and while exercise is beneficial to your wellness, too much of a good thing can be ... Continue Reading
Strength Is a Relative Term
Overcoming resistance is as much as a mental feat as it is a physical one. During training our goal is to get our body, a weight, or sometimes both, from point A to point B. Your gym partner may be able to ... Continue Reading
Adduct, Extend, and Rotate for Better Pecs
My gym partner “J” (whom I often reference) has tight pectorals. Changing his approach to chest training alleviated his tightness and even improved his strength. The pectorals, also known as the chest, are ... Continue Reading
Learn How to Fail
“I can’t believe I missed that rep,” said J. “You know, I worked so hard for the past year and a half and have been progressively getting better. I’ve been eating right, lifting on a linear ... Continue Reading
Re-Thinking Orthodox Set and Rep Structures to Optimise Hypertrophy
Sets and reps are as old as training itself. The repetition is the foundation of every training methodology out there. Without reps, there is no training. However, the rigid structure of sets and reps we ... Continue Reading
5 Reasons Why You Aren’t Seeing Results in the Gym
It's frustrating. You think you have a plan, you think your training program is workable, you have your meals prepped, and yet you don't see results. You see training partners or friends reaching goals and ... Continue Reading
Learn to Expect What, Not When
It’s 1-rep max testing day, the day of the big race, or any other day when the time comes to test and measure your progress. But yet, you don’t hit that coveted PR, beat your best time, or cross a ... Continue Reading
Do Drop Sets Build Muscle?
Drop sets are one of the oldest training techniques known to man. They are something of a training rite of passage. If you haven’t experienced the horror of your gym crush walking past, just as you finish ... Continue Reading
Falling Out of Love With the Process
As an editor, I have developed an allergy to clichés. This presents a problem for many of our writers, as I have become likely to nuke from orbit any sentence that references “the journey” of fitness, or ... Continue Reading
The Hybrid Protocol: Jump Rope to Build Strength
When it comes to various training modalities, there is often a clear categorization between powerlifter, bodybuilder, or CrossFitter. It is understandable how a trainee can get roped into singular training ... Continue Reading
