Crash Course: Anderson Squats

March 9, 2012

Since I squat so often (usually no less than twice a week minimum) it becomes necessary to perform variations of the movement in order to prevent stagnation and keep my sanity. As much as I enjoy the lift, there are days when the absolute last thing I want is to have a heavy bar on […]

Read the full article →

Crash Course: Clean Grip Reverse Lunge

January 28, 2012

Today I’ve got a new twist on an old cornerstone exercise: the lunge. Lunges are among those basic movements that have a place in almost any program. There are a ton of variations on the humble lunge that you can try and you can regress and progress the basic lunge pattern to suit pretty much […]

Read the full article →

Bodyweight Training for Powerful Hamstrings

December 22, 2011

I genuinely believe that the hamstrings are the single most neglected muscle group for most people. The legs in general don’t get a lot of attention but even when they do the exercises tend to focus a little more on quad-dominant movements. The hamstrings, however, are tremendously powerful muscles and are crucial for athletic performance […]

Read the full article →

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Standing 1 Arm Cable Row

December 12, 2011

It’s well documented that I prefer simple, efficient and effective exercises. I’m not a big fan of overly complicated programming or flashy movements done just for the sake of entertainment or doing something different. If you did a program of nothing but deadlifts, squats, presses and pull-ups (and I have) you would still be doing […]

Read the full article →

Mistakes in the Gym: Exercise Selection

December 5, 2011

I realize that getting into the gym can be a daunting task for some. Not everyone is a strength coach or has the time (or interest) to learn all of the ins and outs of strength training. With that in mind, I often see people who head into the weight room with no direction or […]

Read the full article →

Fight The Fat This Holiday Season

November 19, 2011

Ah, yes it’s that time of year that many seem to have a love/hate relationship with. As a trainer I spent a lot of time in the gym and around this time of year I always seem to hear people saying things that sound a bit like this: “I want/need to lose weight, but I’m […]

Read the full article →

Learning the Barbell Row

November 2, 2011

There are a handful of exercises that should be in every trainee’s routine. The obvious choices are always out there: squats and deadlifts, usually the bench and/or overhead press and pullups. Interestingly, there are a lot of people out there who will omit rowing movements from the list. And that’s too bad. If you want […]

Read the full article →

Crash Course: The Kettlebell Swing

October 22, 2011

An often neglected area of the body when it comes to strength training is what has become known in recent years as the posterior chain. It’s a shame that more people don’t concentrate their training on these muscles, since they are some of the strongest in the body and weakness there can lead to a […]

Read the full article →

Books You Should Read: Starting Strength

October 14, 2011

I am a huge bookworm. I’m always reading at least one book, often multiple at the same time, and as a strength coach a large majority of the books I read are health and fitness related. I’ve read probably hundreds of training related books over the years from a variety of topics and levels. Recently […]

Read the full article →

4 Moves To Bigger Traps

October 11, 2011

Big traps are one of the signs of a serious lifter and also one of those muscles that just make somebody look jacked. That’s probably the reason that one of the most common exercises I see in the gym is the shrug. It’s common to see guys in the gym performing shrugs a number of […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →