All strength athletes, at certain times, must consolidate their gains and they will do this instinctively by adding reps to their present limit. As a matter of fact, this is an “old-school” way of training and it is still prevalent. There is not a NEW way that is better by virtue of science or Russian […]
Rest Between Sets for Strength: How to Manipulate Rest Intervals to Get Stronger
Most people know two things about interset rest periods for strength training: you can rest shorter or you can rest longer. If you rest for shorter periods you are training for endurance or hypertrophy and if you rest longer ones you are training for strength. The above is a fairly simplistic way of viewing rest […]
Sticking Points in Strength Training Exercises vs Weak Links
Sticking points in strength training exercises (lifts) are often referred to as ‘weak links.’ We are told that in order to overcome the sticking point in a lift, we must fix our weak link. This is a misnomer and mixup: in other words, this false instruction derives from a mix of misnaming and confusion. In […]
Healthy Goals? Taking Risks is Part of Success in Strength and Fitness
Originally published on April 14, 2016, as Risk Aversion and Fear Avoidance in the Fitness Industry I was reading a long and engaging article the other day by a fitness trainer who was reacting to what she saw as hypocrisy in the fitness industry. I very much appreciated the article and I let her know […]
Is the Wrist Roller the Best Forearm Exercise?
I searched Google using the exact title of this article, and you know what I found? I found a lot of articles claiming the wrist roller was the number one best exercise for developing the forearms. I used to agree. I used to swear by the wrist roller. My views have changed somewhat. One curious […]
Linear Progression Programs in Strength Training
The term that fans of Starting Strength and certain 5×5 programs hang their hat on is linear progression. In this article, I am going to explain the meaning of this term and reveal whether such programs which rely on linear progression make sense. See also: 5×5 Texas Method eBook is a Waste of Your Time Starting […]