Should Athletes be Worried About Potentially Banned Substances in Vitamin Supplements? A lot of athletes are becoming frightened that they are going to end up coming up positive in a drug test because they’ve taken a vitamin supplement or some other perfectly ethical dietary supplement that has been adulterated or contaminated with a steroid drug […]
Why Strength Training Experience Matters for Trainers and Coaches
One of the most silly ongoing debates (or pseudo-debates) concerns how much experience matters, as opposed to knowledge, for personal trainers, strength coaches, etc. If we want to train others for strength, or, if we want to hire them to help us train for strength, should we be more concerned with their theoretical knowledge or […]
Do Not Have a Huge List of Absolutely Essential Exercises
One big problem that trainees have in designing strength training templates is the Exercise List. These tend to be lists of 35 to 40 exercises that the trainee is attached to for some reason and if he or she is not working hard on all of them then the program is just not right. But […]
The Eight Most Essential Exercises You Need to To Do (Or Not!)
The truth is, I would never pen an article about anything essential or that you “need to know.” Most things in articles about things you need to know are things you do not need to know and no exercise is essential. It’s funny, I just saw an article pop up from Redbook with a similar […]
Strength Training Specificity and Transfer Of Training Effect
Specificity has become one of those buzz-words that, as I’m always complaining about, people give ‘lip service’ to without any real understanding of the concept. I think the first problem is that trainers do not understand it IS a concept. The “law” of specificity is no more a law than the cream cheese bagel law. Actually, […]
Specificity Principle (Specificity of Exercise Training or SAID)
Specificity has to do with the specific responses that occur as a result of training. In order for long-term physiological changes or adaptations to occur, a repeated, or chronic, stimuli must be applied to the body, along with progressive overload. This means for new levels of fitness to be achieved, an exercise (the stimulus) must be repeated […]