A favorite phrase of well-informed personal trainers, when asked how to isolate a certain muscle, is “you can’t isolate a muscle.” Technically, it is true. Muscles never truly work in isolation. For instance, even during an exercise like preacher curls, which seems like it completely isolates the biceps, there are other muscles at work. The … Read more
Originally published on October 25, 2015 Quite a while ago, probably around 2006 or 2007, when “Practical Training” by Rippetoe was all the buzz, many people were wondering how to actually go about using the “Texas Method” 5×5 as mentioned in the book. There was no actual written program, only a loose explanation. Someone asked … Read more
The subject of this article is the amount of deadlifts you can do, or, as some would have it, that you should be allowed to do during one workout. Specifically, it is often stated that you should only ever do 1×5 deadflits, that is, one set of five reps. Here, I’ll be discussing why only … Read more
Can I get a biceps tear from deadlifting? Understanding the mechanisms of a muscle strain will help us figure out whether the deadlift is a culprit in biceps pulls. Most often, muscle strains happen when a muscle is actively lengthening against load – the eccentric action. Alternatively, a strain can occur when the amount of … Read more
Originally published on October 4, 2010 Researched by Eric Troy and Joe Weir, Written by Eric Troy Examining the Hook Grip Versus the Alternated Grip for Deadlifts One of the most contentious debates in strength training concerns the hook grip deadlift and whether the hook grip is better than the alternated grip. While emotions tend … Read more
There are different types of grip strength. For instance, crushing grip strength is the kind of grip strength you train with grippers. However, the main type of grip of concern to strength trainees and lifters is supporting grip strength. As the deadlift requires strong and enduring supporting grip, many lifters are concerned about being able … Read more