Originally published February 25, 2015 Most of us know what to do with muscle rubs. We rub them on when something is sore, whether it be a sore knee or a sore muscle. This usually happens after we work out. A common question, however, is whether sports rubs or muscle rubs can be used before we weight train […]
Strength Training
Why Looking for Your Weakness In Strength Training Will Make you Miserable
Should You Work on Your Weaknesses Until they Are Strengths? Maybe Not in Strength Training For years now I have been saying something that flies in the face of conventional strength training and even fitness advice. Many say that in order to get stronger, you must identify your weaknesses and fix them. I say the […]
Why Do Some Lifters GRIND on Maximum Lifts When Others Don’t?
Grinders Versus Non-grinders In Strength Training You ever heard the expression, in lifting circles, “It was a real grinder?” This usually refers to a deadlift and it is when someone tries a very heavy lift, presumably a 1RM or thereabouts, and he really struggles with the load and completes the lift very slowly with a […]
The Role of Inertia in Strength Training
Inertia is the property of an object that causes it to resist changes to its state of motion by an application of force. A stationary object will tend to resist being moved, and a moving object will resist change in its speed or direction of movement. Comparing two objects of different masses, the object with the most mass […]
The Force Velocity Relationship in Strength Training
Before you begin reading about the force-velocity relationship and its role in strength training, you may want to read about force production in strength training as an understanding of force will help you understand what follows. Force-velocity Relationship: A property of skeletal muscle contraction in which the force capability of a given muscle contraction is […]
What is Force Production in Strength Training?
Training for maximal strength is essentially training to exert maximum muscular force. So what is force? The easiest way to think of a force is as a simple push or pull. When you push or pull on a barbell or other implement you are exerting a force. The pull of the Earth’s gravity on an […]