My last post here was directed toward older women, so today I’ll speaking to the olderguys. Since I’m one of those aged dudes myself, I consider myself to have a bit of credibility on this subject! 1) You might be better off at a lower bodyweight. Guys, don’t be overly influenced by marketing-driven ideals regarding how big you should be. Be […]
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What You can Learn From Your Doctor (And Gerard Butler!) About Fitness Marketing
I thought I’d write a quick post about the nature of marketing, and how it often works against the interests of those who are being marketed to A few years ago, a very successful marketing expert asked me “OK so when you’re in the waiting room of your doctor’s office, what’s the ONE thing you want to find out […]
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QUICK TIPS: Break Your PR’s, Then Get Back To Work!
I’ve written about this concept briefly a few different times, but thought I’d circle back for a deeper dive. The law of progressive overload demands that we regularly and incrementally increase the training demand if we expect to see continued progress. Most of us interpret this to mean adding weight the bar, and this is a great idea, particularly because […]
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Creative Applications Of Secondary Movements
There are two essential workout “modules” in every Primary Pattern Programming workout: Module 1: The 4 “Primary” movements, corresponding to the 4 primary movement patterns: Squat (Any lower-body, multi-joint, knee/quad-focused exercise) Push (Any upper-body, multi-joint, pec/delt/tricep-focused exercise) Hinge (Any lower-body, multi-joint, hip/posterior-chain-focused exercise) Pull (Any upper-body, multi-joint, lat/rhomboid/bicep-focused exercise) Ideally, these 4 exercises are performed as a 4-exercise circuit, using loading parameters that […]
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Workouts That Really Work: Why You Should Be Using Primary Pattern Programming
No matter how well designed your long-term training plan is, if your actual workouts suck, your plan simply won’t deliver the goods. And sadly, many people’s workouts do in fact suck (relative to their goals), so recently I set out to identify the differences between how I train people (and myself for that matter), compared […]
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How Lifting Is A Bit Like Religion
I’m hardly the first person to draw parallels between lifting and religion — bodybuilding icon Tom Platz used to refer to the squat rack as “the altar” and lifters have long referred to the gym as “church.” Other lifters think of lifting as therapy and the gym as “the laboratory.” In this article, I’ll explore these interesting observations and anecdotes, but first, it strikes me as […]
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Fitness And Nutrition Questions Rarely Have Definitive Answers
“Should I put my belt on for this next set?” “Why does my knee hurt when I lunge?” “Should I add weight next set?” “I wonder if I should switch to an upper-lower split?” These are just a few real-life questions that I’ve fielded from clients recently. If you’re a trainer or coach, you get these same […]
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What You Can Learn About Cleans From Box Jumps
“I think the Olympic lifts develop power in much the same way that playing basketball develops height” — Charles Staley In this post I’d like to entertain a discussion around the “best” exercises to use for power and strength development, and it will also serve to help you appreciate the distinction between demonstrating an athletic attribute versus developing that same attribute. […]
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My Training Goals For 2018
Ah yes, the new year is nearly upon us, and most of us are thinking about the progress we have (or haven’t) made in 2017), and how we might be even better in 2018. While I tend to roll my eyes hard at the thought of New Year’s resolutions, if I’m being honest, I do find that just like everyone else, […]
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My 3-Step Strategy For Easy, Effective, and Permanent Fat Loss
My Strategy For Easy, Effective, and Permanent Fat Loss Perhaps the most common goal of fitness enthusiasts everywhere is fat loss. And for good reason: Our modern civilization makes it very, very easy to be fatter than we’d prefer — our increasingly automated World makes physical activity almost superfluous, and to add insult to injury, food is tastier, […]
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