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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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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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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More Muscle: Why You Need It, How To Get It
Anyone Out There Want More Muscle? Everyone? OK, thought so! Sure, there are exceptions, but for the most part, muscle is the catalyst for 3 fitness attributes that are highly valued by most people: improved appearance, better functioning, and optimized health. Given these compelling benefits, it seems worthwhile to know how to train in a way that […]
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How To Identify And Shore Up Weaknesses In Your Fitness Preparation
I view training as a system, where you attempt to exploit a variety of inputs for the purposes of creating a specific output. For most people, the “output” is typically some combination of stronger, leaner, and/or more muscular. Think of this system as analogous to a factory conveyor belt, where the various components are assembled into the final product. On an actual assembly line, your […]
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Prioritize “High Threat” Exercises
Most of us train because we want to make significant changes to our bodies. That might mean more strength, but it definitely means more muscle and less fat. This requires at least a cursory understanding of the nature of adaptation, which I’ll try to encapsulate in a way that you may have never seen before: Adaptation means that your […]
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Your Questions, My Answers
Q: Hi Charles. I’m a 44-year old guy who’s just gotten back into lifting after about 15 years of being pretty sedentary. What I’m wondering is, what is my potential for putting on some decent muscle at this stage of the game for me? A: Your current ability to gain new muscle hinges on a […]
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