NEW! Goal Orientation - Part 1

Someone recently asked me if I’d ever like to be able to bench press 500 pounds. I replied that, no, not really, because obviously, if I had really wanted a 500 pound bench, I would have taken the steps necessary to get it, which I obviously haven’t. Now of course, it might be the case that even if I applied maximum effort and resources to the goal of bench pressing 500 pounds, it might not be in the cards for me anyway...

Re-examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part I

Ever since the "jogging craze" of the '70's, aerobic exercise has been the method of choice for those attempting to "lose weight." Gradually, the resistance training area of most gyms and clubs is being scaled back to accommodate all manner of equipment designed to elevate the heart rate. With the aerobic revolution in full gear, I feel compelled to ask, "Why are people getting fatter and fatter?"

Customizing Your Workouts for Maximum Results

Question: If you train and eat exactly like Dorian Yates, can you expect to develop an identical physique? The question is rhetorical, obviously. And while genetics is usually blamed for lack of progress, it's not that simple. Your genes are just one aspect of what makes you different from everyone else. But more on that later...

Tri-Quality Training: Three Ways To Move Big Weights

If I were to isolate three motor qualities that nearly everyone could use more of, they'd be...

10 Thoughts On Loading Parameters

Whenever you perform a workout, you're exposing your body to a challenge- a form of stress. In order to describe and quantify the character and extent of that stress, we use the phrase "loading parameters." With that in mind, I'll share a few thought about loading parameters…

Mixed Qualities Training for Anaerobic Events

The majority of competitive athletes compete in events where a variety of motor qualities must be developed to a great degree. Sports such as judo, bobsled, football, decathlon, boxing, highland games, and nordic skiing (to name only a few) require liberal amounts of absolute strength, power, anaerobic strength endurance, and often, muscular hypertrophy as well. The problem from a programming point of view is, how does one construct a training plan which will facilitate such multi-sided development as efficiently as possible?

Creative Applications of Circuit Training: Fatigue Management Strategies for Bodybuilders, Part II

I’ve put together several sample circuits for different objectives such as maximal strength development, lean mass gain, and explosive strength development. Please use these examples as templates from which you can create your own solutions, rather than viewing them as the "Holy Grail" of CT. In other words, when I point the way, you shouldn’t be looking at my finger!

Creative Applications of Circuit Training: Fatigue Management Strategies for Bodybuilders, Part I

When I teach acute training parameters in seminars across the USA, a very common question regards which exercise to do first, second, third, etc., in any given workout. Traditional wisdom says to do whatever exercise is most important first, since fatigue accumulates over the course of the workout. While I agree, there is a much more refined way to address the problem of accumulating fatigue, and it’s called circuit training...

Get Out of the Rut! Ten Powerful Ideas to Road to Get Back On the Progress

The Classic Things You Will Do In The Gym To "Shoot Yourself In The Foot"

We all like to take a certain amount of pride in doings things right. However, let me assure you, even the smartest, most dedicated trainees make lots of mistakes on an ongoing basis. That’s why even the best athletes have coaches. In fact, the better you are, the more important it is to have a skillful coach - someone who’s been down the road you’re traveling and who can point out the various obstacles along the way. Allow me to be your coach for a moment…

The Top 10 Things You Must Do To Have A Great Workout - EVERY Workout

The basic idea of a good warm-up is to walk that fine line between preparing yourself adequately for the intense work to come, without fatiguing yourself in the process. From my observations, however, few people seem to manage this, either performing far too little work, or doing so much that their warm-up becomes a workout in itself. I conceptualize the perfect warm-up as a 5- stage event, as follows...

Every Rep Counts

During a golf clinic I recently attended, the instructor told us: "If there's one thing I'd like you to come away with today it's that 'every ball counts.'" That's very sound advice for any golfer looking to lower his score, and it also made me think of parallels to lifting...

Re-evaluating the Practice of "Training to Failure"

The notion of "training to failure" is perhaps one of the most revered practices in the modern bodybuilder's "toolbox." But interestingly, this training method seems unique to bodybuilding...

Maximize Your Efficiency: Three "Tweaks" That Will Revolutionize Your Workout

Here I present three methods which, when used consistently, will help you spend less time in the gym while getting better results at the same time. Only applied knowledge is power, so don’t just read, but apply!...

The Path of Least Resistance

You're on a plateau. What else is new? If you want to look on the bright side, consider that stalling out is a sign that you're an advanced lifter. Only beginners make continuous progress.

If you don't want to look on the bright side (meaning, you're determined to get out of the rut and on to new PR's), keep reading, because I have an eminently logical, simple, and foolproof method of getting back on track...

5 Practical Suggestions For Effective Programming

Here are 5 quick and easy suggestions to help make your training programs MUCH more effective. I'll apologize in advance if I shatter some of the common misconceptions in training with this one!

Towards a Better Way To Train Beginners

For reasons that still elude me after several years of considering this issue, most personal trainers still insist on treating their novice/out of shape/deconditioned clients in the most disinterested, condescending, and punitive manner possible...

Cheating To Win: Why You Should Take The Path Of Least Resistance

Cheating is perhaps the most maligned and least appreciated tactic in the weight room. It's so important, in fact, that I consider cheating to be the calling card of skilled lifters

Pain And Performance; Production And Profit

You can perform more work if you manage pain/fatigue by breaking the workload into several manageable chunks, rather than trying to accomplish it all in one all-out sprint. This is why I argue for many sets of low reps, as opposed to the reverse. It's also why I advocate accelerative performances with moderate weights as opposed to grinding efforts with close to maximal weights (for whatever reps are being used). These tactics favor performance over pain, which results in a higher work output with less pain and discomfort...