I spent the majority of my career at Westside Barbell. Everyone there was strong had been training for years. Recently, I joined a powerlifting gym in Maine where most lifters are pretty novice. As I walked in, I noticed everyone was wearing the latest squat suits and briefs. I also noticed 405 on the monolift. [...]
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Well since you have decided to be part of competitive strength sports you know this comes with the territory. There is a difference between minor and major injuries. I will make this simple major injuries require surgery. If something requires surgery then do that and get to rehabbing. Minor injuries need to be addressed trained [...]
CONTINUE READING
I believe that as “athletes” we have bought into the idea that we have to peak for everything. I believe we all have a base I call “365 Strength”. This is a set of numbers that no matter what you could accomplish any day of the year, hungry, tired, overtrained, etc. These numbers are what [...]
CONTINUE READING
Humans take over 20,000 breaths per day. Breathing improperly will cause you to reinforce poor posture, diminishing your mobility and performance, over 20,000 times per day. Ryan Brown of Darkside Strength & Conditioning/Derby City Crossfit shows you some simple assessments and exercises to correct your breathing patterns, improve you mobility and joint positioning and enhance [...]
CONTINUE READING
Now that I am taking in-person clients at my gym, I’m there all damn day. I see the good, the bad and the ugly…. with a concentration on the bad and the ugly. I work with a lot of power lifters and strength driven trainers, usually all have similar issues on each lift. Ill give [...]
CONTINUE READING
I guess that, a “NEW” approach to mobility may be the wrong way to phrase it. Really, it is all the same damn ideas that everyone has all the time. There is a ton of information out there, and tons of great coaches getting results with a wide array of techniques and theories. What I [...]
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Relax your way to better movement Hypertonicity refers to being in a state of excessive muscle tone, and it figures a great deal into the flexibility / stability / mobility equation. If a muscle is hypertonic it is going to be producing excessive tension beyond what is needed for the stability of its joint(s) or [...]
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When Chad contacted me to contribute an article for “Mobility Week” he gave me the topic of “Shoulder Mobility For The Overhead Athlete.” My first reaction was: “Awesome, I can crush this article!” I’m fortunate enough to be learning on a daily basis from 3 amazing guys, who for all intents and purposes are absolute [...]
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Being in a constant state of lumbar hyper-extension is a really common position for many strength and power athletes. Over time, this can cause numerous issues up and down the kinetic chain. Not only that, but it’s not an optimal position for your core to stabilize and transfer force. If you’re in lumbar hyperextension, you’re [...]
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The debate never ends. Some say you can overtrain, some say you can’t overtrain. Some even say you are undertrained. People cannot wait to jump on the latest internet celebrity bandwagon. These guys get people fired up about training things everyday all day and come up with slogans that are catchy to remind people of [...]
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210kg Snatch, 250kg Clean and Jerk, 920lb raw deadlift, 2,221 raw total, 3rd at 2010 World’s Strongest Man and 19’ 56# weight over bar, quite a list of accomplishments and they all belong to one man, Mikhail “Misha” Koklyaev. Misha is undoubtedly the most well-rounded strength athlete of all-time, the only one who can lay [...]
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As many of you know, I had shoulder surgery 2.5 months ago, to repair a torn labrum. If you have been following me, you may also know that i have not posted any material since this surgery. Since I have been recovering, I have experienced a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. I have been inspired, [...]
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By Nate Winkler There are few days in the year more important than ‘Game Day’ for athletes, if any. Every month away from season is spent preparing, training, dieting, and dreaming of what will happen next season, when all the hard work culminates in dominating performances. Making all that pain, practice and sacrifice worth it [...]
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It’s no secret to those who pay attention to the world of raw powerlifting that it is a sport dominated by lifters who are or who look like bodybuilders. And I’m referring to the “absolutely jacked” quality of these lifters, not the propensity for wearing shimmery thongs and fake tanning (had to take at least [...]
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Building the MMA athlete w/CrossFit? I have to say that of any of the athletes that I work with, training the MMA athlete is probably my favorite. I think that it requires a coach to consider a broad range of attributes that must be accounted for. I also think it is fun as hell to [...]
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Like most coaches, I have to find time to squeeze in my own workouts between teaching class, taking care of other things in the gym and everything else in my crazy schedule. You might be in a similar situation or be a solo athlete out there training in a garage gym or overseas which means [...]
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In part I, I put forth a general philosophy for the training of competitive CrossFitters. Movements are ranked by tier, dependent on three main criteria: their ability to carry over to other movements, the likelihood of their appearance in CrossFit contests, and the need to train those movements specifically in order to improve at them. [...]
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Lately I’ve been thinking about my coaching style and how I get athletes to realize that the developed program will produce desired results. As a collegiate strength and conditioning coach in Olympic Sports you can almost be guaranteed to have more than one sport. Currently I am working with men’s golf, softball, sprinters, jumpers, multi [...]
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Team Juggernaut is coming to Chicago!! On June 8-9th, at Crossfit Chicago, Team Juggernaut’s Brandon Lilly, Eric Lilliebridge and Chad Wesley Smith are invading the windy city to help you reach your strength and training goals! Eric Lilliebridge, at only 23 years old, has taken the powerlifting world by storm! With a 2204 raw total [...]
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So many people will probably skip right over this article because it is suggesting that something besides a “powerlifting routine” will make them a better powerlifter. Welcome to why you suck. Powerlifters have dug themselves into this one-size fits all “trench” of training methods, and they refuse to back off from their beliefs. How do [...]
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I spent the majority of my career at Westside Barbell. Everyone there was strong had been training for years. Recently, I joined a powerlifting gym in Maine where most lifters are pretty novice. As I walked in, I noticed everyone was wearing the latest squat suits and briefs. I also noticed 405 on the monolift. [...]
MORE INFO
Well since you have decided to be part of competitive strength sports you know this comes with the territory. There is a difference between minor and major injuries. I will make this simple major injuries require surgery. If something requires surgery then do that and get to rehabbing. Minor injuries need to be addressed trained [...]
MORE INFO
I believe that as “athletes” we have bought into the idea that we have to peak for everything. I believe we all have a base I call “365 Strength”. This is a set of numbers that no matter what you could accomplish any day of the year, hungry, tired, overtrained, etc. These numbers are what [...]
MORE INFO
Humans take over 20,000 breaths per day. Breathing improperly will cause you to reinforce poor posture, diminishing your mobility and performance, over 20,000 times per day. Ryan Brown of Darkside Strength & Conditioning/Derby City Crossfit shows you some simple assessments and exercises to correct your breathing patterns, improve you mobility and joint positioning and enhance [...]
MORE INFO
Now that I am taking in-person clients at my gym, I’m there all damn day. I see the good, the bad and the ugly…. with a concentration on the bad and the ugly. I work with a lot of power lifters and strength driven trainers, usually all have similar issues on each lift. Ill give [...]
MORE INFO