strength

There are some exercises, no matter how many times you do them, never get easier. One prime example is the single leg deadlift. The reduced stability and tension on one leg make this challenging for all lifters. It is easier to be strong on two legs but harder to be stronger on one leg. The...

The barbell bench and overhead press are the gold standards for pressing strength and adding size, but when it comes to unilateral training, a necessary but sometimes undertilized training method, the barbell may not be the most ideal option and that’s where the unilateral dumbbell floor press...

The strict barbell overhead press is the gold standard for pressing. The bench press is excellent and gets a lot of attention, but you are stronger in the horizontal plane and have the bench’s stability helping. With the overhead press, it’s two hands on the barbell and two feet on the ground...

Landmine training was invented long before the barbell attachment was created—unofficially—when the first gym bro stuck a barbell in corner and created a T- Bar rows variation long ago. For lifters who have shoulder mobility issues, landmine training is an excellent method to lift overhead...

If you’ve been around the gym trenches, you have heard the term if you cannot grip it, you can’t rip it, and forearms play a big part in it. Forearm strength and endurance are critical in all grip-intensive exercises like deadlifts, chin-ups, and all row variations. The grip often fails before...

Nowadays you don’t have to visit a CrossFit gym to see battle rope exercises in use. What used to be reserved for specific fitness niches and professional athletes is now utilized in home gyms, outdoor workouts, and boot camps. The simplicity of battle rope exercises are what makes them a...

Most of us who’ve tried the regular hard-style single kettlebell swing is a great, low-impact, high-intensity exercise that improves grip strength and power and helps make your glutes pop. But to double the fun and the difficulty level of the movement, the double kettlebell swing provide a...

The foam roller is still a fantastic tool to help release tension and soreness from muscles you never knew were tight or sore. It is a must pre and post-workout recovery tool. It comes in all shapes and sizes to improve mobility and movement and reduce muscle soreness, particularly if you are an...

Have you heard the term out of sight, out of mind? This can be applied in many gym settings where some beginner and intermediate lifters train the mirror muscles—you know, abs, pecs and biceps—and forget those all-important posterior muscles. That’s where the inverted row comes in. One muscle...

Body levers can play a pretty heavy role into what we naturally excel at. People with long arms, for instance, will likely be especially good at throwing, rowing, martial arts, and racquet sports. Taller folks will generally have a size advantage in basketball and volleyball. Large, heavy people...

Traditional cardiovascular conditioning has its place in all strength and conditioning programs. Whether it be steady-state training or high-intensity interval training on the treadmill, bike, road running, or elliptical, it has excellent heart health and performance benefits. However, some...

The bench press. It’s one of the original rite of passage exercises that many lifters spend countless—oftentimes too many—hours toward perfecting. When you’re a beginner, you most likely performed two main exercises—biceps curl and bench press. Then, the love affair begins. The bench press is...

Your body doesn’t know what type of exercise you’re doing you’re performing a dumbbell exercises , a resistance band exercises, or even a dumbbell resistance band exercises. All it knows is that it feels resistance, and it has to overcome it. To add muscle and strength, progressive overload is...

There are specific exercises where you will have muscular tension from the get-go, like deadlifting from the floor, squatting out of the hole, and the hollow hold exercise. The hollow what? The hollow hold. If you have difficulty feeling the tension in the abs, the hollow hold is for you...

Dan Schaefer, Phd, a former Florida State University strength and speed coach, was hired by Gatorade to oversee the training program overhaul for the brand’s new Gx app. The concept was simple, in theory: create pro-athlete-inspired workouts — i.e., how Serena Williams, DK Metcalf, or Jayson...

There’s no question that the basics of strength training work despite what you may see from time to time on the Internet. The barbell is the ultimate tool for strength and muscle and will continue to work for all who take it seriously. Incorporating the Big 3exercises—the barbell squat, bench...

The core—abs, six-pack or midsection, or whatever you call it—is your body’s center of power. Some downplay its relevance, some hype its importance, and others neglect to isolate and strengthen the core. No matter where you stand, paying attention to your core is essential and the ab wheel...

Strength athletes from North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe will compete for World Championship Belts in two weight categories for women; and four weight categories for men. The competition will be conducted in double elimination tournament format, with fast paced combative and...

The best measure of absolute pressing strength is not the bench press (please don’t tell the powerlifters) but the overhead press. Although the bench press is pretty standard among lifters, the same cannot be said for the overhead press or the many overhead press accessory exercises. Why? You...

Unlike unilateral row exercises bilateral vertical and horizontal pulling exercises like chin-ups bent over barbell rows, and seated rows often get all the love and attention. Because this is where the gains are due to the fact you’ll lift more weight. It’s a shame that unilateral row exercises...