strength

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...

Split squats, lunges, squats, leg presses, and deadlift variations get most of the love in your leg routine because they’re responsible for most of your leg gains. But a neglected exercise often gets overlooked in many lifters’ routines in the step up exercise. It looks so simple because all you...

Our bodies are three-dimensional (3-D) movement machines, yet some gymgoers don’t tap into the potential of our 3-D movement. But what is 3-D movement and what does this have to do with lateral exercises? Let gets nerdy for a hot minute. The human body has three planes of motion: the sagittal...

The almighty didn’t etch these ten unofficial commandments in stone and send them down through the clouds to me. So, naturally, they’ll always be open for debate. But having been in gyms for over 30 years and coaching clients in the beauty of strength training for the past 13 years, I’ve picked...

Considering the triceps muscle makes up two-thirds of your upper arm mass, it’s no secret that triceps-focused exercises like certain dip variations should dominate arm day. Triceps dips (or bodyweight dips) are a classic, tried-and-tested exercise known for not only adding strength and size to...

The Romanian deadlift exercise was named after the Romanian weightlifter Nicu Vlad, an Olympic medalist in the ’80s and ’90s. Vlad performed this deadlift variation after finishing his Olympic lifting, and some fellow lifters asked him what he was doing. He said he did them to make his entire...

The most popular movements to build absolute strength are the barbell squat, deadlift, bench, and overhead press. With these exercises, the barbell moves in a relatively straight line for you to build more size and strength. But these are not the only exercises you should be doing in fact there...

You never really understand how important incorporating grip strength exercises into your routine are until it gives out just as you’re trying to lock out a heavy rep. Grip strength is something you are born with and is part of your DNA. Way back in the 19th century, Louis Robinson, an English...

Glen Pendlay was so modest when he came up with the idea for this row, he called the strict barbell row. He saw a weakness in the traditional barbell bentover row and set about to improve it with the Pendlay row. The legendary American weightlifting coach who unfortunately is no longer with us...

The “bodybuilder look” has come to be identified as a very specific thing. Comments are often made about the physiques of boxers, wrestlers, sprinters, and all sorts of other athletes to the effect of “he looks like a bodybuilder.” What does this mean? There have been big and muscular men...

The biggest disadvantage with banded exercises is after a certain point, they stop getting you stronger. They only come so thick and stretch so far before the possibility of breaking. A breaking band might seem funny in a workout fail video, but when it’s coming at you — not so much. But when...

Let’s face it, your quads and glutes get a lot of love in the gym, but your hamstrings? Sadly, probably not so much. When you’re flexing in the mirror (and you know you are), how often do you admire your hamstrings? If you don’t notice then visually, there’s a good chance as well you don’t...