Stronger By Science publishes articles on topics like lifting technique (squat, bench, and deadlift), body composition and hypertrophy, programming, nutrition, prehab and rehab, and cardio.
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Really simple tip: Drink more, especially around your workouts. The difference for me is always night and day when I make an effort to drink more. I’ve blogged about this before, but I fell off the gallon-a-day wagon when I started reading about the dangers of BPA and was subsequently unable to find a BPA-free gallon jug. I’ve started again in the past couple days and my overall mood and exercise endurance have improved dramatically. …
Continuing the theme of goal setting, tonight I want to talk about obsession vs. focus. Just to recap, first you want to set a goal (that’s objective and time-constrained). Next you want to have a plan to get there. For both of the first two steps, you need to be accountable to someone, whether it be a coach, training partners, co-workers, your social media circle, etc. After that, you need to focus on executing the …
Now that you’ve (hopefully) set a goal and made it public, the next step is to make a plan. A goal without a plan is a dream. Dreams are for when you’re asleep or for five year olds. Goals are for people with real aspirations. Many people will say that without a plan you’ll never reach your goals. I don’t fully agree. Goals are inherently magnetic. They’ll pull you in their general direction. As long …
Actually, it was the journey of 760 miles. Back to school. Combine 13 hours of being totally sedentary with the worst DOMS I’ve had since the newbie DOMS went away 2 years ago, and I was quite uncomfortable by the time I arrived. However, 100 bodyweight squats later and my hips feel much looser. DOMS still sucks. At least it raises basal metabolic rate (fun fact of the day). If you care about reaching your …
Since several people expressed interest today, here’s the bench program I used for the past few weeks to hit my 20 pound PR: Week 1 Day 1 – 75% 4×3 (four sets of 3 reps) Day 2 – 80% 3×2 Day 3 – 70% 4×4 Day 4 – 85% 3×1 Day 5 – 65% 5×5 Week 2 Add one set to each day Week 3 Add one rep to each set (using either week one’s …
Regarding training beginners, I think that almost every program out there overcomplicates things. That includes SS or SL. Something I did with Lyndsey and Rachel this summer that worked fantastically was simply to work up to a “rep max” once per week with each lift (in reality until form broke town or until it looked like an 8-9 RPE), and go up 5-10 pounds per lift per week (if you know a max, 65-70% is …
Today was a day away from the gym. Doesn’t happen often, but I’ll definitely take time off when I need it. The bulk of this cycle is behind me, so my top training priority is just to rest up for a new rep max with 545 this week. If I get more than 3 I know I’m stronger, and if I get 5-6 I’d feel pretty good about hitting 700 low bar after a deload. …
Orthodoxy: One thing I truly despise is orthodoxy. When free thought is not expected, or it is even scorned, you have a major problem. The reason why this is on my mind stems from some conversations I’ve had recently. I’ve been reading a lot of research on nutrition because of how unorthodox my diet is. The thing is, this is the only diet I feel healthy on. Since I’ve been low carbing, I’ve noticed ONLY …
One of the most amusing myths in the fitness industry is that you can’t simultaneously lose weight and get stronger. The reasoning behind this notion is based on the fact that it’s difficult to see significant muscle hypertrophy while you lose weight. I’m not going to contest this point (except for beginners or seriously detrained/overweight people). However, there’s a lot more that goes into getting stronger than simply gaining muscle. A much more important factor …
This was the first meet that I actually made a real effort at peaking for. It’s not that it’s the biggest that I’ve done, it’s more just that I never trusted myself to perform if I didn’t handle heavy weights right up to the meet. I took my last heavy pull 2 week out, and my last heavy squat 10 days out. I got 625 on both of them. I took my last heavy bench …
