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Complete Guide to Bar Speed Trackers

In the last year, we hit the tipping point of sensor technology in the weight room, and finally those in the strength game have something for them. For decades, the endurance crowd enjoyed their toys, specifically GPS watches and heart rate monitors, but the average gym rat that takes his or her lifting seriously was always an afterthought. It made sense since more people will show up and “participate” in a 5K road race, but […]

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Squat Mechanics – The Red Pill

What you’re getting yourself into ~2,400 words.  6-10 minute read time. Key points: 1) When you miss a squat, it’s not because one muscle or muscle group failed – they all failed sequentially; what you perceive as your limiting factor is just the last thing that failed. 2) The quads are “maxed out” earlier in the movement than the hip extensors. 3) When you don’t purposefully rely on your quad strength and don’t try to

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man squatting

High Bar and Low Bar Squatting 2.0

What you’re getting yourself into: ~4200 words, 10-15 minute read time There’s a graphic and video at the end with the bulk of the information if you’ve given up on reading like the youths these days (*shakes cane*) Key Points If you assume similar mechanics, bar position makes little difference in the challenge presented to the quads and hip extensors. The major mechanical differences arise because the quads are most challenged at the bottom of

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Greg hits parallel in a squat.

High Bar vs. Low Bar Squatting

Before we get into this post, I want to let you know about our giant How to Squat guide. It covers everything you need to know about every aspect of the squat – from biomechanics to correcting weaknesses to technique. Click here to open it in a new tab so you can check it out after you’ve finished reading this article.  Sayre’s law:  “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the

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Speed kills: 2x the intended bar speed yields ~2x the bench press gains

If you want to get stronger, training volume and intensity are the two most important variables, right?  Well, a recent (May 2014) study published in the European Journal of Sports Science sheds some light on another crucial factor – bar speed. Now, if you’re like me, you’ve always heard that you’re supposed to lift the bar (concentric) as fast as possible, and that doing so would recruit more fast twitch fibers since you’re producing more

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