TO CARDIO OR NOT TO CARDIO, THAT’S THE QUESTION – I’ve been curating some content on the relationship between oxidative capacity and strength training. One thing brings to another and I “re-visited” the famous concurrent training issue. Let me frame my issue within this web of more or less correlated subjects: at this point I […]
Oxidative capacity and strength training Read More »
There´s a controversy that won’t go away that easy: what improves your deaflift more? Increasing or decreasing frequency? Until a few years back, we had few advocates of the higher (highER, not high) frequency deadlift. Today, however, a couple of good coaches recommend higher frequency pulling. Three weeks ago, one of my lifters had a
The deadlift: train more or train less? Three suggestions that may work for you Read More »
Like most important things in life, physical training can be both as complex as to justify getting advanced degrees on, yotabytes of published information and controversy all over the place and as simple as brushing your teeth and going to work. Complexity makes it fun and calls for questions and improvement. Simplicity makes it feasible
A simple way to simplify a simple thing: training – 4 simple simplifications Read More »
Some coaches believe that the stance is something genetic, like the color of your eyes. Lifters come as sumo deadlifters or traditional. It’s a joke, of course, but not that far from the truth: you will notice that elite lifters very rarely shift from one to the other. There is a general rule that short
The deadlift: sumo or traditional? Read More »
Sunday, the 25th of May, was a glorious day for some of my friends but it also provided frustration. It was the over 220lbs men’s day at the IPL Nationals. We are a close bunch, some of us even work together on an educational project (MAD Powerlifting) and most of us have a background in
Motivate, warn, advise, teach and educate: very different things Read More »
I believe it is a consensus that training the pronated grip for the deadlift will improve both grip strength and the deadlift itself. As Altug Dural described his protocol (the 1-2-3 ladder), I became curious and started to ask around about people’s pronated grip deadlift PR. Most people don’t know and never tried to measure
Pronated and alternate grip for the deadlift Read More »
(of the series “random thoughts after training”) The deadlift is a different animal when compared to the other two powerlifts, in several aspects. One of them is that the number of RM (repetition maximum) does not correspond to max effort percentage the same way as for the squat or the bench press. It is really
Grip and the deadlift Read More »
(of the series “random thoughts after training”) Supra-maximal loads are important in the three lifts. Whether it is lockout or just isometrically holding the bar with the said load, it transfers back to performance of the full movement. Why? There is not a single scientific explanation for that – not one experiment or statistical analysis
On the role of supra-maximal loads in powerlifting Read More »
Today I received a video from a student in his 4th week of this training cycle. He is (very) young physical educator and instructor at a gym chain in São Paulo. Nice deadlift. Pads under the bar to “protect” the floor from the 400 something pound impact. So I remembered the conversation I had with
About boys, testosterone and pads Read More »
