Stronger,
Healthier
in Just 30 Minutes
a Week

My Ideas and Insights
on Exercise and Nutrition to
Better Your Life

212 579 9320

From the category archives:

strength training

Strength, Speed and Athletic Wisdom

June 28, 2011

Explosive Weight Training Exercises — powered by ehow
In this video you’ll see a trainer coaching a young man in an exercise that, given the way the kid is doing it, potentially presents very high forces to his joints and other structures and provides next to no meaningful load to his muscles. The weight the boy [...]

Read the full article →

Exercising with Arthritis

April 21, 2011

(This is what I am desperately trying to avoid!)
As many of you know, my knees are shot. Years of Karate, jogging, and growing up with bowed legs have left me with crippling medial compartment knee arthritis. I’m also certain that all the grains [...]

Read the full article →

Are Your Weights Heavy Enough?

April 15, 2011

They should be. Here’s why.
A bunch of years ago, I erred in the weight load I gave to a client by a lot. Like a real lot. I remember he said “Jesus Fred – what the hell did you give me here!” Thinking the weight was correct I said “I raised the weight five [...]

Read the full article →

Weakness is Sublime

April 15, 2011

It is very common for me to hear the following statement after a client completes an exercise to failure:
“Oh! I felt so weak in that exercise!”

“You’re welcome.” is my usual response.
Feeling weak as a kitten after completing an exercise is exactly what you want. It’s how you’re supposed to feel. It means you’ve [...]

Read the full article →

Slow Pushups

April 6, 2011

Right now, without thinking, do some slow push-ups till you’re tuckered.
Do them regular or do them on your knees as you see above.
Count five seconds to go down, 5 seconds to go up.
Don’t rest at the top by locking you’re elbows.
Breathe freely on every one. Go!
You’ll feel great afterwards.
You’re welcome!

Read the full article →

Misrepresentation of Slow Burn Training

March 23, 2011

The above article titled Muscular Contraction with Measured Movement is from a March 1962 issue of Strength and Health magazine. The article was written by the late Bob Hoffman, founder of the infamous York Barbell Company. The men and women who made up the York company and the enthusiasts who followed their regimens were and [...]

Read the full article →

Keeping Track

March 21, 2011

In my last post I mentioned how important it was to keep track of your training progress. I thought I’d take a little time to describe how we do this at Serious Strength.
Above is an example of our client progress chart. Allow me to explain the details.
At the top you see the basics – name, year, goal [...]

Read the full article →

Top 10 Strength Training Books

March 17, 2011

As requested by one of my subscribers, here is my list of the top 10 books on strength training – in no particular order.
Some of my reccomendations may come as a surprise to those who view me as a pure slow rep HIT enthusiast. But the truth is that many books have little pearls [...]

Read the full article →

More Muscle Means A Faster Metabolism

February 11, 2011

Many experts assume that the our metabolism – the chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life – increases very little from resistance training. Some fitness experts argue that building more muscle increases it as little as 1-5 calories per pound of muscle built.
While this seems to be a reasonable estimate for each [...]

Read the full article →

Don’t Decide, Don’t Try, Choose and Do

February 9, 2011

You are thinking about starting to exercise and eat more healthfully. You’ve tried before and made many decisions as there are many, many decisions that can be made.
But rather than decide, choose and do.
As Yoda said:
Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
And I am happy to help. Just ask.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →