I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Time to catch up on some fitness reading.
This week’s edition will include five strength tips, fifteen recommended fitness readings and an interview with one of the all-time greatest bench pressers, Kirill Sarychev.
Enjoy!
Strength Tips
*Monday
There are helpful takeaways from both good and bad training sessions.
It’s easy to take successful days for granted. Instead, consider what you did well so you can repeat it.
Bad days also provide great insight. They let us know what we need to work on. Instead of worrying about a bad day, learn from it and improve next time.
* Tuesday
3 simple tips for the plank.
Rather than holding a plank for several minutes, try an efficient high tension plank.
1) Straighten your legs as hard as possible and flex your quads.
2) Squeeze your glutes together as hard as possible like you’re trying to crack a walnut between your butt cheeks.
3) Pull your elbows to your toes and toes to your elbows. Your elbows and toes will be planted into the floor so they won’t actually move.
Create as much tension as possible through your entire body! Turn yourself into an immovable object. When done properly, holding for 10 seconds will be challenging.
*Wednesday
Today’s sample lower body [squat emphasis] workout.
Pick weights you know you will hit.
[Sets x Reps]
1. Squat 4 X 4
2. Front Squat 2 X 10
3. Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat (RFESS) 3 X 8
4. High Tension Plank 3 X 10 seconds
*Thursday
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
Don’t be afraid to grind!
Lifters are too quick to quit on lifts. People give up as soon as the bar slows and they hit their sticking point.
Don’t bail when things get tough!
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you always want to train safely and remain injury free. Learn how to grind through heavy weight while keeping good form. This doesn’t mean you should be constantly battling through all your reps to finish your sets.
You want your reps to be FAST!
Keep in mind that every rep of every set won’t always look like speed work. You have to be prepared to grind – especially if you’re a competitive lifter.
Do some rep work and practice grinding through some tough reps!
*Friday
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
Recommended Reading
- How Does Usain Bolt Train? via Bret Contreras
- “Form Running” for Non-Track Athletes: Important or Waste of Time? via Joe DeFranco
- Don’t break the first promise of the day via Nate Green
- A grain of truth: Should you avoid grains? via Ryan Andrews
- 5 Questions with Alex Viada via Alex Viada
- So You Want to Start Sprinting? via Eric Cressey
- You Are Not Overtrained via Mike Tuchscherer
- 4 Reasons You’re Not Gaining Muscle via Brad Schoenfeld
- 57 Random Thoughts on Athletic Training & Coaching via Mike Robertson
- All Diets Work: The Importance of Calories via Lyle McDonald
- The Tabata Delusion via Tony Gentilcore
- Are Fad Diets Killing You? via Pat Koch
- A Musclehead’s Guide to Alcohol via Alan Aragon
- The Truth About Supplements via Sol Orwell
- The Nocebo Effect: How Your Power of Suggestion May Harm Your Clients via Jonathan Fass and Matthew Danziger
Thanks for reading! If you want a weekly update sign up for my newsletter on the sidebar. Mobile users enter your email at the bottom of the site.
