Many years ago when I was a competitive powerlifter and a Westside Barbell student, I hurt my back in training. Pretty badly too. I was in preparation for Masters Nationals and I still wanted to compete (this was before I learned not to be greedy. I was tough but greedy for my strength). I trained for …
So you are a competent athlete who has attended their SFG certification, passed all the tests, survived the weekend and come home an informed and motivated (if not very sore) SFG. So, now what? How do you take all you’ve learned, practiced, and performed personally, and break it down into a language your students can …
Becoming a better coach: Quality instruction through demonstration, cueing and analogies Read More »
My friend Jamie Crowder introduced me to the important distinction between “dilemma” and “problem” as it relates to martial arts strategy. A dilemma is defined as “a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones.” This means that unlike a “problem” which has one …
“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Jim Rohn Take a moment to do an internet search for me: Recovery strategies in fitness. I’ll wait… A search for “recovery strategies” likely sent your head spinning. In the last few years, recovery strategies have become another fad blazing through the …
When Pavel and I wrote the SFL Manual back in 2012-2013, we decided to build it on top of what is taught at the SFG Level I Certification. Namely, the swing, get-up, goblet squat, and the arm bar. This article attempts to say more than just how to do them, but why you did them. …
If you’re swinging or snatching a kettlebell on the regular, the condition of your hands (and their inevitable callouses) can’t be ignored. Here are the tried and true tactics for keeping them in great shape.
The lifts, the preparation, the weekend itself, and priceless bits of advice—the barbell and its ultimate instructional experience, the SFL Certification—are demystified.
Your fitness is a result—not of the work you perform—but of the work you recover from. The research suggests shorter sets with limited drop-off of power and velocity, with sufficient rest—for a lower biological cost. And this is how to measure it.
It remains a point of contention—is squatting bad for your knees? Is it safer to squat no lower than parallel? Or are these merely myths, perpetuated by trainers who simply don’t know how to properly establish a comfortable, full-depth squat pattern for those who struggle with it?
After beginning with the half kneeling windmill series, this half kneeling bent press series completes an extremely successful learning progression for the full bent press lift.