Becoming the best version of yourself—either coach or student—usually means exploring the other side of your tendencies and preferences. But being stuck in either a creative or structured approach to training (or coaching) keeps you from the resources the other ‘side’ has to offer. Here Brett Jones, Director of Education, explains the pros and cons of …
Kettlebell ballistics have very little to do with the kettlebell—and everything to do with how you move your body. When it comes to rhythmically repetitive power work like swings, snatches, and cleans, your best performance comes when you’ve synced your breath to the movement pattern. Better, more athletic swings mean you get more out of your …
How to Sync Your Breathing for More Kettlebell Power Read More »
We all want a stronger kettlebell press. Boosting your strength baseline makes everything else, everything before, relatively easier. But strength isn’t just about your muscles: it’s about your brain. So finding and using principles, techniques and drills that unlock your ability to better express the strength that you do have is something to strive for. …
Press Stronger NOW with the Kettlebell Pull Press Read More »
We often blame our feet last for performance problems or tension leaks. But as our main connection to the ground, they are the foundation to all movement and the vessels through which we generate power and express our strength. Neglecting them is not an option. Learn four drills by Master StrongFirst Instructor Karen Smith to …
Four Mobility Drills to Fix your Performance Killing Feet Read More »
How do you strengthen sport required qualities in the gym and practice the skills it requires in sports-specific sessions when your chosen sport is a 3000 mile ocean row? No, not by rowing machines, ultra marathon runs or sit ups. By training your slow-twitch muscle fiber strength with barbell back squats and seated cable rows. Here’s …
How to Row 3000 Miles Across an Ocean with a Barbell Read More »
“We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.” —Marshall McLuhan Our “tools” could be looked at as our implement (a kettlebell, for example), the exercise we select, our program, or how we use the tool to mold us. Multipurpose tools have become a mainstay in our lives. We “shaped” the multipurpose tool to …
Your Multipurpose Strength Tool (aka the Get-up) Read More »
Dead Swing. Power Swing. Hike-Swing-Park. “Rif” Swing. Whatever you choose to call it, this single repetition kettlebell swing should be in your training toolbox. It’s equally fantastic as a corrective drill, a teaching tool for a great KB swing start, a method to develop max power for each rep of a swing, and an evil …
With August upon us, members of the StrongFirst community from the New York City area and elsewhere have already begun their preparations for the 2018 New York City Marathon. Wait a minute. That can’t be right! Marathon training inevitably cannibalizes muscle and leads to a loss of strength. I’m not entirely sure, but I think …
Barbell BDSM: the Secret Marathon Training and Recovery Strategy Read More »
I recently attended a conference and watched a presentation by a highly respected clinician and researcher who specializes in chiropractic and neuro physiology. He works very hard to show the link between movement of the joints and what happens at the brain level. His research dives deep into pain and inflammation, along with keeping joints …
Every Joint. Every Day. The Elegance of Simple and Sinister Read More »
Professional “Learners” We were all professional “learners” at some point. Think about it. Your “job” for the first 18 years or so was to learn. First to learn how to move and walk, and then how to learn in school. This may have continued in sports (learning more movement) or onto advanced degrees (learning more …