I was watching Andy Bolton pull over 900 pounds from the back stage at the Arnold Classic. It struck me that his deadlift looked exactly like a hard style kettlebell swing. Afterwards, I asked Andy, “Correct me if I am wrong, it seems that you try to keep your shins vertical, don’t think about the …
Strength is a skill…and you’ve decided that it’s time to add SFL skills to your toolbox. But you have limited barbell experience and zero access to a coach. Plus, you don’t really want to train wrong. Can you even get ready to attend an instructor certification? This article shows that you can, with two pre-requisites: …
How to Become a Barbell Instructor With Kettlebells Read More »
On the flight home from teaching a StrongFirst Lifter certification (SFL), I was thinking about the programming section and some of our discussions. One of the questions that always gets asked is: “What about assistance exercises?” My answer is simple—until you have spent at least a year working on the movements that we taught at …
What Chocolate Chip Cookies and Guinness Beer Can Teach You About Barbell Basics Read More »
By Fabio Zonin, Master SFG and Pavel Tsatsouline Earlier this year, we launched “Reload: Your Barbell Strength Blueprint,” a concise e-book featuring individually-tailored, nearly-foolproof strength programming. Some of our readers asked the question that became the title of this article. Here is our answer. Let us start by clearly stating which training philosophy each represents: Reload—American powerlifting cycling …
StrongFirst Podcast Episode #16 Summary Mira Kwon is the co-owner of Industrial Strength, an Accredited StrongFirst Gym in Portland, Oregon. She is an accomplished weightlifter. In this episode, she talks about the benefits of Olympic weight training and how it differs from kettlebell movements. Show Notes 01:16 — Mira talks about how she got …
How do you boost your bench press? By mastering the pause between your concentric and eccentric movements. Master SFG Dr. Michael Hartle explains why and provides two practice techniques to help teach you how. Lower. Pause. Press Up. Repeat. Four words that could describe a lot of different things going on in that order. However, …
How Mastering the Pause can Boost your Bench Press 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 »
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 »
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. …
The lifts, the preparation, the weekend itself, and priceless bits of advice—the barbell and its ultimate instructional experience, the SFL Certification—are demystified.