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 …
Interesting thing about the word troubleshooting (I’ll get to the main point soon…promise) in the context of coaching: when you look for synonyms, you need to wade through synonyms for it in the context of damage control, “good offices,” and customer service before you get to “as in adjust.” And “as in adjust” troubleshooting is …
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 …
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 …
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 …