A simple step to move with cat-like grace

Watch a cat’s slinking and sauntering next time you have the chance. There’s a total lack of doubt in their movements. You can confuse them, surprise them, and make them hesitate, sure. Watching a house-cat’s bewilderment when faced with a strange new contraption is one of life’s small joys. What … Keep reading

How to use your injuries to level up

I haven’t been able to squat for the last six weeks because of this old muscle tear in my left thigh. That’s been a mixed blessing. My powerlifting roots forged me into a Squat Purist. I don’t feel right unless my weekly routine has a barbell on my back at … Keep reading

An honest personal trainer?

While bouncing around Youtube’s deep ambient, binaural beats, and synthwave tracks the other day, my ad-blocker stuttered and sent me down a wormhole into an alternative reality. This other realm was infested by the mythical “gurus”, preaching on how to build businesses, get clients, and turn the Instagram account I … Keep reading

There’s zero workout advice in here.

I’ve been accused lately of not talking enough about the weight-lifting, fat-stripping, workout-strategizing, barbell-bending philosophies, methods, techniques, tactics and points of view that my readers want to know about. To that I say: Preposterous. You’re getting the finest workout advice on the internet and I’m not even charging for most … Keep reading

A stupid question about training every day

A few months back a reader & fan pointed me to a thread on Twitter, wherein one of those fitness experts with lots of followers brought out his dumb opinion on a “stupid question”. The question was to the effect of, “I train pullups every day and aim to hit … Keep reading

The most honest exercise

It used to be that everybody could squat 500 or 600 pounds. You’d hear about these fantastic squats all over the place. Then you ask them what they deadlift. “Uh, I don’t do that. I got a bad back. I only do like 225.” Buddy, if your max deadlift is … Keep reading

Two gym goofs killing your gains

The other morning at the gym while people-watching between sets, I watched this slim guy, looked to be in his 20s, sit down at the preacher-curl bench with far too much weight. He loaded up the EZ bar with a 15 kilo plates on each side. (That’s the 35s for … Keep reading

The “new Prohibition” in my house

I used to drink a LOT. A lot, as in often, and in amount. That tapered off from the renegade Animal House party-drinking of my 20s to refined beer-appreciator drinking in my 30s. A couple years back, I wasn’t enjoying the buzz any more. Worse yet, with even a few … Keep reading

Why I gave my book such a stupid title

Most people, including me, thought that Squat Every Day was a book about working out. It was and is, and I still get emails to this day from people who found the book and set new personal bests in short order. All by defying the nay-sayers and training hard every … Keep reading

Three B’s of overtraining

For the last two months I’ve been doing a 30 year old workout program called “Big Beyond Belief” by Leo Costa. BBB, as I will call it, has me in the gym four days a week and hitting each of the major muscle groups three to four times a week, … Keep reading