Although the title of this article says “Mountain Dog style,” that isn’t entirely true. The crux of what you’re about to read was inspired by (stolen?) from an American physicist born in 1879 that had this topic all figured out. He was a bright guy, even winning a Nobel Prize in physics. You may recognize […]
July 2011: 6 Ways to Increase Performance As strength and conditioning coach I have been blessed to be around many sports; from boxing, rowing, football, ice hockey, and even Greco-roman wrestlers. I have learned a lot over the years and have made a ton of mistakes, but through each mistake yielded another learning experience and […]
Last week a young lifter asked me to spot him on a set of lying triceps extensions. He had the bar loaded with what I’d consider a moderately heavy weight – about 140 lbs. plus the EZ bar. At first glance, his arms didn’t appear big enough to match this load, but I thought maybe […]
It’s been two weeks since Dave and I laid a massive beat down on our legs. I couldn’t wait for Round Two. I arrived in London, Ohio about 30 minutes early, so I stopped at a McDonalds for one of those fruit and nut packages. I’d already had a few organic eggs and a Metabolic […]
May 2011: The Implementation of Tri-Phasic Periodization for Strength and Speed Gains At Southeast Missouri State University our strength and conditioning department implements a block style training system with most of our athletic teams. By far one of the most impressive means we have implemented within our system has been something called tri-phasic periodization. Cal […]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiuOZ9YrVYY
The leg press is like Olive Penderghast in the movie, “Easy A” (or for you more classically educated meatheads, Hester Prynne in “The Scarlet Letter”) in that her reputation has been sullied, perhaps unjustly and disproportionately. For some reason, leg presses are regarded as a mediocre exercise with little direct application to sport. Plus, you […]
January 2011: High Intensity Cardio Many people have asked how I feel about cardio, and what they should do. Do you go intense for short periods? Do you go low intensity long duration? Do you not do it at all? Well as always, nothing is that simple. It depends on your goals, your genetics, and […]
I believe it was Bertil Fox who mentioned his arms measured 16 inches when he was 16 years old, 17 inches when he was 17, and 18 inches when he was the ripe old age of 18. From there, I can’t quite remember how his growth accelerated, but I can certainly remember mine. Using Bertil’s […]
Chest training has always been a challenge for me. It’s not because my genetics sucked (as with back), or because of the pain involved (as with leg training). For me, the hardest thing about chest training was simply staying healthy: I’ve had so many pec strains over the years that were a breath away from […]
Question: How many people at your gym have big, thick, nasty legs? What about on-stage at the last bodybuilding contest you attended? While I can’t speak for everyone, I can say that in the last several shows I’ve been to, there hasn’t been many. Why is this? Is the ability to build impressive wheels something […]
In my early days of competing, I modeled my leg training after Tom Platz as he had the best legs in the world. Not surprisingly, the Eagle’s training philosophy served me well back then and continues to do so today. For my back training, I tried to emulate the great Lee Haney. I performed a […]