Becoming Elite and Beyond: A Journey from the Tiger to the Dragon
I think every sport benefits from incorporating the tiger and the dragon into their training or coaching in some way. For lifters and strength athletes on the path to progression (in strength and level of competition), this hits the nail on the head.
Intent Is Everything: Does Your Training Have a Purpose?
Working hard without intent is wasted energy, and what’s the use in that?
My Simple and Effective Approach to Conjugate Training: Bending It to Yo...
The ability to read yourself and what you need can take years to master, but you will never master it if you don’t start experimenting.
My Simple and Effective Approach to Conjugate Training
There are definitely a few programs I have used with success in my lifting career and some that I will still recommend to lifters today, but conjugate is my favorite. It is the one I try to progress all my lifters to.
Is Your Competition Outworking You?
I love the ideals of hard work, being hardcore, and oozing intensity, but over the years I have learned there are many ways to perceive these things.
Rethinking Discipline: How I Stay 'Motivated'
It seems to me that if a lifter has questions about motivation or discipline, maybe they need to consider another pursuit or reevaluate how they look at training.
Have You Heard the Secret to Strength Yet?
I’m here to spread the true secret of strength, if you think you can handle it.
Where Is Your Focus?
To get your strongest in the fastest way possible, you need to focus on training as a whole. Every aspect needs attention and focus.
Balance and the Big Picture
I hear all the time that balance is impossible and that to be amazing at something you have to give it up. I also hear that every person needs perfect and equal balance in life. Which is it?
Embrace Being the Individual You Are
There is so much information that you could spend days, weeks, and months learning, without ever actually lifting a damn thing. Don’t become paralyzed trying to weed through all of the varying perspectives.
Rooting: The Lifter's Connection Between Foot and Floor
Most lifters don’t think about the connection of their feet to the floor, but proper rooting provides a more solid foundation, enables maximum transfer of power through the body, and starts activation of the correct muscles used in the lift.
Understanding Bracing
As you keep working on the technique, you will fully understand the potential bracing has. You will see how important it is in your lifting and how it helps you lift more weight while keeping your back healthy and safe.
Putting It All Out There — Fighting Complacency and Contentment
Making progress in training or in life means taking ownership of your future. Are you a passenger sitting quietly or are you grabbing the wheel and pressing the gas pedal?
Mastery of the Mundane
Everyone trains hard but few do the things that are boring and tedious. It is the willingness to do the mundane that separates those top athletes from the hordes of others training away in the gym right now.
A Weekend at the Kabuki Strength Seminar
It was a 10-hour drive to Portland, but everything that went into the trip was well worth it for the training knowledge I gained and the experience I had with other lifters. Here are my highlights from the weekend.
Being Skinny During the Season of Weight Gain
Life changes as our goals change, and life sure has changed a lot for me. My excuses of the past that let me go to extremes and live in excess during the holiday season are now gone.
To Arch or Not to Arch?
For all of my powerlifting career and for my best squat and deadlifters numbers ever, I used an arched back. After working with Chris Duffin on neutral back positioning and bracing, I’m starting to think there’s a better way.
Killer Mentality
Killer mentality means doing whatever it takes to be your very best and being willing to put it all on the line when the time comes. You have to be able to block out all negativity and draw in all positivity.
Genetically Mental
Mental toughness and strength are no different than physical traits. They can be trained and improved, if you’re ready.
The False Prophecy of Motivation and Inspiration
It is nice to think we should always be ‘motivated’ and ‘inspired’ to achieve our dreams or goals. Shit, I wish it were like that. The truth is that that we all have ups and downs.
Another Supplement Store
I have tried it all, and I will not sit here saying I never spent money on crazy supplements thinking I would make huge gains. Learn from my mistakes.
Who's to Judge?
Judging is not my favorite job at a meet, but it is growing on me. In fact, I think all lifters at some point should try judging. Here’s my experience at Boss of Bosses IV as a judge.
Are You Using Your Lats?
Many lifters believe they use their lats on the squat, bench, and deadlift, but I have found that they’re often wrong. Here’s how to know.
The Power of Choice
It is a choice to take control of your life or to just let life happen to you. With this choice comes the power to shape your future.
Got Shoulder Pain?
The shoulder is a complex joint but keeping it healthy can be simple. Many issues can be fixed or greatly improved with certain exercises and stretching.
How to Bench More
Seemingly simple questions are not simple at all if you understand strength. If you really want to bench more, you need more knowledge.
Accessory and Supplemental Does Not Equal Unimportant
I see many lifters lack the mind-body connection needed for getting the most out of accessory or supplemental work. Without it, you’re just going through the motions and wasting your time.
Why I Need to Make a Change — The Mental Challenge
The first month of this process has passed and I’ve made a lot of progress, but I’ve also discovered a few mental challenges I didn’t recognize at first.
Why I Need to Make a Change — The Plan
Change is difficult but can hold great rewards. Here’s how I’m going to make it all happen.
Why I Need to Make a Change
Sometimes it takes a hard push for me to initiate change, and life has definitely been pushing me.
Staying the Vigilant Lifter
The vigilant lifter wants to be a student of strength. They do not just want to be told what to do to get stronger. They want to learn and understand how to get stronger.
Unilateral Movements to Help Heal Nagging Injuries
I recently realized I’ve been looking at my back injury the wrong way all along. I needed to simplify the way I was thinking about it.
Team or Dysfunctional Family? Stories of an Elite Lifting Group
We might look dysfunctional, but this lifting family is like a Swiss clock put together with a hodgepodge of parts that somehow still always has the right time.
Stop Making It Okay to Just Give Up
If you’re still looking for the most important thing to becoming a top athlete, here it is: not letting anyone or anything tell you what was meant to be or what your destiny is.
Are You a Leader or a Follower?
Too often I see lifters doing the strangest stuff in the gym, and sometimes I get irritated enough to actually ask them about it. Their answers usually tells me everything I need to know: they’re followers, not leaders.
What's the Purpose of Your Training?
It is almost as if lifters don’t think training starts until the weight gets heavy. I’ve got news for these kinds of lifters: a training session starts right after the last one is finished.
Life Imitates Powerlifting
The lessons I have learned from powerlifting help me with situations I come across in my life. I recently experienced this while on my first mule deer archery hunt.
The S Word — What I've Learned
In this final part, I try to wrap it all up with insight into how I currently feel about steroids.
The S Word — Effects on Mental Illness
I am going to take a little detour to talk about personal issues I dealt with during this time, how these issues affect me, and if any of these issues were affected by what I was taking.
The S Word — Side Effects and A Higher Dose
When I took HRT therapy to a new level, my initial ideas began to change. It wasn’t anything like what I had read or heard about.
The S Word — When My Perspective Changed
I can now write about this subject and share how things worked out for me. It has been a journey with more than a few twists and turns.
Do Not Limit Yourself With Comparisons
Mental strength is a complex monster. You may think you’re motivating yourself by trying to beat other lifters, but you’re actually holding yourself back.
You're Probably Not Overtraining
Thinking that overtraining cannot happen is wrong. Immediately jumping to the conclusion that you need to back off or deload is also wrong.
Guest Judging Boss of Bosses 3
Watching a lifter going for a lift he knows he has to make to move into first place…
Watching a lifter going for a record that has stood for 15 or 20 years…
Access Knowledge to Be Your Own Coach
Always being told what to do is not how one becomes great and it is most definitely not how one becomes a great lifter.
How Do You Pick Your Opener?
There are many ways lifters go about picking their openers. I admit, my way might not be for you. But if it isn’t, you can still learn something from it.
Three Training Methods to Strengthen Your Weak Points
As simple and extremely important as this principle is, I continue to see so many lifters overlook or misunderstand it year after year.
Reset Your PR's
In a perfect world, you’re always getting stronger and your PR’s are always moving higher. Well, this world isn’t perfect, and you need to remember that if you want to get stronger.
Parallels of Lifting and Life — Confidence, Arrogance, Priorities
Chad shares how difficulties in a personal situation had him look to lifting for answers.
Are You Just Going Through the Motions?
Life is meant to be lived. Stop sleepwalking through life and waiting for things to happen.
Three Days at Kabuki Strength Systems
Through our many adventures, Chris Duffin and I trained, went four-wheeling, ate A LOT, and talked about many aspects of coaching and programming.
WATCH: Reno Hardcore with Guest Chris Duffin
Kabuki, mental aspects of training, masculinity, geared vs. raw lifting, RPE — it’s all here in this video with two all-time great powerlifters.
Are You Asking the Right Questions?
If you aren’t getting stronger or making gains, you’re doing something wrong. Your first job is figuring out what that is.
Do You Believe?
Was I able to do these things and reach the level that I did simply because I believed?
WATCH: Reno Hardcore With Guests Dan and Sparkle Green
Chad interviews world-record holding powerlifter Dan Green and his wife Sparkle after a seminar at American Iron gym.
Confidence — What Separates the Elite from the Novice
Where is your confidence and what are you willing to do to strengthen it?
Arch Your Way to a Bigger Bench
A shorter range of motion means a bigger bench. Here’s how to get your chest closer to the bar without taking your ass off the bench.
Depression Answers for Athletes
I can only imagine from my personal experience with depression how athletes like Dave Mirra reach the point of tragedy.
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