Calming the Storm Between Attempts
There are lots of articles and tips on getting you revved up to perform. THIS ISN’T ONE OF THEM. Learn to conserve your energy between sets.
The PERFECT Mindset For Maximum Lifts. It’s NOT What You Expect!
"By concentrating INTENSELY on what you desire and fueling that passion, you can fill your mind with it and actually “go blind” to all else. There is one huge caveat to this mindset: your training must be FLAWLESS. Wanting it is not enough. Let me explain. The perfect mindset (what is going on in […]
JM Blakley's *MAXIMUM INTENSITY* Bench Lockout Training Using GRIND...
Elitefts Columnist and Bench Press legend JM Blakley teaches how to get past sticking points in the bench press, specifically the lockout.
Be Willing to Feel Pain
This is certainly anti-quit training. Learning to be uncomfortable and not stop or run away is priceless in hard training.
Two Weird Shoulder Exercises to Try This Offseason
You’re a big dog now and the good ol’ days of TWO heavy pressing days per week won’t work anymore. So, what’s the answer? My answer is to train shoulders specifically in a predetermined offseason with these weird exercises. They work!
Pre-Workout Ritual Instructions
Music was a huge part of my ritual, as was breathing and meditation. You want something that is your style, but also not too complicated.
Smoothing It Out
I am going to offer the second-best option that I know of to prevent injury that does not require a coach or countless hours to master. You can do it all by yourself. It is a way of executing a repetition.
Try Harder
I want to elaborate on the most radical and misunderstood facet of the Nautilus training protocol—the concept of ONE SET TO FAILURE. Follow me down the rabbit hole.
Gut Check Rule of Fives
Here’s to increasing our “power endurance.” To “Prefontaine” our training. To go hard, go heavy, and go forever! Or, at least a few sets more than what is normally accepted!
Serious Training Considerations for COVID-19
So here is the decision you need to consider: should you adapt your training in favor of less dangerous styles of exercise and workload, or continue as planned on your strength journey?
The Merits of Patience
If you are a “millennial” or, like me, a person from another generation who has become beguiled by the power and comfort of the internet and the society that it has engendered, I want to revisit the value of “the long haul.” World = Fast, Gym=Slow.
JM Blakley’s Top-5 Bench Press Tips
As told to Dave Tate, some 18 years ago, these tips stand up to the gauntlet of common sense and I’m sure that at least a few will be of use to you. Load the bar!
How to Write Your Own Program
Following a program along blindly without knowing much as to why you’re doing it will take you nowhere. No matter who it comes from. It’s time you think for yourself.
WATCH: JM Blakley Shares His Secrets on Bench Press Form
You won’t be able to properly improve your bench press without the proper form. JM Blakley recruits Yessica Martinez and Lily Starobin to share with us his secrets to a solid bench press form.
Tests
We can't avoid all of the struggles life throws at us, but we can choose how we react to them. Your outlook makes all the difference.
Stress Management for Growth and Recovery
Whether it’s good or bad stress, how can we deal with stress so it does not outstrip our ability to recover? There are plenty of techniques to explore, so turn off the TV and grab your cat (or dog) so we can start trying some out.
DOUBT
Stop doubting anything about your potential. Leave it open ended and work like crazy to FIND OUT!
More Nutrition "Facts" Debunked
Nothing is bad for us, per se. What we have to do is figure out how much we need, and then supply it in the correct amounts. But to villainize sugar, carbs, fats, and other nutrients is a gross miscarriage of judgment.
Goals
I like this way much better than just GETTING there. I enjoy GOING there. Perhaps you will too.
Thoughts on Thanksgiving
My opinion about the topic may hold weight because I used to eat like this EVERY SINGLE DAY! To you... it's Thanksgiving. To me... it's just Thursday. I'm sort of an expert on the overeating thing.
Pass the Baton
If you coach, please do not co-opt your athletes' success. We have had a torch passed to us as coaches from when we ourselves were athletes. Now, it is our turn.
Nutrition, Supplement, and Drug "Facts" Explained
No aspect of physical culture is more rife with myth, misunderstanding, falsehoods, and fantasy than is the field of nutrition. There is a very good reason that there exists so much confusion to this day when it comes down to what to eat: money.
Forgive The Weak
You can only act like the big guy if you are standing by people smaller than you. Why look askance at the week? What can you do with an 880-pound squat that someone with a 440-pound squat can't do?
Achievement is a Bondage
Existential philosopher Albus Camus said, "An achievement is a bondage. It obliges one to another achievement." At first blush, you may be disinclined to agree with Camus. I was. Our weight room mentality has little tolerance for this kind of unhinging from achievement. We can ALWAYS try to lift one more pound. And we do!
Dumping the Bucket
Your training is like filling a bucket. When it is time to give it all and dump the bucket in competition, whatever you filled the bucket up with comes pouring out. If you had shitty training, you end up with shit flowing out. If you had solid training, you'll have a bucket of gold.
Check: Goals, Strategies, and Tactics
Go your way. Create your own strategy. Find a new way. It may take you a long time, and cost you a fortune, but that is of no import. You will be where you want to be and you will have a better story to tell.
9 Ways to Upgrade Your Sleep Hygiene Tonight
People tend to agree that it’s important to get a good night’s sleep, but most probably don’t actually get that sleep. Using what I’ve learned from something called sleep hygiene, you can finally get those 8 hours of shut-eye you’ve been whining about not getting.
At The Crossroads
That come-to-Jesus moment when you have exhausted the limits of the technique and exposed its shortcomings is precisely when you should re-evaluate your thinking. YOU ARE AT THE CROSSROADS, MY FRIEND. Congrats!
Fully Inhabiting The Moment
Try to take six breaths without thinking of a past or future event. You are fine. You are OK. Right here and right now is pretty good, is it not?
Return to "excellence"
You can learn a lot about yourself by doing this thought experiment to define excellence.
This Is Too Good To Wait
So here it is for you. This is the quote she gave me that was my big take away...
The Mind-Muscle Link: Engagement and Focus
You go about your day unaware of your body. Think about your socks right now. Can you feel them on your feet? You felt them when you put them on, and although they are still on, you’ve let the sensation fade deep into the background… and now, you’re aware of your socks again.
Bend Do Not Break
It is a disadvantage to be predictable. If you are limited in your thinking, you are more predictable than you may realize.
The Mind-Muscle Link: Learn Muscle Attachments
I am personally giving you permission to skip today’s workout — but only if you learn about muscle origins and insertions and how they move. Watch some videos about this instead of binge-watching Stranger Things or whatever. Just sit down and educate yourself.
You were a born artist!
Exactly at what point did all of us decide to stop doing things ourselves and just SPECTATE and let only a select few do it for us?
GOING There Is The Point
We will spend countless days and hours and even years TRAVELING TO our goals. And in one moment we ARRIVE. That is one sweet moment, to be sure, but it is unbelievably brief. Bask in it all you like, but it will pale and fade.
"I Don't Have The Time"!
You get 24 hours today and you MUST SPEND THEM ALL. You cant save time like you can save money.
IT JUST ISN'T WAR
There is a battle for sure going on in a sporting event and I am in no way minimizing that. I simply feel it is going too far to call it a war. Maybe a fight...in which there are "fighters", but no war.
The Mind-Muscle Link
You must slow down to truly get a feel for the mind-muscle connection. I know some of you who do slow-motion reps or time under tension think you do not need to slow down. Well, then, this article is ESPECIALLY for you!
Discipline
Think about how much time you spend on a project physically and mentally. Then consider the amount of time you spend on it spiritually or emotionally. Are you acting as a whole human being?
Do we really believe in the strong mind strong body concept or is it jus...
How many workouts did you have last year? How many books did you read last year? How many times did you hold someone in a deep embrace and tell them you loved them from the core of your being last year?
You get to choose.
I will suggest that we pursue Excellence in the things we care about most. And for those which we care little, Good Enough should do just fine. Make sure that something in your life warrants the pursuit of Excellence.
You do not win until I stop getting back up.
Here's the punchline: she was walking back to bury what she had found of her sister and she looked into the box and wept screaming as loud as she could," why did you not try harder!?"