Kettlebell Compounds for Conditioning
These multiple-movement sequences link a variety of kettlebell exercises for a full-body, more brutal and effective workout that can be done anywhere.
Step Aside, Gents: The 2017 SPF Women’s Pro/Am
Anyone who has attended this meet describes it as an amazing experience, and I have been fortunate to speak to a few incredible women (Maureen Barbetta, Tracey Patrick, and Janel Vegter) who competed.
Kettlebells Explained — A Guide to the Most Versatile Movements
The exercises you can incorporate with kettlebells are virtually endless. Here’s how to get started with some of my favorites.
The Plant-Based Strength Experiment
Is it possible to remove meat from your diet and still train and compete at the highest level of powerlifting? I’m going to find out.
The Pros and Cons of a 100-Pound Weight Gain
I’ve gained 100 pounds over the last seven years and I’m going to share my journey and my experience, both good and bad, this has had on my general health.
The Phases of Life
It sounds cliché, but the older you get, the faster time seems to slip away. We really never seem to take the time to appreciate our journey until we realize it’s more than half over already and it feels like we’re just getting started.
Competing Requires Management Skills
Having a good meet means accounting for every aspect of your performance. Mismanage one aspect and you’re not going to have a great day.
My Bittersweet 2016 WPC Worlds
One day you can have the best day of your life and the next day could be your worst. This week included both for me.
Power Teams: Kick-Ass Home Training Gyms
This is sweat. This is heavy, hardcore training, fueled by chalk dust and ammonia. Welcome to Outlaw Powerlifting, Boomer’s Iron Grounds, and The Wharehouse.
How SWIS 2016 Blew My Mind
People will be talking about the 2016 SWIS for a long time to come as one of the best symposiums ever.
What Type of Powerlifter Are You?
I polled our team members to get an idea of why some of the best lifters in the world compete raw or in gear. Here are their answers.
WPC World Championships — My 12-Week Meet Prep for a 1000-Pound Squat
I won my division at the 2014 WPC Worlds. I’m hoping to repeat this year, but there’s also another goal I’m focused on.
Powerlifting: 25% Training, 75% Pre-Hab, Rehab, and Injury Prevention
If you think you’ll make it in this sport by pushing through your workouts even when you’re injured or suffering, you’re wrong.
Squat Mechanics: Why Stacking the Knee Overtop of the Ankle Is Important
There are a lot of things we work on with fixing lifters’ squats, let’s start here.
144 Things I Love and Hate About Powerlifting
Every lifter has their own reasons to love or hate this sport. Here are mine.
Is Your Coach Giving You What You Need?
There are a lot of coaches to choose from and they all think they’re the best. What criteria should you use to judge them?
Powerlifting Meets: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
One of the best meets that I’ve been to as a competitor was the 2014 WPC World Championships in West Palm Beach, Florida. Why was it so great?
The Mandatory Deload
My biggest mistake over the last few years was competing too much and training through injuries. Taking time off was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do.
Performance Enhancing Drugs: The Nature Of The Beast
Regardless of sport, every athlete is looking for an edge to be better than his opponent. When is supplemental help acceptable?
What's Old?
Instead of thinking of age as a disability or a disadvantage, recognize your experience for what it is: an advantage in achieving physical and mental greatness.
Seminar Lessons from Kettlebell Workshop at Elite Training Systems
Even at the highest levels of coaching and training, there is a need and desire to continuously learn from different people to consistently improve your ability to help your clients get better and improve.
You Are What You Eat — Facts of the Food Industry
What you consume on a daily basis not only affects your training but also directly controls your quality of life. Are you sure you know what you’re eating?
Sleep More, Lift More
The most basic source of recovery is free and easy, powerful enough to improve your strength and conditioning without resorting to any prescribed medication. Are you taking full advantage of it?
Fix These Simple Mistakes to Lift Heavier Weights
These mistakes in the squat, bench, and deadlift seem small on their own. But add them to together? You’re leaving pounds off your total.
Finding Peak Performance in Powerlifting Through Personal Coaching
The key to breaking my long-term training plateau was turning to someone with more knowledge and training experience than me. He knew exactly what I needed.
How to Build The Perfect Home Gym
I’ve simplified this process into four phases: essentials, accessories, specialty bars, and everything else.
Training Heavy with Chronic Pain
No amount of strategic planning can account for your body’s unexpected responses to training and life. Be prepared to stop bowing down to your program and start listening to your body.
The Pharmaceutical Buffet
Feeling sick? Before pressing the pill cap down and turning to the right, try this swallow-free alternative.
Virtual Existence: Are You Clark Kent, Pretending to be Superman?
It’s pretty damn easy to disguise yourself behind the anonymity of a keyboard, but the character you create online isn’t the person you get to be in the real world.
My SWIS 2015 Experience
The best come together for a weekend to educate each other on business, strength training, rehab, and nutrition. My head is still spinning.
I Wanna Get Fat
The decision to cut or add weight does not have to be so complicated. Is it a pleasant experience? Well, that’s debatable.
Behind the Numbers: Interview with Bruce Mason
With a growing record of impressive meet numbers, this young and talented lifter aims to take over the sport of geared powerlifting.
The Ups and Downs of Competition
In every phase of the process, do prepare for the unexpected. This is the real world and it will turn out great only if everything goes according to plan.
Mandatory Skills for a Trainer
If one of your training partners, friends, colleagues or clients collapsed in the gym, would you be able to help? Would you know what to do besides dial 911?
The Elitefts Manor— A Retirement Home for Powerlifters
Where do the old, broken hip, ate-up powerlifters go after they retire from the sport? What do young guys in their prime get to look forward to? It’s glorious…just glorious.
The Ultimate Support System
Having the support of fellow lifters and training partners is really significant to progress in your lifting career. However, having the support of your family is especially important.
Purposeful Training for Emergency First Responders: Why Physical Prepara...
If your profession requires a state of physical fitness, there are two things you need to know: which specific demands to train and how to raise your general fitness level.
WATCH: Dissecting the Kettlebell Snatch
The Whethams team up on camera again to bring another technical breakdown of a fundamental Kettlebell movement.
Shiftwork, Sleep Deprivation, and Training: How to Overcome A Less Than ...
If you’re looking for the ideal training effect with a poor work and sleep schedule, you won’t find it. A lot of people try. A lot of people fail. Here’s how I learned to work around it.
Ka-BOOM! A Learning Experience in Failure and Bombing
When faced with failure you have two options: sit down and quit or push harder. Several weeks ago I found myself in this predicament.
WATCH: Mastering the Kettlebell Clean
This fundamental movement requires an advanced technical proficiency. Use this video guide to help you reach total kettlebell comprehension.
Promoting Powerlifting to Young Lifters
Having the opportunity to bring up the next generation of strength athletes is a task as much as a privilege. Use your influence wisely.
Managing My Injuries with Dr. Kinakin's Specialized Rehabilitation ...
Athletes and lifters must care for their bodies with the attention of every detail. For me, this meant seeking deep acupuncture, electrical impulses, and the use of a percusser.
How To Program Your Training for Kettlebell Sport
Two programs outline how to use the ballistic methods of kettlebell training to improve joint mobility and strengthen ligaments and tendons for a competitive edge.
The Impact of Mentors on Life Development
In your lifetime, you will encounter those who beat you down and those who inspire your personal development. It is your responsibility to choose who becomes the guiding voice.
WATCH: Technical Demonstration of Competitive Kettlebell Sport
Two veterans of kettlebell sport walk you through the ass-kicking, heart-pounding, 10-minute event.
Rethinking the Aging Process at 50 Years Old
You can let your age (which is just a number) drag you down or you can prove to yourself and everyone around you that age doesn’t have to be a limiting factor for anything.
The Firefit Combat Challenge: The Toughest Two Minutes in Sports
I adjusted my powerlifting and kettlebell training to adapt to the needs of this highly-intensive challenge.
A Simple Guide to Getting Shredded in 6 Weeks
As an active firefighter, Ken Whethem followed these nutrition rules to go from lean to shredded.
Kettlebells for Conditioning and Strength
Build conditioning, power and athleticism with simple and easy-to-learn kettlebell workouts.
Surviving Reno: International Travel for a Bigger Total
If you want to become the best, go learn from someone even better.
The Pursuit of Strength
We hold these truths to be self evident…all men are created equal (but not genetically) and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of strength.