When to Train Above Contest Weight in Strongman
Wondering when to push beyond contest weight for reps and how to structure your training program for optimal performance without compromising recovery?
10 Reasons Why You Aren't Making Progress
Why do people give up after only a few years? Sticking to a plan for only four weeks? Always looking for motivation? Training too easy…
9 Qualities of a Successful Gym Owner
If you see owning a gym as just a revenue stream, I guarantee you will fail. It takes way more than equipment in a room with electricity.
Arm Training for Strength Athletes
Direct arm training will reduce the likelihood of a biceps or triceps tear, strengthen the tendons, improve pressing strength and grip.
8-Week Strength Training Program for the MMA Athlete
Take two athletes with roughly the same skill set, the stronger athlete will win every time. Get stronger with this program.
So You Want to Compete in Strongman
If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way. Follow this short guide to get started in the best sport known to man.
5 Things I Didn't Expect to Learn from Bodybuilding
I never thought in a million years I’d compete in bodybuilding. The experience proved to be worthwhile and serves all facets of my training.
8-Week Bodybuilding Program for the Beat Up Powerlifter
If you’re feeling crusty as a powerlifter, it’s time to dial the heavy weight DOWN and turn the reps and blood flow UP with this 8-week bodybuilding program.
The Best Lower Body Warm-up Ever!
Don’t skimp out on a warm-up to only tweak your back squatting 135. I know from experience.
Bullet-Proof Knees for Strongman
Strongman is a brutal sport to train for and can take a toll on your knees if you’re moving and using tools improperly. Make these few tweaks to your training and you’ll be pain-free. I guarantee it.
Matt Mills Leg Day Ain't Nuttin to $%@! With!
With the weekly holiday of "WuTang Wednesday" in the rear view mirror, it is important to pay respects to one of the leading most supporters of the weekly musical tradition and elitefts columnist Matt Mills. No many people would be able to handle the amount of volume that Mills is used to, nor would they […]
Top 5 Tips To Add 100 Pounds To Your Deadlift
1. Pull In Both Stances I decided to go back to powerlifting and tested out where my sumo was. First time I went back to it, the weights were flying off the floor, and I went on to pull 800 pounds at the meet. Getting stronger in my weaker stance added 100 pounds to […]
Giant Sets for Size and Strength
Skimping out on accessory work because you don’t have enough time? Get a nasty pump with giant sets and kiss your time constraints goodbye.
8-Week Deadlift Program for the Sumo and Conventional Puller
Whatever side of the fence you’re behind, you should train the deadlift sumo AND conventional. Why? They work synergistically to get you strong while minimizing weak points.
5 Exercises to Never Take Out of Your Program
The five exercises I have chosen will not cause overuse injuries as the heavy compound movements can. In fact, if you keep them in weekly, you’ll prevent injuries.
5 Strict Press Cues for the Strongman
The American log press record holder Rob Kearney used to avoid strict pressing as he was able to rely on his massive split jerk to get him over 400 pounds on the log. Once he incorporated strict pressing, as well as other accessory lifts to build his shoulders, he pressed 475 pounds for a new American record.
8-Week Beginner Post Quarantine Strongman Program
This 8-week program is perfect for those who are just getting into strongman, or for those who have been doing bodyweight and band workouts for the last few months.
Shoulder Saver Bench Warm-up
Since starting this recovery routine, that I do on both of my upper body days per week, I have had far less pain and nagging injuries. Save your shoulders!
All I Need Is One Bar
Many of my online clients and members of my gym don’t have a squat rack or bench at home, unfortunately. However, many of them have access to a barbell. Are you in this same predicament?
4 Ways to Get Stronger Without Adding Weight to the Bar
Too many people focus on hitting the big 1RM and forget the little stuff that gets them there.
Top-10 Assistance Exercises to Get Stronger and Remain Injury-Free
I started late in the game and unfortunately have the scars to prove it. Now with so much information literally at your fingertips, you don’t have to go through the wringer like me. Learn from my mistakes and incorporate these exercises into your program.
12-Week Powerlifting/Strongman Hybrid Program
How are strongman and powerlifting related and how do you combine the two in a program? This is something Dave Tate wanted me to write, so here it is.
5 Common Strongman Weaknesses and How to Fix Them
Consider the Press, Deadlift, Farmer’s Walk, Death Medley, and Atlas Stones. I’ll pinpoint the common weakness in each event and provide an exercise (a solution) for you to fix the weak point. No excuses!
How to Use Knee Wraps for Strongman
Strongman is a brutal sport that will beat your joints up, so you might as well take all the precautions that you can. That means that knee wraps, knee sleeves, and elbows sleeves are musts.
Romanian Deadlift Variations for Stronger Hamstrings
Other than the GHR, nothing else builds the hamstrings better than Romanian Deadlifts. Try out these variations, and you’ll see a difference in those hammies.
What I've Learned From the Mistakes I've Made as A Trainer
It’s great you can point out each origin and insertion of every muscle, but your client doesn’t care. Your end goal is to get your client results and to make them feel better about themselves — not getting them to the point where they’re limping out of your gym.
Training for Strongman in a Commercial Gym
Most strongman competitors I work with don’t have a strongman gym nearby — but they do have a commercial gym. This 4-week program will help just about anyone in that all-too-common situation.
Don't Peak Too Soon: Strongman Training 2 Weeks Out
You have to learn that 2 weeks before the competition, you aren’t going to get stronger. All you can really do is screw things up. Don’t lift 1RMs; instead, deload or train with lighter weights. You want to peak at the competition, not in training.
10 Things You Can Start Doing to Extend Your Lifting Career
To this day, I still have new members of my gym argue with me on nutrition and training, only to regret not listening later on. Follow these tips and you will not only continue to get stronger for years to come, but you will also stay injury-free.
How to Prepare for a Strongman Death Medley
Programming for a death medley event can be tricky. Many people make the mistake of going too heavy right away with maybe one top set — a recipe for disaster. Instead, try out my recipe for a successful death medley.
5 Upper Back Basics to Build Strength and Size
Can you deadlift 600 pounds but can’t budge a 225-pound stone off the floor? If you didn’t know, the upper back comes into play in nearly every strongman event; therefore, a weak upper back will surely decrease your chance of winning and advancing in the sport.
Gain Weight in Your Off-Season with This Meal Plan
After reading Mark Dugdale’s recent off-season diet article, I thought I would write about what my current diet in the off-season is like as well. Not only will I share my current off-season diet, but I’m also going to write about my process for gaining weight — not fat, but muscle.
Matt Mills Finishes in 18th Place of 40 at the 2019 Arnold Amateur Stron...
I might not have made it as a top-10 heavyweight finalist in the 2019 Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championships, but I sure learned a lot while I was there. Plus, I’ll be sure to apply everything I learned this time around at my next competition.
Add 100 Pounds to Your Deadlift
These are the deadlifting tips that have helped my deadlift the most. If they helped me and my athletes, they’ll help you too.
How to Squat for Strong(wo)man
Even though squatting is rare in the lower levels of strong(wo)man competitions, I believe it’s something we still need to work on as an accessory movement. Grab some of your elitefts specialty bars, and I’ll show you the ropes.
Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner with 1 Move
All you need is one technique: one-motion log press. That’s it. No more, no less. Just that. One. Singular. Technique.
4 Accessories to Fix the Deadlift Lockout
As I got stronger with pulling conventional, a funny thing happened. My weak point went from being off the floor (where it was when pulling sumo) to just below the knee. I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out what exercises would get me stronger.
Kettlebells for Strongman
For the Strongman athlete, kettlebells are a great accessory after your main lifts. Here are a few of my favorites for accessory work. These exercises are best done with higher reps.
The Bench Press Comeback
Tear after tear, I was seriously never benching again—it’s just not for me, blah blah blah, excuses, excuses. I had injured myself so many times, but I couldn’t let that stop me.
5 Great Exercises for the Most Hated Machine in the Gym
Everything can hold a purpose in the gym, even the easily avoided Smith Machine. At Lightning Fitness, I recently made room for this piece of equipment and would like to share how my bodybuilders, powerlifters, and strongman competitors are using it.
The Top 5 Accessory Lifts to Improve Your Strongman Press
You will have weak points on events, and not focusing on bringing them up will leave you in the dust. The big pressers always have monster triceps, just as they do in powerlifting, so that’s what we need to work on with these movements.
Strongman Gear 101: Everything You Need for Your Strongman Competition
Unless you want to let another competitor have an advantage over you, you need to have the best gear for every event. Here are the must-haves and my favorite versions of each item.
10-Week Rest Pause Method Progression for Strength
Small jumps each week alter the focus of this progression from hypertrophy to strength, first building the muscle, tendon, and ligament strength needed to handle heavier weights, and then hitting PRs.
Programming for the Strongman Deadlift
The deadlift program I’m going to outline will prepare you for both a heavy event and a high rep event. This will be perfect for those in strongman that are not given events for a specific contest.
Training the Strongman Yoke
When I began strongman I was terrible at the yoke, even though it was in almost every competition I had competed in. With it being so common, I had no choice but to improve. Here’s what I learned along the way.
Off-Season Bodybuilding Program for Powerlifters and Strongman Competito...
The introductory four weeks should have improved your joints and helped you become accustomed to high reps. Now it’s time to get more challenging.
Off-Season Bodybuilding Program for Powerlifters and Strongman Competito...
A good off-season program gives your joints a break, helps you put on quality muscle, and gives you a mental break from the rigors of competing so you can just have some fun training. This program provides all of those things.
Extra Workout Bodybuilding-Style Lat Training for Strength Athletes
Feeling your lats engage on accessory work will make it easier to activate them on the compound lifts. One of my favorite ways to do this when I can add an extra training day is with a light, high-rep extra workout.
Strongman Programming for Max Reps Events
I’m going to outline a 12-week program for an event that is max reps — a weight that is currently out of your reach.
5 Simple Ways to Increase Grip Strength
Building a better grip doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming, and can have a big impact on your performance for both powerlifting and strongman.
3 Ab Exercises for Powerlifting and Strongman
To perform these exercises correctly, you need to learn how to breathe and brace properly. But once you do, it will pay off big time.
Gym Business: What I Wish I Knew When I Started
Without passion for what I do, I would have closed down a long time ago. I get a lot of questions about starting a facility similar to my own, so here is some advice I wish someone would’ve given me years ago.
Training Advice Worth Repeating
If I could go back in time to when I first started in this industry, I’d force myself to follow these five rules of training. Those of you starting now should listen.
Strongman Conditioning for Powerlifters
Let’s get into which strongman events will help improve the big three and how to program them.
Overhead Pressing for a Bigger and Safer Bench Press
After two pec tears, I needed to try something new. Not only did training the overhead press make my bench stronger, but it also solved all my pec injury problems.
How I Deadlifted 800 Pounds Raw
Hard work, unorthodox movements, and correcting weaknesses produce a BIG deadlift PR.
