Elite strength is built in the margins. This article breaks down how elite powerlifters evolve over time through smarter programming, better fatigue management, refined technique, harder accessory work, stronger training environments, and strategic weight-class decisions.

"The void" is described as a transformative mental state of freedom and peace where an athlete sheds their daily stressors to become a different, often more aggressive, version of themselves, pushing past physical limits into a space of absolute nothingness.

Every lifter faces the same tension: follow the plan or trust the moment. In this deep dive, Dr. Rodger Broomé explores the psychological archetypes of Apollo (discipline) and Dionysus (intensity), and how mastering both leads to smarter training, better autoregulation, and stronger performance on the platform.

 "You could work on your T-spine mobility, and you probably add 25 lbs to your bench—you don't even have to add any muscle, you just have to add mobility."

Strength training isn’t just about lifting heavier—it’s about training with purpose. Learn how to build a solid program around the big rocks, warm up effectively, and develop the mindset to perform when it matters most. 

"I didn't think I would ever get there, but I committed to it, and if you really go all in and you just commit to something and you really believe in yourself, you can absolutely do it."

"If you want to achieve your ultimate physical goals, you must become 'every type of jacked' by mastering autoregulation and truly understanding the biological systems that drive your performance and recovery."

 The Zercher squat is an accessible anterior-loaded variation that builds the quads and upper back without requiring the wrist and shoulder mobility often necessary for a traditional front rack position. By placing the barbell in the crook of the elbows just in front of the bicep tendon, lifters can enforce a more upright squatting pattern that strengthens the core and balances out posterior-chain dominant training.

In this article, Ashley Jones revisits Bill Starr’s 5×5 system and shows how loading waves, clusters, and variation can enhance strength and athletic development.

The SS Yoke Bar is not just a squat bar replacement. Here is how to get everything out of the most important specialty bar in any serious gym.

If your joints are beat up and you need something that actually works between now and your next training session, floss bands might be the most practical recovery tool you're not using.

"What you always want to do when you are spotting a squat from the back is you never want to be over the bar with your hands, you always want to be under the lifter".

The best strength programs aren’t complicated—they’re built around simple movements done exceptionally well. The Pull, Push, Squat system combines Olympic lifts, pressing, and squat variations into a powerful framework for building full-body strength, power, and long-term durability.

Most HYROX athletes are not limited by effort — they are limited by poor training organization. In this article, Ryan Gibney explains why HYROX sits between strength and endurance, why most athletes plateau from doing too much in the wrong places, and how a high / low conjugate model can build strength, speed, durability, and aerobic capacity without letting one quality sabotage the others.

Three elite athletes sat down at the S5 Compound and broke down the American Gladiators reboot on Prime Video, including everything the cameras didn't show.

 "Adhesion is the most common condition in the muscular skeletal system; an EMG or NCV will catch a nerve that's damaged when it's like 90 to 100% bad, but there's nothing catching it between 0% up to that 80 or 90%."

Most lifters hire a coach and then immediately get in their own way. Here's the framework that will make every session count.

Paul Carter and I sat down for Table Talk #303 and spent two-plus hours cutting through the noise around hypertrophy training. Here's what you need to hear.

Paul Carter argues that because every set accumulates fatigue, which can hinder performance, lifters must mitigate this fatigue by utilizing more extended rest periods to ensure high-threshold motor units are recruited in subsequent sets. He challenges the traditional belief that fatigue is a stimulus for growth, suggesting that straight sets with adequate rest are mechanically superior to intensity techniques, such as drop sets, for maximizing effective reps.

Drew Donaldson brings 20 years of coaching experience to the S5 and lays out a glycolytic upper body session that merges research with what's been working in gyms for decades.

A neurologist draws a map to purpose, balance, and fulfillment using Homer's Odyssey. Turns out, powerlifting drew the same map decades ago.

Dr. Pat Davidson breaks down the billionaire myth of accidental muscle growth, the meathead bell curve, and how high-ground training choices change everything for hypertrophy.

The sport of powerlifting changed forever in January 1980. With the official adoption of the USPF name and Joseph "Doc" Rhodes revealing his world-championship peaking program, this issue is a masterclass in old-school strength and political drama.