Not the ones you hear all the time.

To me, greatness is a journey, not a destination. The next few articles I write are going to talk about the path to greatness and the key things that I think are necessary for ultimately reaching that goal. The first thing is tension.

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.

Most intermediates that have come to me without ever working with a qualified coach before are lacking a few qualities in their technique, especially on big lifts. Lacking these qualities can potentially lead to injury at one point or another. These two qualities are tension and torque.

Every seasoned lifter appreciates how easy it is to lose simple habits in pursuit of getting stronger. One such habit: Getting a good grip.

Resistance is resistance, no matter from which source it comes. When you do a push-up, your body doesn’t just go, “What, he’s doing a push-up? Nah, I ain’t growing.”

The sequencing and staging of your PTR is key. The exercises work synergistically, and their individual effectiveness is secondary to their combined effect.

The half-kneeling y-raise is great at showing athletes correct scapulo-humeral rhythm without the common compensations of the over-dominant accessory muscles of the neck and back. To do it, follow the rules of manual resistance.

Regardless of your coaching style or philosophy, here are three techniques that will help your novice athletes improve quickly.

Instantly lift more by making these simple changes.

Reverse bands are a common tool to overload movements, but there is more than one way to utilize them in your training.

Muscles are just plain dumb.

Most of the time, you’ll see the deadlift performed like a cat taking a shit. You know what I mean—the arch and twitch technique? There are a ton of reasons why someone would deadlift this way: