Technique
Hip thrusts and the case for direct glute training
Squats and deadlifts train the glutes, and they train them at a specific part of the range. Direct hip extension work covers the part they miss.
Technique
The lifts, joint by joint, cue by cue.
Technique
Explosive lifts for people who are not weightlifters
Cleans, snatches and their variations develop qualities that grinding heavy lifts do not. They also take time to learn, which is the honest argument against them.
Technique
Conventional or sumo: choosing a deadlift stance
The two stances load the body differently enough that they are best thought of as separate lifts, and which suits you is largely a question of your skeleton.
Technique
Grip, straps and the hook grip question
Grip is the limiter on a lot of pulling work, and the argument about whether to use straps has a reasonable answer that annoys both sides.
Technique
Bracing, belts and the Valsalva manoeuvre
Trunk stiffness is what lets you transmit force from the ground to the bar. Most people brace by sucking in, which does close to the opposite of what is needed.
Technique
Single-leg work: the training most people skip and should not
Split squats, lunges and step-ups are unglamorous, humbling, and address something bilateral training cannot.
Technique
Front squat, high bar, low bar: choosing a bar position
Where the bar sits changes the lift more than most people appreciate — the torso angle, the muscles loaded, the depth available and the weight you can move.
Technique
Getting your first pull-up, and your tenth
The pull-up is the most requested skill in any gym and the one most often approached with methods that do not work.
Technique
The hip hinge: the pattern everyone thinks they can do
Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, kettlebell swings and every athletic movement that produces force from the ground share one pattern, and most people squat it instead.
Technique
Rowing and the back nobody trains properly
The back has more distinct functions than any other region and it is usually trained with two exercises performed with momentum. Here is a more useful way to think about it.
Technique
The overhead press: the lift most people set up wrong
Pressing overhead is the most honest test of upper body strength and the one most compromised by a poor starting position and a trunk that does not hold.
Technique
The bench press arch, and why it is not cheating
The arch is one of the most misunderstood things in the gym — condemned as dangerous by people who have never used one and exaggerated into absurdity by people who compete.
Technique
The deadlift setup: five things that decide the lift before it starts
A deadlift that fails usually failed in the setup. By the time the bar leaves the floor, most of the outcome has already been determined.