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.
Topic
technique
Every Entire Strength article tagged technique — 11 pieces across 1 section.
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
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
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
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.
Technique
The squat depth argument, settled as far as it can be
Depth is treated as a moral question in most gyms. It is actually a question about what you are training for, what your hips are shaped like, and whether you can maintain position.