Article recommendations week #1 2017
Happy New Year and an awesome 2017!
We have searched the web for the most valuable and interesting articles of week #1 2017
Strength Training Articles
There is no better way to start off the year with recommending Power Athlete HQ‘s article Power Coach: Concentration
Why? Because of the heart of the article lies the idea from Archilochus ‘We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.’
- found honest words and explained why New Year’s Resolutions Are BS and outlining that a change in habit and behavior is more important for a lasting change.
- explained how Determining Exercise Value I like the minimalist approach, find a few things that work well, get really good at doing them and make minor changes to improve.
- added My Favorite Intensity Techniques definitely some good intensification techniques, in my experience intensification techniques should be used carefully, it’s easier to overdo them, rather than using them to your advantage.
Breaking Muscle gave a good overview of
- the implementation and use of weightlifting movements in Crossfit and some unique variations used only in Crossfit in their article 2017 CrossFit Open Prep: Weightlifting Movements
- The Role Of Strength Training In Fat Loss how strength training can help fat loss and why strength training helps fat loss
Poliquin Group shared a short and concise article on Ten Health Myth Debunked By Science
The PTDC shared 101 really good facts The Big List of 101 Things Successful Trainers Need to Know worth reading and understanding.
T-Nation offered
- a Tip: One Exercise Isn’t Enough for Hamstrings based on the idea, that the hamstring has two functions – extending the hip and flexing the knee. Consequently, these functions should be reflected in training.
- a Tip: The Minimalist Approach a great application of the minimalist approach to strength training, bottom line drop the fluff stuff and do the bread and butter stuff.
Strengtheory challenged the common beliefs and guidelines with regards to fat loss and building muscle in the article Data-Based Muscle, Strength, and Fat-Loss Targets to Set Realistic Training Goals and as always backed up with data, great job.
Men’s Fitness explained The best time of day to workout for more muscle the idea on training based on circadian rhythms is not new and has worked for some people. In my opinion, it’s worth considering once you have mastered the fundamentals and the freedom to chose your training times.
Renaissance Periodization looked at
- Training Volume Landmarks for Muscle Growth I like the idea of classifying volume into different categories for ‘maintenance’, ‘development’ etc
- Ab Training Tips for Hypertrophy I do like the fact that there is a system and a thought behind the structure of the session(s), weeks and period.
Complementary Training created an Annual Planner for Google Sheets a cool application that helps you to share your annual plan / yearly plan with your athletes or coaches and can be easily updated. Have a look at the small introduction how it works
The Elite Performance Institute wrote a good post on Variable Resistance Training (VRT) – Bands & Chains, which is interesting since I have also written a post this week on
While the Elite Performance Institute does a much better job in citing references, which is not difficult since I didn’t cite references, and looks closer at the litereature, my article is more targeted towards the practical application and challenges in using bands and chains. If you combine both, you will get the best of both worlds.
Train Heroic explained how to Transition Strength Into Power and Perform More Speed Training in the Off-Season a great overview of how to unfold a training program.
Men’s Fitness explained The benefits of gains for your brain how training helps the performance of the brain.
Muscle & Fitness explained how to Stimulate New Growth With The Bulgarian Method a great application of the Bulgarian Weightlifting method, select a few strength training exercises, do them really well and focussing on getting stronger at them.
Mike Boyle recommended Great Sleep Article a bit of a heavy read, but full of valuable information Rare Gene Mutation Allows Some People to Thrive on Minimal Sleep check out also the Ted Talk What Genes Tell Us About Sleep | Ying-Hui Fu | TEDxThacherSchool
Unfortunately I don’t seem to have the gene mutation that allows me to sleep less…
Speed Training Articles
Mike Boyle at the Strengthcoach reviewed and recommends the book Speed is What We Need
as one of the best resources for speed development.
Stack explained Improve Your Hip Mobility to Sprint Faster a great overview how to implement hip mobility drills into your speed training warm-up.
Back Squat, Front Squat and Overhead Squat Articles
Men’s Journal explained This Is Why You Can’t Squat Heavy embracing the idea, that if you are not progressing in the squat it can be due to flawed technique or mobility issues.
Barbend published a great article on assessing the Back Squat technique of a high bar Back Squat Assess High Bar Back Squat Form to Benefit Your Gains
Stack explained the 3 different variations on how to hold the bar in a Front Squat in their article A Guide to Different Front Squat Grips
Breakingmuscle shared a great tutorial on the Single Arm Overhead Squat with a Kettlebell in the article Grade Your Mobility With Kettlebell Overhead Squats
The Barbell Physio asked Is Your Upper Body Holding Your Squat Back? explaining the relation between shoulder mobility and thoracic spine mobility and squat performance.
Deadlift Articles
The Barbell Rehab explained You Don’t Need to Toe Touch to Deadlift Safely using the assessment of the movement of the Deadlift helps to clarify with this myth.
Tony Gentilcore shared The Beginner’s Checklist For Deadlift Badassery a solid overview of the basics of a Deadlift, how to teach and train them.
Power Clean, Power Snatch, and Olympic Lifting Articles
I find it interesting to see the shift how Olympic Weightlifting starts to receive recognition, Shape‘s article Beyond Awesome Benefits of Olympic Weightlifting addresses the benefits of Olympic Weightlifting movements for women to reach their fitness goals. Unfortunately some of the supporting pictures show some improper form and not the right use of equipment.
Breakingmuscle pours oil in the fire of the ‘Olympic Lifting debate’ and asks the question Do You Really Need Weightlifting? a good discussion and some good arguments. However, my point of view is, if you dominate the technique of the Olympic Lifts it will give you the biggest bang for your buck, if you don’t dominate the technique you will loose all your bucks.
Highlights of the week
One of my athletes Matthijs Büchli, silver medallist at the Keirin event at the Rio Olympic Games 2016 set a new track record at the 6 Days Race in Rotterdam, great achievement!
Check out the video!
