Article recommendations week #3 2017
We have searched the web for the most valuable and interesting articles of week #3 2017
Strength Training Articles
Muscle & Fitness shared a video of a Russian Lifter Does Insane Turkish Get-Up check out the video
Feel free to check out a few more videos of that fellow, pretty crazy stuff. I would just like to advise to weigh up the possible risk of some of these moves to the potential rewards you can get from such a maneuver before trying it yourself.
Strength Made Simple outlined A Simple Periodisation Plan how to plan, design and write a strength training program and divide it into different phases with specific training goals in each phase.
The Bar Bend showed an applied example of complex training/contrast training to improve upper body power by using Post-activation Potentiation Increase Your Bench Press Power with this Upper Body PAP. Complex training and contrast training are often used interchangeably – even by myself, bad habit – but they are not the same thing. Explaining the difference between complex training and contrast training would go beyond the scope of this article, but in simple words:
- contrast training: you alternate between sets, in the given example of the article, a set of heavy Bench Press is followed by a set of MB Power Drops
- complex training: with regards to the example of before, Bench Press and Power Drops, you finish your sets of Bench Press and then do your sets of Power Drops.
Juggernaut Training Systems discussed Fine Tune Your Frequency a critical debate challenging common wisdom on training frequency.
Fitness & Power explained
- How to Get Stronger and Build More Muscle In 2017 – the good news is, it’s the same as in 2016 and before, basically it’s lift, rest and eat, rinse and repeat – and it’s even rhyming…
- How To Stay The Right Level Of Hydrated During Your Workout simple but effective advice
Bicycling shared Your Twice-A-Week Training Plan for busy cyclist, not that the training plan is very sophisticated, but it shows how to implement a strength training program into a busy schedule.
Bonvec Strength shared 4 Warm Up Mistakes You’re Probably Making a good overview of common warm-up procedures and how to improve those.
The Burn Fat Blog offered some good and actionable advice on how to design and execute a strength training program targeted to increase muscular hypertrophy in the article How Much Weight Should You Lift To Build Muscle (And When To Lift More)
Complementary Training explained and demonstrated The Simplest Way To Monitoring Your Training check out the explainer video
Plyometric Training Articles
Power Systems discussed how to Take Your Training Sessions To New Heights With Plyometrics a good overview of plyometric training.
Power Training Articles
EliteFTS shared a very thorough piece on Power Training and how to develop a power training program in their article Practical Application for Developing Rotational Power
What I particularly like is the analysis of the demands, the discussion on how to overload and putting all pieces together into a comprehensive power training program not only for rotational athletes.
Back Squat, Front Squat, and Overhead Squat Articles
Tony Gentilcore explains that If you want bigger arms: Squat explaining the benefits of squatting on hypertrophic effects and using a quote of the legendary bodybuilder Sergio Oliva who stated ‘If you want bigger arms- squat. Squatting makes everything grow.’ to underpin his point. Sergio Oliva was famous for his incredibly developed arms.
T-Nation offered
- a Tip: Do This Mobility Drill For a Better Squat how improved ankle mobility can help the squatting pattern. There a a hundred ways to skin a cat, but check out their ankle mobility drill
- Tip: How to Zercher Squat and the benefits of the Zercher Squat, check out the video
Strengtheory discusses Squatting with Patellar Tendinopathy an in-depth article on anatomy and biomechanics, causes for tendinopathy and how to prevent and work around it.
The Bar Bend shared
- 3 Movements to Boost Your Lagging Front Squat a great article on addressing weak spots in your Front Squat.
- High-Bar Versus Low-Bar Squats: Their Differences and When to Use Them a very good comparison of the two squat variations and the practical application
Stack offered 3 Ways to Fix Bad Squat Form a good analytical overview of mobility demands and possible compensations if mobility demands aren’t met.
Deadlift Articles
T-Nation offered a Tip: Fix Your Deadlift Technique Fast addressing a very common technical flaw of doing the initial pull off the ground to fast and explosive, check out the video how to do it
Check out this video how not to do it
Stack showed some variations of the Split Stance Deadlift with a trap bar in the article Build a Strong Lower Body With This Little-Known Deadlift Variation we use this variation at times.
Power Clean, Power Snatch, and Olympic Lifting Articles
Catalystathletics shared Pressure vs Balance in the Snatch & Clean Pull a great piece on the distribution of weight and balance underpinned by biomechanical concepts.
Breaking Muscle explained How Split Cleans And Snatches Strengthen Your ACL a good application for showing how certain derivatives of the Olympic Lifts have a high transfer to sports performance and injury prevention. Yes, the Split Clean and Split Snatch won’t allow you to lifts the same load as the regular Clean or Power Clean, or Snatch or Power Snatch, but the purpose is not to lift a maximum load in this specific instance.
The Bar Bend explained
- 13 Undeniable Benefits of the Snatch a pretty solid overview of all the benefits of the Snatch and Power Snatch benefits
- How to Increase Your Speed Under the Barbell in the Snatch an excellent piece on how to improve speed in the catch phase and recovery phase of the Snatch, as well as offering useful assistance exercise to train this.
If you are not familiar with the technical phases of the Snatch and Power Snatch, check out the article
All Things Gym shared Lu Xiaojun 201kg Clean & Jerk Bomb Out at the 2015 Worlds I agree with All Things Gym, why would you share a failed attempt, but it is true that the movement just looks so seamless #poetryinmotion check it out
Highlights of the week
I definitely like the advice from Breaking Muscle to Prioritize Results, Not Popular Advice and the common sense approach to program design.
Juggernaut Training Systems discussed Assessing Leg vs Back Strength in the Squat, a pretty good and nuanced discussion on whether an athlete lacks leg strength or back strength in the squat and possible solutions. Check out the video
