Article recommendations week #8 2018

American Football International listed 6 Exercises to Build Serious Strength That Aren’t Squats, Deadlifts or Bench a selection of alternatives to the Big 3.

Picture Fit discussed Partial Reps vs Full Reps looking at 2 studies comparing partial reps vs full reps in the Squat and Preacher Curls and analyzing the underlying mechanisms for adaptation, such as TUT (Time Under Tension), Muscle Length and selective overload. Definitely, check it out

Elite FTS discussed

• Know Your Audience: Learning More About Your Athletes how knowing your athletes can help to make better decisions.
• Tissue Load vs. Tissue Capacity: A Key to Injury Recovery and Prevention what it is and why it matters.
• Mastering Leg Drive in the Push Press a tutorial on the leg drive in the Push Press for Strongman. Check it out

• Fixing Dave Tate — Movement Screening using the FMS (functional movement screen) to screen Dave Tate. The FMS has been a bit under scrutiny over the last years for the lack of supportive evidence, however, it seems to be worth it in this case. Check it out

• Simple Steps to Reaching Your Ultimate Goals, an interesting approach to goal setting, including smaller goals, objectives and KPI’s. Check it out

• Peak Mental Performance Podcast — Auto-Regulation and How Personality Type Influences Training an interview with Mike Tuscherer discussing various topics from not only auto-regulation and personality types, as the title suggests, but also philosophical questions around training, such as training variety, strengthening the strength vs weakening the weaknesses. Check it out

Breaking Muscle explained

• The Athlete’s Toolbox: An Unbeatable Mind, what an unbeatable mind is and why it matters, outlining the concept of emotional agility and how to use it to your advantage.
• It’s About The Athletes First why any successful program, facility, coach or whatever it might need to put the athlete first.
• Do Drop Sets Build Muscle? the theory behind drop sets, the practical application and programming considerations and examples.

Gravity Training Zones explained How to Fix Rounded Shoulders by using simple lifestyle adjustments and adding a few corrective exercises. Check it out

The Barbell Physio outlined which movements you need to be able to do for a bigger Bench, how to test these movement and corrective exercises in the article Bench Press Mobility.

Catalystathletics demanded Don’t Sit Down During Your Workout if you want to maintain focus during your training sessions.

Robertson Training Systems shared an interview with Mladen Jovanovic On Flexible Programming And Agile Periodization all about the approach to flexible periodization and the use of VBT (velocity-based training). Listen in

The Bar Bend listed 5 Essential Tips for an Aspiring Young Bodybuilder some good tips, not only for Bodybuilders.

The Strength Sensei listed 3 simple guidelines to optimize your hormonal environment in the article Hormonal Optimization: Simple Guidelines

Bach Performance explained How To Stop Messing Up Your Knees With Dumb Exercises emphasizing proper technical execution for the longevity of your knees.

Barbell Shrugged shared Holistic Lifestyle Coaching with Legendary Strength Coach Paul Chek, I have read quite a few things of Paul Check and do like his approach to a holistic lifestyle, as well as his approach to movements and basing all movements on fundamental movements. This interview offers some good value. Check it out, but grab a coffee, it’s 2 hours!

Nutrition Articles

T-Nation shared a Tip: The Most Important Mealtime Strategy presenting a research, that showed, that nutrient timing within a meal is also important.

Elite FTS explained The Best Foods for a Squat Bloat how to manipulate carbohydrate intake, salt intake and hydration to optimize your performance for heavy lifts. Check it out

Breaking Muscle outlined considerations for your diet, when you get older in the article Eating Well As We Age: Jump-Starting Your Metabolism

Shredded by Science discussed The Best Supplements, what I really like is the explanation of the criteria for makes a good supplement and which supplements have scientific support. Check it out

Power Training Articles

Simplifaster listed 7 Key Strategies to Improve Medicine Ball Power Training for Athletes describing the different types of throws, transfer to sports performance and how to choose the right weight for your training goal (power development, conditioning, etc).

Agility Training Articles

Stack explained how to Stop on a Dime: 3 Exercises for Efficient Deceleration what deceleration is, why it is important and exercises to train and optimize your deceleration.

Olympic Lifting Articles 

The Bar Bend outlined Clean and Press vs Clean and Jerk – Which One Should You Use? based on the degree of complexity and difficulty and application to sports performance.

Catalystathletics discussed the role of technique development and technique consolidation in the article Ask Greg: Role of Advanced Lifters in Determining Technique

Juggernaut Training Systems released The JuggLife LIVE a workshop discussing the Snatch technique, especially the height of the bar for the Snatch, what it means, why it matters and also exercises to develop and optimize the height of the bar for a stronger and heavier Snatch. Check it out

Squat Articles 

Silent Mike answered Are Squats Hurting Your Knees? the ever-present question on squats, squat depth, knee traveling during squats. Check out Mike’s take on it

Jason Blaha explained Why Range Of Motion Matters On The Squat, the benefits of doing full range vs partial range. Check it out

Deadlift Articles

Starting Strength shared The Deadlift Teaching Method with Niki Sims the step-by-step outline they (Starting Strength) use to teach the Deadlift. Check it out

Juggernaut Training Systems released Deadlift Pillar #2 | Engaging the Lats discussing the grip width, over-under grip, hook grip and how to engage the lats to keep the bar close to you. Check it out