Three minutes of actual sprint work per week produces the same VO2 max improvement as five full hours of moderate-intensity cycling per week. This is not a headline designed to sell something. It is the finding of a peer-reviewed randomised controlled trial from McMaster University. Sprint interval training operates through a different physiological mechanism than…
Tight hamstrings are the most commonly cited flexibility limitation in recreational athletes. They are also the most commonly treated incorrectly. The standard approach: stretch the hamstrings for 30 seconds, three times, after training. Sometimes before training. Consistently for a few weeks, then irregularly, then not at all, because nothing seems to change. The hamstrings feel…
Every squat you perform at 100 kg involves both legs. One leg may contribute 55 kg worth of force. The other may contribute 45 kg. The bar goes up. The asymmetry is invisible. This hidden asymmetry compounds over months and years of bilateral-only training. The dominant leg becomes increasingly stronger relative to the non-dominant leg….
The Zercher squat looks uncomfortable. It is. That discomfort is also precisely what makes it effective. Named after Ed Zercher, a strongman from the 1930s who reportedly squatted this way because he lacked a squat rack, the Zercher squat holds the barbell in the crease of the elbows rather than on the back or front…
The pullover is one of the oldest exercises in strength training. Arnold Schwarzenegger credited it with expanding his ribcage. Arthur Jones built the Nautilus pullover machine around it. Then it largely disappeared from modern programming. What replaced it were rows, pulldowns, and pressing variations, all excellent exercises. But every one of them trains the lat…