The 14 Best Resources for Strength – April 2016 Edition

1. How to Fix A Good Morning-Style Squat – John Clark

   John breaks down one of the main technical reasons that lifters tend to pitch forward in the squat. We can typically look at a lifters elbow position, and this will dictate where the bar will go. If we see the elbows shoot back (I like to call this “chicken elbows”), we can pretty much guarantee the lifter is going to good morning the weight up. Great little tips and tricks in here to help fix this.

2. Re-Thinking the Deadlift From the Floor – Dean Somerset

   In this article, Dean takes an in-depth review of the lower back positioning during deadlifting from the floor. I like the way that Dean approaches how he looks at movements (especially for the bigger lifts), and how to make them safe for all walks of life. While competitive lifting is going to require one to have to pull from the floor, those that aren’t competitive don’t HAVE to start there (and many shouldn’t). There are some interesting tid-bits you can find in this article on helping people learn how to deadlift properly, and even slowly get them to the floor if that’s where their lifting career may end up going.

3. 7 Simple Cues to Improve Your Squat Form – Tony Bonvechio

   Tony provides some cuing to help your squat technique. Many of these of likely been heard, or even known, but Tony does a great job of providing some different cuing to elicit a better effect. Everyone has different ways of coaching and remembering cues, so give some of these a shot. Hell, you might find one that you aren’t even doing that can help add pounds to your squat.

4. 5 Simple Cues You Need to Know for a Bigger Deadlift – Adam Pine

   Adam gives you some tips to help improve your deadlift. This is rather similar to the article above by Tony, but for the deadlift. Cuing can fix a host of different issues, and instantly add pounds to your lifts. I really enjoyed some of the new cues that I read, and will be giving some of these a try with some of my clients and lifters. Adam is a pretty strong mofo, too.

5. How to Fix Your Bench Press: Programming Issues and Assistance Work – Marilia Coutinho

   Marilia wraps up her bench press series on Elitefts.com with this amazing in depth article. This breaks down some great science to programming and making your assistance/accessory work, work for you. There are lots of videos, diagrams, and a host of other goodies in here. This series was by far one of the best that I’ve ever seen dissecting the bench press.

6. WATCH: How To Properly Use the SS Yoke Bar – Christian Anto

   Christian is my dude, and he came in clutch with this awesome video breaking down how to use the safety squat bar (SSB). This bar is humbling and not an enjoyable experience when you get heavy, but I’ve not seen a bar have any greater transfer to the squat and deadlift. With that said, many people also butcher the effectiveness of this bar by simply how they use it by altering the mechanics with their hand position or actions. Give this a watch and get the most you can from this great training tool.

7. Glute Gains: My Top Exercises and Build-A-Booty Program Design – Alycia Israel

   My girl, Alycia, wraps up her series on building that booty with some go to exercises and even a program on prioritizing your glute development. This can be applied to physique competitors or strength athletes (since we know how important the glutes are in the squat and deadlift). I really enjoyed the whole series, but I specifically liked how she lumped glute development into categories and how to train them based up the category you fall in.

8. Deadlifts: Which Type is Best For You? – Mike Robertson

   Mike goes into great depth about selecting which deadlift type would better suit each person. This is broken down in to numerous variables, but the take home point is finding which is best for you based upon your goals and what you are trying to train. All the variations have merit, but there are some that fit the bill better than others for attaining certain qualities.

9. Tapering for a Powerlifting Meet – Jozo Grgic

   Jozo in with another outstanding article, and this time covering tapering and peaking for a powerlifting meet. This is one of the most common things I seen butchered as a coach, and it can really influence how you will perform on meet day. There is science to back the peaking process, and as such, there are things you should and shouldn’t do. Make sure you’re in the right camp to display your best numbers on meet day.

10. For maximal strength gains, should you use slow eccentrics? – Chris Beardsley

    This article is a bit more science based looking at the difference between slower and faster eccentric muscle actions, and which will yield better strength gains. There can certainly be a case for how one uses eccentrics, but slower eccentrics probably mean you are using heavier loads, and heavier loads mean more muscle damage, and muscle gains (or gainz?). A very good scientific piece, if that’s your thing.

11. The Cure for Weak Glutes: 13 Ways to Fire Up Inactive Glutes – Joel Seedman

    This article somewhat piggybacks off Alycia’s series, but there were some different approaches and other practical things in this article that I liked. Knowing how to activate your glutes can go a long way, and in this article you can surely find some new ways to make sure you are getting the most out of that ass.

12. Some one on one with Shane Sweatt – Marshall Johnson

    This is merely a video, but I really appreciated Marshall getting this footage. Here you will find him performing some training at the Sweatt Shop in Cincinnati, OH. Shane is a super smart dude, especially when it comes to conjugate programming for powerlifting. Watch as Marshall is ran through some different exercises to attack his weak points that he’s looking to implement to take his massive 800+ deadlift to the next level.

13. WATCH: Table Talk – How to Maintain a Healthy Spine – Dave Tate

    This video features Dave Tate and JL Holdsworth discussing how to keep the spine healthy for powerlifting. While these articles are chosen based upon how to make you stronger, it’s clear that the longer and healthier you can train, the better chance you have to become stronger. I’ve consulted with both of these strong guys, and they know their stuff. Low back injuries are no joke, and there is some gold in here to keep you healthy for the long career you want to have.

14. Big Squat, Big Bench, Big Deadlift – Big Air – C.J. Murphy

    Murph is the man. Not only is he wicked smaht (Boston accent), but he’s also got great life lessons when you get to know him. I digress. Murph shows some things he uses at TPS to get his lifters and clients to breathe better to help improve their lifts and spinal health. These are simple, and easy to implement and very likely to help you learn how to breathe, or teach a client how to get it in just minutes.

That’s all the great content that I enjoyed over the course of the month. Check back next month for all the great things from May.