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My Squat Is Down 30 Pounds. What Should I Change?
Derek Thistlethwaite Squatting 881 Raw (Josh Bryant’s Longtime Client) Years ago, I had a column on Bodybuilding.com called Ask the Strong Guy. Every week I’d answer readers’ training questions. When the site went behind a paywall, I decided to walk away. Nothing against them, but my goal has always been to get good information into…
Raise the Ceiling
by- Josh Bryant Cade Collenback, the best long snapper in college football, smoked 37 reps at 225 by raising his ceiling. Whether you’re throwing hands in a melee at a Don Hill cover band in an Okinawa dive bar, fighting off a meth head at Waffle House, breaking tackles on the football field, or helping…
Build Everything. Emphasize One!
by- Josh Bryant Rucking year-round so my engine never disappears. Back in 2006, I was eating breakfast at the Waffle House off Boulevard 26 in North Richland Hills with a six-foot-eight preacher we called Brother Barrett. He preached at a rural cowboy church, and to this day I have no idea why he drove all…
The Truth About Getting Stronger: It’s Not Volume or Frequency
Joe Mackey Grew Like a Weed After I Adjusted His Training. Garry Frank built monster totals on heavy singles and raw progressive overload. Every week? Simple mission: more weight than last time. Then hash browns at Waffle House. Done. Bill Kazmaier took a totally different approach. Worked harder than an ugly stripper on a slow…
Heat: The Poor Man’s Altitude
by Josh Bryant Back in the day, I trained clients at a fancy gym. They were tough, with more strength and better physiques than your average gym-goer. Then this plush chrome palace added a boxing fitness component led by Coach Jimmy. Jimmy wasn’t your typical high-end gym guy. He ran a kick-n-stab Latino bar frequented…
A Great Servant, A Terrible Master: Using VBT the Right Way
Josh using VBT with his son Luke as he learns regular barbell squats HERE. Last week I wrote about when the tool becomes the boss and why that’s one of the fastest ways to become a worse coach. If you missed it, you can read it here: The problem isn’t velocity-based training any more than…
When the Tool Becomes the Boss
Bench Press Party at Metroflex — Violent Intentions Give a man a tool and sooner or later somebody will do something stupid with it! We’ve done it with fire. We’ve done it with the internet. Now we’ve done it with a linear transducer. Velocity-based training works. That’s not the argument. The problem starts when a…
The Right Pull for the Right Purpose
by- Josh Bryant Timing matters. Ask any deer hunter who climbs into a stand at noon, any fisherman who shows up after the bite is over, or any guy who texts his ex after six beers. Good idea. Bad timing. Happens all the time in life and it happens in the weight room, too. The…
Four Seconds to a World Record
by- Josh Bryant If you’re serious about coaching, training, and getting better at your craft, the ISSA Global Summit is worth your time. I’ll be sharing lessons from a lifetime under the bar and decades coaching everyone from beginners to world champions. As a thank you for your support, ISSA is covering the entire $199…
Fresh Matters
Coach Warrecker “The hardest hits on the football field always happen in alumni games and the first day in pads,” Coach Barney Eames used to say. “That’s when the players are freshest and most excited to light somebody up.” That stuck with me because it applies to every hard sport and every serious training system.…