There's a lot of chatter going on regarding training athletes for speed and strength. Some coaches feel we're not doing enough speed / sprint work. Others realize that MANY athletes are too weak to sprint properly. And, have we forgotten? We need athletes to be TOUGH. Give kids an opportunity to train on their own in a weight room today and you'll see some benching and lots of "chest work" and of course, lots of curls. NO back training. NO DEEP Squats. Farmer … [Read more...]
Iron Roots Podcast Ep. 3 | Training for Life | Dr. Ken
Here we go! Iron Roots Podcast, Episode 3. In this episode of Iron Roots, I talk about someone I NEVER met, yet he was a mentor to me from all of his writings & videos I had come across through the years. I am talking about none other than Dr. Ken Leistner. Dig in and enjoy the show! … [Read more...]
The Hatfield Squat & Why You Should Know & Learn From The Old School Strength Books
Do you know who wrote the book Super Squats? - Do you know what THE Super Squats training program looks like? - What about The GOMAD diet? What about Reg Park & the 5 x 5 method? - Have you read Arnold's Education of a Bodybuilder? Dr. Ken? What about Keys to Progress by John McCallum? … [Read more...]
Don’t Play The Age Card & My 40th Birthday Workout
I was on the phone with my buddy, AJ Roberts, a former world record holder in Powerlifting while he was a member at Westside Barbell, aka The Strongest Gym in the World. We were talking training, life, business, the usual..... We got to the training talk and I mentioned something about how I feel and he said, "Oh man, you're already playing that age card!" He was right. I was 38 or 39 at the time and I made up some poor excuse about training, how I feel because of my age and then proceeded … [Read more...]
Neck Training, Gymnastics, Triathlon Training & Strength Coach Talk
I asked for some questions to be thrown my way on Twitter and I got some GREAT questions. Thank you! I answer them below and now you can listen to The STRONG Life Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. The Questions I answer in this episode are: … [Read more...]
Odd Object Lifting For “Functional Strength”
Through my own experiences as an athlete and training other athletes, I was taught a powerful lesson that was once (and perhaps still is seen as a fad): Training ONLY with free weights and bodyweight exercises is limiting your potential in developing strength above and beyond the "norm", especially if you're an athlete. The body quickly gets bored and adapts to training methods unless you implement variety. Variety can be the training tools, the speed of the exercises, the range of motion, the … [Read more...]
35 Life & Lifting Lessons
Holy S**t! In a few short weeks I'll be 36. Time goes fast. TOO Fast. Here's some stories and lessons I've learned along the way & hopefully you're not too cool to learn from some of these. Anyway, for no reason whatsoever I thought it would be legit to have a pic of Dr. Ken training with an empty bomb to remind you to push the limits :) … [Read more...]
High Rep Squats to Man UP!
Above, Greg Leistner squats 500 lbs for reps as Dad, Dr. Ken spots Sometimes you feel the need to kick your own ass.... At least I feel that way. I hope I am the norm and NOT the exception. I gotta make sure I still have that mental edge and pushing yourself into new territories of pain through training, especially high rep squats, will push you over the edge, trust me :) High rep squats are like the 'Man UP Medicine" - something about squats that cures almost everything in a WEAK Man. … [Read more...]
Bodybuilding with Sandbags
I love training with Sandbags. They are simple and brutal. Overall, they are an all in one gym and you can mimic a lot of barbell lifts with the sandbag along with old fashioned farm boy work; carry, throw, loading on platforms, etc. Of course, thanks to the sensitivity of the internet, there are coaches who are crying over who started to train with sandbags first. Or, they think they invented this or that exercise. They can finally SHUT UP, that would be great. Before any of us were … [Read more...]
REAL World Strength vs Pretty Boy Bodybuilding
It was the Fall of 2007...... Interesting story from today while training a crew of wrestlers and football players.... Two high school kids stopped by the gym while we were outside flipping tires, pulling and pushing sleds, carrying kegs, sandbags and Kettlebells. One of them looked to be 220 lbs of drugged up muscle. How do I know? Because this same kid attended a speed & strength camp that I ran 3 years prior when he was a freshman weighing 130 lbs. Three Years later, he's 220 and … [Read more...]