Ass to Grass Squats? I Doubt It!

Posted by Chris Young on May 21, 2013

Ass to Grass Squats? I Doubt It!

The World of strength and conditioning is relatively sensible when compared to the rest of what we could call “The Health & Fitness Industry” if we were to use an umbrella term, but it does have its moments of madness. Maybe madness is a little too harsh a term, I’ll borrow a phrase from the great Christopher Hitchens and say that some can be a little...

Posted by Chris Young on May 15, 2013

The Art of Weight Selection

The art of weight selection is one area where a good coach can be really helpful, and I realise that many of you don’t have the luxury of having Muscle Russell as your training partner, who is great at calling weights, therefore I will do my best to help with this Blog. With beginner lifters life is relatively easy, if you hit a set of 5 reps in good form then increase the weight by 2.5-5kg....

Posted by Chris Young on May 8, 2013

Transitioning to Max Effort

There is a ton of material on how to use the Max Effort system of training for the advanced lifter, much of it coming from Louie Simmons or from one of his lifters either past or current; but there isn’t much about how to transition from other programmes to those with a Max Effort component. In my programmes found in the books Becoming Mighty, Fatso No More, and in The Mighty Method, I...

Posted by Chris Young on May 3, 2013

5 Mighty Bench Tips

I’m far from the greatest Bencher in the World, in fact I’ve always struggled with this lift, which is bad for me but good for you because I’ve had to figure things out. I’m also very lucky to have observed and picked the brains of guys who really know their stuff. Oh yeah, and I’ve read a library’s worth of info too. Now this guy was a great Bencher – Karl...

Posted by Chris Young on Apr 19, 2013

Critique of Rippetoe Throws Down

I like the work of Mark Rippetoe, I really do. I own a couple of his books, “Starting Strength”, and “Practical Programming” which I read a few years ago, and I remember rating them pretty highly; although after reading this article I might need to have another look. An excellent book I have also read many of his articles over the years and as with his books I have always been left...

Posted by Chris Young on Apr 14, 2013

Boo Bloody Hoo

Boo Bloody Hoo is what I would like to say to many questions and statements I hear in the gym; politeness stops me – sometimes. Questions such as “can you show me how to use the Powerplate (or any new super duper machine)” really mean “I really don’t want to work that hard (or at all), please tell me I don’t have to work hard”. There are many ways...

Posted by Chris Young on Mar 31, 2013

5 Tips for a Mighty Squat

I hear all the time that people like lists, top 10 this, best 5 of that. Now I’m not saying that these are the best Squatting tips ever but they’re pretty damn good, and there’s a certain logic behind them. Me at the ’09 Nationals with 230kg, which was a good lift 1. Box Squat – I know this is about the Squat but I am a firm believer in Box Squatting in order to be...