I Had a Layoff from Training and Dropped Some Reps off My Bench Press. Why Have I Lost So Much Strength?

This is a common complaint and it represents a typical misunderstanding of muscular strength. Let's say you are able to do 200 X 5 X 5 on your bench press. Something comes up and you are forced to layoff training for several weeks, maybe a month. During that time you are then "detraining."

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Baking Soda and Vinegar for Bee Stings: It Works! But not Really.

You got stung by a bee, put some baking soda and vinegar on it, and ten minutes later the pain was gone! It worked. OR, maybe there is another explanation. Maybe you are not allergic to bee stings, had a minor local reaction, and the pain simply went away on its on. I personally seldom have the pain from a bee sting last longer than 10 or 20 minutes and I forget all about it. Yep.

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Difficulty Breathing During Front Squats: A Simple Training Drill to Solve the Problem

You may have noticed that it can be difficult to get a good deep breath in between reps of the front squat. Not everybody has this problem to the same extent, but most everybody would have noticed that the front squat makes breathing a bit restricted. The position of the elbows, combined with the heavy load on the shoulders, restricts the chest. It is easy to simulate this effect right now as you read this: simply raise your arms up over your head and try to take a deep breath into your upper chest. You should notice that the chest wall is restricted and it is close to impossible to take a full breath this way.

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Want to Increase Strength without Adding Muscle?

Why? I've always wondered about this? Are you such an Adonis but at the same time so weak that you need to work your butt off so that you can become as strong as you look? Even pro bodybuilders are pretty darn strong compared to the average Joe. But let's just stick with the average Joe, not the pro. Let me ask again, why would you want to get strong without adding any muscle?

I wonder this because at least once a month I see a new article explaining how to do this. Why is this concept so popular? Is it because:

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What Is Force?

Training for maximal strength is essentially training to exert maximum muscular force. So what is force? The easiest way to think of a force is as a simple push or pull. When you push or pull on a barbell or other implement you are exerting a force. The pull of the Earth's gravity on an object is a force. Friction is a force. To be more precise, then, a force is something that causes or tends to cause a change in the motion or the shape of an object.

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Can I Squat without a Squat Rack?

Why should you use a squat rack, or "power rack", or cage to perform squats? There are two main reasons: First, squat racks and cages comes with safety pins or cross bars that are adjustable to heights in order to catch the bar when you fail during a lift. With these safety catches, sometimes called "spotters", you can safely discard the bar and not without getting stuck underneath it because you cannot lift it off of your shoulders; an extremely dangerous situation.

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20 Home Remedies for Treating Minor Burns: Not!

Instead of listing out twenty tips in an obviously deceitful display of "yeah right you gullible fool," all I really need to say is this: Pick twenty random things from around your house that can be smeared on a burn, poured on a burn, etc. And you have your twenty home remedy tips.

Soy sauce. Mustard. Vinegar. Hey, take some chewing tobacco, chew it up real good, and spit it on your burns. I swear, it works wonders. My grandmother used to swear on it for bee stings, too. The point is it doesn't matter what I say, there is someone who will believe it.

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Overview of Categories of Controlled Substances in the United States

Controlled substances, are defined by The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Actu of 1970, which is usually referred to simply as the Controlled Substances Act. This act established the current categories of controlled substances by dividing them into five areas, called "schedules." Drugs classified in this manner are those which are considered to have a greater potential for abuse than prescriptions drugs. Schedule I drugs have the highest potential for abuse and schedule I the lowest. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for the regulation of controlled drugs, including oversight of manufacturing, distribution, storage and dispensing.

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Anatomical Direction Terms: A Glossary and Reference

Directional terms are widespread in all references concerning human performance, including anatomy, kinesiology, sports medicine, athletic training; and strength and bodybuilding coaching. At first, these terms can be confusing to the student of strength training but they are easy to understand once the fundamentals are studied.

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Do Not Have a Huge List of Absolutely Essential Exercises

One big problem that trainees have in designing strength training templates is the Exercise List. These tend to be lists of 35 to 40 exercises that the trainee is attached to for some reason and if he or she is not working hard on all of them then the program is just not right. But that is wrong.

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How Muscles Are Named

The various scientific names of the body's 600 to 650 or so muscles,¹ at first, appear to be a bewildering hodgepodge of Greek and Latin. You may think that anatomists were just picking mysterious words out of an ancient hat in order to confuse you. That is not true at all, however. Although in some cases the methods used to name muscles are not very effective, the names of muscles are based on a naming system and, believe it or not, there is order and logic in how the muscles are identified. The more you are exposed to the study of skeletal muscles, the more you will begin to recognize the underlying structure. Often, knowing the meaning of the words will help you understand what muscle is being referred to just by its name. Sometimes, though, even knowing the meanings of the words will not help and all you can do is memorize them.

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Gripping the Bar for Deadlifts: Correct Grip, Supporting Strength, and Calluses

This post is meant to discuss three basic propositions about training the deadlift. The first concerns a statement that we frequently read or hear concerning the development of supporting grip strength for deadlifts: Deadlifting is all you need to train your grip for deadlifts. I'm going to explain to you why this false assumption is made and how it is not true for everyone. The second has to do with the correct way to grip the bar. I am not sure that many people even know there is a correct method to grip the bar that results in a more secure grip and more protection against ripping the skin, and ripping off calluses. The third concerns calluses themselves. So here goes.

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