the joy of strength training

Gubernatrix

Currently browsing posts found in September2008


A weighty topic

» by September 25th, 2008 at 9:56 pm » Comments (9)

I mentioned to a friend that I was training for a powerlifting competition and he said, “So you’ll be wanting to bulk up then!” I explained that you can be any weight you want since, like boxing, there are different weight classes. It is easy to forget that most people don’t know what powerlifting or […]



The wisdom of Dan John

» by September 24th, 2008 at 8:16 pm » Comments (4)

Who is this man who has such a suitably evocative name? ‘Dan’ conjures images of a deadly judo master; ‘John’ is reminiscent of the prophets. Even T-Nation calls him “Yoda”… Dan John is one of the few strength pundits who is both teacher and pupil. He has a clear, engaging prose style and everything he […]



Interval timers

» by September 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm » Comments (5)

An interval timer is a great bit of kit for the fitness fanatic. The brand that I use is Gymboss. Many watches now have an interval timing function too. You can set the timer to go off at regular intervals, such as every minute. This allows you, for example, to do a circuit that involved […]



Planning your training

» by September 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm » Comments (6)

Now that summer is over (did it ever really begin?) I am planning my autumn/winter training. This is a process that starts with ideas and goal-setting and ends up with a weekly training schedule. Because I am involved in so many sports and activities, this process can take quite a lot of mulling as I attempt […]



Breathing in the bench press

» by September 10th, 2008 at 10:50 pm » Comments (7)

I recently started holding my breath throughout my heaviest bench press lifts. I never used to do this in the bench press as I wasn’t taught that way, but in the squat and deadlift I consciously hold my breath throughout the rep and it seems to have naturally carried over into the bench press. This […]