To test your one rep max on the power lifts or the olympic lifts, follow these simple principles. Find out when the best time is to test your one rep max and why it is useful to do this on a regular basis.

At the time of writing I have not written a ‘how to’ on the squat, although I’ve written one for most of the other major exercises. This is because to me, it is a huge topic and I am not sure how I would approach it and attempt to do it justice. So instead, I [...]

The sumo deadlift can be a revelation for anyone who has trouble deadlifting in the conventional stance. Sumo stance is particularly popular with female lifters. What is the sumo deadlift? The sumo deadlift is the same exercise as a normal deadlift in that it involves picking a dead weight off the floor and standing up [...]

I’ve just come back from competing at the BDFPA British Unequipped Powerlifting Championships 2009 this weekend. I didn’t set the world of powerlifting alight but my final results are probably a fair reflection of where I am at the moment. Squat: 100kg Bench: 60kg Deadlift: 130kg Total: 290kg Bodyweight: 63.4kg There were some very impressive female [...]

Since the beginning of 2009 I have been incorporating speed work into my training and it has brought a valuable new dimension to my powerlifting. Speed work has been around for many years and has been popular in the powerlifting world since it was so enthusiastically utilised by Louie Simmons at Westside Barbell. However I [...]

I did my first powerlifting competition last weekend. It was great fun and I thought I would share my experiences with you. Perhaps it will encourage some of you to enter competitions too, if anything has been holding you back. It would also be interesting to hear from anyone else who competes in powerlifting. The [...]

After a recent discussion here on strength standards for women, I have come up with some standards using the collective wisdom of All Round Strength Training! Click to go straight to table of strength standards for women (below) There’s not much general knowledge about what is “good” for women’s strength training. In many cases, a [...]

This is a question as much for my male readers as my female readers: do you have a conception of how much weight women can/should be lifting? Because relatively few women lift free weights and of those who do, many are new to lifting, it is deemed appropriate to be encouraging about any lifting stats [...]

Psychology plays a big part in any sport but strength training is an interesting example in that it is pursued by many on their own, often in their own basement or garage gym. For those of us who train in solitary, it can be a lonely business. It is just you, the weight and a [...]

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 [...]