Yes, even Paula Radcliffe squats – quite heavy as well! A barbell programme is the best way to get strong legs, a strong back, strong upper body and a strong core. The stronger you are, the easier it is to do athletic things.

‘Basic’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘beginner’ or ‘newbie’ either. It means simple and effective. A basic barbell programme could be ideal for, say, a powerlifter who wants to get back to basics for a while, as well as an athlete needing to build strength for their sport in the off season.

Prerequisites

Before I get into the detail of the programmes, it’s important that you have the prerequisites of a basic barbell programme in place, and these are:

Power cage

• Access to a barbell (preferably an Olympic bar)
• Access to weight plates (preferably down to 1.25kg)
• Access to a squat rack or power cage

These are basic requirements but sadly many so-called gyms can’t fulfil them. If you have access to a decent strength and conditioning facility at a sports club or university you will probably be fine, but if you just go to your local high street chain gym, you may struggle.

If your gym doesn’t have barbells and racks, my advice is: leave and never look back. If you are serious about your training, find a gym that takes your training seriously and can provide you with the basic equipment that folks have used for hundreds of years to get strong. Or invest in your own kit for home. It’s that simple.

Introduction to the programmes

The programmes discussed below are:

Starting Strength – beginner
Stronglifts – beginner
Wendler’s 5/3/1 – intermediate or advanced
Madcow intermediate 5×5 – intermediate (there is also an advanced version)
Texas Method – intermediate

As a rule of thumb, beginner means someone who is in their first year of barbell strength training; intermediate is someone with a year or two of barbell training under their belt; advanced is someone who has been training for years.

The main difference between beginner programmes and intermediate or advanced programmes is that beginner programmes assume progression (increase in weight or reps) from session to session. At some stage progression every session will no longer be possible (as you get closer to your strength potential) and you then need a programme that includes progression from week to week, or from cycle to cycle.

If you only train with barbells once a week, or you’ve never done a strength-focussed programme before (as opposed to a bodybuilding programme), then you might be a beginner in strength terms even if you have been training for a couple of years or more.

You’ll notice that all of these programmes feature sets of between 1 and 5 reps. This is the ideal rep range for strength building. 5 rep sets are long enough to get good technique nailed and for strength adaptations to occur. You can also build mass with 5 rep sets. If you’ve not done 1-5 rep sets before, you’ve probably not done a strength programme before.

I’ll come back to this beginner-intermediate distinction at the end, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at the programmes.

Starting Strength – great for beginners and intermediates

Book: Starting Strength 2nd edition by Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgore available from startingstrength.com or Amazon
Online resources: Starting Strength Wiki

Starting Strength is an excellent beginner programme – although Stronglifts (discussed below) might suit you better. Starting Strength can also be good for intermediates who are still making progress on a linear programme.

It is good partly because of the structure of the programme and partly because of the wealth of guidance and technical knowledge contained in the book. It allows you to teach yourself good technique and safe, effective training practice.

Likewise, anyone who has been away from training for a while, or has only ever had informal tuition in the barbell lifts learning from people around them, will probably benefit hugely from the technical guidance in Starting Strength. I’ve been training for years and I still refer to it.

What is the programme?
It is a 3 day a week programme featuring the squat, deadlift, bench, military press and power clean. You squat every session and alternate the other lifts.

Sets are 5 reps, but this is not a 5×5 (5 sets of 5 reps) programme; the number of sets changes depending on the lift you are doing. For example, Rippetoe believes that the squat benefits more from ‘sets across’ (several sets at the same weight) than the deadlift, which is better done as one heavy set.

Basic programme:
(note: this and all other programmes quoted below are just the bare bones of the programme to give you an idea of what it looks like; invariably there is much more detail in the books themselves)

Alternating these sessions three days a week means that one week you do Workout A twice and the next week you do Workout B twice.

Why is Starting Strength good?
It does what it says on the tin. It is simple to follow and comes with excellent technique advice in the book. It will potentially last you a long time; you can continue to build strength and/or mass for months or years with this kind of programme.

Any downsides?
You might get bored if you are used to doing lots of different exercises and ‘mixing up’ your programme every six weeks as many PTs like you to do. But if that is the case, you need to change your mindset because getting stronger is all about plugging away at a few key movements. Use the numbers as your motivation and enjoy mastering these big movements.

The power clean is harder to master than the other movements, being a more technical lift. It’s a great lift to learn but if you are not keen to take it on, Stronglifts (below) is a good alternative. Some people also substitute the barbell row for the power clean on Starting Strength.

Getting started
You’ll need the book (a good investment if you are serious about your training), and perhaps the Wiki. The book contains all the technical guidance and the concepts behind the programme but it doesn’t contain an actual template programme. There’s enough information in the book for you to create your own programme if you want, but if you would rather not, you can refer to the Wiki for programmes that Rippetoe and others have written using the Starting Strength concepts.

Stronglifts – accessible beginner programme

Book: Free ebook from Stronglifts.com
Online resources: blog and forum at Stronglifts.com

Stronglifts is very similar to Starting Strength in structure, but packaged differently and aimed at a more looks-conscious crowd. The tagline is ‘build muscle and lose fat’, rather than ‘get strong’, although Stronglifts will get you strong as well, if you’ve not really trained strength before. You might be more motivated by ‘look good naked’ rhetoric than ‘get awesomely strong’ rhetoric. There is also more information on the Stronglifts website about nutrition and losing fat than there is in Starting Strength.

Most of the ebook is written in an FAQ style which is easy to read and gets the information over effectively. The ebook itself doesn’t contain any ‘how to’ information on technique but all of this is available on the website. It’s not as technically comprehensive as Starting Strength – but then, few books are.

What is the programme?
Like Starting Strength it is a 3 day a week programme featuring the squat, deadlift, bench, and various assistance exercises. You squat every session and alternate the other lifts.

Unlike Starting Strength, Stronglifts does not include the power clean as a key lift. The power clean is rather more technical than squat or deadlift and will take longer to master. Stronglifts includes the technically easier movements of inverted row and pull up/chin up.

The set and rep scheme is slightly different from Starting Strength. More of the exercises are 5×5 rather than 3×5, so overall the volume is higher.

Basic programme:

Like Starting Strength, you alternate these workouts over a three day week.

Why is Stronglifts good?
It is written in an accessible way and is easy to follow. There’s an active online community around the programme so you can access support, motivation and feedback.

There are more exercises included in the basic programme than Starting Strength, so if Starting Strength looks a bit boring you might fare better on Stronglifts.

Any downsides?
Many people have said that adding weight every workout gets quite difficult within a few weeks or months. Some people also get a bit tired and/or demotivated on the programme because the volume is quite high. Doing 5×5 squats is much more demanding than doing 3×10 bicep curls!

Getting started
It is quick to get started as everything is online. Download the free ebook from Stronglifts.com, read the blog posts for technique info and sign up to the forum, where you can keep a training log, ask questions and get support.

Wendler’s 5/3/1 – great intermediate or advanced programme

Book: purchase ebook online from EliteFTS.com
Online resources: 5/3/1 FAQ and the original T-Nation article

Jim Wendler is a powerlifter from the infamous Westside Barbell powerlifting gym who underwent a renaissance when he realised that although he had become enormously strong in the competitive power lifts, he was also extremely fat, out of shape and burnt out from lifting.

The eventual result of this change in philosophy was a programme which combines strength with some conditioning, can be done around a normal lifestyle and provides simple progression and regular personal bests.

What is the programme?
You train 3-4 days a week (there are other options too) on a 4-week cycle. One day is devoted to squat, one to deadlift, one to military press and one to bench press. The rep schemes for these lifts are as follows:

The weight you use on the main exercise each week is worked out as a percentage of your max. The programme starts light so that continuous progress can be made.

As well as the main exercises, you add in whatever assistance exercises you want (dips, chins, rows, shrugs, good mornings etc). You also add in conditioning such as hill sprints or prowler pushes.

Why is it good?
It is a classic powerlifting rep scheme, from 5 reps to 3 to 1, but the difference is that you don’t reach your absolute max – instead you try to get more reps at a slightly sub-maximal weight. This means that you get more volume than a traditional powerlifting programme but you still have to work hard at heavy weights, and so you get stronger.

There is also the interesting mental challenge of not knowing how many reps you might get on that last set of 1+. Your personal bests become not your one rep max but a rep PB on a particular weight. This also takes the pressure off going to max too often. In fact you might only go to max on the platform.

Any downsides?
I’ve seen people do this programme and get very high reps on their 1+ day. This is because they haven’t reached anywhere near their strength potential. I’m not convinced that 5/3/1 is the best programme in this situation; although it won’t exactly do you harm either. But Starting Strength or some other linear 3×5 or 5×5 programme is better to build strength first. I would include Crossfitters in this group as many do not do enough strength training in their day to day Crossfitting to be ready for 5/3/1, unless they are coming from a lifting background.

For powerlifters this programme might contain more volume than they are used to; but for beginners the volume on 5/3/1 is less than on the other beginner programmes discussed here.

5/3/1 seems ideal for people who have been plugging away with powerlifting or heavy bodybuilding workouts for years and have just stalled. It could also suit someone who is transitioning from ‘normal’ barbell training into powerlifting training, perhaps working up to their first meet.

Getting started
The book does not contain detailed instruction in the lifts but includes good performance tips if you can already perform a squat, deadlift, bench and military press and are familiar with the assistance exercises.

If you are happy performing the movements, the book is all you need: it even provides Excel templates and worksheets for you to put your programme together. There are formulas for obtaining your one rep max but you might also want to test your one rep max first.

If you’ve done little barbell work before and you are not confident in the main exercises, begin with Starting Strength and save 5/3/1 for when you are at a more advanced level.

Madcow intermediate 5×5 – intermediate

Online resources: Madcow intermediate 5×5

There are many variations of the basic 5×5 programme out there, so I’m not going to go through all of them. This particular programme is useful because it is clearly set out by Madcow, based on an original programme by legendary American strength coach Bill Starr.

The original programme was designed for off season football players, i.e. athletes who need strength and explosive power, and so power cleans and high pulls were included. Madcow presents a version with deadlift instead of high pull and barbell row instead of power clean – more geared to lifters simply focussing on strength and/or mass.

(Note: there is an advanced version which you can also access on Madcow. The main difference is that it is periodised over a four-week cycle)

What is the programme?
5×5 intermediate is a 3 day a week programme based on squat, bench, press, row, deadlift and assistance exercises. You squat every day.

You perform ramping (i.e. increasing) sets of 5×5 on a Monday, 4×5 on a Wednesday and by Friday you are doing a heavy triple, followed by a back off set of 8. That triple becomes your heaviest set of 5 on a Monday.

Basic programme:

Why is it good?
Like the other programmes, it is simple and easy to follow. It contains the big exercises that will cause the greatest strength adaptation and it has you squatting every session.

There is a lot of volume but most of it isn’t heavy because sets are ramping. This gives the body lots of time to get fit and strong, and for those with less experience at the lifts, more opportunity to practise technique. If you keep rest periods down, the cardio effect of doing 5×5 is significant.

Any downsides?
Many people will find it hard to keep adding weight every week, but if that is the case, simply repeat the session until you make all your reps at the new weight.

If you have no experience with the barbell lifts, this is not the ideal programme. But if you have basic technique in the lifts, this is a good beginner-to-intermediate programme for lifters and athletes.

Getting started
The details of the programme are found online at Madcow intermediate 5×5. For technique on the lifts, pick up a copy of Starting Strength.

Texas Method – intermediate

Book: Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe & Kilgore from startingstrength.com or Amazon
Online resources: startingstrength.com

The Texas Method is described by Mark Rippetoe in the book Practical Programming for Strength Training and is one of the intermediate programmes following the basic Starting Strength.

What is the programme?
There isn’t a programme so much as a programming method. Monday is the ‘stress’ day of the week, where adaptation takes place. Wednesday is a lighter day as the lifter is still recovering from Monday. Friday is a high intensity-low volume day where personal bests can be attempted.

Using squat as an example:

The exact exercises, sets and reps you choose depend on your goals. For the Friday, for example, you may want to do 1 x 5 one week, 1 x 3 the next week and 1 rep max the week after.

You don’t have to do every exercise every day. In fact, according to Glenn Pendlay, Wednesday is not for ‘light’ weights in the main lifts so much as exercises that are easier to recover from or exercises that the lifter is naturally less good at. For example, a powerlifter could do front squat on the Wednesday, since her front squat is likely to be significantly lighter than her back squat. Likewise overhead press can be used instead of bench press or power clean instead of deadlift.

Some intermediate lifters may fare better doing only one set of 5 on the deadlift on a Monday, rather than 5×5, especially when squatting the same day. The deadlift being such a taxing lift, it tends not to require as much volume as the other lifts.

Why is it good?
It is one of the progressions from Starting Strength, utilising principles similar to other 5×5 variations. The format of heavy/medium/light is a type of periodisation, easier to perform and recover from than a programme that demands progress every session. The method is flexible and easy to customise for your particular needs.

Any downsides?
It’s quite hard to work out exactly what a full Texas Method programme would look like, as Practical Programming only gives examples for one lift at a time. You are expected to interpret the method for yourself, which some people may not be comfortable with.

Practical Programming is an excellent book if you are interested in the general topic of programming, but if all you want is a new programme to start, then getting a book like this is probably not necessary. You might be better off buying Wendler’s 5/3/1 or giving Madcow intermediate a go.

This programme is probably best for people who have done Starting Strength and like the Rippetoe approach, but have stopped making progress and need to alter their programming.

Getting started
You will need the book Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe & Kilgore. You may also want to check out what other people have done on the Starting Strength forum.

Conclusion

Unless you are a complete beginner, you probably need to decide whether you need a beginner programme or an intermediate programme. This shouldn’t be a decision based on ego. In fact, you want to stay at ‘beginner’ level for as long as possible, since once your progress stalls you have to try all sorts of programming voo-doo to get it going again. The longer you are on a beginner programme making progress, the more likely you are to end up being a beast!

Making a choice between the programmes available will largely come down to packaging and appeal. For example, you might like the Stronglifts approach better than the Starting Strength approach, but both programmes will do what you want them to do.

The purpose of this review was to give you an idea of what the programmes are like and a few of the pros and cons, not to rate them or attempt to say which is best.

The good news is that you won’t go far wrong choosing any of these programmes. Those who learn good technique, train consistently and work hard invariably go on to achieve great things. The most important thing is to find a programme you like the look of and can stick to.

Have you done any of these programmes? Do you have any experiences to share?

More from gubernatrix

Five secrets of more effective training
How to deadlift
How to bench press
Why you should full squat
Assistance exercises

All photos by Matthew Nourse

On 29-30 May I went to the World’s Strongest Man Experience at the Excel Centre in London. The event comprised a two-hour competition featuring some of the biggest stars in WSM – including current World’s Strongest Man Zydrunas Savickas – preceded by an opportunity to meet the strongmen on the exhibition stand, have your photo taken, get your programme signed and generally marvel at these man mountains.

I thought it was a great idea for strongman fans, allowing you to experience in person what you’ve only seen on the telly at Christmas! The coolest part for me was getting to rub shoulders with the strongmen on the stand (not literally of course, as I’m only 5 ft 5) and interviewing Zydrunas Savickas (see the clip here).

Of the Brits, Terry Hollands, Mark Felix, Jimmy Marku and Darren Sadler represented in style. Laurence Shahlaei was also on the bill but pulled out in order to compete in a qualifier for the WSM 2010 finals (he successfully qualified!).

It’s worth saying that some of these guys are competing every couple of weeks. Terry Hollands, for example, did a Strongman Champions League event in Finland two weeks before, and another SCL event in Ireland two weeks after. Although these weights seem superhuman, it’s all in a day’s work for the professional strongman.

World Record from Felix

On the Saturday before the main show we were treated to a world record attempt by Mark Felix in the left handed deadlift.

Mark is well known as an absolute deadlift and grip monster, current Rolling Thunder world champion (Rolling Thunder is a notoriously difficult revolving deadlift handle). So I don’t think anyone was in any doubt that he would take the record easily. It stood at 221kg; Mark went for 225kg and got it.

He could probably have smashed the record and lifted more, but he did have a whole two days of strongman competition ahead of him, so perhaps he held back a little.

The events

After Felix’ new world record, the competition itself got underway. The line up included: Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania), Terry Hollands (UK), Darren Sadler (UK), Stefan Solvi Petursson (Iceland), Thomas Nowotniak (Poland), Jimmy Marku (UK), Kevin Nee (USA) and of course Mark Felix (UK).

That’s a lot of power to fit into a small arena!

The competition was adjudicated by strongman legends Geoff Capes and Svend Karlson, and hosted by Caroline Pearce (aka Ice from Gladiators). She was a good choice of host, I thought. It’s nice to have a woman amidst all the testosterone; moreover one who isn’t a) just the female foil to a male host, and b) not just a pretty face. Pearce, who is an ex-athlete herself, has presented a few strongman events now and is getting to grips with the specifics of the sport. Could she be the Gabby Logan of strongman? I don’t see why not!

Events

The events were:
•    Farmers walk 160kg each hand – 15m
•    Dumbbell clean and press 93kg – reps in 60 seconds
•    ‘Axle’ deadlift 330kg (16 inch deadlift with olympic bar) – reps in 60 seconds
•    Log press 130kg – reps in 60 seconds
•    Atlas stones

A menu of classic strongman events here. Due to space constraints, the events chosen tended towards the static. However, as many events were a particular lift for reps, it was a good opportunity for strength fans to witness the strongmen’s technique, particularly in the overhead events – which for many of us recreational strongmen/women is our nemesis!

I was particularly interested in the dumbbell press, as I have seen many people struggle with this event. The event favours the short-armed guys, so Jimmy Marku and Darren Sadler did well. Savickas, who has excellent overhead strength, won this event.

Clip: Savickas dumbbell clean & press 93kg – 7 reps

Clip: Darren Sadler dumbbell clean & press – 6 reps

As you might expect, Mark Felix destroyed the deadlift event – this after getting a world record in the left-handed deadlift. Straps are allowed in strongman deadlifting, as it is not intended to be a test of grip.

Clip: Mark Felix deadlift 330kg – 14 reps

The 130kg log press was done in a head-to-head style. In the clip below, Jimmy Marku goes up against Mark Felix.

Clip: Jimmy Marku log press 130kg

We finished with the atlas stones, always a crowd pleaser. Professional strongmen these days are very adept at this event, which involves an unusual technique not normally seen in lifting. You pick the stone up off the floor with a rounded back (‘sacrilege!’, a fitness instructor would cry!) and wrap your body around the stone in order to roll it up your chest before pressing it onto the platform.

The stones is usually the last event in a competition and can therefore decide the overall winner if places are close. So it behoves the professional strongman to get very good at this event!

Although height is a factor, as the platforms for the stones can be quite high, a number of the shorter strongmen have proved that you can still be competitive at this event if you work hard. Darren Sadler, the shortest guy in the competition, put in an incredible performance in the stones.
(Watch Darren do a 10-stone lifting demo in 2007 and you’ll see what I mean)

On the Saturday ‘Big Z’ Savickas came out on top, with Terry Hollands second and Darren Sadler, the shortest and lightest guy in the competition an impressive third. I’m told that Savickas and Hollands also came first and second respectively on the Sunday too.

It was a pity Laurence ‘Big Loz’ Shahlaei couldn’t be there as I’d have liked to see how he stacked up against Hollands – both British men are really in form at the moment. They will both be competing in Europe’s Strongest Man in London on 19th June though, so perhaps we’ll see a fine competition there!

I also spoke to Jimmy Marku about his training but he wasn’t giving anything away! As reigning UK’s Strongest Man, he’s clearly got game. And with Mark Felix getting yet another record under his capacious belt, things are looking good for British strength at the moment.

I also liked newcomer (to me, anyway) Stefan Solvi Petursson, an Icelandic strongman with a big personality who clearly has fun and communicates well with the crowd. He was one of the tallest strongmen and won the stones event with a lightening fast time.

All in all, this was a great event for strongman fans, getting up close and personal with the athletes, watching them compete at close quarters and seeing what quality we have in the British camp.

The sport of Strongman

One of the most interesting and exciting things about strongman for me, both in terms of competing and spectating, is the range of techniques and facets of strength and fitness that are employed. To be a winning strongman, there’s a lot you need to be good at. If you’ve got a monster deadlift but are weak overhead, you will suffer in the events. So it a real spur to work on your weaknesses.

When I spoke to Geoff Capes he commented that, “strength is only measured with the disciplines you give them to do and the guys are actually competing in the event. Change the event, change the disciplines, you’ll get a different result.”

Naturally, strongman is a punishing game. You’ve got to train the lifts in the gym and focus on getting stronger, but you’ve also got to practice your event technique. Although the equipment is more sophisticated these days (we don’t just hike into the forest and chop down a tree for the log press any more), it is still easy to bruise, bash, scrape and generally injure yourself as you train.

American strongman Kevin Nee, who had to pull out of the WSM Experience competition after a couple of events through injury, and has endured two bicep tears and a pec tear in his career so far, talked about the dangers of doing too much too soon:

“Some advice for those who are starting out in the sport, just don’t rush it too much, take your time, stick with it, stay dedicated and you will get stronger”.

There seems to be good camaraderie between the strongmen, who see each other regularly on the circuit. I saw a lot of big physiques and big lifts but didn’t see any big egos. Even Savickas, whom I assumed would be rather intimidating, was great fun to talk to and modest about his achievements.

Perhaps it is too easy to be humbled in this game. Of course you must have self belief and you must be dedicated to the goal. But it is a sensible strongman who refuses to entertain the hubris of an enormous ego.

More on this topic

WSM athlete profiles
Another review of the event by The 5th Stone blog

More from gubernatrix

Strength revelations: what I’ve learned from strongman
Lifting and carrying: are you getting enough?
Five secrets of more effective training

So, an Irishman, an Australian and an American walk into a bar….and among other things they decided to open a gym, Informed Performance in Dublin, and invite coach, athlete, philosopher and all-round good guy Dan John to come and deliver a two-day seminar, download 42 years of strength training wisdom and share a few beers in the process.

As soon as I heard this was happening, I knew that I must go – if I had to sell my grandmother, swim the Irish Sea and sleep in the carcass of a dead sheep to do it.

Dan John has garnered many fans over the years through his straight-talking, insightful articles, recently collected into the book Never Let Go. Every article is an ‘a-ha!’ moment that suddenly makes one’s goals seem clearer and closer. It’s a rare gift and one that Dan has always been keen to share with as many people as possible.

From far and wide we came, from Finland and Germany, from Aberdeen and London and from all over Ireland. We were a mixed bunch, from powerlifters to rugby players, personal trainers to enthusiastic amateurs.

But what we all shared – Dan John down to every last participant – was a passion for training, a desire to plumb the depths not just of particular movements but strength training philosophy, programming rationale, maximising nutrition, supplementation and recovery, the emotional landscape – in short, everything that makes the difference between success and failure.

Read on for the full story >>

Dan John is a wonderful public speaker, a very knowledgeable strength coach and a warm, generous person. I can’t think of a better combination for a training seminar.

Although he loves to experiment and to learn himself, Dan John is in fact the opposite of faddy. He has this uncanny ability to pick out the eternal, simple truths from whatever system or method he is discussing.

I don’t think there’s much point my going into the details of what he talks about (but see end of this post anyway!). This sounds odd but it’s not really relevant. Saying Dan John covers ‘goal management’ and ‘phasic and tonic muscles’ in his lecture is like saying that Shakespeare covers ‘bereavement’ and ‘fencing’ in Hamlet. Technically this is true, but that doesn’t explain what the lecture is about or what you will get out of it.

It is worth saying however that, although much of Dan John’s experience is in coaching athletes, he does have a lot to say to people who are simply training for muscle building and/or fat loss and their long term physical health. His advice isn’t sports specific, it is general and applicable to a number of different scenarios (including one that seems to have been inspired by Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. I’m not asking any questions…).

So this DVD is for anyone who has been strength training for a while and who wants to carry on training for the rest of their life. In other words, for people who take their training seriously, even if it’s just a hobby. I think it is particularly useful for people who coach themselves as it will equip you with methods and concepts that can be drawn on throughout your training life.

Dan John makes me want to dedicate myself to training for life, or reinforces that desire. I am sure he could also instill that desire in some people, but this is not the DVD where he does that. I think you have to have the desire already, but even if it is dormant or intermittent, this DVD will bring it out and rejuvenate it.

The premise of this movie is ‘point camera at Dan John and let him talk for over two hours’. I could have listened to two hours more – heck, two days more. The good news for me, and all of you, is that there is more! This is only part one of a four part series filmed over two days. My cup is gonna runneth over, I can tell you.

This DVD is now on sale in the shop. Get it here. Sign up to my newsletter to hear about more new products as they come in stock.

Watch clips from the DVD:

• Dan on goal setting
• Dan on the role of the strength coach

What’s on the DVD:

Erm, having said there’s no point telling you exactly what’s on the DVD, here is a list of topics covered in case you really want to know.

• The role of the strength coach
• Levels of strength coaching
• How a home trainer becomes his own coach
• The influence of strength coaching on performance
• Strength and athletic performance
• How to narrow your training focus
• Systematic learning
• Setting a non-competitive training goal
• Phasic vs tonic muscles
• How to stay youthful while aging
• Movements not muscles
• Dan’s hip displacement continuum

More Dan John

• Dan John’s earlier DVD Everything’s Over My Head
• The wisdom of Dan John

For me this is like watching old Bones Brigade movies. You can giggle at the low budget, dated production values for about two seconds before the content takes over and you are mesmerised.

Carried Away is the first film on the DVD and it is mainly about walking with weights. It doesn’t get simpler and it doesn’t get harder than this. I just wrote a lengthy and detailed post about assistance exercises; I’m thinking about deleting it and writing “do everything in Carried Away”.

If you work out at home and you love the low tech, you will be particularly inspired by this short film. I was also gobsmacked by the mountains in the background (we don’t have anything like that in the UK).

The next film is From The Ground Up. Some people will recognise the title as also being that of Dan John’s free ebook on olympic weightlifting. Personally I think the third film follows on more naturally from Carried Away but there you go. From The Ground Up is a family affair in the backyard. Mom and Dad do Olympic lifting in the garden while teenage daughters look on indulgently.

Coach Dan John, back in the day

If you coach athletes (and that includes you – if you train yourself at home you are Head Coach of Team You) this film will be useful, giving very sensible drills, progressions and coaching cues. I don’t know enough about Olympic weightlifting to know whether it is ‘good’ but it all makes sense to me.

There are exercises in here that I have seen popping up in various other contexts, including Crossfit workouts, so I’m not the only one who thinks, “darn that looks useful”. If you’ve done little or no Olympic lifting before, this film will get you putting stuff over your head with confidence.

The third film is Everything’s Over My Head, which continues the milieu of the first movie – outdoor training at home, very low tech, but focussing on overhead, Olympic lifting-inspired training.

Throughout the films, Dan John’s delivery – mostly in voiceover, sometimes to camera – is perfect: funny, clear, authoritative, warm-hearted. Anyone who has read his articles or his book will know what to expect. Simple, sensible, inspirational advice. Stuff that you know isn’t going to go out of fashion.

Carried Away might well be genius. It’s so simple, you almost wonder why Dan John even made a DVD of it, because most people wouldn’t even recognise it as ‘training’. But once you see people actually doing it, it makes sense and that is possibly the genius part.

Recently a lot of people have been catching onto this idea. Olympic lifting and sprints? Dan John has been talking about it for years – go straight to the source.

More Dan John

I am happy to say that I now have the Everything’s Over My Head DVD for sale in my shop. Get your copy here.

Unfortunately I don’t have a clip from Everything’s Over my Head to show you but if you are unfamiliar with Dan John’s teaching style or you just want to watch something cool, take a look at this clip of Dan teaching the turkish get up from one of the new DVDs (which I will be getting in stock soon!).

Review of A Philosophy of Strength Training DVD from Dan John

My post on The wisdom of Dan John

What’s on the DVD

Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn from Everything’s Over My Head DVD:

I’ve never seen anything that has made me want to run out and train so much! It’s got all my favourite toys in it – barbells, kettlebells, sleds, tyres, bodyweight, leverage clubs….actually I’ve only ever handled a club once but after seeing this film it could easily become my new favourite thing!

What is this film?

Strength Rituals is a 2-disc DVD from Bodytribe, the brainchild of trainer and gym owner Chip Conrad. Between the two discs there is well over two hours of content and you can’t help thinking that there was loads more that could have been included but, like all canny filmmakers, Chip is probably saving that for the sequel.

Structurally the film consists of a series of episodes featuring particular movements, combinations and workouts performed by Conrad and other members of Bodytribe. These are exciting, always tough and often original. The one rep max effort Turkish get-up sequence made me want to jump off the sofa and join in!

Over the film is a narration by Conrad which is lively and full of personality. Part commentary, part lecture, I found it appealing. To someone rather less in love with language it might occasionally sound excessively wordy and convoluted. Still, I think using a voiceover makes for a more polished presentation than pieces straight to camera, which are notoriously difficult to get right.

This documentary format allows Conrad’s narration to range easily from the particular workouts we are seeing on screen to his approach, methods and general philosophy of training. He talks a lot – but there’s real passion behind the prose.

What’s good about this film?

Cool kettlebell combos!

Sheer inventiveness
I’ve been in this game for a few years and I like to think I am close to the cutting edge when it comes to fitness methods and techniques. If it’s weird, wacky or ‘out there’ I’ve had a go. But there’s still plenty of stuff in this film that I haven’t seen before.

It’s not that it’s new exactly. In fact, some of it is very old indeed. Chip Conrad acknowledges that very little of what you see is per se original – but he puts it all together in creative and inventive ways and all the way through the film is exhorting the audience to do the same.

“There is no magic in a single tool, a single program or a single principle. The Bodytribe template is license for creativity, allowing you to escape dogmas by embracing and manipulating the many malleable factors that we can use to forge our strength.”

The kettlebell combos on the second disc are particularly inspiring and they are going to be keeping me busy for some time to come.

Production
Content is important but production will make or break a movie. If you’ve ever seen movie B-roll you’ll know what I mean. Films are made in the edit suite.

This film is really well put together. Everything is a ‘character’ in this film, from the locations to the music to the animals (wild and domestic) that wander in and out of shot. It’s very well edited and the occasional cheesy/ironic use of a special effect makes it more interesting for the viewer.

The production values are budget and some of the camera work is a little shakey but that is all part of the charm.

If the content was superb but the production was crap, 99% of people wouldn’t sit through more than ten minutes of this film, or any film. It’s testament to Chip Conrad’s artistic instincts that he understands this and has put a lot of effort into making this film watchable.

Audience

This is not a film for beginners. Thank god! We don’t need more instructional DVDs, we need films to inspire and this is certainly one of those.

To get the most out of this film you need to have a good grasp of the key movements like squat and deadlift. It also helps to be reasonably adept with the major tools such as barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells.

There is some instruction in the film, particularly on the more unusual tools and exercises such as leveragae clubs or the Steinborn Lift. There are also tips on form for the more conventional exercises but you wouldn’t, say, learn the squat from scratch with this DVD.

Conclusion

Essentially the film helps you to build on what you know and get creative with your training. There’s a logical framework, a method of programming which is simple to grasp but powerful and extendable.

Conrad stands on the shoulders of giants (Dan John, Westside Barbell, Mel Siff) but he also has his own original take on training and, like Dan John, his view is an all-encompassing one. He talks about training in terms of who you are, what you stand for, how you live your life.

Conrad’s writing and ideas are not as easily accessible as the likes of Dan John. I’ve been a reader of his effusive prose, on his blog and elsewhere, for a while without really ‘getting it’. So putting it all together in this rich, visual format is a good move – nay, a triumph.

I might even read his book now.

Update: good news for UK and European readers! I am getting in a bunch of the Strength Rituals DVD to ship from the UK, saving you £££s on postage. They’ll be available in the shop from next week!

Olympic lifts, kettlebells, gymnastic rings….these are a few of our favourite things….

Ever wished that there was a single instruction manual containing all of this cool stuff? Well, now there is!

Andrew Stemler, creator of the popular i-Course – a full day of learning all the key Crossfit skills – has produced a manual to go along with it. You can support Gubernatrix.co.uk by getting your copy here.

This means, oh joy, that all you people who would love to go to the i-Course but can’t get to one can now do your own version at home. And you people who are lucky enough to have attended the i-Course now have a handy reference guide for all those skills that you only just managed to take in on the day.

What’s in the manual?

The 85-page Elite Fitness Manual is packed full of goodies including:

• Olympic lifts and all their progressions
• Kettlebell exercises
• Gymnastic ring training
• Bodyweight exercises
• Abdominal training
• Muscle-up

It covers practically every key exercise and lift in the functional fitness arsenal. All except the bench press. But you know how to bench, right?

Who is the manual for?

The manual is designed to be suitable both for beginners and intermediate trainees. There is plenty of progression in all the key exercises so if you are a beginner you start with the first progression and if you are an intermediate, jump in where you feel comfortable.

You don’t need any experience in the exercises themselves but a general familiarity with free weights and bodyweight exercises is helpful. If you’ve only ever worked out on machines, you’ll be in for a shock!

Many of the skills described in the manual are so complex and tricky to master that you will be kept busy for weeks, months, years. Stemler comments that “you never master the squat: its always work in progress: there is always something you can improve”, and I can personally attest to this as my squat has been a work in progress for about five years!

That’s why a manual like this is so useful and such good value for money. It will last many years, possibly a lifetime. As it is an ebook it is a good deal cheaper than the traditionally published equivalent would be.

Presentation

One aspect that has always impressed me about Stemler’s publications is the look and feel. Compared to many self-published ebooks in this genre, the presentation is slick, entertaining and easy to read. The photo sequences are very helpful. I always find it frustrating when a book presents only one photograph of a particular move; what you really want to know is what it looks like to get from A to B.

The Elite Fitness Manual breaks key moves down photographically, which is really helpful. Nevertheless Stemler acknowledges that this lends a certain falsity to what are fluid and dynamic movements.

The overall thrust of the manual is not: here’s an ideal way to do this difficult move that only super-flexible 12-year-olds can pull off, but more: here are some safe progressions that you can practise on your own.  Eventually you will be able to put them all together.

So the Elite Fitness Manual is your passport to a broad range of athletic, functional skills and can be yours for only £12.99. Worth every penny, I’d say.

Go shop!

More from gubernatrix

• Review: the Crossfit London i-Course
• The A-Z of training books
• Review: the complete guide to training with free weights
• Kettlebell training guide
• Muscle-up and ring training guide

Training books A-Z

Tudor O. Bompa & Mike Carrera – Periodization Training for Sports (2005)

Tudor O. Bompa – Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training (1999)

Tudor O. Bompa, Lorenzo J. Cornacchia, and Mauro G.Di Pasquale  – Serious Strength Training (2002)

Mike Boyle – Functional Training for Sports: Superior Conditioning for Today’s Athlete (2003)

Donald A. Chu – Jumping into Plyometrics: 100 Exercises for Power and Strength (1998)

Donald A. Chu – Explosive Power and Strength: Complex Training for Maximum Results (1996)

Gray Cook – Athletic Body in Balance (2003)

Alwyn Cosgrove & Lou Schuler – The New Rules of Lifting (2008) – read my review

Alwyn Cosgrove, Lou Schuler & Cassandra Forsythe – The New Rules of Lifting for Women (2008)

Frederic Delavier  – Strength Training Anatomy, 2nd edition (2006) – read my review

Frederic Delavier  – Women’s Strength Training Anatomy (2002)

Arthur Drescheler – The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A Guide to World Class Performance (1998)

Ross Enamait – Infinite Intensity – read my review

Ross Enamait – Never Gymless

Mohamed F. El-Hewie – Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (2006)

Greg Everett – Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches

Steven Fleck & William Kraemer – Designing Resistance Training Programmes (1998)

Steven Fleck, William Kraemer & and J. Steven – Periodization Breakthrough!: The Ultimate Training System (1996)

Dan John – Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning (2009)

Steve Justa – Rock, Iron, Steel: The Book of Strength (1998)

Brooks Kubik – Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development (1996)

Graeme Marsh – The Complete Guide to Training with Free Weights (2008) – read my review

Stuart McRobert – Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Look Great: Everything You Need to Know to Transform Your Body (2006)

Stuart McRobert – Insider’s Tell-All Handbook on Weight-training Technique (1999)

Mark Rippetoe – Starting Strength: Second Edition (2007) – read my review

Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore – Practical Programming for Strength Training (2006)

Mark Rippetoe – Strong Enough? Thoughts from Thirty Years of Barbell Training (2007)

Mel C. Siff  – Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

Mel C. Siff – Supertraining (2003)

Christopher Sommer – Building the Gymnastic Body (2008)

Bill Starr – The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football (1976)

Jim Stoppani – Encyclopedia of Muscle and Strength (2006)

Randall J. Strossen – Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks (1989)

Christian Thibaudeau – Theory and Application of Modern Strength and Power Methods (2007)

Pavel Tsatsouline – Power to the People: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American (2000)

Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky – Science and Practice of Strength Training, Second Edition (2006)

On Sunday I attended Crossfit Reading’s kettlebell workshop, coached by Andy Craig who runs Crossfit Reading.

Although I’ve had some kettlebell instruction before there are a number of gaps in my skill base so I was attracted to the idea of a workshop where I could cover everything I needed to know in one fell swoop. It didn’t hurt that Crossfit Reading’s price for a three-hour workshop was very reasonable, even taking into account the train fare from London.

It was a good session and I’m glad I went for the workshop option. There’s a limit to how much you can learn from books and the internet, especially with an implement as awkward as the kettlebell. It is valuable to have an experienced person to critique your form rather than simply reading about ‘common mistakes’. You also need some training to get you over the initial hurdle of how to handle the thing without it beating you up!

I found that going through the different exercises and skills progressively helped me to understand and appreciate kettlebell training in a way I hadn’t before. I used to have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude to kettlebells. I do almost all the exercises with dumbbells or barbells and found it hard to understand why so many people rave about the kettlebell.

Now that I’ve had an afternoon of training I can see the appeal! The kettlebell is quite a flexible tool and the way it handles gives the movements a flow and a rhythm that you don’t get with a dumbbell, making high rep training easier.

Workshop content

The Crossfit Reading workshop gives good coverage of all the essential skills and exercises and I didn’t feel that any of the coaching was rushed in order to keep to time. The workshop covered:

• Squat technique 
• Swing (various types)
• High pull
• Clean
• Push press
• Push jerk
• Snatch
• Turkish get-up
• Windmill
• Side press

Andy generates an easy-going atmosphere. He won’t let you slack off but the feel is informal and friendly. He has a good instructor’s instinct for when to praise and when to critique. I am quite a testing person to coach as I have a habit of directly questioning comments or critique that I don’t understand and I get frustrated with myself if I can’t get the hang of something. Andy passed the ‘difficult client’ test well, as any good instructor should.

I can’t think of much about the session that I would change, which is a sign of a very successful workshop. It might have been interesting to do a proper kettlebell workout though, to show how the exercises can fit together into a workout and give us a chance to try out our new skills in anger!

Conclusion

If you are going to invest money in a kettlebell and train with it regularly, it is well worth the price of a three-hour workshop to set you on your way. It could potentially save you hours of poor training and dodgy technique.

It is also a fun thing to do of a Sunday afternoon. You get to meet like-minded people, have a good training session and learn new skills.

More from gubernatrix

• Review: Crossfit London i-Course
• Kettlebell training guide

Further reading

• Kettlebell exercises from Mike Mahler
• Kettlebell exercises from Chikara – The Other Side of Strength
• Dragon Door kettlebell articles
• Kettlebell Masochist – Master of Sport Catherine Imes’ blog

It is great to see a text book dedicated to free weight training that is designed to have broad appeal. Books like Starting Strength are invaluable and have grown a fantastic reputation on the internet, but I’ve never seen a copy in my local bookshop or library. So I was pleased to see that my local library was stocking this guide.

This book does appear to fill a gap in the market. There aren’t many books devoted to free weight training and those that are take a different approach. Most are limited in some way – either they focus on exercise technique and skate over other topics or they are devoted to a particular training goal such as muscle building and don’t have much to say about other types of training. This book, as you would expect from the title, covers all bases in reasonable detail.

I should also mention that I’ve had some contact with the author Graeme Marsh in recent times and was probably predisposed to like the book, knowing something of his views and approach to strength training.

Graeme has more than met those expectations and I think he has done a great job with this book. It is never an easy undertaking to write a ‘complete guide’ to anything. I’m sure he spent a lot of time agonising over what should go in and what could be left out but I think he’s got the level of detail right.

Content

The book is split into three parts. Part one deals with issues around getting started, safety, use of equipment and so on. Marsh makes a persuasive argument for the use of free weights over machines. He also answers common questions and explains the basics of strength training – adaptation, types of strength, muscle fibres and so on.

If I were a complete beginner, I might be tempted to skip over this section as it wouldn’t mean much to me, but it is important to have the information there and readers can go back to it later once they are into the swing of training. This section is probably most useful for people who have already been training for a while, perhaps doing a programme that someone else has written for them, and now want to dig a little deeper into the concepts behind strength training and the different training methods available.

Exercise technique

Part two is a guide to performing the exercises themselves. Marsh has included a wide variety of exercises so the technique guides are necessarily brief but sufficiently clear to be followed safely. The colour photographs accompanying the exercises are clear and useful.

There were one or two surprises: a couple of exercises that I hadn’t come across before and others that I had almost forgotten about, so there is material here for the more experienced trainee as well as someone new to free weights.

This is probably an area where compromise has been made in terms of space. Some of the exercises are I think dealt with a little too briefly, especially major lifts such as the squat and deadlift. More information could have been provided on common errors and weaknesses. However there is certainly sufficient guidance to get people started.

What brought joy to my heart was the inclusion of the Olympic lifts. This section rightly focuses on exercises that will develop the necessary skill and flexibility for the Olympic lifts rather than the full versions of the lifts themselves – which would be a whole other book. Exercises include the hang versions of the clean and snatch and the front squat, overhead squat and the jerk. Following this, there is a short section on kettlebell movements – a bit limited but better to have it included than not.

Programme design

Finally there is a section on programme design. Surprisingly, it is almost as long as the exercise section. Often programme design is tacked on to the end of a book about training and dealt with in a perfunctory manner. Marsh has chosen to devote a lot of space to the topic and it pays off. For me, this was the most interesting part of the book. There’s plenty here that intermediate and even advanced trainees can benefit from. Particularly in an age where people are getting much of their programming knowledge from the internet – where myths and extravagant claims abound – having a clear and professional analysis of the various methods and protocols, together with explanations as to how and why they work is incredibly useful.

There is information about all types of training goals, including strength, muscle building, explosive power and fat loss.

Style

The overall style of the book is unthreatening and professional. There are no extravagant claims, such as ‘this exercise is the best ever’ or ‘this method will pack on muscle’. The models are all fairly normal looking people, albeit athletic types (they are generally trainers themselves).

Sometimes the prose is a tad dry and jargon is occasionally used unnecessarily. Most of the jargon is explained in the book’s glossary but it can make it harder for a non-experienced person to read and understand. Words such as ‘contraindicated’ and ‘pronated’ are not part of every day vocabulary. Perhaps they should be explained briefly the first time they are used in the text. Alternatively words that appear in the glossary could be emboldened.

I noticed quite a few proofing errors. This is not a disaster but does detract from the reading experience. I am pretty sure that in one case a table is incorrectly titled (8.17) and could therefore be misleading.

Audience

I was surprised that there wasn’t a ‘who this book is for’ paragraph. Perhaps a ‘complete guide’ is necessarily for everyone! Generally the book seems to be aimed at people who are new to training with free weights but sometimes it seems that a different audience is being targeted, for example fitness professionals or people who are fairly experienced and require a deeper knowledge of the topic.

I think this book is suitable for a number of audiences:

Beginners will find it a useful reference book, even if they don’t understand or need a lot of the information at first. It is the sort of book that will remain relevant for a long time. If you yourself are quite experienced but you have a friend or partner who isn’t, this would make a great gift.

Experienced trainees will find a lot that they didn’t know, especially if they have holes in their knowledge. For instance you may have a lot of practical experience with different types of exercises but relatively little knowledge about programme design. This book will help to plug those gaps.

Fitness professionals should find this book invaluable. I’m not a personal trainer or fitness instructor myself but judging by the level of general knowledge I encounter at gyms around the country, a book like this is desperately needed in the industry. Fitness professionals should understand the benefits of free weights and should be able to instruct in their technique and design programmes that incorporate them. It’s not necessary for every gym instructor to read Zatsiorsky and this level of secondary material will be sufficient for most cases.

On that point, a bibliography is included but it might have been useful to annotate it in order to point people in the direction of further information on particular topics.

Conclusion

This really is a good effort and I look forward to seeing it in my local bookshop (I checked the other day and it wasn’t there). It is the kind of book that needs to be included alongside those oversized strength training books with pictures of roided up bodybuilders on the cover, otherwise people will continue to misunderstand weight training and assume that it is not for them.

Click here to see The Complete Guide to Training with Free Weights on Amazon.

Strength training books: 6 of the best

Kettlebell training guide

Gymnastic ring training guide

Review: Crossfit London i-Course

Gubernatrix recommended strength training books