You’re *not* a competitive lifter - so why lift in the Day of the Dead?

How are you going to keep your heart happy (literally and figuratively) for the next couple of months?

Maintaining electrolyte balance can be extremely challenging during Austin summers!

I don’t know about you, but I really hate turning on the oven when it’s this hot. Not into grilling? We've got you covered!

Summer/swimsuit season is almost here, which has many of us thinking about drinks with umbrellas and dropping a few pounds!

A common question among gym-goers is, “How much rest do I take in between sets?” And the answer is, “Well, that depends.”

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly!

Knee pain when you squat? Before you stop squatting altogether, try these quick fixes.*

Do you want to know the best way to make a new “habit” stick?

You’re not a competitive lifter - so why lift in the Day of the Dead?

1. Putting a realistic end date on your goal gives you a clear target and creates a sense of urgency. No matter how much you love training, we all need a little help with motivation from time to time.…

If your right arm is in a sling, and you do biceps curls with your left arm, your right bicep will get stronger. Here's how:

We’ve all heard the expression, “fake it til you make it”, and it turns out there’s actually science to support it.

Michael wanted to quantify the differences between pushup variations, so he turned his workout space into a lab. Here's what he learned:

Most of us associate doing "cardio" with promoting heart health and lowering blood pressure. But what about lifting weights? Does it do the same thing?

The short answer is maybe. Before we talk about how, we need a little background info. Let's start with muscle fatigue.

Progressive Overload is the most important principle in strength training. In short, it means that in order to get bigger and/or stronger, you’ve got to make your muscles work harder over time.

For those of us training at home with very limited equipment, loss of strength is a very real concern. And the reality is, without the ability to lift at least 80% of our 1RM, we will lose strength. However, there are things we can do to minimize loss. 

"Strong" can mean different things to different people. In the world of sports, we measure strength is two ways: absolute and relative strength.

Intermittent Fasting, in a nutshell, is when a person cycles between periods of eating and not eating. The two most popular methods are: 

• 16:8 Diet (you eat during an 8-hour window and fast for the remaining 16 hours)
• 5:2 Diet (two days out of the week you eat 600 calories or less).

…

Just about every athletic movement utilizes the Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC), and strength training is no exception. The SSC is the active stretch of a muscle followed by an immediate shortening of that same muscle. During the eccentric phase, the muscle stores elastic energy.…

Coaching cues fall in and out of favor all the time. Right now, “tuck your elbows” is pretty popular. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible cue for the average recreational lifter. But before we get into the “why,” let’s make sure we’re on the same page.…

Even the most inexperienced lifters can usually recognize the difference between sumo and conventional deadlifts: with sumo, the arms are inside the legs (the width of the stance varies greatly), and with conventional, the arms are outside the legs. The hard part is deciding which one to do.…

Squats are considered by many to be the King of compound movements. Love them or hate them, there's some squat variation in almost every strength training program. There are countless variations: the two most common are high bar and low bar.…

A common question when learning how to deadlift is, “Where should my feet be?”. That’s an excellent question. And although the deadlift stance is unique to each individual, there are some general guidelines that apply to everyone. 

VERTICAL JUMP

The easiest and most reliable way to determine an ideal stance for conventional deadlift is to simply do a vertical jump and see where your feet land.…

I think everyone’s probably heard: “If you want to lose weight, eat less and do more.”  It sounds pretty straight forward, right?  But just how much less you should eat, and how much more you should move is a bit of mystery.…

The bench press has been called the King of Upper Body Lifts. And while you may or may not agree with that statement, you can’t argue with its popularity! Almost everybody does it… and a lot of people have strong opinions about it.…

A pre-lift ritual is a series of actions or movements that occur immediately before you attempt a heavy lift. (Pre-competition rituals might start a few days out from the actual competition, so we’ll save that for another article.) 

Some rituals evolve over time, some are the result of trial and error, and some are carefully choreographed.…

Almost every home has a bathroom scale. Some get used frequently, others occasionally, and some simply provide a happy home for dust bunnies! 

Scales are great for providing immediate feedback on WEIGHT loss or gain. The problem is, they don’t tell you anything about body composition (fat and lean mass).…

It finally cooled off this past weekend! YAY! Fall is on the way! That means that a lot of you will start exercising outside. Walking, maybe walk-jogging, maybe even training for a 5K? Good for you!

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Plantar fasciitis (say "PLAN-ter fash-ee-EYE-tus") is the most common cause of heel pain in middle-aged adults. …

In an effort to protect our hearts, reduce inflammation, and live longer, Americans spend more than $1 billion a year on over-the-counter Omega-3s.

Is fish oil really a wonder pill, or are we just wasting our money?

HOW IT STARTED

The Pharmacy Times recently published The Fish Oil Story, a fascinating read.…

Unsanctioned DEADLIFT-ONLY Meet!

SIGN UP

GrassIron's 6th Annual "Day of the Dead" is an unsanctioned, casual meet perfect for both new and experienced lifters. Lifters will compete for one of four 1st place prizes - a Growler filled with local craft beer!…

Most people cringe when they see someone deadlifting with a rounded back. Even to those who know absolutely nothing about barbell training, it just looks “bad”. 

But lifters do it all the time. Even the best in the world round their backs, especially during conventional deadlifts.…

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. For many years, this phrase was accepted as absolute truth. But is it really? Does skipping breakfast cause weight gain? Does eating breakfast improve brain function? Should you or shouldn’t you?

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Until the early 1800s, breakfast was, well, no big deal.…

Foam rolling is an incredibly popular form of myofascial release. Manufacturers of foam rollers promise the moon. Some even claim that foam rolling will reduce cellulite. (Oh, if it were only that easy.)

But there’s really not a lot of scientific research on foam rolling. Here’s what we know:

Lateral Band Walks should an integral part of every warmup. When done properly, they do a fantastic job improving hip stability, strengthening the hip abductors—particularly the glute medius—and increasing knee stability. Having strong and stable joints significantly reduces your risk of injury… and who doesn’t want that?!…

Although it was once debated, most people now agree that athletes, strength athletes, in particular, need more protein than the average individual.

A recent meta-analysis of 49 studies/1863 participants showed that dietary protein supplementation significantly increased changes in 1RM and muscle size-muscle fiber cross-sectional area.…

Unfortunately, elbow pain is not uncommon among strength athletes. Many lifters occasionally suffer from tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow. The names are somewhat misleading. Most people who experience elbow pain never swing a racquet or a golf club! 

WHY DOES IT HURT?

…

It’s officially summer. And in ATX, that means extremely hot. Unfortunately, air temperature doesn't tell the whole story. The "feels like" temperature, or heat index, is much more accurate.

WHY DOES HEAT INDEX MATTER?

Sweat EVAPORATION is how your body cools itself.…

There’s so much nutritional information out there, and there have been so many fad diets over the years: Low-Fat, Low-Carb, The Grapefruit Diet, Keto, Paleo, the list goes on and on. It can be really overwhelming.

Fortunately, there are really only 5 things you need to know in order to look and feel better.…

Breathing seems like a no-brainer. We do it every day, all day long. We even do it in our sleep! How hard can it be? Well, like most things, when it comes to breathing and bracing under a heavy load, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.…

Most of us are trying to become healthier and live longer, and we rely on research to help us make decisions about what we put into our bodies. But more often than not, the research is contradictory.

You know when you’re pushing the prowler, and you feel like your quads might spontaneously combust? The burn is almost unbearable, and then shortly after you stop, it disappears. Ever wondered what causes that?

Here’s a short explanation:

• When you train at a high intensity, you need a lot of  ATP - quickly.

…

When Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition by Drs. John Ivy and Robert Portman was published in 2004, the idea of nutrient timing became extremely popular, and people were talking about the “anabolic window of opportunity” non-stop.

In a nutshell, nutrient timing simply means eating the proper ratio of nutrients (specifically protein and carbs) in specific amounts BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER.…

People LOVE caffeine, and strength athletes are no exception. Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world, hands-down. And for years people have believed that caffeine is a diuretic. In other words, you cannot hydrate with a substance that contains caffeine.…

You have to have the right tool for the job, and squatting is no exception. The real question is: which type of shoe is right FOR YOU? Elevated heel or flat sole? The answer isn't as straight-forward as you might think.…

In order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. (But you already knew that, right?) The big question is: how many calories should you be eating? This is the part where most folks get lost. We’re going to break it down for you and make it easy.…

When youʼre in a calorie deficit, maintaining lean mass should be your number one priority. After all, your goal is to LOSE BODY FAT, not simply to lose weight. You’ve worked hard to add lean mass. In order to maintain all that muscle, you have to make sure you get enough protein.…

Politics aren’t the only thing that’s polarizing.

Believe it or not, so are weightlifting belts. Depending on who you ask, you can end up with two very different, sometimes passionate responses. One camp insists wearing one will actually weaken your core.…

Most people are completely intimidated at the thought of competing in a powerlifting meet, for a lot of reasons. 

These are the 2 biggest reasons:

Singlets

Or onesies, or whatever cute name you've assigned the required "costume".  The thought of wearing one is enough to keep most people off the platform!…

Does it work and is it safe?

If you’ve ever done heavy singles, you know how important it is to take a long rest period. Most seasoned lifters have a pretty good internal clock. In other words, they intuitively know when they’re ready to lift again. Unfortunately, that’s not always true.…

What's depth? And should you worry about it?

What you need to know to avoid shoulder impingement AND move the most weight.

At first glance, they look like they're basically the same thing, but there are very distinct differences between the two.

Get a basic understanding of how forces are acting on your joints when lifting weights.

Although they’re both deadlift variations, there are very important differences.

And what happens when you eat them?

Why it happens and what you can do about it.

Want to be able to do pushups from the floor! Check this out!

What the science says...

Want to learn how to Front Squat properly? Then you absolutely need to read this!*

Want to lose weight but don't want to log food in an app? Then check this out.

RDLs are a fantastic posterior exercise... let's make sure you're doing them correctly!

Avoid these common mistakes, and you’re golden.

Backward-planning goes against what most of us believe about “goal setting”.

4 frequent mistakes... and how to fix them!

We want everyone everywhere to have a pretty squat. That means you, too.

In 1891 there was an amazing horse named Hans who could do math. Seriously.

It turns out there’s actually science to support it. The body can influence emotions. 

Who would like to be a guest on a private island?!

Ever wonder how this brightly colored tape works?

And tips on how to make it last longer

Let’s start with the bad news: we lose an hour of sleep Sunday night. BOO! But wait - there’s good news!

Successful people set S.M.A.R.T. goals... we'll show you exactly how to do it!

Identifying sugar can be a challenge, even when you read ingredient lists and food labels.

“What exactly does that mean? Sushi grade fish?”

...more calories from fat, fewer grams of protein, and fewer Omega-3s?

Does coffee/caffeine actually cause dehydration?

It's only May and the mercury's already climbed past 90!