DESIGNING BETTER LIVING THROUGH STRENGTH
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EUGENIZATION
a personal training blog

From the category archives:

Strength Training

Single Progression.

by Eugene Thong on June 10, 2010

Single progression is the gradual addition of weights over time.  Yep – that’s about as sexy as it gets.  In a single progression model, you select a fixed number of reps (or time) – say, 5 reps (or 60 seconds).  Select a weight.  Lift it.  If you can successfully lift that weight for the target [...]

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Programs Vs. Workouts.

by Eugene Thong on June 6, 2010

If you’re like most people, when it comes to exercise, you use the terms “program” and “workout” interchangeably.  But they are completely different things.
Individual workouts are important, as they’re the building blocks upon which real results are made.  But what ultimately gets you the results you want is not a single monumental workout, but a [...]

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Powerlifting training, in one line.

April 16, 2010

“Spend most of your time on squats; spend pretty much your balance of time on bench presses. Every now and then see what you can do on the deadlift.”  – Bradley J. Steiner.
Sounds about right to me.  How about you?  What are your thoughts?  Post to comments.

    

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Mechanistic vs Meta-Exercise.

August 27, 2009

The surest way to lose focus during an exercise is to judge yourself on that exercise.   Instead, get “mechanistic.”  Focus on what you can actually do, as opposed to your emotional reactions to the exercise.
Don’t think, “Damn, this weight feels heavy.”  Instead, think, “Drive your heels through the floor; be patient; make it happen.”
Don’t think, [...]

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The Problem With Bodypart Mentality.

August 11, 2009

One good thing about the rise in popularity of bodybuilding in the 60s and 70s was that it got people interested in lifting weights.
One bad thing (”One bad thing?”, the peanut gallery asks) about bodybuilding going mainstream was that it made “bodypart mentality” a part of the training consciousness – bodypart mentality being the idea [...]

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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.

June 29, 2009

Do you know what the trouble is with looking solely at performance as a method of gauging results?  It’s easy to underestimate the beneficial impact of change.
Imagine, for example, that you’re a professional-level golfer.  Your coach tells you to switch your hand position because it will help to prevent that nasty habit you have of [...]

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I Can’t Perform This Exercise.

June 23, 2009

One of my young wards has an algebra final today that he has been dreading for the better part of the last two weeks.  The obvious reason: He’s “not so good in math.”  Now, mind you, he’s a thoughtful, insightful kid to whom most things (in school, anyways) come easy.
Often, when undergoing the learning process, [...]

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Priorities – Part 1: Exercise.

May 29, 2009

This whole fitness and nutrition thing can be tough.  The newsstand at your local Barnes and Noble carries no less than 10 different magazines, all purporting to offer The Program for vibrant health and physical beauty; and did I mention that each magazine contains 8 or 9 different routines (all different, of course, depending on [...]

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Progress…Is Really Boring.

May 26, 2009

An awful lot of money is spent on promoting the whiz-bang, glamorous image of being fit, strong, and healthy.  What you don’t see promoted is the diligence required to get there.
Here, in no particular order, are some inconvenient truths about going from looking like this to this:
1. It takes the patience of a stonecutter, the [...]

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Compounding.

May 21, 2009

I had an interesting exchange with a client earlier today.  Actually, “exchange” is too polite a term; let’s call it what it was – a full-on argument.  The fundamental disagreement: We spend too much time talking about the exercises and not enough time doing them.
What my client wanted to do was to bang out exercises, [...]

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