Daniel Richter 
Key Points: In a wide-grip bench press, your chest and shoulders contribute 78% of the force necessary to lift the bar, while your triceps contribute 22%. In the medium grip bench press, the same numbers are 74% vs. 26%. In the close-grip bench press, the same numbers are 63% vs. 37%. How much can you … Read more
Key Points: A recent meta-analysis investigated if cardio training affected strength gains in the squat and leg press. Based on 27 studies, combining cardio and strength training did not negatively affect strength gains in untrained participants. In trained participants, combining cardio and strength training resulted in slightly smaller strength gains. However, this effect was only … Read more
A few days ago, we received a question about supersets from a reader named Agneta: “Could you talk about the good vs. bad when it comes to supersets? I find that they are time-savers, but I don’t really see many people talking about them.” You are absolutely right, Agneta: supersets are time-savers! But are supersets … Read more
Key Points: The bench press works the lateral head of your triceps well – even better than tricep extensions. The bench press does not work the long and medial head of your triceps well – but tricep extensions do. Combine bench pressing with tricep extensions to work all heads of your triceps. Does bench pressing … Read more
Key Points: Lat pulldowns have been shown to work (and grow) the biceps muscle just as good as barbell curls. At least in untrained subjects. Adding barbell curls to a program of lat pulldowns doesn’t lead to further muscle growth in the biceps. Once again, in untrained subjects. Rows only work your biceps half (50%) … Read more
“What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.” – George Leonard Strength training is a harsh mistress. First, you are lured in by the sweet beginner gains. Then, your resolve is tested as you enter the intermediate stage and have to work harder for every extra … Read more
Deadlifting challenges your strength from head to toe. In order to pull heavy weights, you must have a strong chain of muscles, and your grip is definitely an important link in this chain. In this article, I outline four common ways to grip the bar during deadlifts: You’ll learn how to do them, along with … Read more
When do you transcend from the beginner to the intermediate stage of weight training? If you’ve been training hard on an effective training program (such as the one we outlined in part 1 of this series) and been eating and recovering well when you’re not in the gym, you might reach the intermediate stage after … Read more
My father-in-law is many things, but strong isn’t one of them. At least, he didn’t use to be. Two months ago, he asked if he could start working out in my garage gym. Since I don’t want to be excluded from the “pizza and wine”-Fridays he regularly throws, I said yes. Being well into his … Read more
This training program is available for free in our app StrengthLog! Download is for free with the buttons below: My friend Emelie wanted to get bigger and stronger, but wasn’t sure of how she should go about it. Since I can’t keep my opinion to myself, I went ahead and suggested a training program which will … Read more