I recently stopped following a fitness coach I liked. Solid programmer, realistic expectations, no nonsense. The kind of account that’s actually rare. Then out of nowhere: videos of empty gyms at 2 a.m., dramatic lighting, captions about the grind never sleeping. I unfollowed immediately. I’m old and cranky, and I think that’s bullshit. But as… Continue reading The 3 A.M. Deadlift Isn’t Discipline. It’s Content
Yes. Sort of. Before you panic, I am not about to tell you to cancel your gym membership, throw out your barbell, and start hugging a tea towel. Although, if you do feel compelled to donate any dumbbells, my doors remain open. Instead, I want to introduce you to a delightful and slightly mad little… Continue reading Your Kitchen Table Was a Gym (According to George Jowett)
Most people in the gym today are looking for the answer. The program, the split, the system that finally works. A hundred years ago, Britain’s strongest men had already encountered that problem and, in effect, ignored it. In How to Use a Barbell (1925), William A. Pullum, a coach, promoter, and a central organiser of… Continue reading The Strongest Men in Britain Didn’t Train the Same Way
What teen or young lifter hasn't been seduced by the idea of bigger biceps? Indeed in the bodybuilding universe of both males and females, no pose is more iconic that the front or back double bicep pose. A difficult set of muscles to grow, except of course for the genetically gifted, the biceps have been… Continue reading The History of 21s
Reg Park was one of the most influential figures in mid-twentieth-century strength culture. A multiple-time Mr Universe winner and widely regarded as the strongest bodybuilder of his era, Park built his reputation on heavy barbell lifting as much as physique display. He believed that muscular development without demonstrable strength was incomplete, and he spent much… Continue reading Why Reg Park Believed Bodybuilders Should Lift Heavy
I once spent a few days training with the legendary Mr. Olympia winner Frank Zane. One of the best purchases I ever made, I was always struck by Zane's observation that our bodies are, in many ways, the sum total of the equipment we have access to. If your gym has machines and no free… Continue reading Before lifters added weight with plates, they poured it in by hand.
Owing to the inquisitive nature of a PCS reader, I've finally gotten my act together, or at least come close enough to some semblance of normality, to go down the rabbit hole once again. The topic of todays post, is the rather more niche but nevertheless effective Glute Ham Raise (GHR) machine. Having spent years… Continue reading The History of the Glute Ham Raise
You cannot spend a third of a century around physical culturists and barbell men without coming to a few conclusions. You see many enthusiasts who thrive on their training schedules and attain a perfectly satisfactory degree of physical development. You see others work and strain without noticeable improvement for months or years. Quite often these… Continue reading Harry B. Paschall, ‘How Barbell Men Go Wrong’, Muscle Moulding (London, 1950)
There are some exercises so basic, so ubiquitous and so difficult that their origins are often taken for granted. Previously when detailing the history of the squat, we encountered the difficultly of tracing a movement found in every culture and arguably every human movement. The Chin Up and the Pull Up exercises offer a similar… Continue reading The History of the Pull Up
I lift therefore I am. Or ... something like that. I've been training in gyms and with weights in some capacity for two decades (this year in fact!). I've yet to win a major bodybuilding, powerlifting or weightlifting title. Neither will my lifts, sacred though they are to me, ever be something to write home… Continue reading Why Do We Train?
