Though few exercise programmes maintain a venerated status for long in the Iron Game, the mystique surrounding 20 Rep Squat programmes has endured. As hinted by the name, such programmes require lifters to back squat twenty times before unloading the bar, and in my own experience, lying on the ground questioning your decision-making. Primarily touted... Continue Reading →
Leroy Colbert’s Health Store
A health shop is admittedly, an odd thing to write about. In today's world of GNC's and stores with fanciful names like 'Vitality' or 'Mr. Pump', modern gym goers are blessed with a wealth of pill peddlers to call upon. This, shockingly, was not always the case. While health stores did exist in some guise... Continue Reading →
Forgotten Exercises: The JM Press
The Westside Barbell club run by Louie Simmons, is one of the current institutions of the iron game. Known for producing champion powerlifters and even effective machines such as the Reverse Hyper Extension, there is little doubting the club's importance for lifters, whether or not they adhere to powerlifting itself. In today's short post, we're... Continue Reading →
Research Corner: How Has Fitness Changed in the Past Twenty Years?
In a rare turn for this website, today's post focuses on a 2023 reseach article which recently crossed my path. Published by Tor Söderström, the article focuses on twenty years of interviews with gym-goers at a Swedish gym and, in doing so, highlights the changes in both exercisee's motivations, as well as their training patterns.... Continue Reading →
Five More Physical Culture Exercises (1900 Article)
Here are five exercises published in the New York Evening World for developing the muscles and improving the health and strength. No. 1 is a stretching movement for strength. Carry the left foot and leg backward, and the right hand and right arm forward, stretching from the hand to foot consciously through the length of... Continue Reading →
When Did ‘Anabolic Windows’ Become a Thing?
Trainee One: "Drink a protein shake within 30 minutes of training or else" Trainee Two: "Why, what happens?" Trainee One: "You'll lose all your gains and the workout will be wasted." Yes, this was a conversation I encountered multiple times as a teenager training in the 2000s. Sometimes I was Trainee Two, asking good questions... Continue Reading →
The History of Calisthenics
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of speaking with someone interested in the history of calisthenics. While this is not my main research area (sadly I'll be a free weight fan boy for the foreseeable future), it comes up repeatedly in my studies. We know, for example, that many cultures in the Ancient World... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Alyssa Ages, Secrets of Giants
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of speaking with Alyssa Ages, an independent journalist who is also a strength fanatic. At the time Ages was working on a novel about the mindset of strength athletes (specifically those competing in World Strongest Man/World Strongest Women style events). The book has subsequently been published and I... Continue Reading →
The History of the Glute Ham Raise
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 →
Vince Gironda, ‘Biceps: A Six-Week Bulk Course’, Vince Gironda Six Week Bulk Course (c.1968), 3-4
This program's purpose is designed to produce quick size by working non-specifically (four different aspects of each muscle) – in other words, it is not a shaping course. Now, the muscle to receive the most work is the muscle you start with. I always start with the arms. So, this is how I will set... Continue Reading →