Articles and Education

Apr 26, 2024
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Westside Vs The Russian Conjugate System

Without a doubt, Louie Simmons has been one of the most iconic (and at times controversial) figures in the strength world over the last 20 years. Louie’s gym (Westside Barbell) has become what many people identify as the conjugate system. Westside may be synonymous with max effort, dynamic effort, repetition effort and a whole host of other special methods, but is that what really makes up the conjugate system of training? Should the conjugate system and the conjugate method be used interchangeably? Are the Westside conjugate system and the Russian conjugate system comparable? If you believe that the conjugate system was meant to revolve around accommodating resistance (bands/chains) and a weekly microcycle of max effort, dynamic effort and the occasional repetition effort methods, this is something you need to read.

Apr 26, 2024
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How Competition Can Facilitate Performance Improvement

Are you training in a void? I am a firm believer in goal setting. Without goals it becomes hard to establish action plans (in this case training plans) to drive improvement. In the world of business and athletics there is no such thing as standing still, there is only moving forwards or falling backwards. For this reason goal setting and action plans are essential in making sure you’re focused on improving yourself or your results and moving forward.

Apr 26, 2024
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The Kennelly Press – A Definitive Guide By The Bench Monster Himself

Ryan Kennelly is an American powerlifter who specializes in the bench press. He currently holds the World Powerlifting Organization (WPO) and has held the all-time world record in the assisted (geared) bench press with a lift of 1075.0 lbs (487.6 kg) from November 2008 until April 2013. This world record is classified as an equipped world record, meaning the lift is performed with the aid of a bench shirt. Kennelly has also bench pressed an unequipped 650.0 lbs (294.8 kg) in competition.

Apr 26, 2024
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The Greatest Feats Of Strength In 2016 | A Video Compilation

The year 2016 has been a monumental year for strength sports, with some previously “unbreakable” barriers being broken and incredible athletes pushing the boundary of what we thought to be humanly possible. Here is a compilation of what the editors at Kabuki Power think are the greatest feats of strength from this year (so far). We hope you enjoy! (note that these are in no particular order)

Apr 26, 2024
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A Powerlifter’s Guide To Velocity Based Training [VBT], Part 1

Velocity Based Training (VBT) is one method of auto-regulating training. It can auto-regulate load on the bar, number of reps within a set, total number of sets, any combination of those three, or any other relevant factor in training. It is beyond the scope of this article to make the case for VBT. It’s hard to make a case for VBT when you haven’t first established that the methods used to gauge velocity are valid and/or accurate. VBT has been a training methodology put forth in power athletes and team sports. It has gotten significantly less attention for strength athletes like powerlifting. Other coaches can more appropriately talk on the matter for strength and conditioning outside of powerlifting, and people like Bryan Mann, Carl Valle, Dan Baker, Eamonn Flannigan, and Mladen Jovanovic already have. On the powerlifting side of the house, the volume of writing and academic work is limited to Louis Simmons of Westside Barbell, Brandon Senn of Kabuki Power, Mladen Jovanovic of Complementary Training, and I guess you could also argue that Mike Tuscherer of Reactive Training Systems as well – although it’s more appropriate to say Mike uses velocity as a reference point, not a driver of training.

Apr 26, 2024
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The “Too” Word: Wisdom From A Man Turning 69 Who Started Lifting Weights At 55

I’m tired of hearing several times a week from people I know, or come across, the “too” word when it comes to exercise!

I’m sure you hear it as well from your co-workers, neighbors, parents or grandparents. “I’m too old to lift weights, or my knees are too sore to walk, run, ski or fill in the ______. It pains me to hear folks say “I’m in too much pain to do this or do that. Too heavy, too weak, too busy…blah, blah, blah.

Apr 26, 2024
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Can Your Neck And Tongue Activity Improve Your Barbell Lifts?

Let’s start by clarifying that this article is nothing more than a summary of my thoughts based on personal observation, coaching, and discussions with clinicians and professors over the years. It is not summary of research or definitive fact, albeit from an anecdotal aspect I can consistently drive positive change when fine tuning based on the principles in this piece.

Apr 26, 2024
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Training Is A Job

I was lucky enough to get the chance to chat with Chris Duffin about training recently. It was a great conversation because we both have a similar mental approach to training: if we’re going to make it worthwhile, we need to go into the gym with a very concrete goal in mind. And the more frequently we do that, the better. While light days have their place in any sound training program, they’re just not fun.

Apr 26, 2024
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Top 10 Things To Know Before Your First Meet

Listen up–if you have never been in a powerlifting meet but want to, or if you are about to compete in your first–if you have competed, give this top 10 a quick read and see if passing it along can help someone you know.

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