Training

  • Popular Armwrestling Exercises

    Devon Larratt and Michael Todd have been promoting specific armwrestling strength lifts, often using straps attached to loading pins or cables to mimic key movements in an armwrestling match. These exercises target riser strength, pronation, and wrist containment. While there has not been a universally standardized naming system for these lifts, this is an attempt…

  • Survivorship Bias, Genetics, and Why Most Training Programs Fail

    Survivorship Bias, Genetics, and Why Most Training Programs Fail

    Most people are training for somebody else’s results. You find an athlete you admire, you study what they do, and you build your training around it, like proximity to somebody else’s method is the same as having a plan. It isn’t. What you’re looking at when you watch elite performance is the end of a…

  • Reactive Strength vs. Agile Strength: Where Speed Meets Control

    Reactive Strength vs. Agile Strength: Where Speed Meets Control

    Strength isn’t just about how much force you can produce. It’s about how well you can use it when it actually matters. Most lifters spend their time building strength in controlled environments, perfect setup, straight bar path, predictable movement. And that has real value. But the moment things speed up, shift, or fall out of…

  • Accommodating Resistance: What It Actually Changes, Who It’s For, and How to Program It Without Getting Beat Up

    Accommodating resistance is one of the most misunderstood tools in strength training. People treat it like an advanced badge of honor. Chains rattling on a barbell. Bands stretched tight across a rack. As if complexity by itself makes a lift more effective. It doesn’t. Like every training method, accommodating resistance changes specific mechanical demands inside…

  • Ape Arms 2025 Strict Curl Championships – Are You Ready to Claim Victory?

    Ape Arms 2025 Strict Curl Championships – Are You Ready to Claim Victory?

    The battle for curling supremacy is coming to Grinder Gym in San Diego, CA on February 16, 2025! This ISCA-sanctioned competition will bring lifters of all ages, abilities, and weight classes together to test their strict curl strength and fight for glory! Gear We Use Grinder Gym Yes4All Hex Dumbbells The hex dumbbells we use…

  • Understanding Our Training Philosophy: What Sets Us Apart

    Understanding Our Training Philosophy: What Sets Us Apart

    Choosing the right training program or coach is more than just picking someone who seems knowledgeable or a program that looks effective. It’s about finding an approach that resonates with your goals, values, and lifestyle. Every trainer or fitness program has a unique philosophy, a guiding set of principles that shapes how they help you…

  • Dave Interviewed By Kane Fontecchio

    Dave Interviewed By Kane Fontecchio

    I’m thrilled to sit down with Kane Fontecchio to dive deep into the exciting future of armwrestling here in Southern California. We’ll be talking about the upcoming tournaments, everything from paid high-level competitions for seasoned athletes to the new free options for novice armwrestlers looking to step into the sport for the first time. I’ll…

  • Battle-Test Your Gains: Proving Your Armwrestling Performance in Real Competition

    Battle-Test Your Gains: Proving Your Armwrestling Performance in Real Competition

    You’re going to the gym, putting in the time, putting in the reps on dumbbell movements, pronating your kettlebell, doing the strap lifts, hammer exercises, and everything else that comes with training to improve your performance. These are among the many objective metrics of strength, proof that you’re getting stronger. But you still have to…

  • Armwrestling’s Secret Weapon: Bigger, Stiffer, and Stronger Tendons

    Armwrestling’s Secret Weapon: Bigger, Stiffer, and Stronger Tendons

    Tendon growth, or Tendofibrillar Hypertrophy, is a crucial factor in armwrestling, a sport that demands unparalleled tendon strength, stiffness, and resilience. The intense mechanical stresses inherent to armwrestling place exceptional loads on the tendons of the arm, wrist, and shoulder. As a result, tendon hypertrophy becomes a cornerstone for optimizing performance and minimizing the risk…

  • Mastering Hypertrophy: Optimizing Training Volume for Muscle Growth

    Mastering Hypertrophy: Optimizing Training Volume for Muscle Growth

    Training volume, the number of hard sets you do per muscle group per week, is one of the most critical factors in driving muscle growth. But hitting the right volume isn’t just about doing more. It’s about doing what you can recover from and progress with. This article explores the science, explains how to tailor…

  • Maximizing Gains for Seniors: Eccentric vs. Conventional Resistance Training Methods

    Maximizing Gains for Seniors: Eccentric vs. Conventional Resistance Training Methods

    As we age, maintaining muscle mass and strength becomes increasingly important for overall health, mobility, and quality of life. Resistance training has long been the gold standard for counteracting age-related muscle loss, but recent studies are shedding light on how different types of resistance training may yield unique adaptations. One of the most compelling distinctions…

  • Maximizing Hypertrophy: How Lengthened-Phase Training and Peak Contraction Drive Mechanisms of Growth

    Maximizing Hypertrophy: How Lengthened-Phase Training and Peak Contraction Drive Mechanisms of Growth

    In strength training, understanding how muscles produce force is essential for maximizing both strength and muscle growth. One of the foundational concepts that governs muscle performance is the Length-Tension Relationship, the principle that muscles generate the most force when they are near their optimal resting length. This point of greatest mechanical tension occurs when the…