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Cardio, Weights, or Both? Choosing the Right Workout for Your Goals
One of the most common questions I get from new people is some version of “should I do cardio or lift weights?” Most of the time they’ve already decided on cardio, because that’s what they think burning fat is supposed to look like. The honest answer is that it was never an either-or, and picking…
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The Perfect Start: Why You Don’t Need to Wait Until Monday
“I’ll start Monday.” I’ve heard it ten thousand times. Then Monday shows up, something’s off, and now it’s next Monday. Then it’s the first of the month. Then after the holiday. Then after this busy stretch at work settles down. The perfect starting line is a mirage. It moves every time you walk toward it.…
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The Cost of Results: Gym, Coaching, and Eating Well
Let’s talk about money, because somebody has to. Getting in shape costs something. A membership, maybe a coach, better food in the cart. People look at those numbers and flinch. What they almost never add up is the cost of staying exactly where they are, and that bill is usually higher. It just gets paid…
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Discovering Your Why: The Deeper Reasons Behind Your Goals
Everybody who walks into my gym has a goal sitting on the surface. “I want to lose twenty pounds.” “I want to fit my old clothes.” That’s fine, and it’s a place to start. But the surface goal is never the thing that keeps a person coming back. What keeps you coming back lives underneath…
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HCCT Strength Phase: Prioritizing Neural Adaptations While Sustaining Hypertrophy
The Strength Phase in the Hypertrophy-Centric Cyclical Training (HCCT) Model focuses on maximizing neural adaptations, enhancing motor unit recruitment, intramuscular coordination, and force production, while ensuring that muscle hypertrophy is sustained through strategic assistance work and complementary hypertrophy-driven strategies. Key Objectives of the Strength Phase Hypertrophy-Driven Strategies Complementing the Strength Phase Since the primary goal…
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What I Learned From Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell, and How I Used It to Build Muscle
When I first started hearing about Westside Barbell, I wasn’t interested in secondhand information. That’s never been how I’ve operated. If I want to understand something, I go to the source. At the time, I had a unique opportunity. I was hosting a radio show, before podcasting was really even a thing, and that gave…
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The Culture That Matters
When you train at Grinder Gym, you step into an environment built on four things: We expect guests to treat the facility and the community accordingly. This is not a hard ask. It is the standard that makes the room what it is. If you respect the space, you will be welcomed. Recommended Reading Grinder…
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Why People Visit Grinder Gym
Many lifters make it a point to schedule extended visits specifically to train at Grinder Gym. The reason is simple. This is not a commercial gym. When you train here, you have access to: In addition, guests often coordinate visits around: For some, it is a stop on vacation. For others, it is a planned…
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Neural vs Structural Training: Why Most Lifters Get It Backwards
Most people spend years in the gym, working hard, pushing weight, chasing progress, and never quite reach the level of strength or size they’re actually capable of. It isn’t a lack of effort. It isn’t that they don’t want it. It’s that they don’t understand what they’re building. They chase lifting heavier instead of building…
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Accessory and Supplemental Work for Powerlifting
Most lifters treat accessory work like filler. Something you tack on at the end of the session. Something you throw in because you figure you’re supposed to. That’s exactly where it goes wrong. Accessory and supplemental work isn’t there to make you tired. It’s there to make your main lifts better. If it doesn’t carry…
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Recovery and Injury Prevention for the Powerlifter
Recovery isn’t what you do after training. It’s what makes training work. Most lifters treat it like an afterthought, something you get to when you’re sore, something you add in once something starts to hurt. That’s backwards. Recovery isn’t separate from training. It’s the thing that lets training actually produce results. If you’re not recovering,…
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Strength Development Techniques for Powerlifting
Techniques don’t build strength. Application does. There’s no shortage of methods in powerlifting: Every one of them works, at the right time, for the right lifter, applied the right way. That’s the whole difference. No technique is powerful on its own. It’s how and when you use it that decides the outcome. What Strength Development…
