Build Even More Size, Strength, and Power with Multiple Sets of Low Reps Of all the training articles that I have written the last couple months, the most popular article by far is my recent High-Set, Low-Rep Workout Variations for Size and Strength that I posted on July 11th. In it, I covered (primarily) different variations using workouts of 8 to 10 sets of 3 to 5 reps. I won’t go back over the training in that article, so if you haven’t read it, and you think it might b e a training method that you’re interested in, then check it out. In this article, I’m going to go over some additional workout ideas, including some advanced ones for lifters who have already spent a few training cycles using the methods discussed in the prior post. Based on the interest in the previous article, I figured more lifters would want to know about some additional training ideas. Rep Ladders With rep ladders , you use th...
Cultivating Internal Energy in the Hara for Budo Training The other day, I was having a conversation with a dear friend of mine—I won’t get into the details, as they are beside the point for the sake of what I want to discuss here—when he said something that I just couldn’t get out of my head. He said that sometimes, when making a decision, you just have to “trust your gut.” It’s a common idiom that you may have heard as advice throughout your life. My friend has no experience, and certainly no interest, in my lifelong passion for the traditional Japanese martial ways. Like most of my family members, and the friends I have who I didn’t meet through martial arts training, he probably looks upon my passion for the Budo—and physical training in general—as nothing more than a curiosity and perhaps an odd peculiarity of my personality. What he doesn’t know is that in traditional Budo one’s “gut instinct” can...