Equipment Guide – Shoes

Equipment Guide – Shoes

Ordering a weighlifting shoe can be confusing.  You can’t go to a brick and mortar store and try a pair on.  Even if you could, you would want to get under a load and squat to really know what would work best for you.  I’ve tried to identify which shoes tend to be...
Essential Equipment – Shoes

Essential Equipment – Shoes

“Shoes are the only piece of personal equipment that you really need to own.” Starting Strength: Basic  Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe. Why do people think shoes are unimportant, or decide to wait to buy weightlifting shoes until they are lifting more? What makes...
Starting Strength Challenge 2017

Starting Strength Challenge 2017

Bay Strength had a great showing at the 2017 Spring Starting Strength Challenge! This is the first time this meet was sanctioned by the US Strengthlifting Federation, and lifters that competed in this meet can qualify to compete in a National level meet. The contested lifts were the Squat, Press and Deadlift.

It’s Not Optimal

It’s Not Optimal

As a strength coach, the best advice I can give you, the novice trainee, is to spend the duration of your linear progression with a singular focus – getting stronger.

Training for strength takes advantage of the body’s ability to benefit from the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle. Originally described by Hans Selye in 1936 as a mechanism to describe the set of responses an organism goes through in order to adapt to an external stressor, the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle is a simple way to understand our infinite capability as humans to adapt and change.

However, some of us, myself included, suffer from the desire to become accomplished in many kinds of physical pursuits and are unwilling to stop practicing these other disciplines for the length of time it takes to run a linear progression. Factors that affect recovery include adequate rest, food (especially protein) and sleep. Failure to respect the need for the recovery piece of the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle will derail your linear progression.

Protein – Getting More

Protein – Getting More

Sometimes it can be challenging to take a diet high in carbs and fat to one that’s high in protein, especially if you need to limit your total calorie intake. Below is a handy guide to foods that are mostly protein.  If you don’t need to worry about your...