Strength Training

The deadlift is a fantastic strength exercise in its own right, but after a certain amount of progress, you will need to supplement it with other lifts to keep getting stronger. This is where deadlift accessory exercises become an essential part of your strength training programme.

How to Include Deadlift Accessory Exercises in Your Programme

These accessory exercises will help you rectify the weak links in your deadlifting game and strengthen important muscle groups. The downside to this is that these exercises will be hitting the same positions and muscle groups as deadlifts. This means you won’t be able to train every exercise on this list at the same time and deadlift heavy; you’ll have to choose what you want to focus on.

In the breakdown below, I’ll discuss when to use these accessory exercises to improve your deadlifting ability.

Believe it or not, you can gain strength without gaining weight in the gym. This is great news, because so many people avoid strength training for fear of becoming “bulky.”

Luckily, the gym has evolved so far past the point of being a bodybuilder’s playground, and we understand so much more about getting stronger, healthier, and better at physical activity without gaining lots of muscle.

For more information on the difference between strength and muscle gains, read this post.

I’d like to write about how I got a decent increase to my front squat personal best in the latter half of 2021. It feels a little self-indulgent, but I’m confident these tips will help you develop muscular strength and set some squat personal bests of your own.

Prior to this, it had been a while since I had made progress in my front squat. That being said, I’ve been squatting (relatively) heavy for around 10 years now. Therefore, it’s safe to say this progress wasn’t a result of newbie gains – I can no longer get a new personal best just by looking at a bar!

The lessons I learned from this training block will probably be most applicable if you’re an intermediate or novice lifter. I didn’t do anything super-advanced, so these strength training tips should be useful no matter what your end goal.

Click here to see why I think it’s important to get strong at front squats, and squats in general. Click here for a guide to a lot of the strength training terminology I use in this blog.

In this next section I go into more detail about my own training in 2021. If you want to skip ahead to the main strength training tips, use this contents table.

I’ve previously provided a guide to general gym terms; now it’s time to get a little more specific and talk about strength training terms in more detail. An online glossary may not be the most exciting thing you’ve ever read, but if you’re comfortable with weight training terms and definitions you’ll be better equipped to learn about other strength training topics. Let’s get started!

In training, it can be hard to commit to one training programme for a long time. No matter what your training goal, it can be difficult to pick from the…

If you’ve been training for some time now, it’s natural to want to get a sense of your strength levels. We all want to quantify our strength progress, and this can lead to wanting to know how much you should be lifting in a given exercise. This is where strength standards come into the picture.

Strength standards are predictions of what weight you should be lifting, typically based on bodyweight and experience. For example, you may have read that high-level athletes should deadlift 2-2.5 times their bodyweight, squat 1.5-2 times their bodyweight, and so on.

I’m always reluctant to set strength benchmarks for my clients. Don’t get me wrong – they can provide something to aim for, and it can feel super-rewarding to hit these numbers, but they’re not always helpful. Here’s why.

I’m not a great runner myself, but I’ve helped a number of athletes optimise their strength training for running. Whether cross-country is your thing or you prefer being on a track, or even if you favour a triathlon, these exercises will help improve you running performance. You’ll have to wait your turn if you’re a sprinter; we’re focussing on strength training for endurance running today.

Training to get your first pullup is a fantastic goal. It requires all-round strength and a mastery of your bodyweight. It also has real world applications, should you ever find yourself in a Cliffhanger-style situation.

However, getting that first pullup can be a frustrating journey too. Many people struggle to overcome the major hurdles that come with gaining the strength – and skill – to perform a brand new movement.

Through my time of helping people get their first pullup, I see the same mistakes being made time and again. Luckily, they have simple fixes.

Want more help with your pullups? I have specific online programmes for pullups and deadlifts. These are made with all experience levels in mind! Fill in the contact form at the bottom of the blog if you’d like to know more.