Slippery Lifting Platform?! Use THIS for Olympic Weightlifting & Strength Training

Do you have a slippery lifting surface? A slick platform can cause a lot of problems, whether you're snatching, clean-and-jerking, squatting, etc., so Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers lets you in on a very simple (and rarely discussed!) method to make sure you've got good grip between your shoes and the platform.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 12/12/22)

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• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Starting Out at the Gym? Don’t Miss These 4 Essentials

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 05/12/23)

Which gym accessories are a “must” when you’re training? Let’s quickly cover four of them.

Accessory #1: Timer
At home, Becky and I have a magnetic kitchen timer attached to the squat rack (if you train at a commercial gym, simply keep it with you in your bag). We bought two pink timers - because pink is stylish and manly - for less than $9 from Amazon (it was a two-pack), but you can get them almost anywhere - Walmart, home improvement stores, grocery stores, etc.

Most of my workouts are fairly time-sensitive - I need to get in, get done, and get out in a certain amount of time, and the timer helps me do just that. Our timer has a count-up mode (i.e., it counts up continuously like a stopwatch) as well as a count-down mode (e.g., you set the timer for 5 minutes, and it will beep or flash when the time is up), and these are common features that you’ll find on most kitchen timers. I typically use the count-up feature, but many people prefer to use the count-down mode instead to keep track of rest periods.

Need to make sure you rest long enough between your squat sets? Or not too long? get a timer.

The timer is cheap, it’s effective, and it sticks to your squat rack, so if you find that your workouts are taking longer than you can afford, give it a try.

Accessory #2: Coffee
This should need no explanation, but I’ll do my best anyway. When it’s cold, you drink coffee. When it’s early, you drink coffee. When it’s hot, you still drink hot coffee (iced is fine, too). And when it’s late, you drink coffee.

Coffee. The original - and still the best - pre-workout. Drink it during the workout, too.

Accessory #3: Training Log
Sure, we can call this an accessory, but it’s really your most important piece of training equipment. If you’re going to train - if you’re going to lift intelligently - have a training log. I recommend a basic paper notebook, but if you want to go digital, that will also work. The point here is to have a training log and use it religiously.

The log is what separates training from exercise. If you want to exercise, that’s fine. You’ve got Jazzercise, you’ve got spin, you’ve got Zumba, you’ve got a lot of options. But if you want to train, have a training log. Record your warm-up sets, record your work sets, record what you’re going to do next time (before you walk out the door), and keep tabs on useful cues that you’re focusing on when performing the lifts. Get a training log.

Accessory #4: Fractional Plates
Get yourself a pair of 1.25 lb plates, or better yet, buy a set of fractional plates that has a pair (each) of 0.25 lb, 0.5 lb, 0.75 lb, and 1 lb plates. The set of 1.25 lb plates will permit you to make a 2.5 lb jump, which is a must for presses, bench presses, and even the squat and deadlift for some folks. The more complete set will allow even smaller jumps (e.g., a 1 lb jump using the two 0.5 lb plates), which will be extremely useful for many people on the press and the bench press.

Commercial gyms don’t carry plates smaller than 2.5 lb - which means you have to make jumps that are 5 lb or larger - and eventually, smaller jumps will be necessary to yield progress on a number of your lifts, so get a set before you need it and keep it with you in your gym bag.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

Use THIS CUE to PR Your Lifts!

Try out this simple cue the next time you're going for a heavy single at the gym or in competition. It just might help you nail that PR you've been chasing. Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 12/05/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

The BEST Squat Accessory Ever: "This simple tool helps so much!"

How can one simple object fix your knees' forward position, your knees' lateral position, and even your hip position and back angle?! If you train on your own, the TUBOW can be a huge help to your squat. What's a TUBOW? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains as Becky demonstrates.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 12/03/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

How to Squat Heavy ALONE! | How to Fail a Squat Safely

Everybody needs to squat, but if you train alone, you need to be able to fail a squat safely. What to do? It's simple, and Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers explains and demonstrates.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 11/28/22)

Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

You've Been Unloading Your Barbell Wrong This Whole Time (plus bonus tip)

You’re done lifting - you’ve finished your deadlifts, snatches, cleans, rows, whatever was on the docket for the day - you’ve got a bunch of bumper plates on the barbell, and you’ve got to unload them.

It’s a bit of a pain, of course, and you don’t want to work any harder than you have to, so let’s cover how to make your life easier when unloading your bar (and read to the end for a bonus tip).

You can also watch the video below to see these steps in action.

Step 1: Get all the metal plates or “change plates” off the bar.
Take care of the smaller plates first. If it’s not a full-sized plate (i.e., a bumper plate or a metal 45 lb plate), it’s easy to slide off since it’s not sitting on the floor, so get these plates off first.

Step 2: Outer Plates Off
Move to one side of the bar and roll the innermost plate up onto a small, change plate (a 2.5 lb plate works well). Doing this raises that entire side of the barbell up just enough that you can easily slide off any other plates on that side of the bar (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Step 3: Inner Plate Off
On the same side of the bar, you now have one remaining plate (i.e., the plate that you rolled up onto the 2.5 lb plate in Step 2). This is the only plate that requires a little work to remove. You can pick up the bar with one hand and slide the plate off with the other hand (Figure 2), or your can move to the outside of the barbell and use both hands to pull that last plate toward you.

figure 2

Note: Don’t let that end of the barbell simply drop jarringly to the floor when that last plate comes off. Be kind to your barbell.

Step 4: The Best Part
Grab the empty end of the barbell, walk it up (Figure 3) until the barbell is completely vertical, and then simply pick up the barbell as it slides up and out of the stack of plates now resting on the floor. At this point, you can store your barbell and then easily put away that stack of plates.

figure 3

Bonus Tip:
When getting your barbell out (or when putting it away), if you’d like to conserve some energy, don’t carry it in your hands. Pick it up, place it on one shoulder (one end will counterweight the other end, so this is a pretty easy process), and then carry it over to your squat rack.

figure 4

Since the bar is already on your shoulder, it’s at roughly the same height as your j-hooks (if you’re set up to squat or press), which means you can lean against the squat rack to make sure the barbell is against the uprights (Figure 4) and then just dip slightly until the bar is resting in the hooks.

Note: If there are other people around, make sure you don’t clock someone in the face when carrying it at this height.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

PS: Whenever you want even more Testify in your life, here are some free resources:

• Book a free intro and strategy session with us HERE.

• Pick up a free copy of Testify’s Squat Guide: 12 Tips to Improve Your Squat Now HERE.

• Get our free weekly email - containing useful videos, articles, and training tips - HERE.

• Follow Testify on Instagram HERE.

• Subscribe to Testify’s YouTube channel HERE.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?