Lifting Gear | What to Wear and What NOT to Wear!

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

In our first video in the "Lifting Gear" series, Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers quickly dives into what to wear as well as what not to wear when it comes to training clothes.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 01/16/23)

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Types of Barbells: Weightlifting vs Powerlifting vs Hybrid

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 06/16/23)

Weightlifting bars, powerlifting bars, and dual purpose bars (i.e., hybrid bars) - what is the difference between these types of barbells, and specifically, what’s the deal with the rings (i.e., score marks or knurl marks) on each bar?

That Poor Soul
Some bars have one set of rings, and some bars have two sets of rings. Every time we go to (or host) a powerlifting meet, weightlifting meet, or strengthlifting meet, there is always some poor soul who shows up having trained on one type of bar - for example, a bar that has two sets of rings - and then he steps onto the competition platform and discovers he’s about to use a bar that only has one set of rings.

Now, he’s not sure which set of rings he was using in training, and as a result, he doesn’t know where to take his grip on the competition bar. This situation can also happen in training - either you’re forced to use a different bar than you usually do, or perhaps you’re traveling and are training at an unfamiliar gym.

Let’s prevent this problem.

The Solution
The solution is straightforward - familiarize yourself with the two types of rings, and you’ll be good to go. We use a hybrid bar as you see in Figure 1 for this purpose.

Figure 1: dual rings (hybrid bar)

The inner set of rings are 81 cm apart (approximately 32 in) and are commonly referred to as the “powerlifting rings” or simply the “power rings”. On a dedicated powerlifting barbell or “power bar,” this is the only set of rings you see (Figure 2), so if you go to a powerlifting meet, this is most likely what you’ll be using.

figure 2: power rings (power bar)

The outer set of rings are 91 cm apart (approximately 36 in) and are commonly referred to as the “weightlifting rings” or the “Olympic lifting rings.” If you go to a weightlifting meet, you’ll probably be lifting on a dedicated weightlifting bar (Figure 3), and that bar will only have the outer set of rings.

figure 3: Weightlifting rings (weightlifting bar)

But Why?
The rings are simply there as reference points for your grip so that your lifts can be more consistent and hopefully more successful as well. In the case of a power bar, the rings also serve as the markers for the maximum legal grip width for the bench press (i.e., in competition).

What To Do?
Know what bar you’re using. If you’re using a bar that has only one set of rings, get out a tape measure and measure the distance between the rings or - at the very least - measure it relative to some part of your body (arm length, etc.). This way, you know what bar you’re using, and if you have to use a different bar - whether training somewhere else or competing - your grip (and therefore your lifts) will still be consistent, which means you are more likely to hit your lifts successfully.

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.)

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 Make Strength Training 5x Times Easier

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Strength training doesn’t have to be intimidating or complicated. In this video, Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers covers 5 simple tips that make lifting more approachable, more accessible, and more effective for anyone—no matter your age, experience, or fitness level.

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.

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?

Testify Free Press - August 18, 2025

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

THIS WEEK'S SUBMISSION

From our video Deadlift Pro Tips (The "Don't Stand Up" Trick) (click the title to watch):

Jonathan Martin
I always laugh when people give goofy cues, but those are the ones I always remember!

Phil
Absolutely!

TESTIFY ONLINE COACHING

Interested in getting stronger working one-on-one remotely with us? Click here to book your free strategy session.

Get Stronger. Live Better. Start Today.

ARTICLES & VIDEOS

5 simple tips to unlock Squat GENIUS mode… plus a bonus tip
Struggling to get your squat right? In this video, Phil breaks down 5 simple, practical tips to help you lift more weight with better technique—and he shares a bonus tip regarding a common mistake lifters make with their backs. Click here to watch.

 

5 Mistakes That DESTROY Your Lifting Warm-up
Want to have a more effective and efficient warm-up? Avoid these mistakes. Click here to read.

 

Blast from the Past: The Mistake That is KILLING Your Deadlift! | How to Set Your Back for the Deadlift: Part 4
Is your hideously rounded back wreaking havoc on your deadlift? We help you fix it fast in Part 4 of this Saturday Shorts series. Click here to watch.

 

Blast from the Past: 3 Obvious Gym Tips…That No One Follows
In Part 2 of this series, Phil covers more tips and tricks to help the new lifter. Click here to read.

SLEEVES ARE OVERRATED - GRAB A TESTIFY TANK!

Sun's out, guns out, and we've got men's and women’s tank tops in multiple colors.

Get yours today and represent your favorite gym!

Click here to head to the Testify Store.

WHAT'S COMING UP

Congratulations to everyone who competed at this past Friday's Deadapalooza and thank you so much to everyone who helped out! Judges, loaders, table officials, those who helped set up and tear down - you all were great, and we couldn't have wonderful events like this without you!

Reminder: We will be closed for training on Monday, 09/01/25, in observance of Labor Day.

Below are a few of our upcoming events, and you can find out what else is on the calendar by heading to our events page at www.testifysc.com/events.

Friday Night Fun Night: Trivia Teams!

  • Join us for the first-ever Testify Friday Night Fun Night at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 26!

  • Grab your smartest friends (or the ones who make you laugh the most) and join us for a night of trivia, laughs, and good food!

  • Teams of up to 5 people will compete in a friendly trivia contest with fun prizes up for grabs.

  • More details to come!

Minneapolis, MN: Starting Strength Squat & Deadlift Camp

  • October 4, 2025

  • Spend the day learning the theory and practice of the low bar back squat and the deadlift.

  • Participants will spend lots of time on the platform receiving coaching and instruction on the squat and deadlift in a small group setting. We will also have a lecture and discussion on programming and cover how to identify and correct common technical problems.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Kansas City, MO: Starting Strength Squat & Deadlift Camp

  • October 25, 2025

  • Spend the day learning the theory and practice of the low bar back squat and the deadlift.

  • Participants will spend lots of time on the platform receiving coaching and instruction on the squat and deadlift in a small group setting. We will also have a lecture and discussion on programming and cover how to identify and correct common technical problems.

  • Click here to register or for more information.

Benching Bonanza! The Annual Testify Bench Press Jubilee

  • November 21, 2025

  • Benching Bonanza is a strength meet wherein the only contested lift is - not surprisingly - the bench press. There will be one bar, and the meet will be conducted in a "rising bar" format, so the weight on the bar only goes up! It’s a great time for all involved, and we hope to see you there!

  • Click here to register or for more information.

THIS WEEK’S CONDITIONING

Option 1
“Prowler Base”
1. Load up a manageable weight.
2. Sprint 40m at 85% intensity.
3. Rest until breathing and heart rate slow down. (45 sec – 2 min)
4. Repeat 5-15 times.

Courtesy of “Death by Prowler” (on Starting Strength).

Compare to 2025.07.14.

Option 2
Bike/row:
12 min TT

Score = distance

Compare to 2025.05.26.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
50 yd sled push (25 yd down-back)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 min

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
100 ft sled push (50 ft down-back)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)
Rest 1 min

Compare to 2025.04.28.

Option 4
10 x 50 ft farmer carry
Each carry is 25 ft down and 25 ft back and is for time. Rest 1 minute between carries.

Women: 97# per handle (80# of plates)
Men: 137# per handle (120# of plates)
(Note: Each handle weighs 17#.)

Compare to 2025.04.28.

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

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.

5 Mistakes That DESTROY Your Lifting Warm-up

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

You want to warm-up effectively and efficiently, so let’s eliminate five mistakes that lifters commonly make when warming up.

Mistake #1: Using a Percentage Chart
Percentage charts are the diapers of the lifting world - they can be useful when just starting out to keep you from making a big mess of things, but in the long run, your life will be much better if you outgrow them.

There’s nothing wrong with using a percentage chart at first - you’ve got a lot going on in your head - technique, rest periods, weight jumps from session to session, etc. - and a warm-up chart makes for one less thing to think about.

with practice, warming up is simpler, easier, and quicker without a chart like this one.

However, with experience and some trial-and-error, you’ll learn that - after you do a few sets of five reps with the empty barbell - you’ll select the rest of your warm-up weights by simply taking two to four roughly even jumps in weight, and you’ll be at your work weight.

The longer you train, the more your warm-ups will remain mostly the same from session to session, and this is a weakness of charts as the percentage-based warm-up weights change each time your work weight changes. For an experienced lifter, on the other hand, the first few warm-up sets tend to remain the same, and he only has to deal with making subtle changes to the last warm-up set or two.

If you want to use a chart for the first few weeks, go ahead, but try and wean yourself off of it pretty quickly. Your warm-ups will be simpler and quicker when you do.

Mistake #2: Using a Warm-up App (or Spreadsheet)
I see what you did there.

A warm-up app is just a percentage chart shrouded in technology, so all of the same logic from Mistake #1 applies here as well.

With practice, warm-ups are easier, quicker, and simpler without these items.

Mistake #3: Using Plates That Are Too Small
Don’t use 1.25 lb plates in your warm-ups.

These plates (and smaller ones) are very useful for work weights, but you generally don’t need to be that precise for your warm-ups.

Make all your warm-ups end in either a zero (e.g., 80, 90, 100) or a five (e.g., 85, 95, 105), and you won’t need the 1.25 lb plates for warming up. As you get stronger, you can make most (if not all) of your warm-ups end with a five, and at that point, you won’t need 2.5 lb plates for your warm-ups either.

don’t use 1.25 lb plates in your warm-ups, and as you get stronger, you won’t use 2.5 plates (like this one here) as often either when warming up.

Remember - fewer options for warm-up weights means less to think about, which is generally a good thing. Warm-ups weights should be intelligently chosen, but you generally don’t need razor-sharp precision, and if you do, it won’t be until your last warm-up.

Mistake #4: Taking Too Much Time Between Warm-up Sets
Don’t rest between your warm-up sets.

Perform a warm-up set, load the weight for the next warm-up set, then perform that warm-up set, and so on.

Ample rest is very important between work sets, but we’re talking about warm-up sets. Since they are warm-ups, they’re not heavy yet, and the act of changing the weight between sets will provide enough rest for your next warm-up set.

If it’s a warm-up, there’s no need to rest - the act of changing the plates provides enough rest time.

It’s worth nothing that you want to rest a few minutes after your last warm-up set since you now have a work set coming up, but beyond that, you don’t need to rest between warm-ups.

If you want to rest several minutes between your warm-up sets, you are welcome to do so, but if you’re looking to save some time in the gym (and there are far more interesting things to do in life then spend all day in the gym), this is where to look first.

Mistake #5: Too Many or Too Few Warm-up Sets
Warming up should both prepare you for the work set and not exhaust you by the time you get there, so you want to find a reasonable middle ground in terms of how many sets to perform. After the empty bar, you don’t need seven more warm-up sets (i.e., too many warm-up sets), and conversely, you don’t want to jump from the empty bar right to your 275 lb squat (i.e., too few warm-up sets).

As mentioned earlier, after the empty bar (except the deadlift), most people can simply perform two to four more warm-up sets with gradually increasing loads on the bar to prepare for the work sets. A useful approach is to perform a set of five reps, then three reps, then two reps, and any sets after that would be 1 rep sets (i.e., singles). Here are a few examples (weight x reps x sets):

Example 1
45 x 5 x 2 (empty bar)
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
215 x 1 x 1
—————
235 x 5 x 3 (work sets)

Example 2
45 x 5 x 2 (empty bar)
65 x 5 x 1
85 x 3 x 1
105 x 2 x 1
—————
115 x 5 x 3 (work sets)

Example 3
45 x 5 x 2 (empty bar)
135 x 5 x 1
225 x 3 x 1
275 x 2 x 1
315 x 1 x 1
—————
345 x 5 x 3 (work sets)

For the deadlift, start with full-size plates, so you’ll either use bumper plates or 45 lb metal plates. Here are two examples:

Example 1
75 x 5 x 1
105 x 3 x 1
135 x 2 x 1
155 x 1 x 1
—————
170 x 5 x 1 (work set)

Example 2
135 x 5 x 1
225 x 3 x 1
315 x 2 x 1
355 x 1 x 1
—————
390 x 5 x 1 (work set)

Note that with this 5-3-2-1 scheme, the warm-up sets are tapered, i.e., you perform fewer reps as the weight on the bar increases. This allows you to prepare yourself for your work sets by increasing the load while not exhausting yourself in the process (since you’re doing fewer reps as the weight goes up).

As always, we hope these tips help 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.)

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 Mistake That is KILLING Your Deadlift! | How to Set Your Back for the Deadlift: Part 4

/ Testify Strength & Conditioning/

Is your hideously rounded back wreaking havoc on your deadlift? Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers helps you fix it fast in Part 4 of this Saturday Shorts series.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 01/14/23)

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.

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?