Conjugate Iron

I love pressing weight overhead. As a teenager, I had a barbell at home and a total of 80kg which I'd clean from the floor with terrible form, shaking and wobbling. It fascinated me. Then press it up while having a mini stroke. It was the end result of all kinds of ways the strongmen of old would use to bring a dumbbell, barbell or any other type of implement above their head.   Here are some variations that I've incorporated into my training through the years and still rotate whether I'm getting ready for competition or just training throughout the year.   1. Standing barbell press   Considered by many to be one of the truest tests of strength. Old school exercise, I like to have my grip at around shoulder width. This way my triceps stay in line with my forearms.   Don't be surprised if your bench goes up while you're incorporating these into your training. You use your triceps to lock the weight above your head and it's a much longer range of mo...

Enhance your bench press (10+ variations) Here are some exercises you can add to your arsenal in order to have fun and hit the chest and triceps from different angles. I hope you’ll find something out of this small selection, which I’ve personally used and still use after many years. It’s not set in stone, you can always change something, retract one and add another one of your own preference. Enjoy! 1. Floor press My personal favorite variation. Historically the first one too. Thanks to the great George Hackenschmidt who decided to press the bar above his chest instead of pressing it overhead. Hackenschmidt could press 165kg from the floor around 120 years ago. Wrap your head around this, as I’m doing the same. Before this turns into an article about Hack (working on that as well) I’m going to get back to the benefits of the floor press. Your bench press lockout demands serious tricep involvement. And there’s nothing better than this ingenious variation. Make sure every step is sl...

The squat is my favorite exercise. Here are some of the variations I’ve used through the years and still use to this day. 1. Box squat I wrote a whole article on the box squat and its immense significance for muscular development, balance and explosive strength across multiple sports. This variation is one of the safest when executed correctly and it can be done by anybody who can sit down on a chair. If you can sit, you can box squat. Not to mention I’ve used it in countless client programs. You can perform it with a barbell, a kettlebell held in front or two dumbbells hanging at your sides. A single dumbbell or kettlebell can also be used in a goblet style setup. You can also use bands and chains. It’s incredibly important not to swing back as you sit down. Maintain the same posture you would during a full squat descent. The only way this carries over properly to your full squat is if you stay tight and controlled without rocking back and forth. You can even perform them with bo...

We can agree that the Smith machine has its uses. That being said, many still don’t take it seriously. To them I say: what if you had very few options? It offers access to dozens of exercises. Even in a fully equipped gym, it provides a platform that you simply can’t replicate with free weights alone. Most people look at it as a limitation instead of what it actually is: a controlled environment where you can overload, refine technique and work around injuries or restrictions. Now imagine a worse scenario. No deadlift floor, no squat rack, dumbbells capped at 80 lbs, benches without safeties, no power cage. You can switch gyms, sure. But what if you live out of town and your budget or schedule doesn’t allow you to spend time and money just to get access to better equipment? You adjust. You find ways to get stronger with what you have. That mindset alone will take you further than perfect conditions ever will. That’s exactly what I had to do. Here’s a list of exercises I’ve been using i...

Here are some ways you can enrich your training regimen and avoid neural desensitization by introducing variations on deadlift day. Break the routine once in a while and actually enjoy the process. These are all tools. Use them when needed, rotate them when progress slows down, and don’t be afraid to experiment a bit. 1. Block pulls Block pulls are great for overloading the posterior chain since you can usually pull more weight from an elevated position. That alone makes them valuable if your goal is to get used to heavier loads without always grinding from the floor. Personally, I find the position just under my kneecap to be my strongest. For my height (6’1”), that’s around the fifth pin in the power cage. Everyone’s leverages are different, so you’ll need to experiment a bit and find your own strongest and weakest ranges. Most of the time I prefer pulling from mid shin, which is around the third pin. That’s where I’ve found my weakest point. It’s a very awkward range. You don’t ...

  That’s one of the first things people told me at the gym in 2008 when I laid down to bench. It bothered me. I thought, I can’t bend the damn bar why do they keep telling me that?? I certainly wasn’t aware of the amount of detail and technique that hid behind compound lifts.  As time went by, I began to understand why they insisted. And now, after thousands of workouts, I think I’m ready to explain why you need to bend the bar in the 3 main lifts. And how it’ll help you get stronger when you combine it with proper kinetic linking.  The main character here is the bar. And how we position our body to become one with it.  1. Squat My favorite exercise. Nothing like having weight on your back. Even better, when you execute it properly, heavy or not, competition or training session. This glorious compound movement demands your respect. Ok, they all do… but give me a break and allow me to praise it. Thank you.  • Find your grip and get under the bar. To me grip is as...

Although I trained on and off for years, I started lifting consistently in October of 2008, rehabilitating an ankle surgery. Doctor prescribed treadmill walks 30 mins per day. I was training in Pancrase just before that. As a few weeks went by I couldn’t keep my eyes off the squat rack. Gym owner George was an experienced bodybuilder and I’d always go bother him with questions, picking his brain. He was strong, doing slow reps ass to grass with 600lbs on his back, with just a belt. Fast forward to January of 2011 and I’m having knee surgery. Torn meniscus and quad tendon reattachment. Work related. June of the same year I’m in Iceland, training at Jakabol. Gym of 4 times World’s strongest man champion Magnus Ver Magnusson. That’s where I met some very strong people. And they were incorporating box squats in their training. I was hooked. I loved to bench and deadlift. But the squat was my blind obsession. Something about having the bar on my back and my whole body besides my fat head be...