Bathhouse 101

Bathhouses are not a part of American sports culture, but they should be. Going to the bathhouse has been a crucial part of my athletic development. Each visit drains me of water, electrolytes, and energy, but the following morning I’m feel refreshed, ready to work,...

Women in Weightlifting Part 1: Programming

A young female weightlifter once asked me whether she should be training differently from the guys at her gym. Women make up almost half of our weightlifting community, yet nearly all of the resources that are available are written for the default, male, weightlifter....

The Doping Fairytale

Let’s drop the charade. The “clean sport” fairytale is helping no one. Nearly all Olympic and professional athletes have used anabolic steroids and/or other banned performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) at some point during their athletic careers (gasp for effect). ...

The Foundation

Ilya Ilyin is a 2-time Olympic Champion and 4-time World Champion. After winning the 2012 London Olympics, Ilya took 15 months off from training to let himself rest and recover. At the end of this break, Ilya came to the US to do a series of seminars with Dmitry...

Roadmap for Training Part 2

A training cycle for a novice weightlifter should be different from that of an advanced lifter. In this post, I’ll discuss some of the major differences. In the Russian Weightlifting System, weightlifters are ranked based on their weightlifting abilities. These ranks...

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