The Strength Log

The squat is known among gym-goers as the king of all exercises. In this episode, we talk about whether it lives up to the hype and how to perform the squat if your goal is to maximize muscle and strength gain. We also discuss the biomechanics of squatting, best practices for achieving a technique that will help you become bigger and stronger, the muscles worked, some common mistakes, and a bit about our squat specialization programs in the StrengthLog app. This is the second episode in our series covering "The Big 6" exercises: the bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, different kinds of rows, and pull-up/lat pulldown. Up next week: The deadlift! *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

How should you perform the bench press if your goal is to lift a ton of weight and build big and powerful pecs, shoulders, and triceps? In this episode, we discuss the biomechanics of bench pressing, the best practices for achieving a technique that will help you become bigger and stronger, the muscles worked, some common mistakes, and how to train the lift. This episode also kicks off a new series covering "The Big 6" exercises: the bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, different kinds of rows, and pull-up/lat pulldown. Up next week: The squat! *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

What determines if you get great results from your strength training, or just spin your wheels without getting anywhere? In this episode, we present our seven principles of highly effective strength training. These principles are not written in stone, and they have considerations and exceptions. But if you listen to the whole show, you'll be better equipped to deal with plateaus in your training and reach your fitness goals faster. Timestamps: 03:00 - Principle 1: Progressive Overload 10:50 - Principle 2: Specificity 16:20 - Principle 3: Consistency 21:30 - Principle 4: Individualization 26:00 - Principle 5: Variation (but Not Randomization) 34:30 - Principle 6: Recovery 42:45 - Principle 7: Technique First *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Will training fasted hurt your muscle and strength gains? A new study had participants do full-body morning workouts for 12 weeks, with half having breakfast beforehand and half skipping breakfast to see how it affected their strength levels, muscle mass, and body fat. In this episode, you'll learn how important it is to eat before you go to the gym. We also discuss whether fasted training is superior for fat loss or not. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Long-distance runners often hesitate to add strength training, for fear it will make them muscle-bound and heavy. But is that really what happens? In this episode, we discuss a new study on well-trained long-distance runners, that looked into how adding strength training affected their running economy and performance. The results? They're really good! Let's break them down and discuss how a long-distance runner should strength train. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Research is mounting that strength training is not only good for our biceps, but also for our brains, improving our learning, memory, and focus. That goes for other forms of exercise, too, like cardio. But which type is best, and how much of it should you do for brain gains? In today's episode, we discuss a new meta-analysis that tries to answer these questions. Over 9,000 brain points to anyone who listens! *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

If you improve your cardio fitness, will you also perform better in the gym and recover faster between sets? That's a common hypothesis in the gym world. If proven true, it would be another good reason for adding more cardio training into your routine, since better recovery should mean bigger strength gains in the long run (pun intended). That's the topic today, and we have a new study that examined the relationship between oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and recovery between sets, within-set fatigue, and whether men and women recover at different rates. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Forty might be the new twenty, and for many, life feels better than ever. But physical signs of aging are starting to creep up on us at that age. Our backs ache a bit more than ten years ago; we feel tired more often; and let's not talk about our knees and shoulders. So, how do you go about strength training in your forties? Do you build less muscle mass compared to ten or twenty years ago? Is it more dangerous? Should you only do crossword puzzles instead? In this episode, we discuss considerations when strength training after the age of 40, answer common questions people have about getting started in the gym at this age, and talk about whether your dietary needs change with age. *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Is there too much of a good thing, or should you just keep adding sets to your workouts to grow bigger and stronger? In episode 32, we discussed a meta-regression analysis on weekly set volume for hypertrophy and strength gains. Now, the same researchers are back with an analysis on per-session volume. How many sets should you do per workout for a given muscle or exercise to maximize muscle growth and strength gains? Is more always better, and if so, is there an upper limit? Let's talk about it! We also have time for a listener question, around 22:30 in: What's the fastest way to warm up for training specific body parts? *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.

Ten years ago we got an awesome study on powerlifters and weightlifters maxing out in the squat daily. Now, a group of physical therapy students have replicated that study, but in the bench press instead. You read that right. Bench press. Maxing out. Every day for more than a month. Plus back-off sets. That's a lot of bench pressing. But did they die? Super fun study and lots to talk about. Afterwards, around 25 minutes in, we discuss Daniel's results from a 6-week cycle of our training program Squat Samba. Did he set a new lifetime PR? *** Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button! You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam. Become a part of our Reddit community here. *** This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden. To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life. If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.