Strength Culture

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05/11/2026

A balls deep buttery 405lb squat to start the week.

I love when people think they’ve found a “gotcha” moment.This is probably one of the most common rebuttals I get wheneve...
05/06/2026

I love when people think they’ve found a “gotcha” moment.

This is probably one of the most common rebuttals I get whenever I talk about hip IR in the squat:

“Well if squats require hip IR, then how can people squat if they don’t measure for hip IR on a table test?”

The confidence people say this with is always hilarious because it immediately tells me they don’t understand the difference between:

• open chain vs. closed chain
• isolated testing vs. integrated movement
• passive ROM vs. active task ex*****on
• a testing environment vs. a performance environment

A table test is a person interacting with a table while one joint is moved in isolation.

A squat is a full-body coordinated task involving the pelvis, spine, femur, tibia, foot pressure, stance width, tissue yield, muscular coordination, and relative stiffness under load.

Those are not the same context.

How much hip IR you see in an isolated table test does NOT directly predict how someone squats, especially at higher levels of strength and fitness.

This is what happens when people try to reduce complex movement down to a single isolated measurement and pretend it explains everything.

I think Ben’s messaging is mostly positive in the sense that it reaches people who worry way too much about things that ...
04/24/2026

I think Ben’s messaging is mostly positive in the sense that it reaches people who worry way too much about things that don’t actually matter in training.

And to be fair, that usually isn’t their fault. It’s coming from other influencers pushing low-quality, bu****it content.

I’m using this as an example of how easy it is to misuse or misrepresent “science” to cope with your own gaps in physical development.

I’ve seen this for years. People cherry-pick data and twist information to justify what they don’t understand or can’t do well.

There are really only two ways to solve problems:

1. Give people something actionable that actually fixes the issue
2. Get them to stop focusing on things that don’t matter and/or stop doing things that make it worse

This type of content is trying to do the second.

But it usually assumes they’ve already mastered the first, and most haven’t.

I’ve seen it with flexibility or anti-flexibility content. I’ve seen it with pain and injuries, where people default to the BPS (bio-psycho-social) model as a cop-out. I’ve seen it with studies on higher volume training and exercise selection.

The examples are endless.

It’s okay to not know things. It’s impossible to know everything.

But stop making one of two mistakes:

1. Saying certain information doesn’t matter just because you don’t understand how to apply it or get results from it
2. Misrepresenting data or “science” to cherry-pick your bias because you have gaps in your knowledge or experience

Keep learning and don't close your mind off to possibilities you are currently unwilling to accept.

Restricting forward knee travel in a squat may decrease knee torque by ~30%, but it increases torque at the hips and low...
04/21/2026

Restricting forward knee travel in a squat may decrease knee torque by ~30%, but it increases torque at the hips and lower back by nearly 10×.

This comes directly from the Fry et al. 2003 squat knee travel study.

When you force a vertical shin, you don’t “protect” the knees, you just shift the load somewhere else. In this case, it gets dumped into the hips and lower back.

It’s not hard to see why an entire era of coaching that emphasized:

• knees out
• hips back
• vertical shins
• stopping at parallel

led to a lot of lifters struggling to tolerate barbell back squats, and why many coaches moved toward single-leg work and trap bar variations instead.

The takeaway isn’t that bilateral barbell squats are the problem.

It’s that how you coach, cue, and execute the squat that determines where the load goes.

At this point, I rarely perform more than 1–3 sets per exercise, which typically results in about 4–6 sets per muscle gr...
04/21/2026

At this point, I rarely perform more than 1–3 sets per exercise, which typically results in about 4–6 sets per muscle group per week.

That said, for compound lifts like the squat, deadlift, bench, chin-ups, etc., I still see a strong case for higher set and/or rep exposure. These movements demand more coordination and control across multiple joints, so the added volume helps build the skill needed to perform them effectively.

Using set and rep schemes like:

12 × 1–3
10 × 2–4
8 × 6–8
…even 10 × 10…

can be incredibly useful for developing a better understanding of the lift and building confidence, while still providing enough stimulus to grow and get stronger.

As long as you’re working at an appropriate intensity and keeping reps in reserve, you can use the same load across all sets or gradually increase the load as you work through them.

I use these set and rep schemes in many of the programs I offer, and my clients have enjoyed them over the years.

I also enjoy using them myself and will likely revisit them in the future.

Have you used higher set and rep schemes and had success with them? If so, let me know in the comments.

Fundamentally a back squat is like any other squat variation.The bar being on your back should change very little about ...
04/20/2026

Fundamentally a back squat is like any other squat variation.

The bar being on your back should change very little about how you approach the lift.

I think the squat is over coached, over cued, and over thought.

Put the bar in a comfortable and stable position on your upper back.

Take a grip width that allows for upper back tightness without over arching or over extending.

Bend your knees and sit down, push through the floor to stand up.

You don't need a 6-8 part YouTube series on the back squat to teach people how to do it or to learn how to do it yourself.

Once the reps slow down, you've achieved a high level of MT.That's all you need to grow muscle and get stronger.Train wh...
04/14/2026

Once the reps slow down, you've achieved a high level of MT.

That's all you need to grow muscle and get stronger.

Train whatever reps you like.

I personally prefer to do more sets and less reps. That doesn't mean I don't train higher reps. I would say 80-85% of my training volume is between 4-8 reps.

Stupid? Or is it ... slow?
04/13/2026

Stupid? Or is it ... slow?

There’s a well-documented concept in behavioral psychology called the "goal gradient effect".People push hard when they ...
04/10/2026

There’s a well-documented concept in behavioral psychology called the "goal gradient effect".

People push hard when they feel far from the goal…
But once they feel “close enough,” effort drops off.

Even if they’re objectively nowhere near their potential, subjectively they feel like they’ve arrived.

I’ve seen this pattern repeat over and over again for the last 15 years:
1. High motivation → strong adherence
2. Early results → reduced urgency
3. Reduced urgency → lower adherence
4. Lower adherence → plateau/regression

…and it happens right around that 8–12 week window for a lot of people.

The problem isn’t a lack of information or ability, it’s that early success removes the urgency that created the behavior in the first place.

The justifications and excuses start to outweigh the desire. Then 2–3 months later, when all that progress starts to fade, they’re ready to go at it again…

For another predictably ending cycle.

Please don't stop doing what is/was working.

01/13/2026

The 3 biggest things I struggle with as a coach:

1. Communication

My number one struggle is when clients don’t communicate consistently. Whether it’s skipping check-ins, not sending videos for feedback, or just not keeping me in the loop, the less I know, the harder it is to coach well. Coaching only works when there’s information going both ways. Communication removes uncertainty. Without it, we’re guessing instead of guiding.

And that leads directly into the second issue.

2. Information (and too much of it)

We live in a time where everyone has unlimited access to fitness information. In theory, that’s a good thing. In reality, most people can’t tell what actually applies to them or how to filter it through their goals. Some of the information out there is flat-out wrong, but the bigger problem is overload. If something shows up on a feed, people assume it must be relevant to them. Most of the time, it isn’t.
That’s why coaches exist, to help you navigate what matters, what doesn’t, and what actually applies to you. Ten years ago, clients told me what they wanted, we focused on the work, and I educated them along the way. Now, a huge part of my job is sorting through the noise and helping clients trust that they’re already on the right track.

Which brings me to the third struggle.

3. Motivation and long-term thinking

Some clients struggle to maintain consistency over the long haul. They come in with short-term goals, but fitness is a long-term game. Helping people shift their perspective, stay patient, and trust the process is one of the hardest parts of coaching. It might sound crazy that we have to convince adults to do things that improve their own quality of life ... but, that is the job.

BONUS

4. Content creation.

Making content that is relevant, helpful, and authentic that still grabs people's attention without selling or marketing complete bu****it to compete with other creators in the space without becoming too toxic, critical, or antagonistic.

What are 3 things you find yourself struggling with? Let me know in the comments below! 👇

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