Ruthless Performance

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Ruthless Performance

Specializing in human performance through the application of sport science and expert collaboration.

03/10/2026

We added some new toys at the studio…

Myofascial Release isn’t a new concept but has some fun gadgets that make it easier to work on soft tissue quality.

We treat myofascial release like any other stretch or activation drill. Our use of these modalities is targeted to a specific area. Typically we hit a roller or the Beastie Ball (or a lacrosse ball) for :20-:60 and for 1-2 rounds.

We may use these as a filler exercise between sets of steady-state cardio, as a warm up, or as a cool down.

We use these most commonly on glutes, calves, traps, or pecs.

There’s always exceptions, limiting principles, and nuance to when and why we use the modalities that we do. These individual differences, injury histories, personal preferences, and even anthropometric variation are hard to account for in one-size-fits-all programming. That’s why everyone that trains at Ruthless trains at their own pace, with their own exercise protocols built for them, and even on their own schedule.
You can piecemeal your own workouts or join a group class, but those won’t be as good for you as a protocol we build specifically with you in mind. That’s a promise.

01/07/2026

We’re in January now; this is a typical time for a reset and resolutions. While I’m not as opposed to the over-promise and under-deliver style of the new year’s resolution crowd (at least their head is in the right place) as some fitness industry insiders may be, early January still makes for a good opportunity to set a game plan and prepare for the months ahead.

Read more at RuthlessPerformance.com

01/06/2026

Demoing two different versions of the Lee Priest Triceps Extension that we use at Ruthless. The first set up is actually just to an upright trap bar handle. This keeps the set up nice and consistent from week to week.

The set up for the second version is a bit more challenging. Here, I’m using a suspension trainer (like a TRX) which really takes it to the next level.

If you’re training with us it would take at least 6 months of training before we’d give you the Lee Priest Triceps Extension to the flat bar. This would likely be preceded by 1-3 months of a triceps push down followed by 1-3 months with an overhead extension before we program this.

Right now in my training I’m performing 100 of these per week within my weekly totals accessory training format (see the weekly totals microblog on our website).

I’m also wearing one of our new limited release Tiger Stripe Hoodies. Since it’s such a limited print we’re not putting them online in our shop.

Our remaining hoodie inventory is as follows:
Tiger Stripe Camo - 1 Medium, 2 Larges in stock
Black - 1 Medium remaining in stock
$55 each. Pick em up at the gym or $10 flat rate shipping. DM to order.

12/15/2025

Learn about weekly totals for faster workouts while maintaining an overall higher training volume. Check it out on the home page of RuthlessPerformance.com

10/02/2025

08/08/2025

New sticker on the bike—once again thanks to .

The set that did him in this time was 6x10 Cal on the bike on a 1:15 interval. By week 4 in his program that number jumped up to 10x10 Cal on the same interval.

06/23/2025

New post on RuthlessPerformance.com!

Although I’ve remained so close to the sport of swimming, its been over a year since I did a lap swim–and almost 15 years since I’ve swam competitively. This was until a friend of mine mentioned that he was going to do the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim. Since I knew that I had some open-water swims still sitting idly on my bucket list, I knew that this would be a good opportunity to get back in the water and take a crack at this subdiscipline of the swim world.

12/12/2024

Get your bets in now for the sporting event of the century: John vs. Kronos Box Jump Battle.

11/27/2024

New article at RuthlessPerformance.com. Stop spending your January digging yourself out of a whole that you dug in November & December. Better fitness is an ongoing process and the more you can think about it now the easier it is to create lasting habits that will make life easier later on.
But if you do need a big health and fitness reset come January, we’ll be here for you.
Read more at RuthlessPerformance.com

07/26/2024

Did some experimenting today to figure out how to make our farmer’s carries harder without additional load. After some twisting and smooshing I ascertained, as I always do, that Fat Gripz are the answer.

I managed to wedge the Fat Gripz into a 62 lb., and paradoxically, the larger the bell the easier it fits.

This will be a staple in our Fatbell training for shrugs and carries. These things are already a weapon so I’m keeping the exercise selection limited… For now.

07/24/2024

One of our youngest swimmers just medaled in a nationwide meet held in San Diego, CA. His strength & conditioning training with us makes up maybe 10% of his total training volume.
He’s also running cross country, multiple swim teams, and football.
As he begins to think about narrowing down on his primary sports in high school, he’ll have a real pop in his performance, even from the advanced stage that he’s at now in grade 8.
Read about our local swimmers doing great things in this piece by .

07/18/2024

In 2023 I finished 11th in a 65 mile bicycle race against 1,367 people (on a steel frame bike). At no point, up until a week prior to the race did I accumulate more than 65 miles of riding.
In fact, my primary training route was a 4.65 mile loop that took about 20 minutes to complete.
Athletes who spend hours doing cardio usually do so because they enjoy it. If you radically increase the training intensity (we could either quantify that here as MPH or HR) it may not be as pleasant but it is certainly as effective of a training strategy.
My training this year was much more sporadic and unpredictable (shoutout to parents of newborns).
Even with my lack of periodization this year I’ve matched up a test ride to compare to last year’s performance.
I repeated a route that I did last year (approx. 25 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation gain). I was 5 minutes slower than my time last year. HOWEVER, this was still my second fastest time on this route. Additionally, temps were more palatable last year for this test set at 82 degrees as opposed to 88 degrees this year.
When you take that into consideration plus 10 miles of my route was loose, fresh tar and chip, I like my odds.
Provided that I make some better decisions in the last 10 miles of the course I think I can still improve in both my ranking (harder to control) as well as my time (easier to control).
I’ve reached my fundraising goal but you can still donate at the link in our bio to the . They do solid work for families of fallen and critically injured first responders.

Address

2205 West Market Street
Pottsville, PA
17970

Telephone

+15706218596

Website

http://RuthlessPerformance.com/

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