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The Training Lab is the knowledge hub for online Strength and Conditioning content. We have curated articles designed to empower you to Be Your Best inside and outside the weight room.

This isn’t some fitness blog trying to sell you a cheap diet or a new magic pill. Our writers are sourced from the top minds in the strength training industry. The Training Lab is a forum to share knowledge within a vast network of coaches and athletes around the globe.

Above all, we are here to bring performance to the people.

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The Best Suggested Swaps for 6 Common Exercises

You’ve programmed the perfect session… only for your athlete to DM you five minutes before training: “Hey coach, the squat racks are all taken.” “My gym doesn’t have that piece of equipment.” “My knee is feeling a little spicy today.” Exercise swaps are a normal part...

6 Best Landmine Exercises for Full Body Strength

Although typically used for simple core and functional movements, the landmine is an amazingly versatile tool that can be used as a primary exercise for many muscle groups. If you’re looking for a new way to build overall strength and power, give these 6 effective...

What Is the RPE Scale and How Do We Use It?

If you’re familiar with strength training, you’ve probably heard someone say… Go until it feels tough! PUSH HARDER! …but what does this really mean? How is it possible to quantify words like “tough” or “hard?” How do you know when a set is heavy enough to produce...

Top 5 Nutrition Tracking Apps to Fuel Your Training

When you’re pushing for PRs in the gym, there’s one variable that matters just as much as your sets and reps: fuel. You can follow the best program in the world, but if your nutrition isn’t dialed in, your progress will reflect that (along with your energy and...

Winter Warfare: How to Bulk Up This Season

It’s that time of the year to wreak havoc and prepare for a massive winter bulk! But wait, what is a winter bulk? What does it take, and how do we achieve it? Joseph Lucero (CSCS), owner of Harvesting Strength, is a powerlifter and strongman coach with years of...

A Simple Guide to Nutrition Tracking

Nutrition tracking: loved by Type A athletes, loathed by everyone else. But it doesn’t have to feel like balancing your checkbook. With the right tools (and the right mindset), tracking becomes less about obsession and more about awareness.Written ByFred ormerod Fred...

How to Do Preacher Curls for Bigger Biceps

Who doesn’t love hitting a good biceps workout and feeling that skin-splitting pump? The preacher curl is a great exercise for bulking up your biceps, but using the EZ bar isn’t the best option for everyone. To build juicy biceps without pissing off your elbow joint,...

The Best Exercises for Developing Speed

Want to run faster? It’s not just about sprinting more. The real secret lies in the weight room. Strength training builds the raw power, stability, and mechanics that turn into explosive speed on the field or track. Here’s how to train smarter and unlock your fastest...

Optimize Your Sleep Hygiene for Peak Performance

Every rep, every mile, every drop of sweat, it all counts. But if you’re not prioritizing sleep, you’re sabotaging your own progress. Here’s how to turn your nights into your biggest performance edge.Written ByLily Frei Lily is TrainHeroic’s Marketing Content Creator...

Why Plyometrics Are Essential As You Age

As we age, our bodies slow and our power output trends downward. This affects a ton of fitness factors like your speed, balance, agility and the “pep in your step” later in life. Adding some simple plyos to your current training routine will give you an edge on your...

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Box Jump Progression for Beginners

Author: Lily Frei

It’s great to watch someone stand nervously in front of a knee-high plyo box, clearly fighting their impulses and psyching themselves out to attempt the jump. They bounce around and pace in front of it, bending their knees and sizing up the leap over and over. When they finally launch themselves up and stick the landing? It’s incredibly exciting. Cheers and high-fives all around. It’s a huge milestone for someone on their weight loss or fitness journey. The trick when you’re first starting out is to remember this: you’re never going to be totally sure you can make the jump. Not until you commit to the scary part and actually land it. Here are some time-tested and proven steps to get you there.

Snatch Balance Variations Explained

Snatch Balance Variations Explained :Improve Your Speed, Footwork, & Overhead StabilityThe snatch is one of the most technical movements in the world of athletics. It can take years to master each individual part of the lift, and even Olympians drill bits and...

Spotlight on Forward Movement: Physical Therapy Programs in TrainHeroic

Bridging the gap for physiotherapy coaching & careOmaha, Nebraska—the Silicon Prairie, the heartland of farmland—is known for a few things: steaks, corn-flavored ice cream, Stacie Tovar, Peyton Manning, sticky-hot summers, and massive sports fanatics. With so...

The Sumo Deadlift: How & Why You Should Be Doing Them

How and why to do sumo deadlifts Plus, the Technique for Training a Massively Strong Sumo Pull Picking up something off the ground is a mechanically essential skill for humans on planet Earth. Deadlifting is considered the best test of strength for this skill, and...

Burpees: The Ultimate Guide

Author: Lily Frei

We love to hate ‘em—burpees are the one movement in a workout that prompts near universal groans and complaints from athletes. The why is simple: going from completely facedown on the floor to a fully extended jump with arms reaching overhead is the ultimate full-body eff-you to gravity.

Building the best workout timer: strength training is interval training

Why did we set out to build the best workout timer directly into the TrainHeroic app? Because strength training is interval training. In this blog, Adam Dawdy, product manager at TrainHeroic breaks down why we set out to build the world’s best interval timer...

The Best Olympic Weightlifting Resources

Our favorite olympic weightlifting resources from Greg Everett of Catalyst AthleticsAt TrainHeroic, we’re all about quality resources and education for athletes, because knowledge is literally power in the strength and conditioning world. Check out these olympic...

TrainHeroic Coaches Win HYROX National Championship

Reach Functional Fitness (@reachfunctionalfitness) out of Knoxville, TN is a family of athletes as young as 14 and as old as 63. With members ranging from law enforcement to supermoms, and several Spartan coaches—two at the elite level—the Reach community is one of big heart, badass endurance, and massive functional engines.

Taylor Haney, owner of Reach, is proud to announce they have two teams that qualified for the HYROX World Championships in Leipzig, Germany coming up in September. The HYROX competition runs along the same veins as endurance obstacle racing like the Spartan Race or their spinoff, DEKA, “the decathlon of functional fitness.”

6 Tips For Navigating Fatherhood & Fitness

Author: Lily Frei

Becoming a dad is a scary and exciting new chapter in your life. But how will it affect your training? Are you doomed to succumb to the dad-bod once you have a kid and your time belongs to them? We think not. Grab some tips from our fit dads and coaches to keep training through parenthood. They emphasize important mindset factors like knowing your family values, being flexible in your methods, making training FUN, and remembering your why - setting a good example for your kids to follow.

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Mobility 101: A Complete Guide

Mobility is hot topic, and vital for anyone spending time in the weightroom.

The ability to have full range of motion in your muscles and joints is one of the most important aspects of training. Improving your mobility can help you workout for longer, reduces joint pain, and can reduce the risk of injury.

In this guide you’ll learn more about mobility, who it impacts, why you should be focusing on it no matter what your age or training history, and how to tame common mobility hot spots from head to toe.

Olympic Weightlifting 101: A Complete Guide

In this article, Mike Dewar shares a basic template on how to build an Olympic weightlifting program geared toward the beginner and intermediate lifter.

Mike covers everything from the 8 goals of an Olympic Weightlifting program, how to build your own 4 week program including full sample sessions, the 5 key variables in Olympic Weightlifting, and 30 exercises perfect for beginners.

10 ways to build an unstoppable engine for competitive crossfit

To succeed in CrossFit, you need the ability to repeat near maximum efforts with as little rest as possible.

It’s not enough to simply have a high one rep max or a large unbroken set of muscle-ups. How many reps at 90% of your max power clean can you do in 8 minutes?

In this article, Todd Nief gives us a full breakdown of the 10 ways he helps Crossfit athletes build an unstoppable engine for competition.

How to Zercher Squat: One Exercise to rule them all

We all want that golden ticket. The one-size-fits-all exercise and perfect program. You know – the one that makes us look like the Hulk as long as we follow that program to the T.

Well folks, that all sounds great. But in reality, we know there is no one-size-fits-all exercise, program, food, or supplement… PERIOD. However, coach Ryan Leibreich has a secret weapon exercise that will get us close; it has a lot of bang for its buck. It builds massive quads, big glutes, a wide back, and some awesome biceps. Exactly what every athlete needs.

4 scientifically proven ways to develop explosive power

Building athletic power is one of the most desired, if not the most desired, quality in athletic performance today. It’s as important for the athlete training for the sport of life as it is for a D1 high performance athlete.

The question is…how do we optimally train it?

In this article coach Joel Smith, a long-time D1 S&C coach, gives us the lowdown on creating explosive power in the weightroom. From Olympic lifting to plyometrics, this is your one-stop guide on all things athletic power.

Nervous system training 101: The creation of superhuman strength and athleticism

Consider the following: pound for pound apes have double the strength of a human being.
They can also jump about 30-40% higher than top human jumpers.

How is this possible given their similar amount of muscle mass?

Our simian friends have an interesting piece of their brain and spinal cord that allows them stronger muscle contractions: less grey matter.

TrainHeroic Instagram: For Athletes, By Athletes

Looking for some Monday motivation? How about a new training session to shake things up a bit?

TrainHeroic’s Instagram is for for athletes, by athletes. We share news and notes on the latest in the strength game, valuable training insights and tips from thought leaders in the fitness game, exercise guides, sample training sessions and more.