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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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Coach as Counselor Part 2 – Helping Professional and Competitive Athletes Break the Taboo of Mental Health Issues
When I began the previous installment of this series, I intended to just write a single post about identifying and trying to help remedy athletes’ mental health problems. But once I started lighting up my keyboard, I suddenly realized I’d blazed past 1,000 words and had only just scratched the surface. So here goes with part two.
Why Sport-Specific Training Is A Bad Idea [Coaches Round Table]
All strength coaches, whether in the private sector, high school, college, or professional level, have been asked the following question at some point…
“Do you do sport-specific training?”
This question is often asked by parents looking to get their son or daughter into training.
Why Understanding Arm Action Is a Critical Factor in Teaching Speed
As a coach with over a decade of experience in the realms of track and field and sports performance, I’ve noticed a common trend when it comes to the arms: people think arms aren’t that big of a factor in how we sprint.
Youth Coaching: Kids Haven’t Changed; Adults Have
People are blaming kids for the way kids are these days, but kids are kids. They only know what they have been taught. Kids are like mirrors – they reflect the world they are placed in.
Young Athlete Resistance Training: When To Start & How To Stay Safe
One of the oldest myths in the strength and conditioning book (and the parenting one too) is that lifting weights and doing other forms of resistance training can stunt kids’ growth. As a result, some of the most frequent questions you’ll hear if, like me, you’re involved in training young athletes responsibly include, “When can my son or daughter start lifting weights?” and “Isn’t resistance training going to damage them because they’re still growing?”
4 Periodization Principles To Use In Your Training Programs
Periodization should be a staple in your program design philosophy.
Regardless of the age or ability level of the athlete or client you are training, there are biological laws that dictate how much adaptation you can squeeze out of any given training cycle.
The Low Down on the Hip Thrust
If you follow Train Heroic and especially the Explosive Athlete program you will see a lot of the usual suspects when it comes to Strength and Conditioning movements and exercises – the Back Squat, Bench Press and the Deadlift. But a movement you might not know is easily becoming a staple of our Explosive Athlete program. That movement is the HIP THRUST!
The New Rules of Sleep for Athletes
For the longest time, coaches have only considered the need for their athletes to get adequate rest from the perspective of “recovery.” While you must pair this with training stimuli to get adaptation, it’s far from the only reason to prioritize sufficient slumber.
The Ultimate Guide to Using Movement Progressions
At the end of the day, coaching, in its truest form, is recognizing and adapting to situations in order to optimize the outcome for your athletes.
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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.
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