Learn

Training that helps you stay strong, athletic, and hard to break.

BROWSE BY PROBLEM

HARD TO BREAKwhen something always seems to be hurt STRUCTUREwhen you train hard and go nowhere STRENGTHgetting genuinely stronger ATHLETICISMwhen you're strong but slow CONDITIONINGwhen you gas out between sets

Start here

The Hard to Break exercise list and the Thrive Standards. Find your weak links, then train them.

Most weeks, I’ll also send you one email on strength, durability and how to keep training for decades.

Shoulder pain from lifting: why more rotator cuff work isn't fixing it

If your shoulder keeps getting irritated when you press, and rotator cuff exercises only ever help for a little while, the problem is usually not the cuff.

Why your training stopped working, and why the answer is less, not more

When progress stalls, almost everyone adds. Another day, another exercise, more sets, more intensity. But a stalled program is usually not suffering from too little work.

Why you lose power faster than strength after 35

Adults lose power years before they lose strength, and they lose it quietly. Power is how fast you can produce force: jumping, sprinting, catching yourself, changing direction.

Why most cardio advice is wrong for people who lift

Most cardio advice is written for people whose main goal is cardio. If your main goal is strength, following that advice costs you both.

Why stretching won't fix tight hips, and what works instead

If your hips always feel tight, and years of stretching has never actually changed that, you are probably not dealing with short muscles.

How to get stronger after 35: a progression system built for years, not weeks

Getting stronger for years, not weeks, doesn't come from finding the right program. It comes from a system with four parts: anchor lifts, top sets, back off work, written progression rules, and earned load.

How to tell if your training is actually working, without a body scan

Body composition machines disagree with each other about the same body in the same week, so if your confidence rises and falls with a printout, you are measuring noise.

How to train power after 35: the minimum effective dose

Training power as an adult is small doses of fast, crisp movement done fresh: jumps, throws, short sprints, done first in your session, a few quality reps at a time, never to fatigue.

How much cardio lifters actually need, and when to do it

For someone whose main goal is strength, the working prescription is two to three easy sessions of thirty to forty five minutes a week, plus one optional short interval session.

Why feeling the muscle isn't proof your training is working

Feeling the muscle, getting a pump, and being sore the next day are the three signals most people use to judge whether an exercise works. None of them is proof.