Preparing Swimmers for the Olympic Games: A Three-Year Strength and Conditioning Plan Using StrongFirst Principles

In September 2018, I was fortunate to join the elite swimming club Olympique Nice Natation (ONN) as a strength and conditioning coach. Fortunate because this meant working with Fabrice Pellerin, one of the World’s most technical coaches. Fabrice trained athletes that won nine medals at the 2012 London Olympics. As the strength and conditioning coach, […]

Chop Wood, Carry Water…Repeat

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”—Zen Buddhism The Essential Must be Done Regularly After some rare downtime, I was watching the show “Life Below Zero” on the Nat Geo channel. It’s a documentary TV series about the daily challenge of living off the grid in remote areas of the […]

A StrongFirst Protocol for Mountain Hunters

I exist in a dilemma. One of my favorite pastimes is Western hunting, usually in the mountains. I love the animals, love the physical beauty of the terrain, and I love the challenge. The problem is that I live, work, and train on a coastal plain—low and flat. For two decades, I struggled to find […]

The Versatility of Pyramid Training

This workout is likely as old as the pushup itself and I am not sure who created it. Maybe the Aztecs or Egyptians. Who knows? Pythagoras was into triangles and math so maybe the Greeks. Whoever invented it, it has been a classic workout of mine since the 80s, when I learned it in my […]