Q: The other day, I had a long massage just before my workout, and I think it actually made me weaker. I always hear that massage is supposed to help improve recovery, so do I maybe need to seek out another therapist? Or should I avoid massage before workouts? Charles Staley: Don’t fire your massage […]
Mixed Qualities Training for Anaerobic Events
The majority of competitive athletes compete in events where a variety of motor qualities must be developed to a great degree. Sports such as judo, bobsled, football, decathlon, boxing, highland games, and nordic skiing (to name only a few) require liberal amounts of absolute strength, power, anaerobic strength endurance, and often, muscular hypertrophy as well. […]
Creative Applications of Circuit Training: Fatigue Management Strategies for Bodybuilders, Part 2
Circuit Training (CT) for Various Objectives – I’ve put together several sample circuits for different objectives such as maximal strength development, lean mass gain, and explosive strength development. Please use these examples as templates from which you can create your own solutions, rather than viewing them as the “Holy Grail” of CT. In other words, […]
Creative Applications of Circuit Training: Fatigue Management Strategies for Bodybuilders, Part 1
When I teach acute training parameters in seminars across the USA, a very common question regards which exercise to do first, second, third, etc., in any given workout. Traditional wisdom says to do whatever exercise is most important first, since fatigue accumulates over the course of the workout. While I agree, there is a much […]
Quality Strength for Human Athletic Performance: A Guide to Speed Strength Training
Although most athletic skills and events depend upon a variety of physical qualities, speed strength (also called power) certainly rates among the most important. Whenever you need to accelerate yourself (as in running, cycling, swimming, skating, or skiing), an external object (such as a ball, a barbell, a javelin, or another person), or both (such […]
Ask Charles Staley #17
Youth and Muscle Don’t always Mix! (I will answer both of the following questions in a single response) Dear Charles, I have hit a hard wall in training and need some advise: I have been training for 18 months with little muscle development despite varying routines, exercises, repetitions, set structure, etc. Currently, I am zigzagging, […]
A Basic Primer on Endurance Training
Ask Charles Staley #16 – Endurance Training Although many anaerobic athletes often eschew the concept of endurance training altogether, in fact, ALL athletes must have the capacity to endure their event(s), no matter how brief or long that might be. However, for the gym-hardened anaerobicists among us, delving into the World of endurance theory can […]
Ask Charles Staley #15
Gaining Weight for Rugby Charles, I am an amateur Rugby Player in Australia. Just recently my coach told me, it was time to change position. I am 24 years old and at 209 pounds and standing at 6ft, he felt I would need to change if I was to make the pro scene. He believes […]
Truth or Fiction? A Look at Bodybuilding Maxims
Ask Charles Staley #14 – Truth or Fiction? Like all fields of human endeavor, bodybuilding has accumulated a vast collection of maxims— brief encapsulations of truth which are intended to serve as memorable (and often humorous) reminders of the proper way of doing things. So, I thought I’d take a look at some of these […]
Goal Orientation: Venturing Into Uncharted Athletic Territory
Ask Charles Staley #13 – Goal Orientation Someone recently asked me if I’d ever like to be able to bench press 500 pounds. I replied that, no, not really, because obviously, if I had really wanted a 500 pound bench, I would have taken the steps necessary to get it, which I obviously haven’t. Now […]