This is Titan Strength, a free resource for athletes and coaches. It provides free reviews of strength and conditioning literature, websites, videos, dvds and equipment. The reviews are carried out by coaches from a variety of sports and are entirely objective.
WEBSITES - Website Reviews
dragondoor.com
Strength and conditioning website with a kettlebell, book and dvd store. Lots of free articles on weight lifting, martial arts, kettlebells, flexibility and body weight training. Mostly devoted to kettlebells, military/law enforcement athletes, martial artists and qigong. Includes a free newsletter with training tips that you can subscribe to by email and a strength and conditioning and nutritional forums. The site also boasts numerous kettlebell accreditations.
westside-barbell.com
Home of the Westside Barbell Club, a highly successful powerlifting club. Numerous equipment suggestions and online store with powerlifting goodies, such as reverse hypers, ham glute machines, zercher harnesses, foam squat and bench blocks, hip sleds and chains. Lots of free articles by Louie Simmons, one of the big names in power lifting and strength training consultant to some of the big names in the NFL. These articles deal with all sorts of special assistance exercises for lifting, tips for general preparation, further reading suggestions, training the lockout and more. The site also offers a westside qualification.
nononsenseselfdefense.com
Marc “Animal” Mac Young's website. Provides a hub with a huge amount of free information on criminology, violence, martial arts, legal self defense and much more. The online store has various books and dvds on these subjects as well as training sessions with Marc Mac Young. If you are interested in taking up a martial art, or currently practice one, it is highly advised that you peruse some of the articles on this site. This is a guy who knows what he's talking about and isn't afraid to tell you. Plenty of free martial arts myth busting that might prevent you from falling foul of marketing from used car salesman senseis and sifus, as well as life threatening street violence.
rossboxing.com
Great resource for fighters as well as those just interested in some hard core conditioning. Lot's of cheap and free stuff. Articles on how to make your own equipment, training advice for boxers, interviews with coaches and fighters, video training clips for clarity, nutrition and supplements and suggestions for outdoor or equipment free training. Includes a store with books, dvds and boxing apparel. Worth a look if you're into the sweet science.
intensefitness.co.uk
Kettlebells, Indian clubs, a vast array of grip tools, heavy bag and book store. Free articles on Indian clubs as well as some video clips of some of the great strongmen of yesteryear. Includes a level one kettlebell course. If you are in the UK, and you're serious about hardcore strength kit, then this might be your cup of tea.
tommykono.com
Mostly a history and list of records on former olympic weightlifting champ Tony Kono. There's also lot's of marketing for his products, but if you want to order Kono Bands, Power Hooks or Tommy Kono's book "Weightlifting Olympic Style", there's an online store for all these goodies.
Weightlifting.moonfruit.com
This is a fantastic archive of the forgotten lifts and forgotten lifters of bygone times. It contains a photo library of some of the most bizarre and awkward lifts you may ever see or dare try. There are some really inspiring, mostly black and white photos, of the lifts. Sometimes there are helpful illustrations or still by still break downs in case you wish to try any of these lifts yourself. This site may only serve as an anecdotal playground for most weightlifting historians and enthusiasts. However for those of you out there who question the sport specifity of certain lifts, think the power and Olympic lifts are over rated, or simply need some awkward lifts because you live on the second floor, then this may be for you. If you get really good, the site provides links to the organisations that actually run competitions for such forgotten lifts.
qwa.org
Good resource for Olympic lifters and coaches. Links to other weightlifting sites, including clubs and federations with an international scope, tons of tournament videos, rankings, percentage calculators and thorough example training programs for lifters of novice, intermediate and advanced level. There are some articles on intensity, loading and weightlifting for children, which tries to dispel some of the myths on this subject. There are downloadable resources for coaches and a downloadable magazine with a technique section. The online shop sells weightlifting shoes, in case you don’t have a pair, as well as the opportunity to book yourself on to lv1 and lv2 strength and power for sport coach’s courses. You’ll have to be in Queensland (Aus). Some good tools and resources here. If you clean, jerk and snatch, it’s worth a look.
CharlesPoliquin.net
There are lots of people out there who know something about strength and conditioning and lots of people who know something about nutrition. Charles Poliquin is one of the few that knows a lot about both. Free membership for the site allows access to an array of articles on strength training, nutrition and other subjects. Many of these articles are actually very informative and thorough in their scope. There are a lot of very helpful nutritional articles on things to avoid and things that can really help out. The articles on aerobics, soy and alcohol might be a real eye opener for many. The site also features exercises, with a step by step run down of how the exercise should be performed, and a helpful video feature. Books, courses and products are also available on the site. Charles Poliquin's insights are highly recommended. He has been the strength coach or consultant of Olympians, hockey players and secret service agents to name a few. One way or another there's probably something for you on this site.
weightliftingexchange.com
Another great site for weightlifters. There’s a training forum, site links, a competition calendar, competition results, international and U.S. records. The site also provides training programs and training articles (the late Mark Kodya’s thesis on the history of weightlifting is a great read.) There are also some helpful articles on building your own noise reduction weight lifting platform and taking care of your calluses. Not to mention slideshows for technique, interviews, an alphabetical hall of fame and links to stores for getting your weightlifting shoes and your bumper plates. All things weightlifting.
DrSquat.com
This is the home Of Fred "Dr Squat" Hatfield Phd. As you can imagine, there is quite a lot of squat related material on this site. He's the first man to squat 1000lbs. There's plenty here in the articles section and it's not just catered to powerlifters. Although there are plenty of powerlifting training programs, assistance exercises, powerlifting history and general powerlifting advice. Dr Squat is one of the few powerlifters who believes that the Olympic lifts are beneficial and actually gives Olympic lifters their due in terms of power and flexibility. His article on Olympic lifts is well worth looking at if you're wondering about including them in a training regime and are looking for a neutral perspective. The "seven granddaddy weight lifting principles", which are reiterated over and over on this site, should be known to all athletes and coaches. Experienced coaches will know them, but go on this site and print them out anyway. It's an excellent, concise list of the fundamentals of training. Although a powerlifter, Hatfield takes a huge interest in bodybuilding. There's plenty on this site for, weight loss, gaining muscle, supplementation, training for symmetry and exercise selection for bodybuilding. There's also an interesting interview with Joe Weider. Dr. Squat levels a lot of the accusations made against the bodybuilding guru and Joe defends himself. There is a lot of quirky and wacky stuff, like poems about deadlifting. Don't let that put you off though. If you're serious about strength this guy is a purist. He get's into it on a philosophical, physiological and psychological level. His lists of factors effecting training, recovery et al are exhaustive. You're very likely to come up with new ideas and suggestions from this site. There's also a high likelihood that you may understand strength on a new level. Dr Squat's strength curve and factors effecting strength are well worth a browse.
defrancostraining.com
Another serious strength training website. Some household names in NFL are alumni from Joe Defranco's gym in new jersey. Check out the website to see the testimonials for yourself. However, the training methods employed by Joe Defranco will get anyone strong. The gym caters for everyone from the high school athlete to the fire fighter. A wide range of services for teams and individuals are available. Plyometrics, strongman, flexibiltiy and military preparation services are all available. If you can get to Jersey, great, if not phone consultations are available. The site also has some DVDs on strength training and preparation for football trials, particularly the 40 yard dash. The articles are worth a read, 10 training myths exposed and the flexibility roundtable parts 1 and 2 especially. Great training site. Classy mix of westside barbell's conjugate method and old school strongman training.
atomicathletic.com
This is an amazing resource for strongmen and some pretty obscure, but perfectly valid forms of training. Just about every piece of strongman kit is available. Anchor chains, barrels, pulling harnesses, forearm gauntlets, farmer’s walk bars, stone globes from 25lbs to 6000lbs, Olympic rotating thick bars of various makes, Indian clubs, old school globe barbells, heavy duty pulling sleds, plyometric boxes, sledgehammers, kettlebells and the chinese stone padlock can all be purchased on this site, as well as some of the more traditional fare. There are also packages, books and dvds on training wih Indian clubs, training with lifting stones, and the chinese stone padlock, as well as training guides fro budding strongmen, professional wrestlers and adventure racing. There’s also some old school books like Keys to the inner universe and Getting Stronger by Bill Pearl, A chance to win by Mike Gentry, books by Dave Draper and Norbert Schemansky and some funky retro stuff like pre WWII Chinese weightlifting wall charts and books like 72 Consummate Arts Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.
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