7 Steps to Bench Press Without Pain

The bench press is a staple to each and every training routine across the world. Over the past 2 months, the two most common questions from new athlete are 1. how much can you bench? and 2. Is that THE Tommy Edman on the wall? The answers to both are 445 and yes. Those two questions are actually what drive this blog I’m writing. No, this has nothing to do with Tommy or my ability to bench, but by working with predominantly throwing athletes my entire life, and never being one to stray away from the bench press with my throwing athletes, I have seen my share of funky things going on under a bar.

It's not every day that a summer intern is also a former athlete I've been lucky enough spedn 5 years working with. Here is the story I've asked Alex Lashkari to share about his 5 years of growth with me within and outside of the walls of 1RM Performance. If you're a coach and read this, you'll know just how special it is to actually sit back and see in words the impact that you've had on a kids life. I go to sleep each night looking forward to the next day in the gym. This is exactly why! 

Training at 1RM Performance for the past 5 years has influenced me far beyond the gym. Late into my sophomore year of high school I met Bobby through a teammate of mine and quickly became fond of everything that 1RM represented. As many new members of the gym can attest to, initial experiences with Bobby can be very humbling as well as revealing. Unfortunately, the epic lifts done during weight training P.E. do not translate the same at 1RM.

Inside scoop at 1RM Performance Training Facility

Enjoy a view inside the doors of 1RM Performance at our location in San Diego! 

Werner Gunthar's was a world class shotputter in the 1990's. Born with the muscle phenotyping found most often in middle distance runners, Werner Gunther was able, through training, to become a world class shotputter.  

Two Simple Steps To Increase Your Vertical

What is the easiest way to jump higher? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that question. To be honest the answer is pretty damn simple: assess what you’re currently doing and add in more of the opposite. In other words, if your jumping volume is high, lift heavier and more often. If you lift heavy all the time, add more jumps into your program. This sounds too good to be true, but its not. It’s literally that simple.

Using Objective Feedback in Training

Objective Feedback is one of the most powerful, yet extremely under utilized tools in the strength and conditioning world. Objective feedback will change the game for your athlete's performance in several ways. First of all, it will improve the competitive environment within your gym. Second, it can provide multiple avenues of auto regulation. Third, it allows you and your athletes to see that the programming is working by providing even more measurable results. Finally, it forces athletes to increase their output, improving the rate of progress your athletes make within your gym.

Improving The Throwing Athlete Part 1. Generating Lower Body Power. Do You Have What it Takes?

Is your lower half holding you back when you throw? Do you feel like you’re not maximizing your lower body while throwing? The simplest way to see if your lower body is holding you back is to see if your lower body has enough power and strength to begin with. In other words, does your lower body have sufficient power but you are just not using it? Or, are you just so weak and have such little power coming from your lower half that there is nothing there to help you generate speed and power into the ground and down the mound helping you throw.

Long Term Development of Youth Baseball Players

The best ways to maintain long-term development of youth baseball players has been getting a little confusing over the past few years. The internet has granted coaches at all levels access to really advanced training methods. Band accelerated jumps, band resistant squat jumps, weighted ball programs, resisted and accelerated sprint work, and high speed high force med ball exercises are now all extremely common in training programs for athletes of all levels; from the beginners to the pros that have been training for 15 years. This info, although awesome to be out there, is in my opinion a double edge sword, and hindering the actual long term development of the youth baseball players of the country.

Making The Best Baseball Players Better

The best baseball players in the world have two things in common:

1. Their rotational, vertical, lateral and horizontal power are off the charts.

2. They have tremendous balance through both feet, clean rotational patterns, and HAVE incredible sagittal stabilization.

At 1RM Performance, we focus on these two factors and because of this, our athletes become the strongest, most powerful athletes they can be.

Velocity Based Training for Baseball Players

Training for baseball is something we specialize in at 1RM Performance. We work with baseball players ranging from junior high to professional and everything in between. With all the hours spent working with baseball players, there is one thing you learn: the BEST baseball players are the MOST powerful. Yes, there are insane skills involved, but power is the underlying factor with all high level baseball players. This sounds obvious, but i feel like this often gets over looked, especially in the world of training baseball players. Remeber, Power = Force X Velocity. The amount of power we generate day to day is dependent on the reactivity and sensitivity of an athletes Central Nervous System (CNS). Success in baseball IS CNS dependent, and we have found the key to unlocking the CNS.

(Avery Tuck and Tommy Goodridge, some of my first guinea pigs that showed massive results with VBT)