I’m not one to tell people how they ought to think. Folks have the right to think whatever they want. I do, however, like to challenge perspectives and make people think. I believe getting someone to say, “Huh, well I never thought of that way.” is one of the most powerful gifts we can give...Read More

My friend Jordan has a brutally honest flag hanging behind the squat rack in his home gym. It reads: Comfort is a Slow Death. The fabric of the flag is yellow, and the type is bold and blue – it arcs across the middle of the flag. I love seeing it every time he sends...Read More

On a sunny spring day in 2012, I sat beside my girlfriend at the time as we looked out over the Juniata River. We were on top of one of Central Pennsylvania’s small, rolling mountains. We’d finished a hike called the 1,000 Steps and did a little exploring afterwards. I realized how tired I was...Read More

Slowing down is part of aging. It’s a deal with no opt out. That being said, there’s a lot that we can do to fight off age-related cognitive decline. Sleep, stress management, and nutrition are huge factors. But so is exercise, specifically what most people call cardio. (We call it aerobic training.) Did that shit...Read More

I love Stoic philosophy. The Stoics have been my guides since I was a teenager. I’ve burned through copies of Epictetus’s Discourses and The Enchiridion. My copy of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations is thumb worn, and I’ve bought more copies for friends than I could ever remember. The minds of these good men have molded my...Read More

There’s a lot to get in during a week of hybrid athlete training. It takes intelligent planning to get it all in without burning yourself out – and to get the best possible results.   We take a counterintuitive approach that a lot of other hybrid coaches disagree with. But, tell ya what, we don’t...Read More

Hybrid athlete training requires a delicate balance between training and recovery. More so than other forms of training because you’re stressing the body in multiple ways during the same training program. And that often means two totally different types of workouts on the same training day.    That is a lot to manage if you’re...Read More

Gym shoes are an important, but often overlooked, piece of gym equipment. Folks make sure their shirts are right and their shorts are on point, then they show up to deadlift in cushy-soled running shoes that have them standing about four inches taller than they really are. That, my friend, is not how to set...Read More

Difficult training weeks are a part of the fitness process. You might curse your coach and everyone who’s ever loved them while you’re in the thick of hard a session, but we need those sessions to push ourselves forward. The rub is that we must be smart about how we approach them. But the good...Read More

Lots of folks are hooked up to wearables and fitness trackers nowadays. I’m one of them. So are many of the Beyond Strength members. People are sporting Oura rings and Whoop bands. They’re checking their HRV with Morpheus and monitoring their recovery on their Garmin watches. The question is: how is all of this technology...Read More