Athlete Spotlight: Q&A w/ Figure Girl Betsy Lane

24-year-old Betsy Lane is, self-admittedly, not your typical bodybuilder. You won’t find most of her competitors doing heavy strength work or hill sprints. Nor will you find them in the classroom, studying to earn their Doctor of Physical Therapy. Yet with top-three finishes in both of her recent national level shows, Betsy’s dedication and somewhat unconventional methods are undoubtedly paying off. But Betsy didn’t always have a healthy relationship with food, exercise, and her body. Read on to learn about Betsy’s early struggles and recent big successes.

Athlete Spotlight: Q&A With Personal Trainer/Powerlifter Nicole London

Last week, I had the chance to catch up with Philadelphia native and nationally-ranked raw powerlifter Nicole London for a Q&A session. In just a year and a half of training at VIP Training and Strength Sport (Yardley, PA), Nicole has catapulted herself to a top 15 ranking in the 148-pound weight class. Find out how Nicole trains, what it's like to be a female powerlifter, what she's doing to gear up for her upcoming competition, and much more.

8 Ways to Spice Up Your Training

Tired of the same old 3 sets of 10 reps with a 2/0/2 tempo, resting a minute between sets? Spice up your gym experience with a change in sets/reps, tempo, range of motion, exercise order, or exercise selection. You'll be glad you did.

Photo courtesy: http://www.mamiverse.com/feeding-picky-eaters-35718/

Movement Competency Checklist for Young Athletes

Kids don't move nearly as much as they used to. These days, time spent couch surfing far exceeds time spent running, jumping, climbing, and monkeying around the playground. As a result, kids nowadays don't move nearly as well as they used to, either. The good news is that with great coaching, the damage can be undone. The bad news? The real-world outcomes are all too often quite the opposite.

 

Photo courtesy: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/9475493/The-couch-potato-children-who-cannot-throw-or-catch.html

T-Nation.com: Weird Workouts That Really Work

As my faithful readers know (and new readers will come to find), I'm a big proponent of keeping it simple in the weight room. Push, pull, legs, and core. But sometimes you just have to shake things up.

Check out my article on T-Nation, titled 'Weird Workouts That Really Work,' which details six of my favorite ways to do just that:

http://www.t-nation.com/training/weird-workouts-that-really-work