A great friend and mentor of mine, Paul O’Neid, regularly conveys a message that has always stuck with me…

Be a product of your service.

Quick bench tip this week that I think gets overlooked… the bench press is a full body exercise, and maintaining tension matters throughout the entire lift, not just when it’s time to press the bar. A lot of lifters think about tightness and leg drive primarily during the concentric. They lower the bar, wait for the press command or touch their chest, and then try to create tension and drive. The problem is, a lot of benches are already being lost on the way down.

This past weekend I stepped back onto a bodybuilding stage for the first time in 14 years, and somehow walked away as the 2026 NPC Western New York Overall Champion.

One of the biggest mistakes I made during my powerlifting career had nothing to do with my technique, my effort, or even my programming volume. It was simply the order of my training days. I talked about this with Dave Tate on Dave Tate's Table Talk Podcast last year because it was one of those lessons that completely changed how I think about programming, not just for myself, but for every athlete I coach in The Crew.

One of the things I believe most strongly as both a coach and a competitor is that there has to be a line between pursuing your own goals and serving the people who trust you with theirs. I believe in leading from the front. I believe it's important for coaches to continue chasing their own goals, competing, and pushing themselves. Some of the greatest lessons I've ever learned came from stepping onto the platform myself.

My first 700 deadlift happened on October 7, 2013. Ironically, it wasn't at a powerlifting meet, it was for a Bodybuilding.com forum deadlift competition. I ended up winning a t shirt and a couple tubs of supplements, and at the time I thought I was on top of the world. The pull was ugly… It was badly ramped and would have gotten red lights in competition, but at the time I didn't care, I had finally hit 700 which no one in the area was doing at that time. Looking back now, that deadlift became one of the most important lifts of my powerlifting career, not because of the weight, but because of what it taught me.

If you're trying to build the biggest squat, bench, and deadlift possible, adding quality muscle mass is one of the best investments you can make.

This week marks one year since I tore my bicep at RPS Nationals.

One of the most common questions I get is "How many days a week should I bench?" Most people expect a simple answer… twice, three times a week, every other day… But the reality is that there isn't a universal answer.

When we talk about “rooting,” we’re referring to creating tension through the feet by externally rotating them into the floor while maintaining pressure through three points of contact: the big toe, pinky toe, and heel. Think of the foot like a tripod. The more balanced and connected you are to the floor, the more stable and efficient the lift becomes.

If you want to hit a new bench PR, you need structure, not just effort. This 8 week progression is designed to build strength, expose you to heavier loads, and peak you at the right time.

If you want to hit a new bench PR, you need structure, not just effort. This 8 week progression is designed to build strength, expose you to heavier loads, and peak you at the right time.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as signaling molecules in the body. In simple terms, they help communicate instructions between cells and can influence processes like tissue repair, hormone signaling, metabolism, and recovery so because of this, certain peptides are being researched for their potential role in supporting recovery, body composition, and overall health.

Most lifters don’t stall because they lack effort, they stall because they misapply it. As a coach, the intermediate stage is where I see the most people get stuck, not beginners, not advanced lifters. Intermediates are strong enough to push weight, but not experienced enough to understand how to keep progressing. That’s where these mistakes show up.

Stress gets a bad reputation in the fitness world, but the truth is a little more nuanced…

Not all stress is bad. In fact, the right kind of stress is exactly what drives progress in the gym and in life.

One of the biggest mistakes lifters make is assuming more effort equals more progress. In reality, progress comes from the balance between training stress and recovery. Training breaks the body down, recovery is what allows it to rebuild stronger.

If recovery is insufficient, no program, no matter how well designed will work as intended.

One of the biggest mistakes lifters make is assuming every muscle recovers at the same speed. In reality, recovery timelines vary widely depending on muscle size, fiber type, loading demands, and overall systemic fatigue. Understanding this is the key to building smarter training splits and making consistent progress.

As we head into 2026, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on what the past few years have demanded of me and what I want the next year to represent.

The last several years have not gone the way I planned physically. I’ve had a pec tear surgery in 2023, a hernia repair in 2024, and most recently a bicep tear surgery in July. Each of those setbacks forced me to shift course, adjust priorities, and recalibrate expectations but one thing never left, the drive to become the best version of myself.

If you’ve ever seen an athlete deadlift the same weight two completely different ways, one rep smooth, the next rep slow or out of position, the issue is often not strength. It’s the starting position.

That’s why Static Deadlifts have become one of my most effective tools for reinforcing a repeatable, powerful setup.

Every year brings a new wave of diet trends, keto, intermittent fasting, carb cycling, carnivore, vegetarian, paleo, Whole30, low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, detox cleanses, and everything in between. They all promise rapid fat loss, better energy, and improved health. And while many of these approaches can work, most people overlook one simple truth…

The best diet is the one you can follow consistently. Today, tomorrow, and six months from now.