All protocols

Practice hip hinging as a foundational movement for back health and longevity; learn it first, including with no weight before progressing to loaded hinge patterns.

Recommended as a fantastic exercise for everybody; hold the bar in the crooks of the elbows; better to walk it off the rack than pick it up from the ground; useful even with shoulder, wrist, or elbow issues; provides strong reflexive midsection stabilization. Use proper coaching, and a strong athlete can aim for roughly double bodyweight.

Recommended if your shoulders can handle them and you know how to do them safely. Build up to a full skin-the-cat and be able to get out of it strongly and confidently before starting dips.

Hanging and farmer's carries may be beneficial for other reasons but were said not to do much for grip development.

Suggested as beneficial, in contrast to carrying two heavy objects which may pound the spine.

Run with a kettlebell held only like a suitcase, using approximately 30% of bodyweight; switch hands as often as desired. Start by walking, then gradually build up to running. Heavier loads alter gait. Improves running posture, stabilizers, and endurance while being less punishing than rucking.

Recommended as the best product for direct grip-strength training; specifically the Captains of Crush grippers from IronMind.

Use concentric-only training when trying to minimize hypertrophy and soreness, especially for weight-class or speed-dependent athletes. Examples include concentric-only deadlifts by dropping the bar and lifting the weight then stepping down on recovery days.

Recommended as powerful for strength, optimizing lifting positions, disinhibition, and learning not to give up on heavy attempts. Can be used to optimize deadlift position by loading more than you can lift, wedging under it, applying pressure, and adjusting position; can also be incorporated into the warm-up. Pause squats were given as an example: lower to parallel, stay tight for 3–5 seconds, then explode upward.

If orthopedic issues do not require warm-up, practicing a skill cold can improve the skill because it resembles real performance demands.

Classic American powerlifting example: 4-week blocks with week 4 as PR week, week 3 around old PR, week 2 lighter, and week 1 lighter still. Another example given was Franco Columbu's deadlift cycle: week 1 moderate, week 2 heavy, week 3 moderate, week 4 very heavy.

If medical restrictions require it, use the belt squat, while also addressing the rest of the posterior chain by training the lower back, upper back, neck, or deadlifting in some other manner.

Modify deadlift sessions when grip recovery lags.

Machines are described as useful for advanced trainees and fairly useless for beginners. Beginners should use free weights exclusively. Advanced examples included leg press in a deadlift-specific stance to build leg drive without beating up the back.

Start fairly heavy and stay with the weight until it becomes fairly light, then increase; suggested as a good approach for do-it-yourself trainees.

Suggested examples include 8-week or even 6-week cycles for older lifters.

For strength, stick to the 1–6 rep range, with 3s and 4s predominating. Fours, especially 5s and 6s, are highlighted as useful for combined strength and hypertrophy; training with 5s was suggested as a simple way to gain both muscle and strength.

Most cardiovascular work should be done below the point where conversation becomes difficult, typically at a conversational steady-state pace and roughly 70–85% of max heart rate to improve stroke volume. For health, 30–40 minutes several times per week is enough. Avoid redlining before building stroke volume; high-heart-rate work should be used only briefly for sports that require it.

Work for 60–90 seconds hard enough to reach about 85–90% max heart rate, then jog until heart rate drops to about 60–70%, then repeat.

Use short intervals to go very hard without producing much acid or redlining heart rate.

Do a hard 30-second effort followed by approximately 5 minutes of rest, repeated several times; supports cardiorespiratory fitness, peripheral adaptations, and can build muscle. Modalities discussed included Wingate-style cycling, uphill sprinting as a safer sprint option, and heavy kettlebell snatch repeats of about 20–25 reps followed by jogging until heart rate comes down and generous rest.

After high heart-rate work, walk first to support venous return and reduce stress on the heart.

Use boxer-style shaking-off drills during rest periods to restore circulation, unstick cross-bridges, and practice relaxation; referred to as fast and loose drills.

After walking and shaking off, insert light easy hops using the same muscle groups to maintain CNS excitability during long rests.

Avoid slouching during rest periods and recovery, especially after running or squatting, because warm pliable discs are vulnerable. Suggested options included standing desk use after hard leg training, walking after training, extension positions, lying on the floor on your elbows, sitting ramrod straight, sitting in lotus or seiza, half-kneeling upright, or lying on your stomach.

Use slight modifications of the same lift to preserve specificity while restoring reactivity. Examples included deadlifting while standing on a plate, bringing bench press grip in a couple inches, or using a board/block on the chest for bench press to target a sticking point.

Use rhythmic low-rep kettlebell complexes without chasing breathlessness or pump to build repeat strength endurance and some cardio. Example sequence: one clean, one press, one front squat, put the kettlebell down, shake it off, and repeat rhythmically for about 30 minutes or whatever time is available.

Keep reps to 5 or fewer and use a little pump only as a sign that sufficient work was done to stimulate adaptation.

Do not try to develop everything to a high level at once; maintain non-priority qualities with minimal effective work. Examples included maintaining strength with 80% for 3 sets of 3 once per week, using Stu McGill's 'biblical week' of 2 strength, 2 mobility, and 2 endurance days, or using a 1-2-3 weekly split of qualities and switching priority about once a month.

Do not train hard all the time; use easier and harder weeks or stop sets farther from failure on some weeks.