DAYNE TRAIN

Ladders let you do a lot of quality work without grinding every set. Here's how StrongFirst uses them, and how I plan practice around them.

The snatch puts the swing, the clean, and the get-up together in one lift. Here's how I teach it and when I tell people to wait.

Getting strong is about learning to make tension and learning to let it go. Here's how I use StrongFirst's tension principles and "fast & loose" drills.

A strong press starts long before the bell moves: in the rack, on the negative, and in your free hand. Here's how I coach it.

A good kettlebell clean lands softly in the rack, with no bang on the forearm. Here's how I teach the grip, the arc, and the rack.

StrongFirst recommends get-up proficiency for all overhead lifts. Here's how I teach the get-up, step by step, starting with a shoe on your fist.

What competing at TFX and the 806 Classic is teaching me — and what it means for how I coach you. By Dayne Douglass · Dayne Train Strength People are sometimes surprised. I'm StrongFirst Elite, which is about as "strength is a skill, leave reps in the tank" as it gets. And I still sign up for CrossFit competitions where the whole point is to empty the tank. I've competed at TFX and at the 806 Classic, where I took 5th place in RX. Fifth isn't first. That's the point. To me, a

What StrongFirst taught me about training — and why busy adults should train like athletes. By Dayne Douglass · Dayne Train Strength I played college football. I studied kinesiology. I thought I knew how to get strong. Then I went through StrongFirst, and it changed how I think about every rep. Today I hold StrongFirst Elite status: SFG I, SFG II, SFB and SFL. That's kettlebell (Level I and II), bodyweight and barbell. I'm not telling you that so you'll be impressed by letter

Why I train young athletes the way I do — and what the research says about getting kids strong. By Dayne Douglass · Dayne Train Strength I grew up in West Texas. If you've never been out there, here's what you need to know: it's a long way from everything, and that includes college recruiters. You can be very good at football in West Texas and still have nobody show up to watch you. I was an all-state linebacker for two years. That helped. It didn't hand me anything. I had to

In the StrongFirst system, breathing isn't an afterthought. It's a tested standard. Here's how I breathe for each lift.

The goblet squat teaches the squat pattern, opens the hips, and builds leg strength. Here's how I coach it, rep by rep.

Before anyone swings a kettlebell with me, they deadlift it. Here's the setup, the lockout, and the mistakes I look for.

Before I add weight or reps, I check three things on every hardstyle swing: the start, the finish, and the timing between them.

I did not find StrongFirst because I wanted another logo on a shirt. I found it because I was tired of looking strong and moving sloppy. Football taught me how to suffer. Texas A&M–Commerce, 2017, a national championship as a true freshman — that year taught me a locker room has a standard whether you like it or not. After the game ended I still had a body that could work. What I did not have was a school for the work. Most commercial training is volume dressed up as purpose.