05. Keep or Cut
Myth: You Can Spot-Reduce Belly Fat
Crunches build your abs; they don’t choose where you lose fat. Here’s what the studies show and what actually shrinks your waist.
PA Strength Coaching Blog
Ideas Worth Working Through.
Featured · Newest Post
Myth: You Can Spot-Reduce Belly Fat
Crunches build your abs; they don’t choose where you lose fat. Here’s what the studies show and what actually shrinks your waist.
Read the Post →11 Lanes · Read Them in Order
Find Your Lane.
Newest First
Latest Posts.
02. Motion Is a Mindset
Band Mobility Basics
One long loop band, one rack, 15 minutes. Seven drills that build range you actually own, with cues, sets and reps.
01. The OnlyPans Kitchen
The Three Macronutrients: What Protein, Carbs & Fat Actually Do
There is no bad macronutrient. Protein builds, carbs fuel and fat maintains. Here is how to read a label like a coach and set your macros.
09. Strength Compound: Scavenger
Why I Hunt Old Gym Equipment
Some of the best strength equipment ever built is waiting to be hauled to the curb. Here’s why I go find it, and what makes a piece worth saving.
01. The OnlyPans Kitchen
Calories, Explained: Energy Balance Without the Headache
Every diet that ever worked for you worked for the same reason. Here is how energy balance actually works, and how to use it without white-knuckling.
11. Business & AI
AI Organizes, I Coach: How I Use It (& Where I Don’t)
AI does some of the typing, sorting and checking in my program building. It never makes the coaching decisions. Here's where the line is.
11. Business & AI
Running Coaching on Trainerize: My Setup
How I run solo coaching on Trainerize: what lives in the app, what stays outside it, and why the app is the delivery truck, not the coach.
08. The Personal Hour
Looking Back at the Early 2010s: What I’d Tell My Younger Self
In the early 2010s, I was walking 7 miles a day around campus and learning that losing weight and keeping it off are two different jobs.
02. Motion Is a Mindset
PVC Mobility Basics
A PVC pipe can't hide a bad position. Here's how to use it to find, own and control your range before you load it.
06. On the Floor
Gym Etiquette: A Trainer’s Rant
One rule covers gym etiquette: leave the space so the next person can train. A trainer's rant with a point.
08. The Personal Hour
Exercise My Rights: Criminal Justice and Exercise Science
My first degree is in Criminal Justice. Why I added Exercise Science, finished both and see it as adding a lane, not starting over.
04. Set for Set, Rep for Rep
Failure, Partials & When to Stop a Set
Every working set aims for near failure with strict form, and the final set goes to true failure. When form breaks, the set ends.
03. Muscle Mechanics
Building Your Calves & Core
Your calves and core carry everything else you build. How to train both with real load, a full range of motion and hard working sets.
07. Gym Gear
Belts: Who Needs One & When to Wear It
A belt is a tool for your heaviest sets, not a brace you wear all workout. Who needs one, when to wear it and how to use it.
05. Keep or Cut
Women & Weights Myth: High Reps Tone, Low Reps Build
Light weights don't tone and heavy weights don't bulk. Both build muscle when sets are hard. Here's what the research shows.
11. Business & AI
Why My Information Is Free
My training and nutrition information is free, with no email wall and no newsletter. My ebooks and programs are paid, for a reason.
01. The OnlyPans Kitchen
Eating Out Without Blowing the Week
Restaurant meals run big, but one dinner won't wreck your week. Here's the simple plan I teach for eating out and staying on track.
09. Strength Compound: Scavenger
My Find of a Lifetime: The Flex Leverage Triceps Machine
A Flex Leverage triceps machine I picked up for free in 2014: where it turned up, how I checked it, what I paid, how it got home and what it took to make it right.
08. The Personal Hour
420 Pounds: Where This Started
After high school I weighed close to 420 pounds. A crash diet, a rebuild through school, a COVID regain and how I got back on track.
08. The Personal Hour
Real Pain Pays Later: What I Mean by It
Real pain pays later: the sweat, trial and error and comebacks you invest now pay you back. Staying stuck hurts too, it just pays nothing.
04. Set for Set, Rep for Rep
The Warm-Up & Primer: What I Do Before the First Working Set
A warm-up is the first part of the workout, not a box to check. Here's how I build it: general, active, ramp-up sets and the primer.
03. Muscle Mechanics
Building Your Arms: Biceps, Triceps & Forearms
Bigger arms come from three muscle groups, not one. How to train biceps, triceps and forearms, and why overhead triceps work earns a spot.
02. Motion Is a Mindset
Lower-Body Mobility: Ankles, Knees & Hips
Your ankles, knees and hips work as a team. When one gets stuck, the knee usually takes the blame. Here's how to find and fix the stuck link.
11. Business & AI
Solo Operator Systems: Doing It Alone Without Dropping Balls
Running a business alone means nobody catches the ball you drop. Here's how I use systems, checklists and AI to keep them in the air.
05. Keep or Cut
Myth: Cardio Kills Your Gains
Does cardio erase muscle? The research says sensible cardio barely touches size or strength. Here's where the real cost shows up.
01. The OnlyPans Kitchen
Reading a Nutrition Label in 60 Seconds
Read four things in order: serving size, calories, protein and macros, then %DV and ingredients. One minute, and you know what a food costs.
08. The Personal Hour
Taekwondo, Wrestling & Walking Away From Team Sports at 16
I played taekwondo, wrestling, football and baseball, then walked away from team sports at 16. I never walked away from lifting.
04. Set for Set, Rep for Rep
Tempo: How Fast Each Rep Should Move
Tempo teaches control and tension, not counting. Control the way down, move the weight with intent on the way up.
03. Muscle Mechanics
Building Your Hamstrings
Your hamstrings bend the knee and extend the hip. Train both jobs with a curl and a hinge, and learn where your hamstrings actually turn off.
No posts match these filters.
Start Here
Start With These Ten.
- Reading a Nutrition Label in 60 SecondsThe OnlyPans Kitchen · Coach’s Breakdown
- Lower-Body Mobility: Ankles, Knees & HipsMotion Is a Mindset · Coach’s Breakdown
- Building Your HamstringsMuscle Mechanics · Coach’s Breakdown
- Tempo: How Fast Each Rep Should MoveSet for Set, Rep for Rep · Coach’s Breakdown
- Myth: Cardio Kills Your GainsKeep or Cut · Coach’s Breakdown
- Gym Etiquette: A Trainer’s RantOn the Floor · Coach’s Breakdown
- Belts: Who Needs One & When to Wear ItGym Gear · Coach’s Breakdown
- Taekwondo, Wrestling & Walking Away From Team Sports at 16The Personal Hour · Coach’s Breakdown
- My Find of a Lifetime: The Flex Leverage Triceps MachineStrength Compound: Scavenger · Coach’s Breakdown
- Solo Operator Systems: Doing It Alone Without Dropping BallsBusiness & AI · Coach’s Breakdown