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It was one of the best and most brutal lessons I've learned. Honesty is not for everyone.  Obviously, there may be other reasons you suck at the bottom of the squat but getting stronger is almost always the honest answer.

I love doing dips, although I'm 100% convinced they didn't help my bench press. I do think they helped my press, though.

Let's start with whether or not the Krypteia program is suitable for someone who is also doing Muay Thai 3x's a week. 

The thing you need to remember with your training is this: you are training to be a Marine Officer.  You are not training to become a Powerlifting Marine Officer or a Bodybuilder Marine Officer.

Question: 

However, don't get too wrapped up in doing dips just to do dips - meaning there are a ton of great movements out there you can use for assistance work and still be awesome.

There seems to be a theme lately with people who are hurt/injured and can't do certain movements. Trust me, I know your pain.

I serve our country abroad, and am getting ready to go back overseas. We have a yoke rack, Texas/BC powerlifting bar, and lots of plates/accessories. The weight adds up, and we are dangerously close to our maximum allowance, the exceeding of which would be no bueno for our bank account....what do you recommend?

A few weeks ago, I did a Q/A on Instagram. Keep in mind that I asked that the questions be short/answers short - like most people I find typing on a phone ridiculous and impossible to write 16 week training cycles.  So I tried to be as precise with my answers as possible while not being so damn boring.

This is a classic case of an idea that works beautifully in theory but, at least in many cases, fails to pay off in the real world. The theory behind rack pulls is that they allow you to use more weight than you normally can handle in conventional deadlifts, which helps target  certain sticking points, namely the lockout position—a real sore spot for many lifters. Sounds good, huh?

However you choose to bench press, make sure every single rep, regardless of weight is done with perfection. This goes for the squat, deadlift, press and any other big barbell lift. I've never seen any strong, experienced lifter take any set lightly - they demand perfection from the bar to their max. Think back to the last time you bench pressed - did you have a perfect set-up on the very first rep with the empty bar? Did you treat it with the same importance as your last max attempt? The beginner still thinks there must be some kind of special secret or trick. A veteran lifter always makes sure the simple things are taken care of; they aren't ever sexy but they always work.

I needed to rely on my gut and my experience, and certainly not any trends. I had to start by being brutally honest with myself and realize that I was plain weak. Weak everywhere. Everything needed to get stronger. Weak Point Training, while good in theory, suggests that you have "strong points." I'm sorry, but few people with such glaring holes can really classify themselves as strong, period. So I resolved to make everything strong.

Before we start with the simple process, let me define the Kroc Row. Named after everyone’s favorite Polish American Powerlifter, Matt Kroczaleski, the Kroc Row has quickly become a staple exercise in many lifting circles. In its infancy this exercise was simply a single set of high rep dumbbell rows with the heaviest weight possible. Matt did this because of necessity – the dumbbells he had access weren’t heavy enough to perform the requisite “10-12” reps that is often prescribed. To combat this, he just did a ton of reps with the heaviest dumbbell available. Initially done to build his upper back for his bench press, this exercise also gave him great deadlift lockout strength as well as grip strength.

The best thing about the fitness and strength industry is that you can always rely on it for some really good laughs. The fact that unilateral exercises have sparked such heated debate is amusing, and as always, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. First, let's examine the pro-unilateral crowd:

Question: I did 5/3/1 previously and am considering starting it again soon. I had a couple questions that I could really use answering First off, could I add an arm day as the 5th day to workout?