Learning How to Lift
- The Big 3 Basics — Teach yourself to master the Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift. (🎥 Product)
- The Lifting Library — Teach yourself the other lifts. (🎥 Product)
- How To Low Bar Squat (📝+🎥)
- How To Bench Press (📝+🎥)
- How To Deadlift Properly (📝+🎥)
Book Recommendations
- The Diet Adjustments Manual.📙
- The Muscle and Strength Pyramids: Nutrition and Training, by Eric Helms, Andrea Valdez, and Andy Morgan. 📕📘
- Everything Fat Loss, by Ben Carpenter 📓
- The Science and Development of Hypertrophy, by Brad Schoenfeld 📓
- Building Strength and Muscle After 50, by Chad Landers
Website Recommendations
- To learn about bodybuilding: 3DMuscleJourney.com
- To learn about the science of lifting: Strongerbyscience.com
- To find reliable supplement information: Examine.com
- For translations of our work, see here.
Coaching Recommendations
Head coach Andy has known all of these people for years and would trust them with his house keys:
- Patrick Umphrey of EatTrainProgress.com for recreational trainees.
- Sohee Carpenter for recreational female trainees.
- TheStrengthAthlete.com for powerlifting and remote injury rehab, run by Bryce Lewis.
- StrongerbyScience.com for bodybuilding and powerlifting, run by Greg Nuckols.
- 3DMuscleJourney for physique and bodybuilding, run by Eric Helms.
- ReactiveTrainingSystems.com for elite-level powerlifting, run by Mike Tuchscherer. (RTS is a gold medal factory.)
Instagram Recommendations
- Ben Carpenter consistently releases the best nutrition debunk videos we have seen.
How We Are CoNNected
If you’re interested, here’s how Andy connects to these people:
- Sohee Carpenter attained her Ph.D. under Eric Helms (3DMuscleJourney). They first met in San Francisco in 2012, as he was on his way back from The Fitness Summit conference in Kansas City. This conference is where he first met Chad Landers, Greg Nuckols, Patrick Umphrey, Sol Orwell, James Krieger, Brad Schoenfeld, and Alan Aragon.
- Andy considers Greg Nuckols to be the smartest person he has met in the fitness industry and one of the funniest, but notes that he “cheats” because he has an almost perfect memory.
- Bryce Lewis was the 2018 IPF 105kg (230lb) World Champion and has held world records in drug-free powerlifting. Andy met him through his co-author Eric, as he coached him during his world championships.
- Mike Tuchscherer is a record-breaking gentle giant and world-champion maker. Andy first met him at a conference in Ireland.
You’re in good hands with these people.
Research Review Recommendations
Making sense of the latest research is exceptionally hard; we trust these guys to do it. These monthly publications are more technical than our average reader is likely looking for, but this is where we mainly learn from and what we are subscribed to:
- Making Applications in Science Simple (MASS), a research review for sport, nutrition, exercise, and health science. By Eric Helms, Michael Zourdos, Lauren Colenso-Semple, and Eric Trexler.
- The Weightology Research Review, by James Krieger.
- Examine+, by Sol Orwell.
- Alan Aragon’s Research Review.