Scroll through the archives here at T-Nation and you'll see that we don't interview just anyone. Now, scroll through the archives and check to see who's been interviewed twice . You won't find more than a few names.

The word "training" implies that you're preparing for something. If you don't have something for which to prepare, you're really just working out – and that doesn't distinguish you much from the housewife on the abductor machine. I can't tell you what your goal is supposed to be, but you need to decide on one. It might be powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman, or intramural soccer. Whatever it may be, put it in writing and tack it up somewhere you know you'll see it every day.

Over a year ago, a poll on the T-Nation forum asked the readers what their primary goal was. The responses were as follows: 20% wanted to lose fat. 18% wanted to perform better athletically. 37% wanted to build muscle. 23% wanted to get stronger.

You should never miss a lift because of sweaty palms – period. If your gym doesn't allow chalk, you have three options: 1) find a gym that doesn't cater to pansies, 2) take the "what they don't know won't hurt them" approach, smuggle it in, and clean off the bar when you're done, or 3) order some liquid chalk, which is made by several companies nowadays. If you do keep the real thing in your bag, be sure to seal it tightly; it makes a mess you don't want to clean up.

I'm normally somewhat of a bookworm and science geek, although – to blow a little sunshine up my own butt – I have to say, I'm getting better at reading people.

I get emails all the time from T-Nation readers who want to know why I don't write programs for the masses. About the only answer I can muster up is: "Because I have a conscience." And because there's no such thing as a successful program for the masses, I'm not sure I'm comfortable trying to write one.

Powerlifting Heresy It's borderline heresy that I even considered writing this article. As if being a lightweight powerlifter wasn't bad enough, my actions here will probably get me ostracized by the powerlifting community. Yes, folks, I'm a powerlifter writing a nutrition article.

The Smith machine is the equipment parallel to High Intensity Training. On one hand, it's been called more dirty names than Madonna on a trip to the Vatican. On the other hand, there are those who vehemently adhere to it in spite of the fact that it's an inferior way to train.

In Part I, we discussed how your body type can hinder you on certain lifts while making you an absolute stud on others. We also covered how your body type can influence the way you should be training to maximize your performance in the squat. Here in Part II, our goal is to take the guesswork out of bench and deadlift training and, in the process, take your total to an all-time high!

"I suck at squatting because I'm too skinny!" "My bench is weak because of my long arms!" "My deadlift will never go up. I'm just not built to pull heavy!"

Relative Strength Revelations I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There's a very simple way to improve your maximal strength almost effortlessly. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with periodization, sets, reps, intensity, rest periods, exercise selection, neuromuscular coordination, or anything else in the gym with which you're concerned. You won't find it on an infomercial, either.

"I wish I could have my first year of training back."

There's no such thing as isolation in training or in life. Everything you do, have done, and will do, affects everything else. Success is a synergistic — not additive — phenomenon.

In Part I, our first five adages focused predominantly on the lower body. Now, in Part 2, we’ll look closely at some commonly maligned upper body exercises.

We live in a society that doesn't want gray areas. People want right or wrong, up or down, and left or right. This mindset carries over to the gym, too; lifters want to be able to say that Exercise A is evil, and Exercise B is safe.

I'm Addicted! Hi. My name is Eric and I have a problem. I never expected it and I didn't plan for it. It just happened . And now, I'll never be the same. Hardly a minute passes when I don't think about it, salivate, and get the shivers. My own grandmother cringes in fright when she even hears about "it."

When it comes to training purely for strength and power, it's become vogue to vehemently oppose "cardio." In light of the traditional connotation of "cardio" and "endurance training" — rubbing your ass raw on a bike for an hour — the individuals bashing such initiatives certainly have justification for their views.

The Blind Leading the Blind It's often been said that program design is an art more than it is a science. While I don't completely agree with this assertion, I think we can all agree that some "artists" are a lot better than others. In this article, I'll discuss why some strength and conditioning coaches really do deserve to be "starving artists" — or at least employed in some other field.

The program contained in this article is designed to reintroduce more of the traditional exercises that you've grown to love while still maintaining the emphasis on postural corrections through appropriate prioritization and volume manipulation. Essentially, it's one step closer to the balanced training programs you should seek to create. Remember, we shifted the balance in the opposite direction to start to take care of the problems created by lack of balance in previous programs.

Squats There are far too many benefits to squatting than we can mention here, but we can touch briefly on the benefits with respect to glute development. At many fluffer gyms you’ll hear the stories of how so-and-so started squatting and all of a sudden they had a huge butt. Well, I hate to tell you, but chances are if you have what we in the powerlifting world call "Squatter's Ass," you probably had it before you ever touched a weight!

Rumor has it that Jennifer Lopez insured her booty for one billion dollars ! Now that’s a significant chunk of change for a significant chunk of booty. However, while her booty may be the object of many men’s affection, the truth of the matter is J-Lo uses her booty to sell records, not break them. We're assuming if you’re reading this article you're more interested in the latter, so let’s get to it!

Ten bucks doesn't buy much nowadays. You could pick up a day pass at some commercial gym, or pull off the co-pay on a visit to the chiropractor. If you're lucky, you might even be able to swing a mediocre Russian mail order bride.

After reading Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 , you've probably come to grips with the fact that you have a greater resemblance to Cro-Magnon man than you previously thought. Now, what are you going to do about it?

Before we get into the case studies, a brief discussion of the planes of movement is in order. Up until now, we've dealt almost exclusively with sagittal plane postural problems; this plane divides the body into right and left sides. Flexion and extension occur in this plane. Since kyphosis and lordosis occur in a "front to back" scheme, they're termed sagittal plane problems . 

The Postural Analysis: Side Posture After reading Part I you're probably thinking to yourself, "Maybe my posture isn’t so great after all, but how do I know ?" Well, if you completed your homework assignment from last week, you should have been waiting for this week's update with a bunch of photos in hand. Time to put them to good use!