Ritual Barbell Podcast

Surviving High Volume

Your training doesn’t fall apart because you feel tired, it falls apart when you let fatigue change the plan. We talk through what we’re seeing on the gym floor right now

How Volume Blocks Work Without Burning Out

You can’t turn every dial to 10 and expect your body to cooperate. We sit down and map out strength training the way we actually coach it on the floor: volume, intensity,

Strongman Volume Reset

Your weights look “too light” on day one and you feel personally attacked by the app. Good. That reaction is usually the first sign you are about to train in a way that a

What If Backing Off Is The Hard Part?

Deload week can mess with your head. The weights feel light, the sweat doesn’t hit the same, and if you’re wired to “do more,” it can feel like you’re falling behind. We

Test Week Mindset

Testing week is the most honest mirror in strength training. The bar doesn’t care how motivated we feel, it only reflects what we practiced and how well we manage our ner

Test Week and the Mindset of Maxing Out

Test week brings out the nerves. Shawn's first word on it: have fun.  This episode is more about the mental side of maxing out. Why progress stops being linear, why

This Training Block, Heavy Singles, and Walkouts

We're deep in the workout block now, and the weights are getting heavy. On purpose.  Shawn breaks down why we're doing heavy singles, what a walkout is actuall

Box Drops, Training Age, and the Only Supplements Worth Buying

Three questions, one episode.  Shawn breaks down what box drops actually do for your body and why deceleration matters as you age.  Then Mark and Shawn tackle a questio

From Base to Beyond & Why Kettlebells Belong

Coach Mark and Shawn break down a couple questions from the gym whiteboard.  First, how do you know when you are ready to move up from the BASE program? Shawn explains t

Should I Train Through This?

Pain, Soreness, and Knowing the Difference.  Every lifter hits that moment. Something pinches on your second warm-up set. Do you push, back off, or stop? Shawn breaks d

Reboot Ep. 1: Why Harder Isn't Better

The Ritual Barbell Podcast is back, in a shorter format built around the questions you write on the gym whiteboard. In this first episode, Coach Mark sits down with head