The FORGE UK

NO BOUNCE. NO MOMENTUM. EVERY REP EARNED.

Here I’m demonstrating a seated dead-stop military press before Lew starts working through his sets.

The difference with the dead-stop variation is simple:

Every rep comes back to a complete stop.

There’s no bouncing straight into the next rep and no carrying momentum over from the previous one.

Bring the bar down under control.

Stop. Reset. Brace. Then drive.

That means you have to create the force again from a dead position every single rep.

Once Lew’s got the movement dialled in, we start working through the gears and gradually adding weight.

And that’s the important part.

As the load increases, the standard doesn’t decrease.

Same setup. Same control. Same dead stop. Then drive the bar hard.

Progression isn’t just putting more plates on the bar.

It’s being able to put more plates on without losing the ex*****on that got you there.

BUILD THE WEIGHT. KEEP THE STANDARD.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

A CHEST PRESS ISN’T JUST MOVING TWO DUMBBELLS UP AND DOWN.

There are a few small details here that completely change where you feel the movement.

First is your arm position. Go too square with your elbows flared out and you’re putting unnecessary demand through the shoulders. Tuck the arms right into your sides and you start shifting more of the work towards the triceps.

For what we’re trying to achieve here, I want the arms sitting at roughly 45 degrees.

Then comes the actual pressing motion. Rather than thinking about simply pushing the dumbbells straight towards the ceiling, imagine you’re reaching your arms around someone for a massive cuddle 😂

At the top, think about trying to squeeze your biceps together.

They’re obviously never going to meet — but that intent helps bring the upper arms across the body and gets a harder contraction through the chest.

Then Daniel gets into his working set and we add another piece: breathing.

Big breath in and brace as the dumbbells come down through the eccentric.

Control the descent.

Then as you reverse the movement and drive the weight back up, force that breath out.

And once Daniel reaches his final rep, we add an intensity technique.

With a spotter controlling each dumbbell, we take him into a deep loaded stretch at the bottom and hold it for roughly 10 seconds.

That isn’t something you need on every set — and it needs to be controlled — but used appropriately, it’s another way we can increase the stimulus without simply throwing more weight on the dumbbells.

Position. Intent. Breathing. Control. Intensity.

The exercise might look basic.

The ex*****on doesn’t have to be.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

THE WATCH THOUGHT HOLTY WAS FINISHED🚨

Bit of upper-body work with the lads.

Started by demonstrating staggered press-ups, then Sam and Holty had a run through them.

Halfway through, Holty’s watch starts trying to contact emergency services like the big man’s having a heart attack

But jokes aside — give him his credit.

Holty was 131kg when he first walked through The Forge doors, and for a bloke carrying that sort of bodyweight, he can knock out some seriously good press-ups.

That’s a lot of weight to control through every rep.

Sam, on the other hand, was looking a little too comfortable…

So we changed the demand.

Staggered press-ups ➡️ plyometric press-ups.

That’s what progression actually looks like.

Not changing exercises every week for the sake of it.

Master the movement. Build the strength. Then increase the demand.

EARN THE PROGRESSION

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

PART ONE | 17 BURPEES.
CHEST TO FLOOR. EVERY REP.

The leaderboard has a new benchmark.

17 burpees.

Every single one chest to floor.

No shortcuts.

No half reps.

Just quality from start to finish.

It’s easy to chase numbers.

It’s much harder to hit the standard every single rep.

Sam’s put a proper score on the board.

The question is...

Who’s knocking him off the top? 👀

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

PART TWO | 17 BURPEES.
CHEST TO FLOOR. EVERY REP.

The leaderboard has a new benchmark.

17 burpees.

Every single one chest to floor.

No shortcuts.

No half reps.

Just quality from start to finish.

It’s easy to chase numbers.

It’s much harder to hit the standard every single rep.

Sam’s put a proper score on the board.

The question is...

Who’s knocking him off the top? 👀

Help, Heal & Change the World.
One Human Being At A Time.

The Forge 🫡

ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

COACHING IS IN THE DETAILS.

Two little coaching points from Lucy’s session that can make a big difference to the quality of your training.

First — breathing through your reps.

On the goblet squat, we’re getting Lucy to breathe in and brace as she lowers, control the bottom position, then breathe out as she drives back up.

It sounds basic, but when the reps start getting harder, breathing and bracing are often some of the first things people lose.

Then onto Bulgarian split squats — and Lucy nearly started with her stronger leg.

With unilateral work, we generally want to start with the weaker side first.

Why?

Because whatever your weaker side can do becomes the benchmark.

You then match that with your stronger side, rather than allowing it to do more and making the imbalance even bigger.

Small details.

Big difference.

That’s what coaching is.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

COACHING IS IN THE DETAILS.

Two movements here with Aldo, both targeting the upper back and rear delts — and both showing how a few small adjustments can completely change the quality of a rep.

Starting with the lying face pulls. We want the pull coming towards the face, head up and hands staying square.

The other important part is not allowing the arms to fully extend and completely lose the tension between reps.

Control the return. Keep tension where we want it. Then pull again.

We then move into a single-arm dumbbell high-pull variation.

Again, it’s not just about moving the dumbbell from A to B.

Aldo was initially dropping too low into the movement, so we shortened that portion and focused on getting the elbow driving straight up and finishing high.

That’s what coaching should look like.

Watch the rep. Make the adjustment. Feel the difference. Repeat it until it becomes automatic.

Small details. Better ex*****on. Better results.

Help, Heal & Change the World.
One Human Being At A Time.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

20 ON / 40 OFF.
PUT IT IN, LADS.

One of the simplest conditioning tools we use at The Forge — 20 seconds of hard work followed by 40 seconds recovery.

Why?

Because that 20-second window is short enough to encourage a proper high-intensity effort, while the 40 seconds gives enough recovery to come back and produce another strong effort.

Rather than turning conditioning into one long slog where intensity gradually drops, we’re looking for repeatable, quality efforts.

For this one, having 3 lads makes the setup perfect.

20 seconds on the bike.

Next lad takes over.

Then the next.

By the time the bike comes back round, you’ve had your 40 seconds recovery.

5 rounds each.

Simple to set up.

Easy to measure.

Brutal when it’s done properly.

And when your 20 seconds comes around…

PUT IT IN, LADS.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

4 YEARS OF TRAINING → 6 WEEKS AT THE FORGE.

What happens when you put somebody in the right environment?

When Lucy first came through our doors, she wasn’t a beginner.

She’d trained fairly consistently for the previous 4 years and already had a solid base.

But there were two numbers that stood out to us.

❌ She couldn’t perform a single pull-up.

❌ Her RDL PB was 40kg.

Fast forward just 6 weeks…

✅ Sets of 5–6 pull-ups comfortably.

✅ 90KG RDL × 3.

More than DOUBLE her previous RDL PB.

And the clip you’re watching isn’t even the 90kg.

This is Lucy moving 80kg during a slight deload after a heavy training week, with a couple of small niggles meaning there was absolutely no reason to force load for the sake of a video.

That’s the difference.

We’re not just trying to make people tired.

We’re not adding weight to exercises just to make the numbers look impressive.

Every session has a reason. Every progression has a purpose. And when the body tells us to pull back, we pull back.

Lucy had already proved she was willing to train.

What she needed was structure, progression and direction.

6 weeks later, the numbers speak for themselves.

And we’re only getting started.

The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com

Most people think grip strength is just about holding onto a bar. It isn’t. Grip strength is one of the biggest limiting factors in performance. When your grip starts to fail, everything else follows.

That’s why we use towel kettlebell curls. The unstable grip forces the hands, forearms and biceps to work together while improving crushing strength and endurance.

That transfers into:
• Stronger deadlifts and pull-ups
• Better grappling and combat sports
• Improved carrying strength
• Better overall upper body stability

We then pair it with close-grip press-ups to hammer the triceps.

Why?

Because stronger triceps mean:
• More pressing power
• Better lockout strength
• Greater shoulder stability
• More force transfer in punching and pushing movements

It’s never just about building bigger arms. Every exercise has a job. Train with purpose. Train for performance.

-
The Forge 🫡
ForgedThroughDiscipline.com