Agoge Performance

Half kneeling jammer arm press.

A great way to train the benefits of overhead pressing without forcing the body into a fully vertical position.

The angled press allows you to develop shoulder strength, upward rotation, and force production while reducing the stress that direct overhead work can place on the shoulder, spine, and ribcage — especially for lifters with mobility restrictions, past injuries, or high training volume.

The half kneeling position adds another layer:
pelvic control, trunk stability, and clean force transfer from the ground up.

This is what longevity performance looks like:
finding positions that let you keep training hard while respecting the body’s structure and function long term.

Train with purpose. Perform for life.

Half kneeling jammer arm press.

A great way to train the benefits of overhead pressing without forcing the body into a fully vertical position.

The angled press allows you to develop shoulder strength, upward rotation, and force production while reducing the stress that direct overhead work can place on the shoulder, spine, and ribcage — especially for lifters with mobility restrictions, past injuries, or high training volume.

The half kneeling position adds another layer:
pelvic control, trunk stability, and clean force transfer from the ground up.

This is what longevity performance looks like:
finding positions that let you keep training hard while respecting the body’s structure and function long term.

Train with purpose. Perform for life.

Banded dips (anchored at the hips) vs. a dip belt:

A dip belt adds load the whole time — and the hardest point is the bottom.
That’s where the shoulder is most extended, the pec is lengthened, and joint stress is highest.

A band anchored at the hips does the opposite.
It gives you the most help at the bottom, then tapers off as you press.

So instead of forcing load into the most vulnerable position, you’re shifting it toward the top — where the joint is more stable and you can actually produce force cleanly.

Same movement. Different stress profile.

That makes hip-anchored bands useful for:
– getting more total reps without beating up your shoulders
– keeping dips in when straight loading starts to irritate things
– building strength through the full range without overloading the bottom

Dip belt = constant external load
Hip band = accommodating resistance based on position

Both have a place. Just depends what you’re trying to get out of the movement.

Props to for helping come up with the idea.

Sometimes the lift you need isn’t the one you’d choose.

Pin pulls weren’t part of the plan Friday.
But as soon as we started talking, brought them up.

He saw the weak point before I even said anything.

That’s the part most people miss —
you don’t always pick the right stress for your own limitations.

Left to yourself, you’ll usually train what feels strong, what feels familiar, what you can move well.

But progress doesn’t come from that.
It comes from putting yourself directly in the position you avoid or break down in.

Pin pulls forced me to work exactly where I lose position.

Not more weight.
Not more effort.

Just the right problem.

That’s the value of having another set of eyes —
not motivation, not hype… just clarity.

Thank you Troy!

I don’t wake up at 4:45 because I’m motivated.

Most mornings, I don’t feel like doing this at all. Questioning why am I doing this.

That’s the part people don’t want to hear.

If your training depends on how you feel that day,
you’re going to be inconsistent — even if you care, even if you’re trying.

Because some days you’ll be locked in…
and most days you won’t.

That’s why motivation doesn’t hold up.
It fades, it fluctuates, it disappears when you actually need it.

So the work can’t depend on it.

It has to be something you do the same way
on the days you feel good
and the days you don’t want to be there at all.

That’s where grit comes from-doing the work when there’s not reason to want to.

Nothing about it is exciting.
It’s repetitive, controlled, and honestly boring.

But that’s what allows it to work.

Because it gets done — over and over again —
without needing the perfect mindset to show up first.

That’s the difference most people never bridge.

Strength isn’t just what you can control, it’s what you can actually produce.

Single-arm lat pulldowns from the back of the monolift to change the line of pull and clean up how the lat contributes.

Using Voltra to add load into the concentric increasing demand in the exact phase where force has to be produced.

Most people can get into positions.
Fewer can actually produce force into them without compensating.

This shifts the focus.

Now you’re training:
– force production through the lat
– cleaner sequencing under load
– strength that actually transfers instead of leaking

Because if you can’t produce force where it matters, control doesn’t hold up anyway.

Core training is about stabilizing the trunk while everything else moves.

Your hips and shoulders create motion,
your trunk controls it, transfers force, and keeps you in position under load.

Landmine wrestler twists are a simple way to train that.

You’re moving dynamically through rotation,
while your trunk has to stay organized and controlled the entire time.

This is where most people miss,
they train the core like it’s there to create movement,
instead of learning how to control it.

That’s why endless crunches don’t carry over.

Real core strength shows up when you can stabilize, resist, and stay controlled while force is moving through you.

Train with purpose. Perform for life.