fairlift Blog

Evidence-led strength training, explained

TrainingAugust 24, 2026

Three numbers tell you how a running shoe rides: stack, drop, weight

Foam names and colorways tell you nothing about the ride. Stack height, drop and weight predict almost all of it before you lace up.

RecoveryAugust 24, 2026

After Achilles surgery, muscle loss is decided by when BFR goes in

Muscle keeps draining away during the weeks a repaired tendon cannot be loaded. Blood flow restriction fills that gap, and the real question is timing and dose.

TrainingAugust 24, 2026

Gym earbuds are chosen by fit type and IP rating, not sound

What keeps them in your ears through burpees, and what survives sweat, come first. Sound quality is what you compare after those two.

NutritionAugust 24, 2026

Creatine powder, capsules or gummies: only the 5 g a day decides it

The format changes neither absorption nor results. It changes portability, taste, and whether you actually take it daily. The label has four things worth checking.

RecoveryAugust 24, 2026

A snapping outer elbow is not always just tennis elbow

A click on the outside of the elbow when you bend it with the forearm turned in can be a degenerative annular ligament catching in the joint. Four surgical cases map the pattern.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

A muscle NAD+ enzyme fell with inactivity and rose with resistance training

In chemotherapy-treated mice, the NAD+ synthesis enzyme dropped 84–93% in muscle that was wasting. In human datasets the same enzyme fell with inactivity and rose with resistance training.

RecoveryAugust 24, 2026

Ulnar-sided wrist pain: an 8.8 mm² tendon on MRI was the dividing line

One common cause of little-finger-side wrist pain is ECU tenosynovitis, and the tendon is thickened when it happens. At a cross-sectional area of 8.8 mm², sensitivity and specificity were both 84.6%.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

An enlarged heart on a screening chest X-ray: only 52.7% of 452 had a real abnormality

In asymptomatic adults with a cardiothoracic ratio above 0.5, just over half turned out to have a structural abnormality on echocardiography. Three factors raised the odds.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

The fat wrapped around your heart sits on the muscle with no fascia in between

Epicardial fat is the one visceral depot with no fascial boundary between it and the myocardium. When it turns inflammatory, the signal reaches the heart directly.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

Hyperbaric oxygen cut body weight 9–22% — in high-fat-fed mice, alongside an immune injection

A study reports hyperbaric oxygen improving metabolic health. The subjects were mice, not people, and nothing changed in the animals on a normal diet.

TrainingAugust 24, 2026

Judging reps in reserve is a skill, not a feel — six sessions cut the error by 2.3 reps

Estimating how many reps you have left gets more accurate with practice. Six sessions over six weeks cut the error by up to 2.3 reps, and 67-year-olds learned it as fast as 33-year-olds.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

Strength standards should come from the actual distribution, not a percentage of the world record

In 41% of categories, Para Powerlifting's minimum medaling standard sat at the 1st percentile of real competition results. That is what anchoring to a world record does.

ResearchAugust 24, 2026

A fat cell can swell 1,000-fold — insulin resistance starts where its scaffold gives out

Part of obesity-related insulin resistance is a structural problem, not a metabolic one. When the cytoskeleton cannot absorb the expansion, the cell answers with mechanical signaling.

TrainingAugust 23, 2026

Pre-lift nerves are not weakness — a Super Bowl champion threw up before games

One of the strongest linemen in the NFL dry heaved before games for years. What changed it was not his training, but talking to fighters in another sport with the same symptom.

RecoveryAugust 23, 2026

Sleep comes before the altitude chamber — gear cannot beat the order

A home gym with a cold plunge, a sauna, a hyperbaric chamber and an altitude chamber simulating 10,000 feet. Its owner sleeps four hours a night on tour, which is where the math falls apart.

TrainingAugust 23, 2026

Stop optimizing everything — train the one thing that actually limits you

The first person to complete both the Seven Summits and the Oceans 7 never wore a watch. The only thing he trained deliberately was cold tolerance.

TrainingAugust 23, 2026

Do not start with the heavy stuff — how a 12-season lineman sequences his year

The average NFL career ends inside four years. The offensive tackle preparing for his twelfth season starts with functional movement and adds load as the season approaches.

RecoveryAugust 23, 2026

A home sauna is decided by its circuit and its foundation, not its build

A barrel sauna goes up in about four hours alone. The real requirements are a dedicated circuit for the heater and level, solid ground that will not warp.

TrainingAugust 23, 2026

The better a walking shoe is, the worse it is under a barbell

Thick cushioning and a rocker sole make walking cheaper in effort. The same two properties turn your platform unstable in the squat and the deadlift.

TrainingAugust 23, 2026

A compression shirt fixes the hem, the seams and the venting — not your strength

Compression tops do not add force. They solve three specific problems: a hem that rides up, seams that chafe, and heat trapped where you sweat most.

Calculate your strength score

Enter your Big 3 lifts and bodyweight for a relative strength score corrected for age and height. Free, no account needed.