Many years ago (but not too many...I'm still a young man after all), I asked a friend how many situps he could do. I still remember his response: "As many as I need to."

An amusing answer, but it raises an interesting question: just how strong do we need to be?

Next up in our series on home workout equipment, at #7 are foam rollers. These aren't used directly for working out but are mostly used for self-massage, often after a workout although they can also be used on recovery days or even as part of a warmup.

A long-time StrongFast Planet reader asked me to comment on this article about motivation. It's titled "Motivation is Overrated" and is from Outside Online prompted by ultra-endurance athlete Rich Roll.

He suggests that "Mood follows action." Regular readers of The Planet will find this a familiar concept. And of course I have more to say about it.

Continuing the series on home workout equipment, at #6 we deviate from standard fitness equipment to auxiliary equipment. This stuff might seem trivial but it's useful enough to rate this high. Specifically, a timer and a whiteboard. No, really! Stick with me here.

Weightlifting developed as an activity almost exclusively performed by men. And they used it primarily for developing their physiques. This led to competitive bodybuilding (and steroid use, but that's another story) and various types of physique competitions (including women's).

Because of this background, resistance training became closely associated with muscular development so it's no surprise that training plans were built around muscle groups. There are different splits that people use but some common ones include back and bis (biceps), chest and tris (triceps), shoulders, and the infamous "leg day." There are many such "training splits" in use and much debate about which is best.

But there's another approach besides training muscle groups and it's the one used by StrongFast Fitness: training movement patterns.