Training

Muscle-Growth Mistakes | Chest Mistakes | Shoulder Mistakes | Triceps Mistakes | Back Mistakes | Leg Mistakes | Calf Mistakes No muscle group is as stubborn to grow as calves. Years of little-to-no progress compels plenty of lifters to neglect their lower legs entirely and basically put their calves out to pasture. They become the ”my calves don’t grow” type of person.

Muscle-Growth Mistakes | Chest Mistakes | Shoulder Mistakes | Triceps Mistakes | Back Mistakes | Leg Mistakes | Calf Mistakes Diehard lifters will tell you that leg day is the most important training day of the week. It’s the one where your body gets the loudest, clearest message to grow. It’s also the day when you perform

What is CrossFit | CrossFit for Bodybuilders | Bodybuilding for CrossFitters | Best CrossFit Supplements | How to Prep for a Crossfit Competition Just like with any sport, CrossFit competitions are intense and difficult. What makes CrossFit a little different from other sports, though, is the sheer number of skills an athlete needs in order to be competitive. Since

It’s easy to think that when it comes to adding muscle, you might as well eat anything you want because you’re going to gain body fat no matter what. Hey, that’s why they call it “bulking,” right? The more fat you’re adding, the more muscle must be coming along with it. Jim Stoppani, Ph.D., the

Jackson “Bajheera” Bliton is a natural pro bodybuilder who also happens to be a high-level gamer known for his YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch content that combines his love of training with his love of gaming. If you think those two passions don’t go together, Bliton is here to prove otherwise. Here are his 6 tips

Imagine a typical hour-long strength-training workout. For argument’s sake, let’s say it’s 3-5 sets of 10 reps, for five separate exercises. How much time during that hour do you think you’d actually spending lifting? At most, it’s probably around 15 minutes—and that’s being generous. The rest of the time, you’re resting, moving equipment around, and

Here’s a secret: I’ve written workout programs that were featured in men’s magazines and workout books, only to see those exact same programs later printed in the same publisher’s women’s magazines and books. The only thing that was changed was the terminology. In the men’s version it said something like, ”use this workout program to build

Your post-workout quad flex may rack up the likes, but you can’t have a set of truly impressive, muscular legs with poor hamstring development. But for most lifters, the hammies tend to be a lagging muscle complex and are dramatically overshadowed by the quads. The end result is an unbalanced appearance to the lower body—and

What is a good “lean, but healthy and sustainable” body-fat percentage to aim for and live at most of the time? Plenty of lifters and athletes want to get ripped and shredded—and maybe even stay that way year-round. It’s tempting—especially if you’ve looked at countless photos of ripped people, or had a time in your

Many athletes act like running and bodybuilding are mutually exclusive. Do one, and not only is it unlikely that you do the other, but it may be downright impossible. “You’ll run away your gains,” one side will tell you. The other side will swear that a muscular man on the road is like a fish

Over the years, I’ve spent plenty of time lifting to get bigger, but I’ve also spent years focusing on lifting max weights on the platform. And sure, the two goals can help feed into one another in some ways. But in other ways, they definitely don’t. That means that if you’re trying to live the

You’re at the gym again. You’ve done this a thousand times, maybe tens of thousands. And let’s be honest: It can get very repetitive after a while. Sure, you change your split from time to time, you shake up the exercises, you do your best to get fired up with motivation, but you’re only human. Wouldn’t it

If you’re stuck on a training plateau or simply looking for something new to break up a stale routine, I have just the thing: my “4-minute muscle” technique. Typically, we think of a given exercise in terms of sets and reps: 3 sets of 12 reps or 5 sets of 5 reps, for example. With

During a pandemic like the one the world is currently experiencing, countless people are stuck at home with minimal exercise equipment. That doesn’t mean you can’t have great workouts and improve your physique. Here are 20 effective strategies for increasing your workout intensity without adding more external resistance. 1. Do Negative-Focused Work The negative, or

All training and fitness-related goals require self-discipline and the willingness to delay immediate gratification for the sake of bigger, more meaningful future payoffs. But unfortunately, these skills rarely come naturally. In fact, they are actually in direct opposition to your natural inclinations. We are literally wired to be skinny-fat. Once you start training hard and

We’re often led to believe that if something is good, a lot more of it will be that much better. Nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than in the world of fitness, especially when you consider the popularity of things like the #NoDaysOff movement. For proof of the lengths to which we will go to

Q: How do I go from lean to ripped—and should I even try? When most people think of being “shredded” or “ripped,” they envision a physique resembling a superhero’s in a comic book. They also think, “How does someone look like that and be healthy? And is that really healthy?” Ex pro bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman,

All of the events in the new Army Combat Fitness Test, or ACFT, are difficult in their own way. Especially if you’ve been accustomed—as many soldiers have—to being tested only on sit-ups, push-ups, and running, having to perform heavy trap bar deadlifts, sled drags, and hand-release push-ups can be a serious eye-opener. But the event

As a personal trainer, I’m often asked by clients, “How much time should I rest between sets?” My answer always depends on the client’s goal. I’ve had clients training for absolute strength, aesthetics, weight loss, and/or improving muscular endurance. Their workouts (or at least part of them) all required different rest intervals. In its book

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Q: There’s so much conflicting information about how much weight someone can lose in 12 weeks. Where does the truth lie? We’ve all seen marketing ads promising weight loss of 60, 70, or even 80 pounds in 12 weeks. For some people, that would be half their body weight! Maybe it’s possible if you’re locked

For years, people mistakenly believed that weights were for men and cardio machines were for women. When I started lifting weights about eight years ago, female representation in iron sports and the weight room was scarce. More recently, however, women’s presence in the iron game has become hard to miss. Part of the reason women

Police recruits spend hours upon hours running. Depending on the academy and training officers, these runs can vary greatly, ranging from a brisk 1.5 miles to a will-shattering 7-10 miles, almost always in formation. Once the recruits graduate and hit the streets, however, they develop a new relationship with running. Officers who are more purpose-driven

If you want to improve muscle definition and fast-track your way to washboard abs, then use this fat loss specific, three-phase, muscle-preserving training system. Everyone is wondering what they need to be doing post-COVID lockdown.  An awesome article was put together by Tom MacCormick, covering how you can get back to making gains. This inspired me to

How many push ups can you do? 20 or 30? 50? More? Maybe you’re one of the unlucky souls who can only manage five reps with questionable form. Say the word “exercise,” and the push up inevitably will be thought of as the movement of choice. For decades and possibly centuries, men have pointed to

There are thousands of ways to resistance train. Provided you work hard and safely, document the results, allow enough recovery time between workouts, and then train progressively, resistance training will work within your genetic endowment and nutritional intake habits. Regarding the upper-body, you can use a variety of tools and overload protocols to address the

As I mentioned in the first installment – five effective and simple upper-body strength routines – there are many ways to resistance train. As I alluded to, if you work hard, use safe modalities, document the results, recover properly between workouts, and train progressively, you will see results. Similar to the upper-body, training the lower-body

Many athletic women have a pull-up on their training bucket list. Pull-ups are more difficult for women as they generally have more muscle mass on their lower body in proportion to their upper body and thus more weight to lift. However, with the correct progression exercises and dedication, all women who have a healthy BMI

Most of you reading this have done the single-arm dumbbell row, and you know how effective it is for building a big, wide back. So how did you position your body to perform this exercise? Did you use a flat bench and focus on keeping your torso parallel with the floor to hit your lower

This strength cycle should help you prioritize overall squat, pull and press strength. The final week will be a test week of sorts, some lifts you will be allowed to max, others you will be given a set rep number to achieve at heavier weight. If you do not know how to power clean, you