Articles & Guides
Learn how to build muscle, burn fat and stay motivated.
The Worst Gym Advice You've Ever Heard
Leave it to a gym bro or a bad trainer to saturate the industry with misinformation. It’s funny how rapidly the wrong stuff spreads and how hard it is to get clients and trainees to do what’s good for them when it comes to strength training. If you could get results by following the instruction of t...
M&S Heavy Vol. 1: Workout Music For Extreme People
A while ago, I was asked by a fellow M&S team member to recommend them some lifting tunes because they were getting tired of listening to the same thing over and over. This conversation spawned the idea to put together a playlist for everyone that likes metal, hardcore, and everything in between to...
Why You Failed at Achieving Your New Years Resolution
Millions of people walked into the gym on January 1st, and were ripping, roaring, and chomping at the bit to get after it. Now there are some depressing statistics out there about how people don’t make it past January and blah, blah, blah about how people aren’t motivated. But the truth is, it proba...
Virtual Reality: The Future of Fitness? BB.com's Founder Sits Down With M&S
A long time ago, in a world far away, there was this new thing that was touted to be the future of civilization as we knew it. It was called the internet. (Ok, it was actually the 1990’s and this planet but go with me on this.) In an Idaho town, a young aspiring bodybuilder and entrepreneur saw a wa...
Universal Texas Road Trip with Antoine Vaillant & Chris Tuttle
On a hot day in Texas north of 100 degrees, Team Universal consisting of IFBB Pros Antoine Vaillant, Chris Tuttle and Universal Road Trip “host” Eric “naturalguy” Schwartz showed up at the famous Texas Gym in Dallas to smash their workouts. Texas Gym, a hardcore institution, is one of the most sough...
Training Talk: What Do You Love Most About Training?
Training Talk is back! Welcome to another edition of M&S’ monthly chat column. For those of you that might be seeing this for the first time, we provide a topic along with different viewpoints and then the conversation continues below in the comments section by those who matter most, you. I invite y...
Top 20 Things You Should Think About for Your First Show
If you're a competitive bodybuilder you obviously know the stress, frustration and detail that go along with prepping for a contest. But think back to your first contest. Do you remember all the mistakes you made? Maybe your color was off, maybe your posing sucked, or maybe you came in 5-10 pounds t...
10 Fitness Professionals You Should be Following
It’s easy to find information about training, nutrition, and supplementation online. But do you trust it? The wannabe fitness “experts” spew their own diatribes about everything fitness. From the latest techniques to the trendiest gadgets and the diet plan to end all diet plans. How do you sift thro...
Old School Gym: The Iconic Hardcore Gym in Columbus
I want you to close your eyes for a minute and think about your first experience lifting weights. I’m willing to bet it was not at some fancy air conditioned mega gym full of shiny equipment and flat screen TVs. Maybe it was your buddy’s basement where his dad had a bench, an olympic barbell set, an...
Thoughts Of A First Time Natural Bodybuilder
Yesterday was the culmination of an extremely long journey for myself. A life long dream was achieved and I got on stage to put myself on display up against others in a competition known simply as bodybuilding. Now for anyone interested in getting on stage themselves I will share with you some of my...
The Costs (The Hidden and Not So Hidden) of Competing
Have you looked at the women who are on stage at a figure competition? You are looking at the culmination of weeks of training, dieting, and conditioning. Every athlete has traversed down their own path to end up on that stage for that moment of judgment. They glow. They are radiant. They are the ep...
Teen Christine Beauchamp Talks About Her First Figure Competition
Editor's Note: Soon after competing in her first figure competition, superpowered teen Christine Beauchamp shared her experiences. She has allowed me to reprint them for the Muscle & Strength community. Thanks Christine! OHHHHH my god you guys! Most fun I've had in a really long time. Terrific expe...
Sleep Science: Nature's Most Effective Performance Enhancer (Part 2)
Lights shine in the bedroom window as a car turns down the street and the brake lights slowly fade into the night. You check your watch. The dimly lit screen reveals: “Tuesday, 2:47am”. Your mind begins to race as you frantically calculate the hours you have left to enjoy the comfort of your bed. Ti...
Sleep Science: Nature's Most Effective Performance Enhancer
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” This seems to be the rallying cry of every college freshman or Gary Vaynerchuk fan boy. As Americans, it seems we tend to correlate sleep with general laziness and an overall lack of productivity. Why sleep when you could shotgun a Red Bull and crush reruns of the Walking...
Straight Z's: Sleep Science for College Students
Recently I was listening to a podcast in which the host posed a fairly stereotypical question: “If you could choose one exercise to do for the rest of your life, what would you pick?” The interviewee responded, “SLEEP.” Strong answer, I couldn’t agree more. Training and nutrition aren’t appealing to...
The 12 Days of ChristMASS: Bulking Tips from Santa Himself
Santa has been working hard all year to get in shape in order to deliver gifts to all the boys and girls across the world. He’s making his list, checking it twice, and he’s seen that many of you out there are asking for one thing and one thing only…gains! You want to be big, strong, and would be app...
M&S Sits Down With 8x Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman After Back Surgery
Ronnie Coleman has earned several nicknames and titles: Mr. Olympia, GOAT (Greatest of All Time), King Coleman, and now he has a new one. Hall of Famer. Ronnie was among five inductees honored at the International Sports Hall of Fame during the Arnold Sports Festival this year. Undoubtedly his caree...
Protein Beer? It's A Real Thing Now...Would You Drink It?
Beer isn't the best thing for your body, we know. Beer also isn't the worst thing you could have on a Tuesday night after a hard day at work, on a hot summer day while relaxing with your squad, etc. If only there was a way to kick back some brews without feeling like you just undid a week's worth of...
Prebiotics, Probiotics, & Poop: 3 Questions Every Person Should Ask Themselves
“The road to health is paved with good intestines.” Gut health is trendy right now. Microbiome this, microbiome that. Seems like everybody and their mother has completed a comprehensive stool analysis (CSA). More power to you, poop is important stuff. But, before we delve deeper into the topic, it’s...
Be On Your Mark Contest Day, With INBF Champion Philip Ricardo
This article applies to the last week/10 days before the show or photo shoot, which is the most important time during the dieting phase. The last 10 days can make or break you when it comes to achieving peak condition! 10 days prior to the event, the major changes I make in my diet are the manipulat...
New Years Accountability: You Probably Haven't Gotten Any Fitter
December 31, 2015. It’s New Year’s Eve and a new year is upon us. It’s a clean slate and 2016 is going to be a year of change. January 1, 2016. Meals are being prepared, cardio is done, the gym is closed so weights have to wait. That enthusiasm is still there though. 2016 is “your year”. January 2,...
My First Natural Bodybuilding Show - How I Did It!
Article submitted by M&S member Nico Ferrara (AKA NicoSuave32) Ever since I started pumping iron in the gym I dreamed of walking on stage in a posing suit in front of hundreds of people and showing off a body I could be proud of. And on June 27th 2009 I did just that! I competed in the 2009 Mr. Roch...
Jay Cutler’s 2016 Arnold Classic Predictions (Video)
The M&S Team wanted to kick off the 2016 Arnold Classic in style. What better way than getting this year's predictions straight from from Jay Cutler? Jay won the 2002-2004 Arnold Classics, but this time he's attending as a fan of the sport. To recap, here are Jay Cutler's top 6 picks for the 2016 A...
Is Poor Digestion Wreaking Havoc on Your Gains?
Anyone who strives to get strong, muscular, and lean knows that they need to watch what they eat. So you obsessively count your macros, spend hundreds of dollars a month on supplements, and you couple this with hard training sessions in the gym. You look great, you’re getting stronger, and you’re bu...