Articles & Guides
Learn how to build muscle, burn fat and stay motivated.
The P.B.S. Model Part 1: The Primer Phase
Before you keep reading, check out the overview of the P.B.S. model. The goal of the primer phase is to set you up for long-term muscle building. It is designed to create the greatest window of opportunity for you to make muscle-building progress long-term. People tend to give up on building muscle...
The P.B.S. Model Part 2: The Build Phase
Before you keep reading, check out part 1 of the P.B.S Model, the Primer Phase. With firm foundations in place, it is time to build on them. You can now capitalize on the groundwork you have done in the Primer phase and use it as the launchpad into a productive Building phase. It is during the Build...
Do Partial Reps Build Muscle More Effectively?
A few months back a new forum poster asked what I believed to be a harmless question: Do partial reps build muscle more effectively than full range of motion reps? Being the grumpy old school lifter that I am, I responded with a resounding no. I really don't know any lifter than relies on partial r...
Workout(side): 4 Outdoor Muscle Building Activities
If you’re looking to break the funk and take advantage of the summer weather, it’s in good order to take your workouts outside. Supplementing your strength or size program with a couple of outdoor workouts per week can be the change of pace your body needs to continue seeing results, become more ath...
One Set Training: All-Out Sets
Editor's note: Check out the first article in this series: Gordon LaVelle's Short And Intense Bodybuilding Training System. The first article in this series concentrated on giving a logical foundation to the idea that for muscle growth, it’s best to perform only a single all-out set for each exercis...
No Rack? No Problem, Here's Your Squatting Solution
During the inception of the strength and conditioning game there was only iron. This was an era where machines didn’t exist. If you wanted to get strong and develop a muscular physique you had no choice but to touch the iron. This was also a time in the iron game when even the standard squat rack wa...
The Noob Teenagers Guide To Building Muscle
Introduction This was written by a teenager for teenagers. Like most people, I was lost and didn't know my way around a gym when I first started. Thanks to this site, I now know a lot. I don't consider myself a professional, or some sort of fitness guru by any means at all, but I believe I know what...
No Pain, More Gain Shoulder Superset
Why Healthy Shoulders Is A Foreign Concept Shoulder pain during a workout is not normal, and should not be treated as such. We live in a society that thrives on piss poor posturing between our 12 hour a day desk work and pathological cell phone addiction. This obviously isn't doing any of us any fav...
Boulder Shoulders: 4 Advanced Exercises to Build Bigger Delts
There is an expression that has been around for as long as training itself: basics work best. Let’s be clear. This isn’t necessarily an argument against that point but change can be a good thing when it comes to training. Take your shoulders for instance. You can still perform the old-school movemen...
Next Level Nutrition: How To Supercharge Muscle Growth With Workout Nutrition
If you ask most bodybuilders to write down their daily diet and supplement regimen you will most likely get a detailed account of when every gram of protein is eaten and when every supplement is taken. Most serious lifters are meticulous about precisely timing every nutrient to make sure that their...
Natty Lifter's Guide to Training: Build Quality Gainz w/out Steroids
I have a few friends currently using steroids. And I’ve had multiple conversations with athletes regarding their desire to use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during competition. But at the end of the day, this topic is much more complex than most realize… Are you going to have blood work co...
My Top 5 Musts For Success In Bodybuilding
It is coming up on a full three years since I have dedicated a part of my life to the sport of natural bodybuilding. I have loved every second of it and truly have a neverending fire that burns for this sport. In this short amount of time I have truly had great and early success. I have competed in...
How To Maximize Muscle Growth By Tracking Your Rest Periods
“Time is the most precious commodity out there. It’s the one thing you can’t buy or ever buy back. Give it your absolute all to whatever task it is your doing, no matter how big or small it is.” – Muscle Prodigy This is a deep quote that hits home every time we read it. Ultimately, this has brought...
The Great Confusion: Why Does Every Workout System Seem To Work?
Here are 2 conflicting statements that most of us know to be true: 1) Every Workout System Works. While wars rage over which workout system is better, the bottom line is that everything seems to work. People are getting results on Wendler’s 531, Stronglifts, Starting Strength, low volume training, h...
Muscle Building 101: Sets, Reps & Workout Routine Splits
This muscle building article is aimed at those of you who are new to weight training, and the muscle building process. I will start with the basics - sets and reps - and move on to explain common workout training splits and approaches. Workout Basics When you look at a workout in a magazine, or o...
Muscle Building Genetics: Myth And Reality
The following article is an excerpt from my book 101 Fitness Myths. It's something that I believe needs to be tackled since too many people are being held back by self-imposed obstacles. So lets look at genetics, myth and reality. "I just cant get big/ripped/in shape/stronger - because of my genet...
Can You Build Muscle After the Age of 35?
You’ve probably had an older friend or relative tell you that after you hit your late thirties, everything goes downhill. They moan about the aches and pains, lack of energy, and the middle-aged spread. They probably remind you that it’s common knowledge that we gain fat, lose muscle mass, and our s...
Muscle & Strength’s 2011 Transformation Guide
Did you achieve your physique and fitness goals in 2010? Or did time slip away, leaving you frustrated? 2011 will be another chance to fulfill your dreams. It will be the year that you pack on muscle, lose weight, get in shape and carve out the physique of your dreams. But to achieve these dreams, y...
Muscle Fiber Types: What They Are And How to Train Them
We train them. But how much do we know about them. And how do we know what type of muscle fibers we have in the muscle we are training; by knowing what muscle fibers a specific muscle has, can take the guess work out of what type of training that specific muscle requires. Muscle Types Our muscle tis...
Mini-Cuts: Your Secret Weapon to Adding Lean Muscle
A mini-cut is a short-term, aggressive fat loss phase. They are a vital tool in your muscle-building toolbox. I know a fat loss phase being good for your muscle-building capacity might seem counterintuitive but, trust me when I say they can be a game-changer for you. Before I explain exactly why the...
Does Mind-Muscle Connection Help You Build Muscle?
Discussions about mind-muscle connection have been around for decades. Bodybuilders talk of flexing and squeezing the muscle rather than just lifting the weight from A to B, claiming that growth is best achieved when you maximize the “feel” of the muscle. This approach has been embraced by the gym-b...
Mechanical Drop Sets - Break Into New Strength And Size Territory
Everybody on this site has heard of drop sets, I assume. If not, better break out that copy the "Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" by a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger. You start with 100%, perform as many reps as possible and then lower the weight by 30%, bang out another couple reps. The very bra...
Maximize Your Workouts & Body By Focusing Your Goals
What workout is best? The above is a question I do get quite often and the answer is: " I don't know...but you do." What I mean is that most trainees do not really design their workouts to fit their needs, it is mostly a haphazard operation; Monday night is chest, bro. Without getting into the whole...
Max Muscle Growth Techniques for Upper Body (Plus 3 Sample Workouts)
Many years ago I invented a little quote that expresses my basic philosophy when it comes to how one should approach their training if he/she truly desires to make significant progress: “If you want your muscles to grow, you cannot simply ‘whisper’ at that them – rather, you must SCREAM!” In other w...