Articles & Guides
Learn how to build muscle, burn fat and stay motivated.
16 Squat Tips To Improve Form, Strength And Size
The barbell squat is the king of all exercises. This has been said a million times in a million ways for one simple reason. It's true. Besides being an incredible muscle builder, the squat is also a man-maker (or woman-maker). It is brutally hard, mentally challenging and exhilarating all at the sam...
Squats and Milk, And Then Some
You’ve probably heard of the squats and milk program. It's been around for over 50 years, and is a very effective approach to packing on muscle mass. On squats and milk, you train 3 times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – performing a 20-rep squat set, immediately followed by a light weight se...
Some Ideas About Muscle Gain
First, and foremost, I think that the two most misunderstood and difficult concepts in strength training are 1. fat loss and 2. muscle gain. The same principles apply to both fat loss and muscle gain. The overriding concern is that either goal is very specific and outside the norm for most people in...
Smart Training: Don't Break Your Body Trying to Build It
Every experienced lifter has either been one or seen at least a dozen of these people. A new gym goer walks in the door and right up to the rack. No warm up needed. He picks up the heaviest weight he can handle. People stand by in shock as the young man struggles to move the weight up and down. Gasp...
The Six Basic Rules of Strength Training for Sports
Any strength training program should apply six basic laws of training to ensure adaptation and keep people who embark on training free from Injury. Especially the young and inexperienced trainers who decide to train without proper instruction from qualified training instructors or specific sports co...
Top 5 Exercises Series Main Page
The Top 5 Exercises For Increasing Chest Mass Expand your chest mass with these top 5 exercises: the barbell and dumbbell bench press, explosive push ups, inclined bench press, and decline bench press. A 10 part super series by Alex Stewart from Betancourt Nutrition. The Top 5 Exercises For Increa...
Secrets To Building Huge Arms
I think it’s safe to say that for those of us who are working to build better bodies through bodybuilding and or fitness, out of all the muscle groups we work so hard to develop, the muscles of the arms seem to be the most universally admired. Whenever a bodybuilder is asked in public to make a musc...
The Science Behind the Drop Set & Muscle Growth
It’s 5 o’clock and your wife and kids are expecting you home at 5:45 to help with dinner, leaving you nowhere near the time necessary to execute your entire lift with appropriate warm-up, rest periods, and tempos. The question is what do you do? You could go hit some intervals on the rower and do so...
Sandbag Strength And Conditioning Workouts For MMA Training
Strength and conditioning for MMA is a difficult business, since the needs of an MMA fighter are incredibly varied and dynamic. I’m all for barbells and dumbbells to improve strength and add mass, but do they really offer the best option for mixed martial artists? MMA is a tough sport. This is unden...
IFBB Pro Ryan Terry's Complete Mr. Olympia Prep
The sport of bodybuilding isn’t easy. It takes an extremely dedicated and determined individual to excel at it. As a fan, you don’t get to see the majority of the work that goes into being an IFBB pro. Sure, you may follow a pro or two on social media and get a glimpse into their life, but it’s hard...
Ryan Terry's Ab Workout: 3 Exercises For Insane Abs
IFBB Pro and USN Athlete Ryan Terry came down to the M&S Headquarters to share his core training secrets. To achieve a 3D, blocky effect in his abs, Ryan trains his core just like any other muscle. That means he hits abs twice per week with at least 4 rest days between sessions. Along with proper nu...
Running For Gym Rats: Adding Running To Your Workouts
Before you bring out the torches and pitchforks, hear me out. I know running may not be the forte of the majority of Muscle and Strength’s audience, but running, when applied correctly, maybe exactly what you need in your fitness arsenal. Running promotes a healthy quality of life, increased GPP (G...
Routine Design for Dummies: Build Your Own Custom Workout
Hey dummy. Yeah, you. Don’t get mad, bro. You know that there are dozens of great workout routines out there written by the experts. Starting Strength, 5/3/1, Cube, Westside, PHAT, etc were all created by people with tons of experience and knowledge. I generally recommend following a routine over cr...
Roman in the Wild: German Precision in Brazilian Paradise
IFBB Pro and Animal athlete Roman “Rex” Fritz is known for his machine-like execution. A proud purveyor of “German precision,” Roman takes care to leave nothing to chance in any bodybuilding endeavor. So the deconstructed confines of Arpoador’s Flintstones Gym in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in all the g...
When Is It The Right Time To Eat Healthy And Exercise?
When is the right time to start a healthy eating and exercise plan? With the millions of dollars spent on diet books, drinks, pills and other diet aids you would think that anytime is the right time. Well, from what I hear from potential clients there is no right time. They can always find an excuse...
Should You Use Fast or Slow Rep Tempo for Maximal Gains?
Let’s say you attend the gym on a regular basis. You have progressive overload, volume, frequency, intensity, exercise selection/order, and rest-intervals in check. Would adjusting your repetition tempo be advantageous to your gains? Only if its 5%, it could be worth it if you are after maximal gain...
Resistance Training Exercise Variables
Before anyone jumps in to the gym and puts some weight on to a bar and tries to move the weight without knowing what they are doing, they are going to put their body at risk of some serious injury. You have to be aware that putting together a routine for specific training is more difficult than just...
Recommit to Getting Fit: How to Plan Your Return to the Gym
Living a fitness-based lifestyle can be incredible. There are many people that can attest to this. Sometimes life gets in the way, and an extended absence from the gym or weight room is necessary. Injuries, illness, business, or burnout could all be factors that result in us taking time to decompres...
Recreational (Bro) Lifting Versus Bodybuilding
The term “Bro Science” in this sense is false information and common misconceptions as it relates to bodybuilding. The focus is on gaining strength and building muscle as this is the focus of many lifters who train in the gym most days of the week. However, because of lack of time under tension and...
Q&A With Coach Potts Vol 1
Would there be any strength or agility exercises you would recommend to a 400/800 meter type athlete? Agility is not really an aspect of athleticism that you see much of in track and field so, for the sake of training efficiency, I’m going to say no that that is not really an aspect I would chose to...
Push Ups Matter: 3 Ways to Correct & Intensify Your Push Ups
The push up is the classic, upper body builder. For the vast majority of male lifters, the push up represents the first exercise they tried to do. The average young man is all about building the chest and arms. The push up is generally the first move he has access to that fits the bill. Being such a...
Can't Do Pullups? Try These 3 Pull Up Progressions
If you’ve read my stuff before, you’ll know I think that the bench press gets a little too much credit. For a healthy bodied individual, the pull up should be viewed as a gold standard for upper body strength. It involves more of the upper body, targets more important muscles, and is generally harde...
Principles For Bringing Up Weak Body Parts
A big issue for many bodybuilding enthusiasts is bringing up muscle groups that seem to fall behind. One of the most widely used methods of remedying this problem is to train the particular muscle group multiple times per week. However, overtraining will put a stop to your quest for gains in muscle...
Prep Your Gym Bag: 22 Must-Haves
Brad Borland is a strength & conditioning specialist, cancer survivor and the founder of WorkoutLab. There’s an old saying I will paraphrase: There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the fact that you forgot your umbrella. Being prepared is half the battle when it comes to pretty much anything in...