March 22, 2011 By 22 Comments

Make The Most of Your Off Days

“So tomorrow, I have an off day, what should I do for training?”

“Nothing, it’s called an off day for a reason,” is my usual reply.  However, over time and through experience, testing out my tolerance for volume and activity levels, I’m finding that some sort of activity, even on off days can be beneficial both physically and psychologically.

I’m rarely of the absolutist crowd because there’s almost always an exception to every rule.  In the past, when I was young and dumb, I only saw in black and white.  There was no grey – no middle ground.

Believe it or not, moderation was once foreign to me.  I won’t beat a dead horse, as I’ve plenty of articles and even an entire e-book detailing my experiences as a budding fitness enthusiast.

But a question that often comes up is “what is acceptable in terms of activity on the days between your heavy strength training sessions?”

It all varies but I’m going to cover some options for those of us who love to be forever active. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Questions, Training Tagged With: ,
March 7, 2011 By 32 Comments

The Secret to Gaining Slabs of Muscle Without the Fat

Twitter is funny.

A few weeks back, I got a sweetest little tweet from a nice lady named Suzanne that read something like “how do I add muscle without adding the extra fat?”

This is probably one of the most sought after goals in the entire history of physique development – particularly those who were either fat at one time and harbor a great fear of returning to their former state, or they’re of the female population.

I don’t mean that in any way that is degrading – it’s simply that most females are much more concerned about their outward appearance than males are.

For the general population, most guys do not care if their gut hangs over their belt buckle a bit (or a lot, for some). Most aren’t concerned with having six-pack abs, nor do they worry about taking their shirt off during the summer months. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Build Muscle, Questions Tagged With:
August 3, 2009 By 10 Comments

Caloric Intake and Deloading

Image Credit: jason.lengstorf

A few days back, I started exchanging emails with a reader about training and diet. The conversation was specifically about maintenance eating and strength training. Andrew is currently doing the very popular 5-3-1 strength program by Jim Wendler.

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I also recently began using some of the methods in my bodybuilding style training and am really enjoying it.

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I wanted to address Andrew’s question publicly as I am sure many others are often wondering how to eat during a deload. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: ,
July 19, 2009 By 9 Comments

Bulking Up To Look Great Naked

Last week I tweeted a question on what my fellow tweeple would like me to write about for the next article. I got a private message that read:

I’d like to read how to gain 5-10 lbs bodyweight in 4 weeks. perhaps a post about gaining weight in general? Cheers, Marc

This is a great topic that has been discussed ad nauseum on many fitness and bodybuilding forums. However there seems to be some confusion about the process, especially the right and wrong way to gain weight(ideally muscle mass). When you look at the process of gaining weight, purely from a physiological standpoint, a surplus of kcals rules out indefinitely.

Since those of you reading this are most likely interested in looking great naked, I think it’s safe to say you would like to gain the most lean muscle mass possible with the least amount of fat. Yea, I know, this would be ideal and if we lived in a perfect world, we would not even have to work out to look great in the nude. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: ,
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