December 1, 2009 By 21 Comments

Workout Partners – Do You Need One?

Photo Credit: April Greer

Chances are, if you’ve been working out for any extensive period of time, you’ve likely had a “workout partner” at one point.  Your experience with said partner could’ve been great, mediocre or it could’ve been so treacherous that you would rather eat dirt or light your shorts on fire.  I know about the latter from personal experiences.

I’ve had many friends and acquaintances over the years ask to work out with me, but something usually came up.  Many flaked out, our schedules changed or I just got sick and tired of doing more talking than lifting.  I guess the only time I’ve ever had a steady workout partner was during athletics when we all trained together -  we had no choice.  Then, after high school, my best friend lived with me for a summer and we continued to work out together.  He’s been the only workout partner I could actually stand and this was because we had similar goals and shared the same athletic background, plus he is practically my brother.  He then went off to school on a football scholarship and I was on my own again. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: , , ,
October 19, 2009 By 54 Comments

The Former Fat Boy Syndrome

I must admit I am a FFB (Former Fat Boy).  I am willing to bet many of the guys reading this were FFB’s.  As a FFB I know we tend to think our metabolisms are subpar or we can’t build muscle efficiently due to our endomorphic proportions.  This is what’s known as the FFBS (former fat boy syndrome).  I say this is bullhonkey (nice attempt at swearing I know).  The sad truth is being a former fat boy may even be worse on the psyche than starting out as a skinny bastard (as Joe DeFranco would say).  My goal today is to reach out to all the FFB’s and offer some encouragement, hope and a swift kick in the ass. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Diet, Popular, Training Tagged With: ,
October 5, 2009 By 9 Comments

Thoughts On Intensity

Photo Credit: estarezarpadoo

Intensity; what does it mean?  If you are like me, you have heard that pesky word over and again in the realm of bodybuilding, strength training and athletics.  All the bodybuilders keep talking about how much of it they have and all I can recall from high school is my coaches screaming in our ears about how much of it we lacked.

In the realm of fitness and training, you have different variations of said intensity: high intensity interval training, low intensity cardio and dynamic effort days where you train sub-maximally to allow for recovery etc.  Lately I have been eavesdropping on the bros’ conversations and I am noticing the word thrown around fairly often.  I keep asking myself, “just what is intensity, really?” [Read more...]

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August 24, 2009 By 9 Comments

In Search Of The Balanced Physique

Image Credit:  d_vdm

When I was younger I remember frequenting the local gym(usually during the summer when sports weren’t in session) and just about every guy there was either doing bench presses or working their guns. 90% of the guys I ever saw training only worked their upper body and then it was usually just the mirror muscles anyway. [Read more...]

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