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...]

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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 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...]

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June 25, 2009 By 17 Comments

Deloads and Training Breaks

Photo Credit: Army.mil

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Muscle growth, it’s what most of us who wish to look great naked are desperately yearning for. I think it’s safe to say most of us probably train too often and too intense at times. I also believe we easily forget to maintain an objective approach during this journey as well. If I told you it’s absolutely necessary to take a break every now and then you might assume I ate a few paint chips as a kid.

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I admit, I am guilty of not always taking a break when I should. I confess that as I’ve failed forward and experienced injury, I now realize how important scheduled breaks really are. This is why I now program a “deload” or training break every 4-6 weeks. [Read more...]

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