My experience with intermittent fasting started in the late 1990’s, when I got into the habit of going to the gym first thing in the morning before eating anything. I’d been reading Body-for-LIFE by Bill Phillips, and fasted cardio was one of the things he recommended. The idea was to skip breakfast, train in a […]
Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss? And Is It Safe?
Unless you’ve recently arrived from another planet, you probably know already that creatine is one of the few supplements out there that actually works. Creatine has been used as a way to improve athletic performance a lot longer than most people think. As far back as the 1970s, Soviet scientists knew that creatine supplements improved […]
Why Do Male Gymnasts Have Such Big Arms?
You’ve seen pictures of gymnasts with huge arms. You’ve also heard that those arms were built without any direct arm work – curls, pressdowns and so on. Now you’re wondering if you should be doing the same thing. If you want bigger arms, is training like a gymnast the best way to do it? Why […]
My Advice to the Skinny Fat Guy with a Pot Belly
A few months back, I was reading about a self-professed skinny fat guy. He had a big pot belly that made him really self-conscious (said it made him look like he was pregnant). But he was skinny everywhere else. According to a body mass index (BMI) chart, he was slightly underweight. That is, his weight […]
The Full Range of Motion Myth: My Secret Love of Partial Reps
You’ve probably been told that if you want your muscles to grow, all the exercises you do should be taken through a full range of motion (ROM). Going from “full stretch” to “peak contraction” is necessary to stimulate the maximum amount of growth in the shortest possible time. Anything less is cheating, and you might […]
Why Can’t I Lose Weight On The Paleo Diet?
You’ve been on the paleo diet these last few weeks. Problem is, you haven’t lost any weight. You’ve spent hours trawling through forums looking for answers. But you’re still none the wiser. What’s going on? If weight loss is your main goal, there’s not too much wrong with the foods that are typically recommended on […]
What Foam Rolling Really Does to Your Muscles
To the man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And to the annoying guy in the gym who’s just “discovered” foam rolling, and now feels compelled to offer you his unsolicited advice on the subject, every physical ailment is one that can be fixed with the help of a foam roller. Tight […]
Does Muscle Soreness Mean Muscle Growth?
It’s common for many people, especially when they’re just starting out, to feel sore for a day or two after training. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger was “feeling it” soon after finishing his first ever workout. “The guys warned me that I’d get sore,” he writes in Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder. “But it didn’t seem […]
How to Fix Bench Press Shoulder Pain
If you want to know what causes bench press shoulder pain, and how you can get rid of it, this page will show you what to do. First, I want to take a quick look at shoulder anatomy, so you can understand what’s causing the pain in the first place. Then, I’m going to show […]
How to Eat Sugar and Still Lose Fat
Some say that any time you eat sugar, you are “flipping a switch” that tells your body to store fat. Diet books tell you to avoid it at all costs. Newspaper headlines claim that it’s “more addictive” than cocaine. But is sugar really as bad as everyone says it is? Can you eat sugar and […]