There are plenty of ways to measure progress in the weight room—or, for that matter, in your home gym. How much you can hoist for a single max-effort rep on a given lift is one, of course, although it’s one that most of us can’t (and shouldn’t) measure every time we train. Rep maxes …
The Most Important Training Technique to Know This Year
If you walked into my gym in Baltimore, you’d notice my clients and athletes never stop moving. It doesn’t matter if they’re bodybuilders, powerlifters, combat athletes, injury-rehab clients, or just people training for general fitness. They all keep moving. If nobody explained what these clients were doing, you’d probably get the wrong idea. You …
5 Musts to Build Unreal Strength This Year
Alpha-GPC: Is This Powerful “Secret Ingredient” in Your Pre-Workout?
Creatine, citrulline, betaine, beta-alanine, BCAAs—once upon a time, they were all single ingredients that athletes and lifters would take alongside their staple supps like protein or caffeine. Then, as the science—and the results—stacked up, they became staples. That’s happening right now with the powerful nootropic compound alpha glyceryl phosphoryl choline—alpha-GPC or A-GPC for short. …
How This Personal Trainer Took Back Her Body from Anorexia
Tanya Etessam thought she had her anorexia under control, but “control” is a loaded word for those battling eating disorders. The 32-year-old personal trainer and lifestyle coach from Miami has fought that battle for more than half her life, including a lengthy siege during her teenage years, starting when she was 12. “There was …
Going Plant-Based? Read This First
Plant-based eating is becoming increasingly popular, with more people ditching burgers and chicken for vegetarian alternatives every day. Cutting back on your meat consumption offers wide-ranging potential benefits, from losing weight to feeling more energetic, but a common concern is whether a plant-based diet can provide all the nutrients you need, especially if you …
Sun's Out, Guns Out: Editors' Picks for Feeling Awesome This May
After a spring spent cooped up, we’re looking forward to getting the heck outside—at least on our balconies, and if we’re lucky, farther afield. No matter where you are, extra sunshine brings extra energy. Channel it into your workouts, and the results will speak for themselves. Here are the tools and supplements we’re using …
Editors' Picks for Staying Healthy at Home This April
This Is the Best Way for Tall Guys to Deadlift
It’s easy to look at the conventional barbell deadlift and think it’s the weight room’s great equalizer. After all, it’s just a bar on the ground and everyone has to pull it from the same height, right? Uh, wrong. Once you’re up above 6 feet, especially 6-foot-4 and above like Canadian strength coach Lee …
This Is Exactly How Lifting And Exercise Make You Healthier
Exercise is good for you. That’s hardly news: People who exercise tend to have longer, healthier lives. But until recently, researchers have tallied its benefits only in narrow slices: Exercise lowers your cholesterol and blood pressure; it keeps you from getting fat. Now it’s becoming clear that those known slices don’t add up to …
The Plan That Helped This Hardgainer Pack on 50 Pounds
Growing up, Ashwin Prasad was the victim of pointed words and nasty jokes surrounding his size. But he definitely wasn’t overweight. He was the “skinny kid” in high school, weighing under 100 pounds at 5-foot-7 and unable to lift much of anything in the gym. The more harsh comments thrown his way, the worse …
2019 Men's Olympia Predictions: Is This Brandon Curry's Year?
There are a lot of revisions in place for the upcoming Olympia Weekend. This highly anticipated bodybuilding show and fitness expo runs from September 12-15 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Convention Center. For the first time ever, all eight Olympia Pro Division Finals will be held on the …
This 70-Year-Old Workout Works As Well As Ever
If you use the words “sets” and “reps,” or even practice “progressive resistance,” you need to thank a brave World War II doctor name Thomas DeLorme. And the best part: You can thank him by following his namesake training method, the DeLorme protocol. I remember a coach telling me in 1979 that no one …
This Nurse's Rx for Weight Loss? Exercise and Healthy Eating
During her early twenties, Courtney Hendon was like many women, playing the love/hate game with her body and arbitrary numbers on the scale. Her weight rose and fell for years, at one point hitting 200 pounds. It undoubtedly went higher, but she grew so discouraged that she stopped using the scale. Today, Hendon weighs …
Calf Raise Death Set: This Is How To End Leg Day
The calves are one of the most notoriously stubborn body parts to build. That much is no secret! There are plenty of strong and jacked lifters who look like chicken-legged pretenders in a pair of gym shorts (as commenters love to point out). As someone who did not hit the genetic lottery of natural lower-leg […]