Fitness

“Ya best protect ya neck.”
-Wu Tang Clan In the past I’ve always recommended neck training but said that it was optional. That was a mistake. It’s not optional. It’s mandatory. You look infinitely cooler and more badass with a bigger neck and it’s a life insurance policy. No one can argue either of those two facts. Countless athletes and lifters have sustained injuries that, based on their own accounts, could have been life threatening or left them paralyzed, had their necks not been as strong as they were. I was genetically cursed with a pencil neck so I will… continue reading.

Today we have a guest post from Renegade Inner Circle member, John P, detailing his last twelve weeks of training. *** Hey guys,

I just finished up my final week of Yoked so I figured I’d throw out my review in case it’s useful to anyone. A bit about myself: I’m 33 years old, I’ve been training seriously for approximately a year and a half. Starting this program, I had just completed a 3-4 month phase of trying to get lean, where I started around 19-20% body fat and got down somewhere around 11-12%, which was around 186-188 pounds. After… continue reading.

Guest Post by Keith Scott. Not all injuries are really injuries. Huh? What the hell does that mean? It’s simple…over the years I have “magically cured” a lot of people’s injuries quickly because so many injuries are not really injuries, rather they are muscle spasms or knots that are causing pain and dysfunction. This is not to say that these knots don’t cause major pain and problems…they do. It also doesn’t mean that they are to be ignored, because many spasms or knots are a sign that either something was tweaked and needs to be fixed, or that the… continue reading.

I hate doing cardio. There are very few things I find less appealing than the thought of getting on a stair master and huffing away for thirty minutes straight. I’d imagine five rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime to be less painful. Going for a long walk or bike ride a few times per week at a low intensity is a great idea and I think everyone should do it. Pounding your joints on a machine at a high intensity for 45 minutes, five times a week? Horrible idea. When I opened Renegade Gym back in the early 90′s… continue reading.

What’s up guys? I hope you had a great weekend. Although I doubt it was as wild as the one my friend Mike had a few weeks back. Mike came into my gym for the first time as a skinny 12 year old. His dad hired me to get him bigger and stronger for football and wrestling. At the time I was only training regular people, still earning my chops as a beginner personal trainer helping people lose fat. But I really wanted to get into high performance training and help guys get bigger, stronger and faster. So Mike became… continue reading.

Special guest post by world record holding deadlift champion, Andy Bolton The Deadlift is a superb exercise. Now you might think I’m biased, given that I’m pretty good at it (In case you don’t know – I’m that big dude that’s pulled over a 1000lbs. Twice)… that said – by the time you’ve finished reading this article I’m sure you’ll want to start hitting the deadlift HARD. Here are 7 reasons why the Deadlift is a superb exercise for serious Athletes… 1. If you’re a bodybuilder, or a guy who wants to be JACKED, very few things add slabs… continue reading.

There’s a helluva a lotta cats out there addicted to pre-workout stimulants. Gotta be cranked for your workout; bouncing off the walls or ready to run through ‘em. So you slug down a triple espresso and stack with it with some 3 Hour Energy Blaster, NO Explode-aria and whatever else they sell at the checkout counter of GNC. Anything short of an 8-ball of coke is fair game. After twenty minutes or so it starts kicking in and you feel superhuman. You’re no longer a guy who barely slept because you were stressed out all night or the guy who… continue reading.

An RSC Exclusive Report – Sign up HERE to become a member today. 13 Rules For Injury Free Training – By Keith Scott LEARN to listen to your body! Being intuitive to what your body is telling you is not easy, but if you take the time to really “listen” you will be able to master it and know when to back off, ramp up, or modify. The obvious sign is pain….if it hurts, stop doing it! But the more subtle forms of pain and dysfunction are harder to notice at first. Here are a few pointers: 1 –… continue reading.

One of the most frequently asked nutrition questions I get is, “How many carbs should you eat per day to build muscle?” Everyone always focuses on protein but if you want to get jacked carbs are crucial. High fat and Paleo style eating can be great for getting lean but not for getting big. That job requires some rice and potatoes. Carb intake should be directly correlated to weekly training volume. For example, let’s say Billy does an old school 5×5 routine twice per week because he believes that as a hardgainer that’s all the training he can handle. There… continue reading.

In 2006 I went up to Boston to do a seminar at Total Performance Sports with some friends and colleagues of mine. The Friday night before it went down we all trained at TPS. I was going toe to toe with my buddy Smitty of Diesel Strength & Conditioning while Alwyn Cosgrove looked on in amusement. We went back and forth, constantly one upping each other and exchanging good-natured insults between sets. Over the previous few months my shoulder had been getting worse and worse from years of stupidity in the gym and several crash landings on dirt bikes, ATV’s… continue reading.

If you missed Part I click HERE. If you missed Part II click HERE. When we last left off I was telling Chris about how we needed to fix his hormonal issues that many hardgainers struggle with… “Okay, good. Let’s please do that.  I can’t live like this anymore. It’s getting so frustrating and depressing,” Chris told me. “Hey man, no one understands that more than I do (see the picture of me at 17 years old, after four years of training, to the left). But if you do what I say you will totally transform yourself. I’ve… continue reading.

If you missed Part I click HERE to read it. Now, back to the story of young Chris, the skinny-fat hardgainer. *** “Okay, so I can’t just rely on the big lifts, I should do some single leg, dumbbell and bodyweight exercises and I need to train my neck and forearms. And if I ever hope to see any growth in my calves at all I’ll have to bomb them like Arnold used to.” “You are correct, sir.” Got it. What else,” Chris asked. Myth #4: Hardgainers Should Train Very Infrequently “You said you were doing the classic HIT… continue reading.

I met up with Chris at Lola’s Coffee shop a few minutes after 10am on a Tuesday. He had a backwards Hurley hat on, faded jeans and a pair of Syracuse orange and navy Nike Dunks. At 6’1” and 170 pounds with narrow shoulders and a small potbelly Chris was anything but jacked. In fact, like me, he had the exact 180 degree opposite genetics of the kid in the picture to the left. Colorful traditional Japanese style snakes and dragons covered his 13-inch upper arms that dangled in his Volcom shirtsleeves. “Look at these pipe cleaners,” he said. “They… continue reading.

The bench press is as equally loved as it is hated. It’s a great size and strength building exercise, but at the same time, one that can wreak havoc on your shoulders, especially if you’re not 5’7″ and built like a brick shit house naturally. If you’re an average injury prone, skinny-fat dude or just someone with long limbs and/or tiny joints you’ve gotta be smart about how you program it. Unless someone is training for some sort of test I never prescribe a plain old, standard flat bench press. I like to add a few tweaks here and there… continue reading.

rsc1t “Hey Joe, always good to see you, my friend.” That’s what my buddy, Laslov says to me every Sunday morning at the Santa Monica farmers market as he engulfs my tiny mits with his massive bear paws. I’ve corrected him several times but just don’t have the heart to keep doing it. So for a brief moment in time each week I’m Joe, not Jay. My wife, Jen and I pick up a jar of freshly ground pecan butter from him along with a handful of green plums, both of which are absolutely delicious. Then we go to Harry’s… continue reading.