5 Things You Must Do Every Day To Stay Strong & Healthy

Guest Post By Rob King In a few short months I turn 40 years old. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about turning 40. More than anything, I think about how being 40 is going to impact my training. I love being strong, I love lifting, and I want to do this until the day I die. With over 20 years in the gym lifting, my body has a lot of mileage on it.  But I refuse to be “that guy” that talks about the good old days in the gym.  My good old days are right… continue reading.

5 Deadlifting Mistakes that Decrease Your Performance and Increase Your Injury Risk

Guest post by Rick Kaselj, M.S. and Co-creator of Fix My Back Pain. I have been waiting for it for year. I finally got to meet Jay. It was March 8, 2013 and I introduced myself to Jay and got to say thanks for all of his great stuff (emails, articles and products). We exchanged a few words. Then it was off to enjoy OC (Orange County). Then I got to see him again in Vegas on Friday the 13th of September. This time, I got to hear him share his story in fitness. It was… continue reading.

Meal Frequency and Metabolism

Guest Post By Sol Orwell of Examine.com For those that haven’t seen Examine.com, you’re missing out. They’ve built up a solid reputation on presenting evidence-based information on nutrition and supplementation. I get a ton of questions about nutrition, so I asked if they would do a series of posts on nutrition. Maybe even tackle some myths. Here’s the first one – on meal frequency. Meal Frequency? A common claim is that eating more meals a day causes an increase in metabolism? Another claim is that because your metabolism keeps spiking, you burn more fat, which helps with fat loss. What’s… continue reading.

My Thoughts on The Paleo Diet

A lot of times people who are unfamiliar with my thoughts on nutrition ask me my opinion of the Paleo Diet. For some reason it’s somewhat controversial in certain circles. I have no idea why. The Paleo Diet is a great nutritional concept that just about anyone could benefit from embracing. Eat real, whole foods, avoid anything processed and avoid grains, sugar, dairy and legumes. I have zero problem with it. Some people get all upset about the no grains recommendation but you’ve gotta give it an honest try first. In most cases people feel better without grains. They suffer… continue reading.

Do You Really Have a Specific Weakness or Are You Just Weak?

A lot of times people like to look for weaknesses too early on. The reality in most cases is, that you just have to practice the exercise more, perfect your technique and get stronger. In his prime Ed Coan may have had specific weaknesses and addressing them would have enabled him to go to set new PR’s. For most people who are at a beginner to intermediate strength level it’s really just going to come down to getting better at the exercise and using a lighter, more manageable weight. If I put 20% more weight on the bar than you… continue reading.

Is Your Fitness Business “Like WHOA?”

Guest Post by Luka Hocevar Lately everyone is talking about the WOW experience. We have Tony Hsieh and Zappos to thank for that and to be honest it has definitely been a game changer in the industry. It helped me look at my business and what experience people were getting once they walked through the doors of Vigor Ground (and before they walked in). Thing is, many people “talk” about it but not many people are actually “changing” the experience they deliver. If you’re thinking that because your training is on point it’s enough to retain all… continue reading.

Your Healthy Food Sucks

Guest Post by the creator of The Truth About Fat Burning Foods, Nick “The Nutrition Nerd” Pineault Your healthy food sucks. Wait a minute…. What the hell is this nerd talking about? Let me explain. What I mean is… your healthy food probably sucks. You know the grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, alternative sweeteners, olive oils, etc. that you’re paying a boatload of money for? They’re not what you think. After spending hundreds of caffeinated hours in front of my computer being the real self-educated nutrition nerd I am, I realized that most people get scammed when shopping for… continue reading.

At the Speed of Martin Rooney: Why You HAVE to Sprint

Hey Renegades, I’ve got a great interview for you today with my colleague, Martin Rooney, the creator of the Training For Warriors system. Check it out… Jason:  Let’s start with an exercise that both of us share a common love for – sprinting. Why should people be doing it? Martin:  Thanks Jason.  Funny we start with sprinting because I say that sprinting is the exercise that most people stopped doing a long time ago.  Most trainers aren’t doing any speed work and it’s a shame. Lifting weights and then sitting on the couch is not complete training.  Sprinting, even… continue reading.

Dear College Students

* This post was inspired from countless interactions I’ve had over the last few years with college kids who are getting nowhere with their training and missing out on lifetime memories in the process. You’re living in The Age of Distraction and it’s killing your gains. You’re suffering from information overload, which has led to the destruction of your social life. You’ve got to give up the over thinking and start living. You can’t be holed up in your dorm room overanalyzing every aspect of your training and diet all day long. There are girls outside and if you… continue reading.

Why the Scale is NOT Your Friend, Even When Trying to Gain Muscle

It’s pretty common practice in the fitness industry to tell females to throw out the scale. We say this because their goal is to lose fat and the scale doesn’t always accurately reflect what’s actually going on. More often than not it becomes a source of mental torture. What I’ve come to also realize, is that guys trying to gain muscle should throw out the scale too. I mean take that fuckin thing and heave it into the nearest dumpster immediately. Why? Because guys trying to get jacked obsess over the scale the same way that girls trying to… continue reading.

The #1 Reason You Aren’t Making Consistent Gains (and How to Fix it)

Guest Post by Tyler Bramlett, Creator of the CT-50 System One of the most common mistakes people make is getting married to the idea that the only way you can progress with your training is by increasing the amount of muscle you have or how much weight you can lift. While it’s nice to stand in front of the mirror and know for certain that you’ve packed on a few pounds of lean muscle or shed some unwanted body fat, there’s another area where you can make some serious gains. You see, strength training… continue reading.

Mythbusting: How to Improve Your Grip Strength for Deadlifting

Guest Post by Dave Dellanave I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I am traveling I always turn the TV on in my hotel room and I swear to you the show MythBusters follows me around. Every time I flip the TV on, the two main characters, Jamie and Adam, are dissecting some new half-truth. I love the show because they savagely, gleefully test the validity of a wide range of myths, movie scenes, YouTube videos, and news stories — often leveraging explosions and destruction to put the term “indestructible” to the test. Often,… continue reading.

The Countdown to 40

I turned 39 yesterday. I woke up and walked out on the balcony to practice some deep breathing, as I do each day, and noticed an incredible sight. The beach and surrounding parking lots were nearly empty. There was hardly anyone on the bike path. All of the summer tourists had disappeared overnight. I breathed a sigh of relief. Now I know how the locals must have felt the day after Labor Day each year at the Jersey Shore when we all cleared out until the next Memorial Day. As a kid I always thought I had the worst… continue reading.

The Biggest Nutrition Mistake You Could Make

Tom couldn’t figure it out. Why was it that every time he’d bust his ass to gain ten pounds over the course of 3-4 months he’d always end up hating the way he looked? He was bigger but fatter. Out of the ten pounds six or seven was always pure, gelatinous, adipose tissue, also known as body-fat. No matter what he did the results were always the same. If he ate higher carbs and lower fat or lower carbs and higher fat the same thing would happen when he went on a rapid bulk plan…. He just got fat. Then… continue reading.

Never Do This for Shoulders

As a young meathead, I did a lot of stupid stuff in the gym. I mean really f’n stupid. But I was in my twenties and thought I was invincible. Not to mention charming and handsome with the bloat of youth filling my puffy face. Oh, where have ye gone? Father time, you’re a cruel bastard… The point is that stupidity eventually led to shoulder surgery. That’s why I cringe every time I see someone doing upright rows or lateral raises.   I see it in… continue reading.