Guest Post by Luka Hocevar Having a strong will and being stubborn is a great quality to have most of the time. My grandpa told me that and he got captured by the enemy and stabbed by a bayonet in World War 2. Being stubborn and having will power saved his life. He was an OG and he knew what he is talking about. True story. He also told me stubborn can get you in a lot of trouble and keep you stuck in your (negative) ways. Like his sneaking into the cellar to have shots of… continue reading.

Let me start out by saying that this post is not for beginners. If you’ve been training for less than two years most of what’s written below will not apply. As a newbie you need to learn proper technique and stick to the basics. Once you’ve built your foundation and packed on your first 15-20 pounds a plateau is sure to rear it’s ugly head at some point. So if that’s where you’re at right now and are wondering why you’re not gaining any muscle read on and hopefully you’ll find some useful info to get you growing again. You’re… continue reading.

Guest Post by Renegade Inner Circle Coach, Keith Scott Ice Cube has always been one of my favorite rappers of all time. I have never made a Hip Hop training mix that does not include a plethora of Ice Cube tracks. One of the best lyricists of all time, Cube brings anger, aggression, and intensity in almost all of his songs. These are a few of the ingredients that every training session needs. So, here are my top 15 Ice Cube training songs. 15. Pushin’ Weight – (War & Peace Vol. 1) – Great Cube song… continue reading.

Right now Jen and I are both dialed in strictly with our diets because we have photo and video shoots coming up in the next few months. That means no sugar, no gluten, no grains other than white rice, no nuts and nut butters, no seeds, no fats other than that from animals and coconut oil/milk and some ghee, and very minimal dairy. However, we still eat dessert 3-5 nights a week. When we have to be super strict I make some sort of pudding with coconut milk. Coconut has incredible healing properties and can you help… continue reading.

Guest post by Renegade Inner Circle Member, Addison Marshall When I was playing Spring football my freshmen year I started having very bad rib pain. After a few tests, I learned that my ribs had cracked from a spleen that had been enflamed with Leukemia cells. Finding out I had cancer was the worst news of my life. The first 6 months were hell and my body was showing it.  I had lost about 30 pounds and most of my muscle.  I just ate shit all day and was always to tired to workout.  I eventually gained weight… continue reading.

Guest Post by Renegade Inner Circle Coach, Keith Scott If you are not doing a good, quality warm up before your training session you are missing a HUGE and extremely important component of training. By “missing” this, your performance will suffer and you will get injured at some point. I don’t care how young you are, how “tough” you think you are, or how much smarter you think you are, you will suffer in both areas. That’s just the way it is…

Over the years I have found that there are a few different kinds of people when… continue reading.

My recovery is usually pretty on point and I don’t too many inflammatory foods so I don’t get sore that often. I mean, I get sore, or course, but it’s usually just light soreness from time to time and never anything too deep or crippling. Today, though, I’m definitely feeling it more than usual and need a massage. That’s because in addition to my regular training I threw in a couple finishers from my buddy Craig Ballantyne’s Home Workout Revolution Below is the one that I hit yesterday: Workout 1: Bodyweight Cardio Do 40 reps per exercise. continue reading.

What’s up guys? I’m coming at you from St. Petersburg, Florida where I’ve spent the last few days. Yesterday I had an awesome workout with Adam Bornstein and my long time good buddy, Craig Ballantyne at the Powerhouse Gym in downtown Tampa. It’s a pretty impressive facility and worth training at if you’re ever in town. Before we trained Craig and I were having coffee (well, I was as Craig doesn’t drink coffee) and discussing a nutritional change that we both made that has us feeling significantly better. 

We’ve both cut out gluten completely. I haven’t touched it since the… continue reading.

Guest Post from Renegade Inner Circle Member, Chad Proud Ah, where to start? I first started training, err, caring about my physical appearance back in 2008. I was 20, and a sophomore in college at the time. I had always been the scrawny kid growing up, and used to be teased incessantly for it (even by my own family). So much so in fact that I actually felt proud when I weighed 206 lb. Now, mind you this 206 lb. came from a consistent diet of popcorn chicken dipped in applesauce, Cheetos, cookies and pop (dorm cafeteria favorite). continue reading.

Below are the 7 things you need to know about how to build a bigger back. I will also give you the top 10 best back exercises plus the ultimate back building workout. As always and with every other muscle group, building a bigger back simply comes down to choosing a few key exercises and then getting progressively stronger on them. I wish I could tell you it was more complicated and fancier than that. But it’s just not. The typical gym crowd is all about the chest and biceps, but a big back is what separates… continue reading.

Guest Post by Renegade Inner Circle Coach, Sean Hyson Good training music has to make you excited, alert, and even a little bit angry. For guys, it’s natural to turn to rap and metal (and, of course, rap-metal), to evoke this condition. However, these aren’t your only options, and if you train consistently throughout your life, you’re going to crave a change eventually. I think the real purpose of training music is to bring out your passion. You have to be somewhat emotional and worked up emotionally to train hard and purposefully. So, really, any music that… continue reading.

Guest Post by Renegade Inner Circle member, Gary Deagle As you can tell from the puka shell necklace pic(they were popular in 2003 right!?), I had a lot of obstacles to overcome. At that point I had just been suspended from my first semester of college, felt like I had ruined my life, and on top of it was scrawny. My mom bought me a Men’s Fitness thinking it would spark my interest since I was big time into sports and an athlete in high school. 

Luckily for me I read an article in it… continue reading.

Question: What’s the best fat loss workout to help me lose 20 pounds over the next few months? I’m ready to get in the best shape of my life this year and want to make sure I’m doing everything correctly. Answer: The single most important factor for fat loss is diet. You can do ZERO cardio and do nothing but singles, doubles and triples in your training and still get ripped if your diet is dialed in. That doesn’t mean it’s the most effective way but it can be done through diet alone. There’s nothing else you can do to… continue reading.

Guest Post by Wil Flemming You have likely read about, or performed a complex of some sorts in your training experience. Yeah, you have most likely performed some gut busting combination of movements that made you want to puke. Something like, 10 reps of deadlift, 10 cleans, 10 RDL’s, 100 push presses, 33 good mornings, 14 punches in the stomach, until you yakked up what you ate 3 days ago (only a slight exaggeration). At least that is what I have read about complexes. “The hardest 10 minutes you can throw down in the gym.” “Guaranteed to… continue reading.

Question: Jay, I know you are a big fan of box jumps. How do I incorporate them in my training and do them correctly? Answer: Let me start by saying I rarely prescribe a bounding type of box jump where you jump on and jump off of the box, unless I’m working with advanced, highly skilled jumpers. If you have a very low (6-8″) box and are doing it for conditioning that’s okay for people with a decent level of athleticism. But you can’t have unskilled jumpers and average people off the street jumping onto a two foot high box… continue reading.