By Nick Nilsson Overtraining is NOT evil. In fact, overtraining can be exactly what you need to achieve continuous and rapid results in your training and breakthrough muscle-building plateaus! So first, what IS overtraining? Overtraining is, most simply, training too much. Your body is unable to recover from the volume or frequency of training and begins to break down. You not only lose motivation to train, you become more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even start to go backwards in your training, getting smaller and weaker on almost a daily basis. So how can overtraining possibly be… continue reading.

I’ve been a little short on time the last week, working on some new projects so today’s post is taken from a question in the Renegade Inner Circle… Question: I’m curious about peoples thoughts on the whole idea of beginner gains, I noticed a lot of places on the net, say that if a beginner starts working out that they can gain 20 pounds pretty easily. What if your workouts and nutrition sucked when you were a beginner, and you never gained those 20 pounds? Is that window gone for when you get your shit in order? Jay I’ve… continue reading.

What a difference five years makes. I go out to bars about three times per year instead of three times per week. I hate staying up late and drinking these days, preferring instead to stay home, read a book and be in bed by 10:30. I’ll hardly touch a piece of food that isn’t organic or 100% natural. I’ve gotten rid of my microwave and toxic pots, pans and food storage containers. I only drink the purest water I can out of Sigg bottles, and even have a filter on my shower head. I threw out all my regular… continue reading.

Once you’ve been training more than a few years the need to deload on a somewhat regular basis becomes more and more prevalent. How often you do so depends on your training age, strength levels and injury history. Countless  successful lifters have had great results by training hard for three weeks and deloading on the fourth week. It’s a pretty widely accepted formula and has been proven time and time again. So there’s really no need to try and reinvent the wheel. Three weeks hard, one week deload is my standard go-to-recommendation. There are other options, however, and if you… continue reading.

Guest Post by Scott Sonnon of Tactfit Commando We’ve known for years that muscle tissue is highly active metabolically, and it helps us burn more calories during the day. So more muscle equals better fat burn, right? Unfortunately that’s only partly true — and not to the extent we once believed. A pound of muscle is now thought to burn an extra 6 calories per hour (as opposed to the 25 or more per hour we once believed). You’d have to pack on an awful lot of beef to make much difference. But that’s only one side of the… continue reading.

Aside from proper nutrition, there’s nothing more effective than hill sprints for fat loss. And if you’re not doing them you’re missing out on huge benefits. Don’t waste your time on cardio machines. They suck. Get outside and find a hill instead. If you are new to sprinting you need to take it easy when getting started. I mean reeeeaaaally easy. If the last time you ran a sprint was the week before senior prom you need to be very cautious or you’ll probably get hurt. Hill sprints place your body in a safer position than flat ground sprints because… continue reading.

Since there was quite a bit of interest in and positive feedback  on Chad’s fat loss system I decided to get him to write a quick article for us today on the top 5 fat loss myths. Check it out… Fat Loss Myth #1: Low intensity cardio is great for burning fat and boosting endurance. Jogging for an hour is a complete waste of time. So is any form of cardio that forces you to do the same repetitive movement over and over. When your muscles have to continuously contract for 30, 45, or 60… continue reading.

Jason Ferruggia: What are your top  fat burning nutrition tips? Chad Waterbury: The first step is to feed your body more nutrients and fewer calories. There’s really no way to get around the fact that burning fat requires you to give your body fewer calories than it needs. But where people really mess up is with their food choices. Most guys don’t get enough of certain key nutrients to feed their anabolic hormones even when they’re eating to bulk. So when they drastically cut calories their metabolism shuts down because they’re getting even fewer nutrients than… continue reading.

About three or four years ago Chad Waterbury and I connected for the first time through our mutual friend, Alwyn Cosgrove. Over several Jack & Red Bulls at a bar in Santa Monica, we discussed training for hours on end.  Despite the fact that we went into the meeting with seemingly very different views and theories, we concluded that we agreed much more than we disagreed. Since that night Chad’s become one of my good friends and we discuss training on a weekly basis. He’s one of the guys I trust most and I’m always interested… continue reading.

All too often I walk into public gyms and see skinny guys plugging away, doing set after set of the worst, time wasting exercises possible. That’s why, today, I’m going to show you the most effective exercises per body part starting from the traps and working our way down to the calves. Remember that the most important factor in all of strength training is progressive overload. So forget about all the other confusing nonsense and work to get brutally strong on these exercises. When you can move head turning weights for ten reps you will be big. continue reading.

By Dave Ruel of AnabolicCooking.com Makes 1 Serving Ingredients * – 3/4 cup oatmeal * – 8 Egg Whites * – 1/2 scoop (15g) of Chocolate Protein Powder * – 2 teaspoons of Pure Cocoa Powder * – 1 teaspoon of Splenda (Jays note: Use organic honey instead) * – 1 tbsp of Flax Oil * – 1 cup of frozen Blueberries * – 1/4 cup of water Directions * 1. In a big bowl, mix All the ingredients (except for the frozen blueberries) * 2. Cook… continue reading.

Today’s guest post is from David Jarzebowski, a member of the Renegade Inner Circle. Ok, so a high school friend of mine got married in Buffalo, NY, over the weekend. When I was booking the ticket, the only option from London was to fly via Newark. Given how close this was to Renegade Gym, I decided to extend my trip by a day and try to squeeze in a training session at Renegade. Jay was kind enough to agree, and so I booked the flights and hotel at Newark airport. I arrived from London at 1pm… continue reading.

I got back late Tuesday night from an awesome four day trip to Chicago (the home of my two favorite athletes of all time, Michael Jordan and Walter Payton). For those who have never been I highly recommend going to the Windy City during the summer months. It’s definitely one of my favorite places. Although I wouldn’t want to visit in the winter. We hit North Street and Oak Street Beaches, where strangely you are only allowed to swim out til the waters at mid chest level and then some guys in row boats stop you. Weird. continue reading.

Probably my biggest weakness is my grip strength. That’s why I always check out anything Jedd Johnson has to say on the subject. He is the master when it comes to this topic and today I have an awesome guest post from the man, himself. Check it out… Grip and Forearm Strength is an important aspect for anyone who trains with weights or competes in sports.  This is true for many reasons. Grip Strength helps your other lifts go up, in turn improving your weights lifted.  The way this happens is by a concept called Radiant Tension. To demonstrate… continue reading.

Here is the final installment of my interview with the God of Turbulence Training, and one wacky Canuck, Craig Ballantyne. Craig Ballantyne: Let’s discuss some more muscle building stuff. You can talk about what you’ve got going on in terms of how you work with your guys to build muscle. You talked a little bit about it so far, but what are your main philosophies? Jason Ferruggia: Always get stronger.  That’s the main theme no matter what the goal is.  Again, we stick with big basic exercises and I do a lot of bodyweight stuff… continue reading.