Bill Starr was the first strength coach to work at both the collegiate and professional level. He was the strength coach for the Baltimore Colts when they won Super Bowl V. No matter what people may tell you about slide boards, balance training, Bosu balls, tempo training, occlusion training and simultaneously working one arm with the opposite leg, the fact of the matter is that not much has changed in the last forty years when it comes to effective strength training. In general, we can’t get guys any bigger or stronger today than we could back then. As Bill said… continue reading.

If you want to know how to build a bigger chest you’re in the right place. I’ll give you all you need to know including the best chest exercises and the ultimate chest workout. Let’s start by discussing some anatomy basics about the pecs. There’s an upper head of the pecs known as the clavicular head, and there’s a lower head of the chest known as the sternal head. There’s also a pec major and a pec minor. What you really need to know are the following two facts: 1) You can definitely target the upper pecs and… continue reading.

By Mac Danzig Although there are other people at the controls, manning and updating my websites, I do read all of the mail, and the questions I get asked most often (hundreds upon hundreds of times now) are about my diet. All of the emails and letters are so hard to keep up with, so I finally sat down and decided to write a comprehensive look at my diet. I’m writing this on the fly, so even though it’s long, I will most certainly leave some important things out.. ‘Sorry’ about that in advance. This is not… continue reading.

By Brad Pilon Flexible intermittent fasting is becoming a very popular way to use your body’s natural ability to burn lots of fat in a short period of time. Here is a list of the ways that flexible intermittent fasting will turbo charge your fat loss. 1. Increases Fat Burning Hormones Hormones are usually at the root of most of your metabolic functioning, and fat burning is no different. Growth Hormone is the most important fat burning hormone in your body. Fasting pushes growth hormone production into high gear and this makes your fat burning… continue reading.

It just wouldn’t be a party if I didn’t get at least a dozen random fitness related questions from strangers, family members or long lost pals. Kinda like the exchange I had with my old friend Kevin last week… “Hey Jay, good to see you, buddy. Glad you’re here, I have a couple questions for you.” “I probably don’t have the answers, but fire away.” “My shoulder’s been killing recently right here, when I bench press. Here, feel this clicking thing it’s doing,” he says as he places my hand on his shoulder. Another party; another guy placing my hands… continue reading.

I wish I had a guide about how to avoid elbow pain when I first started training, because I certainly have had my share of it. Although this is not my main area of expertise, and guys like Bill Hartman and Keith Scott know a lot more about this than I do, I’ve trained a lot of people for a lot of years and have seen almost every injury you can imagine. I’ve also experienced quite a few of them myself. So today I’m gonna share some tips and tricks with you about how to avoid elbow pain. And since… continue reading.

Jungle Gym XT– There are countless exercises that can be done on the Jungle Gym XT; many more effective than using a machine or even free weights, such as pushups, flys, dips, assisted handstand pushups, leg curls, hip thrusts, ab fall outs and many more.  At Renegade Training Center we use big, basic barbell lifts as our main maximal strength exercises and then supplement with bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbell and strongman type lifts for accessory work. The Jungle Gym XT gets used at every workout, without fail. It’s also great to travel with because it’s small and light and… continue reading.

Riding a stationary bike sucks. Sure, it’s convenient and often the only option for a lot of people, but let’s be honest; enduring 30 minutes of water boarding would probably be more fun. If you can ride a stationary bike, you can ride a real bike; and that would be a much better choice. Sprinting would be far superior to either of those. Doing so on a hill or with a sled or Prowler is often even better. Below are some of my favorite conditioning drills that I do myself and with all of my clients. continue reading.

Guest Post By Brad Pilon You may not have heard of intermittent fasting, and so you may not know why it can and should be a part of your workout and fat loss plan. Intermittent fasting is the practice of abstaining from all but water for a period of usually 24 hours to help with the goals associated with fat loss and weight loss in general. The way in which it helps in this arena is by cutting out a full days caloric intake, while still being able to maintain a full workout schedule. Let’s look at… continue reading.

Here’s an interview I did with my buddy Craig Ballantyne  that many of you may have missed the first time around: CB: What do athletes need to work on most? JF: Most athletes are too weak. I don’t care what sport they play or at what level they are playing at, most athletes, in general, need to get stronger. I think that if most athletes just focused on properly getting stronger, they would improve their performance and be a lot better off. I am not downplaying the importance of running mechanics, flexibility, agility, change of direction… continue reading.

I always advise all beginners and hardgainers to concentrate on making linear progress (either by adding more reps or more weight) at each and every workout. Add a rep or a plate and you will make pretty consistent gains for quite a while. This is one of the key components to the Muscle Gaining Secrets program. Eventually, however, you’ll no longer be a beginner or a hardgainer and then the whole game changes. It will become more and more difficult to make linear progress on a consistent basis. This can be hard to accept at first and become quite… continue reading.

The last post I wrote about how to improve your chin ups detailed how to get from zero to one. Once you get to one you will, in time, work your way up to sets of five or even ten reps. But again, you will hit a wall at some point and be unable to make any more improvements. So today I am going to offer a very easy, completely unscientific method that will help you add more reps to your chins. One of the major problems is that for most average guys a set of chins is a… continue reading.

Now I know what you’re thinking; “What a boring ass blog post topic.” But it’s a topic I feel needs to be addressed because some people just don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing. Or maybe I just feel that way because I’m so OCD and incredibly analytic that I see and think about things that most people never do. But I promise I will do my best to make this worth your time. Go to a public gym and watch ten different people perform a set of ten reps. You may see speed reps, grinder reps, death… continue reading.

Broccoli and Pine-Nut Soup FromPaleo Cookbooks Ingredients 1 onion, diced 1tbs oil 3 cups broccoli 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock ¼ cup pine-nuts Instructions Fry onion in a large pan with oil on medium heat until slightly browned. Add broccoli and stock and simmer for 10-15minutes or until broccoli has softened. Cool slightly. Place in a food processor or use an electric blender to form a smooth texture. Heat to serve. For over 300 more awesome paleo recipes check… continue reading.

“Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.” — Sun Tzu Did you know that you can get down to single digit bodyfat and look like an elite level pro athlete by training for just 10 minutes a day, twice a week? And you can do it while eating whatever you want? It’s true…cuz I heard it on the radio… and read it on the internet. Eight minute abs. That’s right folks, in just eight minutes a day you can get the abs of Cheik Congo (pictured). All it takes is… continue reading.