While watching the summer Olympics the last few days you would be hard pressed not to notice the great physiques possessed by many of the athletes. But by far and away the most muscular bodies always belong to the gymnasts and the sprinters. These guys certainly know how to build muscle more effectively than most average gym rats. For years now I have been extolling the virtues of moving your body through space when you train, as opposed to simply moving your limbs around a fixed object. When you move your body through space, as the Olympic… continue reading.

One of the most popular, faulty and dangerous myths espoused in nearly every muscle building program is that you must use a full range of motion on every exercise in order to achieve maximal growth. Supposedly you have to take each movement to the fully stretched position and then finish in the fully “peak” contracted position. If you don’t you will never get huge… or so they say. Without getting all technical and scientific let’s just look at a few real world examples to see if this advice makes any sense at all. Starting from the… continue reading.

I want to extend a huge congratulations to our first ever Muscle Gaining Secrets Transformation contest winner, Kyle Matthews. Kyle did an incredible job, and through hard work and dedication made incredible changes to his physique and dramatically improved his strength. I was in contact with Kyle throughout the transformation contest in our private forum and was extremely impressed with his work ethic and desire to excel. He is an inspiration and deserves the big prize. continue reading.

While most doctors and health professionals try to scare you into avoiding sodium at all costs, this could actually be the worst advice around for anyone looking to enhance their performance or build a better physique. In fact, there are studies which have shown that moderately high levels of dietary sodium produce very few negative effects or are not actually linked to hypertension and other diseases and conditions. For most of my athletes and clients, eating too much sodium is never a problem; it’s actually consuming too little sodium that is the problem. Once… continue reading.

Today I have a special guest post from my friend and colleague, John Alvino. Check it out… I get asked all the time, “What is the best fat loss exercise?” In reality, there is no single “best fat loss exercise”. Instead, you must have a database full of several extremely effective fat loss exercises. When you have many great exercises to choose from, you will eliminate mental boredom and physical staleness, and you will always keep your body challenged. This helps ensure continued progress, prevents overuse injuries and keeps… continue reading.

I was interviewed recently by Truly Huge and thought I would share it here with everyone. Q: What got you started with weight training? JF: I was a painfully skinny kid and always hated that. It tortured me and really affected my self confidence. My cousin was dating a pro wrestler who was absolutely enormous and he was the one who got me really into it. I wanted to be just like him so I started hitting the iron. Unfortunately I was doing a lot of the wrong things and wasted a lot of years… continue reading.

Nothing says power like a big set of traps and a thick neck. Think about it. When you’re out somewhere and you see a guy with massive traps and huge neck you automatically know he’s the last guy in the joint that you’d ever want to mess with. Maybe he’s an ex wrestler. Maybe he competes in MMA. Or maybe he played football. You don’t know but you definitely don’t want to find out. No other muscle groups instill fear in and command respect from all those around you like the traps and neck do. Plenty… continue reading.

Is a pump needed to build muscle? Some people emphatically state that getting a good pump is necessary. Others say just the opposite. First of all, the ability to easily obtain a good pump is a sign that your body is in an anabolic state and ready to train. It shows us that the body and the cells are well hydrated and ready to grow. Some days, you go to the gym and can’t get a pump no matter what you do. Your body is telling you something, and that something is that you are not in an anabolic state,… continue reading.

There is an old idea that still permeates mixed martial arts circles and that is the idea that strength work is not necessary or should, at best, be a secondary consideration. Many combat coaches and athletes spend hours and hours a week on conditioning. Often times this is all they will do, neglecting any kind of strength work whatsoever. I understand that conditioning is the most important quality for a combat athlete to develop but you have to realize that improving your strength is vitally important as well. Statistics have shown that at lower… continue reading.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Central Park at the Men’s Fitness Ultimate Athlete event. While it was a great event for a great cause and I met a lot of great people I was reminded of the importance of leading by example. My good friend, Sean Hyson of Men’s Fitness, who was looking as jacked as ever, jumped into the competition to show that he can not only talk the talk but walk the walk. I was really impressed by Sean’s willingness to get his hands dirty while he was working and put his money where his mouth… continue reading.

Although I am not a fan of high reps on most exercises for most lifters, there are actually times when I do recommend them. So if you want to learn how to build muscle with high reps, then read on. When you are more advanced and have developed a respectable level of strength, high reps can actually be a great tool for stimulating new muscle growth. The reason I don’t recommend high reps to beginners is because they don’t have the strength, coordination or stabilization to maintain perfect form throughout a long duration set and are likely… continue reading.

By John Alvino I’d be a very rich man if I had a dollar for ever time that someone told me, “My upper abs are getting lean but I still have this pouch of fat on my lower abs.” Unfortunately, this “upper then lower” fat loss progression is typical for the majority of people. This “lower ab bulge” happens for three totally different reasons. If you are going to achieve flat lower abs, all three reasons must be addressed. The first reason the lower abs are not flat is simply due to excess body fat. Most… continue reading.

From Paleo Cookbooks Ingredients ½ butternut pumpkin, seeded and sliced 4 red onions, peeled and sliced 4tbs rosemary leaves, chopped 4tbs olive oil Instructions Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180o Celsius/350o Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin, onion and rosemary leaves on the baking tray and coat with olive oil. Place tray in the oven and bake for 15-20minutes or until pumpkin has cooked and onions have browned. Serve. For over 300 more great paleo recipes check out… continue reading.

First off, I want to say congratulations to my buddy and fellow vegetarian Mac Danzig for his outstanding performance Saturday night at the UFC pay per view. Big things ahead for this guy. Secondly, I wanted to thank everyone for all the positive feedback so far on Fit to Fight and to share the latest review with those of you who haven’t gotten your copy yet. Click HERE to read it. continue reading.

Question: What is more important for a fighter to focus on; strength or conditioning? Answer: Neither is more important than the other. It really depends on what the particular fighter needs to work on and what his major weakness is at the time. If he is inhumanly strong yet completely gassed after a minute, then max strength work will be a complete waste of time and he should focus most of his time on conditioning. The reverse, obviously holds true for someone who is in great conditioning yet weaker than tissue paper. Determine your weakness and what is… continue reading.