Fitness

Guest Post by Logan Christoper I was incredibly weak when I was growing up. My brother, who was a star football player in high school, got me to sign up to play freshman year. The summer before that started he began training me. It’s sad to say but on that first day I couldn’t even do a regular pushup. While within a few days I was able to achieve that goal I was still far from strong. When I started benching I struggled for a long time before I could handle even a real plate on each side of the… continue reading.

If you don’t have access to a full gym or even any barbells and other standard equipment fear not, my friends…. You can still get great results in the confines of your own basement or garage with nothing but your bodyweight and a set of dumbbells. Below I have listed my top 10 dumbbell exercises for strength and size. I tried to keep myself honest by only including exercises that were better with dumbbells than they are with kettlebells. So that’s why there are no swings, Turkish get ups, farmers walks (because dumbbells tend to roll out of your… continue reading.

I used to think the definition of a “hardgainer” was a skinny dude who had trouble gaining muscle. But now I know that’s not true. A skinny ripped dude is just too lazy too eat. That’s his only problem. A “hardgainer” is the skinny fat guy who has zero muscle mass with an A-frame physique, narrow shoulders, pipe cleaner arms, a little belly and soft pecs. They’re everywhere these days. For some odd reason it seems like not as many of these guys existed years ago. The majority of skinny guys were leaner. The ever declining quality of our food… continue reading.

1. Start With a Targeted Warm Up You’ll see a lot of people flop around on a foam roller to “get warm.” That does nothing to get your shoulders ready to train. Instead, you need to focus on learning which of your muscles don’t fire properly and what drills get them going. Here are a few of my favorite shoulder activation movements for you to try. Prone Y- Raise Iso Holds… continue reading.

Guest Post by Chris Lopez, CSCS, SFGII When you’re training – regardless if you’re using kettlebells, bodyweight or barbells – you must have an “internal focus”. That means that we don’t concentrate on what the resistance is doing – the external resistance – but on what our body is doing…we shift the focus internally. I’m a kettlebell guy, so the references that I’ll make will be to the kettlebell. BUT, don’t dismiss what I’m saying because of the implement that I refer to. 

”The Internal Focus Principle” is transcendent.  It applies to all training, whether or not you use kettlebells,… continue reading.

Sometimes it’s easy to get confused and lose sight of what’s most important. Especially when it comes to building muscle.  You read about all these different, fancy, confusing concepts and, of course, start trying them all. You make so many changes that you can’t really tell what’s doing what. And your training gets really, really complicated. When something is ultra complicated it’s never that fun. That’s why I believe in simplicity. Training should be fun and it should produce results you can track on a regular basis. If you can’t look at your training… continue reading.

Guest Post By Chris Lopez, CSCS, SFGII In today’s world we spend the majority of our days doing things in front of us with terrible posture. We crouch over keyboards while our chests cave in and our hips shorten from sitting. We drive with our arms in front of us while, again, we’re seated with shortened hip flexors. We sit in “artificial wombs” (a.k.a. cubicles) for hours at a time not moving and making the front of our body even tighter. And then we go home and slouch on the couch further tightening the front of our bodies This overuse… continue reading.

Guest Post by Danny Kavadlo There are no quick fixes or instant transformations. The sooner we get that out of the way, the better. Sadly, in a world of office weight loss contests, celebrity dieting pageants and fantastical infomercials, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that transforming a body in any capacity takes time and effort. Though we are often told otherwise, training your abs is no exception. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve read articles claiming that with these “three easy steps” or “these five foods to avoid”, you can get six-pack abs. Yeah… continue reading.

I got this question from my buddy, Gary Deagle on Twitter. @JasonFerruggia Top 5 foods you can’t live without? — Gary Deagle (@GaryDeagle) October 18, 2014 But it was too hard to limit it to five so I cheated and doubled the number. And I’m answering it in a blog post instead of on the podcast. Slacker move? You decide. But maybe I’ll surprise you and do both. I’m crazy like that. If you’ve ever been around me when food is served you’d know that saying I love to eat is a gross… continue reading.

Guest Post By Sean Hyson C.S.C.S. When you’re a beginner, you don’t think too much about the program you’re on or what food you need to eat to maximize the results. It’s enough to just go to the gym and lift hard. And go ahead and ask an advanced lifter about his training. It’s probably so simple you won’t believe it. But when you’re in between those two stages—an intermediate meathead—you’ve been exposed to just enough information that you analyze, and then over-analyze, everything. And that’s when you fall for the tricks that hold back your progress. Jay… continue reading.

If you’re a skinny dude who is serious about building muscle and getting stronger there are three very critical mistakes that you absolutely can’t afford to make. I can’t tell you how many times I see guys in the gym committing these cardinal sins and how badly I wish I could help them all. Unfortunately I can’t save everyone but I’ll always do my best to give my loyal readers an unfair advantage over everyone else. Mistake #1: Training Too Frequently One critical mistake skinny guys always make is to train 6-7 days per week. This is completely unnecessary… continue reading.

Jeff “Koosh” Kushmerek is a living legend inside the RSC. He’s like Norm from Cheers. Everyone knows his name. To join Jeff and hundreds of others, click HERE to join the Renegade Strength Club. Give us a little background on your training history, what brought you to the RSC in the first place, and how you’ve changed since you joined. I started lifting in 1988. My brother’s roommate from college lived with us that summer. He was a RB for UColorado. We did 21’s and I couldn’t move my arms for 2 days. I was doing workouts from the magazines… continue reading.

Guest Post by Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, RHN, and author of The All-Day Energy Diet I am a firm believer that intense exercise is a must for improved fitness and good health. However, it must be balance with adequate recovery. As a former pro soccer player, I can speak from firsthand experience that it’s how you eat and what you do BETWEEN your workouts that matters most, especially if you want to avoid running your body into the ground. Your body can only handle so much stress before it falls apart. If you love working out, then that’s awesome. What I’m… continue reading.

When asked what the best lower body exercise is most people just say, “squats,” without even thinking. But there are numerous types of squats. And there’s one that you never see anyone doing, that can be a game changer. It’s known as a skater squat or single leg squat. You do them by bending one leg behind you and squatting down on the other. Dr. Stuart McGill is the leading spine researcher in the world and he ranks this among the most effective exercises anyone can do. It has countless benefits… continue reading.

Before you start lifting heavy weights there are a few things you need to do. I like a pre-workout cup of coffee and if it’s early in the morning, a hot shower before. When you get to the gym you have to warm up. I often assume everyone knows that by now, but I’m reminded otherwise every time I’m in a public training facility. Raising your core temperature by doing 5-7 minutes of some light cardio can be a great idea. Then you hit your soft tissue work,… continue reading.