We’ve all been there at some point. You’ve got so much going on in life that you simply don’t have time to exercise. The only problem with thinking that way is that you’re wrong. [Read more…]
Build Muscle Fast—at any age
If you’ve been following the latest muscle-building information over at X-Rep.com, then you already know that many muscle-building myths have been shattered.
It used to be that people believed heavy weights and low reps were the only way to build muscle, and lighter weights with high reps were just for “toning.” Well, that’s a bunch of B.S…
[Read more…]Wednesday, May 7, ’14: Legs
Walked down into the gym this morning to remember that I only got one leg workout in last week. Jumping right into 30 reps of squats is a great way to prove to yourself just how quickly you can start to feel out of shape from a cardiovascular standpoint, and the post-workout walk up the stairs would’ve been great entertainment had it been caught on video…
Quads: Squats (3×30,20,15 + X Reps); Sissy squats (3×8—DXO + X Reps)
Hamstrings: Stiff-legged deadlifts (3×10—DXO + X Reps ); Alternate leg curls (3×30,20,12 + X Reps)
Calves: One-leg calf raises (3×30,20,15 + X Reps); Donkey calf raises (3×15—DXO + X Reps); Seated calf raises (3×20 + X Reps)
Note: My current PowerBlock gym split is based on the Phase 2 workout in the NEW Super-Size Crash Course e-book with TORQ and DXO sets.
Summary: It doesn’t look like much when you see it in writing, but TORQ on squats is pretty darn intense, and rest time was definitely a little more than 40 seconds. Still under a minute, but cutting it close. Quads were already screaming, and DXO on Sissies had them crying, and definitely would’ve made me look as the name implies. DXO on Stiff-legged deadlifts was a great change, and made the leg curls that much tougher. Luckily, I was able to mend my Donkey calf raise apparatus after having it fall apart last week, so calf training was great.
Nutrient Timing: For meal-by-meal diets plus training and nutrition info, see the X-treme Lean e-book .
Review: The Lean Body Promise, 2nd Edition
A well-known problem with most diets is the fact that they fail. It happens because they don’t focus enough—or sometimes at all—on creating positive physical as well as mental change. The Lean Body Promise isn’t about just a diet, however, but is more about focusing on changing the way you think and go about trying to achieve your physical goals. And who better to guide you than IFBB Hall of Famer Lee Labrada, with more than 30 years of experience and 22 major titles to his name. [Read more…]
Fix Your Shoulder Pain
Anyone who has spent enough time in the gym has inevitably come into some issues with shoulder pain. Whether from bad form or bad exercises, the reason doesn’t necessarily matter… The pain sucks.
Chances are that you probably avoid certain exercises because they cause nagging shoulder pain. You’re not alone. It turns out that close to 40% of all resistance training injuries affect the shoulder area, making it the #1 injury by a longshot.
Those numbers only represent the people who went to the doctor about their problems. If you just have an annoying ache, you could be headed on a downward spiral if you don’t take action to keep your shoulders healthy.
Exercise Physiologist Rick Kaselj, MS is the go-to guy for athletes who want to get back to pain-free workouts rather than being told, “Don’t do what hurts.” That advice only works in the short-term anyway, and too many people ignore it when they think it’s an exercise that works regardless of their pain.
Rick is the guy who teaches other fitness professionals the newest techniques to help their own clients. He’s given over 315 live presentations to over 6065 health and fitness professionals across Canada and the USA.
Mike Westerdal, CPT—best selling fitness author and former sufferer of shoulder pain—and Rick have teamed up to release a brand new system called Fix My Shoulder Pain.
It’s not designed for inactive people, but rather it was created specifically for people who want to get back to their high-intensity workouts without being told by the doctor that they need to find a new hobby.
The “Traditional Shoulder Pain Model” involves endless cycles of appointments, investigations, stretching and strengthening, but after having hundreds of his clients follow that model with minimal success, Rick needed to find a new model that breaks with tradition and moves clients from painful shoulders to pain-free shoulders.
This led to the creation of his trademarked SR3 Method (Shoulder Reshaping 3-part Method) which is based on one key concept: Reshaping your shoulder from a painful shoulder joint to a pain-free shoulder joint, and that’s what Fix My Shoulder Pain is all about.
If you have any kind of shoulder pain, this is definitely worth getting. If you could learn just one technique that gives you some relief, it would pay for itself immediately. With this, however, you learn more than that and you’ll feel like you used to before your shoulder started acting up.
Rather than just stretching and strengthening, which only provides temporary relief, Rick’s methods actually reconstruct the shoulder joint from the outside and inside.
Fix My shoulder Pain utilizing the SR3 Method is the first shoulder-injury-repair system to help you get back to pain-free workouts by focusing on alignment, tissue quality and activation & endurance.
Yes, the info page for this ebook and all of its freebies is pretty long, but you can just scroll down to the order button once you’ve gotten a feel for what they’re offering. Your shoulders will thank you!
Old School, New Body
I spent almost 20 years training with Steve Holman, Iron Man magazine’s former editor in chief. From 2004 to present, we’ve published dozens of e-books together, available at X-Rep.com. We came up with some of the greatest training routines I’ve ever followed, and there’s still more on the horizon as we get to do our training research separated by a couple thousand miles. [Read more…]