In order to lose fat there are a few variables that are essential to master and put into use. Many of these variables fall under diet and training but there are lifestyle factors such as sleep that matter as well. The most crucial element of losing fat is keeping yourself in a negative energy balance where your energy expenditure is higher than your energy intake. There are ways to facilitate remaining in this state and maximizing the amount of…
Pull-ups are one of the best exercises to build a better back and develop upper body strength. While some argue that the deadlift is the single best exercise for back, and others may favor the row, pull-ups are one of the top contenders and easily in the top 3 for overall best movements to develop the back muscles. Some people may struggle, however, with pull-ups and are missing out on building their lats, biceps, and upper back. Struggling on…
Many people associate the stomach vacuum exercise with the golden era of bodybuilding. Bodybuilders like Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger brought the stomach vacuum into popularity and defined it as an exercise associated with having a narrow waist, strong core, and good proportions. The stomach vacuum exercise is done by exhaling entirely so that there’s no air left in your lungs then sucking your stomach in as far as it goes using the inner abdominis muscles. When doing stomach…
When returning to the gym after a while off there are a few challenges that you can be faced with. Firstly, there is a good chance that you will have lost muscle or at least will have lost strength in some of your lifts. Since resistance bands and home gym equipment don’t provide as optimal of an array of exercises that you could get from a gym, you’ve probably lost a little bit of lean muscle mass and the…
One of the most important things when building a good physique is having defined abs that are visible. Visible abs are the hallmark of a well built body and are also one of the more ambiguous muscle groups when it comes to how to train them. It is often that said that “abs are made in the kitchen” but that’s not entirely true. Your eating habits play a role in wether or not you have visible abs but are…
Typically, most people train 5-6 days per week with one 1-2 hour session each day. An alternative is to break up the workouts and have one session in the morning and one session later in the evening. The advantages to a training style like this are volume, having more energy for each training session, and saving time. There are drawbacks as well but as long as this split fits your routine the best, there are not any major reasons…
When in a caloric deficit, implementing cardio allows you to get away with a higher number of calorie you can consume per day. The problem is, cardio is often difficult and takes time to do. Running on a treadmill and doing jumprope doesn’t provide the same stimulation that lifting weights does. Therefore, cardio is often set aside and not done. The truth is, cardio is great for burning fat and when on a cut it is one of the…
Red light therapy, or photobiomodulation, is a very well researched and applicable method of accomplishing a number of things in the body. RLT is categorized as a “complementary medecine” but is speculated by many to hold a place in conventional medicine soon. It’s current uses are mainly for curing disease but as RLT has become more mainstream, it is being found that these kind of near-infrared wavelengths have multiple uses beyond just treating illness. As lifters, we frequently concern…
When training at home, bodyweight exercises are the key for building muscle. There are the well-known exercises like the push-up, sit-up, and squat, but there are also variations to these exercises that allow a great amount of muscle fibers to be recruited by increasing the resistance of the exercise. The following exercises can be combined into a full-body workout that could be done 2-3 times a week. When doing full-body workouts, if you are truly hitting every muscle, you…
Stretching is one of the most overlooked facets of fitness. Many weightlifters choose to set aside mobility work and stretching and simply focus on lifting. This choice ultimately disadvantages you if you plan on lifting for long periods of time. By not stretching, you will not hit the absolute ceiling of your potential from training. This is because stretching allows you to execute movements with better form, send nutrients to muscles more effectively, prevent injury over time, and improve…
