Blog
All about the squat
The back squat is without a doubt the king of the lower body exercises. If you ask someone in the gym how to grow your legs and they don’t respond with ‘squat’ in their sentence, move on and find someone that does.
Squatting is hard. It requires a huge amount of physical power but is also mentally challenging. For this reason, I don’t think I am wrong is saying it is one of the most avoided exercises in the gym. You won't often find people telling you they are missing it for those reasons though, more that they have bad knees or lower back pain. This may be true, but I remain sceptical.
Myths about muscle
Unfortunately, the internet brought about a lot of opinions and myths that can be misleading to people genuinely wanting to educate themselves. I’m here to set this right and debunk some of the myths that I see on a weekly basis.
What exercises are best for strength?
So, you want to get strong? I can’t blame you, it’s something that you can never actually get too good at. Just think, can you ever be too strong? What’s even better is that the stronger you get, the more muscle you are going to build and the better you will look, given that your diet is in check of course.
Not building mass? Read this...
Let me start off by saying that I have been in your position, I know how you feel. I used to be that skinny guy who couldn’t build any mass and, if you’re reading this, I guess you are too.
The good news is that I’m not still that skinny guy who can’t build mass. I did in fact find the perfect way to add mass to my frame, and it's not no secret formula. You need to understand that when I’m talking about adding mass to your frame, it's not all going to be slabs of muscle. Most of it will be, but you can’t add those slabs without adding some fat, it's just the way it goes. With that said, you can certainly limit the amount of fat that is added through smart training and diet.
Why aren’t my calves growing?
You’re only going to be reading this if you aren’t happy with your calves. In my experience of training, there are only two types of people in the gym. Those with big calves, and those with small ones. Okay so that’s not strictly true, but I never really see anybody who fits in between and think that their calves are ‘alright’.
Fat loss training rules
Bulking is over, you’ve hit your target scale weight and you like the way you look in the mirror but, it's time to lose some fat. Now before I lure you into believing that there is some kind of magical fat loss and muscle building program, let me just set you straight and tell you that there isn’t. You can in fact build muscle or lose fat on any workout program, as long as you apply basic principles such as progressive overload and eat according to your goals. Fat loss mainly all going to be down to you staying strict with your diet. Having said that, there are some rules that you can apply to your training that are going to aid you in losing fat more effectively, than if you didn’t use them. Let’s take a look.
Are you a healthy lifter?
This may be a question that you haven’t asked yourself for a while, or even ever. I know we can all get carried away with wanting to hit certain numbers in the weight room and on the scale, I’ve been there. When doing this, it can be easy to forget to ask yourself if you are doing it in a healthy way.
What does make you a healthy lifter then? Well, there are a few things that anyone can do to make sure they are prioritizing their health alongside their training and none of them are secrets. Plus, they are relatively simple to incorporate into your routine. They are also variables you are very aware of, but they can easily be overlooked by more exciting goals you put in place.
What diet should a natural lifter eat?
With insights into how professional bodybuilders and athletes train now so easily accessible, people now believe that if they mimic everything they do, why wouldn’t this mean that they look like them? Often the two easiest things to change are how you train and what you eat. Really, that’s the only thing you do need to change to see a difference, baring recovery, but that’s another topic.
Creating the 'X' Shape physique
We all have different fitness goals, but the ultimate physique for many is the ‘X’ shape physique. This refers to the shape consisting of wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and large legs, creating almost literally an ‘X’ shape out of the body.
This physique is so desired largely because it can be very difficult to obtain. We all know that it’s necessary to eat a calorie excess to gain muscle mass, so how do we do this without gaining a large midsection? Tricky…
When should I take my supplements?
Lots of us take a variety of different supplements, from Proteins to Pre-workouts and post-workouts, vitamins minerals and much more. But it’s tough to know exactly when you’re supposed to take each of these, (Excluding the ones where the clue is in the name…)
There is a lot of disagreement over when the optimal time to take your supplements should be, with different professionals arguing over the anabolic window after training, fasted cardio in the morning and other niche training methods and routines which have taken the fitness industry by storm.