Stop buying fitness gadgets
Stop buying fitness gadgets. Barbells, plates, dumbbells, benches, etc. have been around for 100 years. Jack LaLanne, the first fitness influencer, invented the cable-pulley machine in the 1950s. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if some yoked Soviet lumberjack beat him to it. Those dudes know lifting. Why do you think they’re called lumberJACKS? There's a reason those things have remained gym...
Don’t chase novelty, chase results
Changing your training program every 4 weeks is very popular. It's also one of the dumbest things you can do. Much of the “gains” you experience in the first few weeks of a new program are neural i.e., your nervous system getting used to the workout and the exercises. It's not until after this break-in period that any increases in strength are more likely due to gains in muscle tissue. By...
3 Reasons You’re Not Adding Muscle
Let's be clear: there could be many reasons you're not adding appreciable muscle to your physique. On some level, everything matters. Total volume, training frequency, diet and nutrition, exercise selection, recovery and stress management, sleep quality, hormones, and especially effort. The list can be long. But all things being equal, with a modest calorie surplus and some consistent hard...
Building muscle with a solid foundation
"I want to build muscle but I keep reading that I should get lean first or it won't work. Is that just BS?" Sorta. It depends on the physical state of the person (how fat they are), their goals, and even some non-physical factors. The internet gurus say you have to be lean before you assertively eat to add muscle, even giving hard targets like "under 10% body fat, otherwise you need to lose fat...
The Silverback Summit
Wanna hang out at the end of October? I have to chop down a dying tree in my yard so my neighbour, The Angry Lawyer, stops giving me the stink-eye over the fence. But if that’s not your game, how about joining October 27-29 in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for something a lot more fun: the first ever Silverback Summit — the ultimate men’s health + fitness education experience. The...
About Charlie and the fight of his life
I love martial arts. It’s the perfect complement to strength training. The most intense and rewarding fight training I’ve experienced was at a Krav Maga school in New York City. I’ll spare you any contrived tough-guy war stories because this story isn’t about fighting or training or even me. It's about my friend Charlie. I was the most "jacked" guy in class but the worst fighter, especially when...
When you have a goal, and you really want it… but things aren’t going well
A new client set a goal to be photo-lean by the end of September. And, well, things aren't going well. Now, I hate saying "I told you so," but in this instance I sure wanted to—because way back on Day 1, when we were discussing her end-of-September goal, she added, "I'm also traveling to Europe for vacation, but I'll be sticking to my plan." My first words were, "That's gonna be tough." Sadly, I...