strength

Although you may be capable of doing numerous impressive acrobatic style movements in the weight room, I’m willing to bet that the first exercise you ever attempted was a pushup. While simple in its set up and execution, the exercise works over half of the muscles in your upper body. The push...

The key to designing really effective short, mid, and long term resistance exercise programs is to develop a system that efficiently plans, organises and manages all of the exercise variables. Periodisation can be defined as a system for program design that plans appropriate cycles and training...

There’s a problem with being strong. It’s hard to think of any negatives associated with improving your strength. But it’s important to remember that training for one goal will always come at the expense of other goals. We’ll be the first to say: for 95% of the population, improving overall...

Over the decades, few books have stood both the test of time and the tests done in the gym. The publication rate of new books promising you the key to more muscle and less fat seems to keep up with new Starbucks openings. Which books are worth their weight (pun intended) and your hard-earned...

Chinups and pullups remain some of the the best performance indicators of your relative body strength, plus they build serious upper body strength and muscle. They also build the upper back strength necessary for keeping a neutral spine while squatting and deadlifting. And let’s not forget...

Chances are if you've been working out for any length of time, you've most likely heard someone's opinion on hypertrophy. Some claim, "oh, you just want to do 10-15 reps of every exercise, and you'll put on tonnes of size." Others might say, "no, you just want to lift heavy all the time. That's...

The age-old debate of whether lat pulldowns or pull ups are superior for maximum back development has been going on for quite a while. With the new invasion of the functional philosophy quickly gaining its proverbial ground over the last few years, it would seem it is an easy choice. Of course...

Introduction The goal of the Muscle & Strength strength building guide is to provide you with all the tools you need to build strength as quickly as possible. You will learn about popular strength building workout structures and exercises, how to improve your bench press, squat and deadlift...

1. “Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general.” - Mark Rippetoe 2. "Biceps are like ornaments on a Christmas tree." - Ed Coan 3. "The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard...

No matter if you’re looking to set a new PR, run a faster 5K time, or to get ready for football season, gaining strength through accessory exercises is a vital component to improving performance. Hitting the weights, will not only help you gain strength, it also helps both build muscle and shed...

Why Everyone Should Lift Weights written by JAMES CLEAR STRENGTH TRAINING I'll say it plain and simple: you should be lifting weights. But not necessarily for the reasons that you might think. For example, I don't believe that strength is the main benefit of weight training. Now, don't get me...

The Fix For Slow Gains Altering your rep scheme is one way to jump-start your training, because it hits the muscle fibers with a novel stimulus. Let's say you're stuck at 105 pounds on the EZ-bar curl, a weight you can handle for 10 reps. Rather than try another set with 105 pounds, load 125...

It's easy to get caught up in status as a lifter. And I'm not just talking about "how much ya bench" conversations, either. It's often a question of how long we've been lifting. Do these sound familiar? "You're a beginner? Just get your reps in." "I'd be careful doing that. It's only for...

It’s no secret that high-intensity interval training is a fantastic way to build overall conditioning. From fat loss to muscle gain, HIIT is one of the most popular ways to get in better shape without spending hours in the gym. In fact that’s why here at Muscle and Fitness we’ve created a...

You could spend the rest of your lifting days doing just the basics over and over again, but don't expect your physique or your strength to make much progress. Training at the intermediate level requires making a conscious decision to increase your efforts in the gym. It also means changing the...

Fat-grip (aka fat-bar) training has become extremely popular in recent years. It is mentioned regularly by pro bodybuilders and strength coaches as a "secret" for building strength and muscle, and building up your upper body's weak links. The only problem, until recently, was that few gyms stock...

It wasn't that long ago that I loaded 700 pounds on the barbell and prepared to quickly dismantle the deadlift. It was not to be: My grip gave out at knee level. My training partner, Paul Leonard, laughed and said, "You're finally strong enough to have a grip problem." He was right. It's great...

The "why" of warming up is well established in research and in the trenches. It helps to turn on the muscles you're about to use and reduces the chance of injury. But if you're using your warm-ups solely to "get loose," you're probably wasting valuable minutes and missing out on the potential...

Introduction The goal of the Muscle & Strength strength building guide is to provide you with all the tools you need to build strength as quickly as possible. You will learn about popular strength building workout structures and exercises, how to improve your bench press, squat and deadlift...

Cardio work, strength training and counting calories and macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat) are the three big components of weight loss. You should be doing all three, but each of these is not created equally when you’re trying to lose weight. Here’s how you should rank these three...