weight

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...

When you first started doing an exercise, I'll bet you went through all the performance pointers like flash cards in your head to ensure you were doing the movement correctly. Hopefully, over time, the movement became second nature so you didn't have to think about it. That freed up your mind to...

Use the "2 for 2" rule when deciding if it's time to increase the amount of weight you're lifting: When you can do 2 more reps with a given weight than you started out with for 2 consecutive workouts, increase the weight. Say, for example, you can do 225 lbs for a single rep on the bench press...

By now you've probably heard about intensity-boosting techniques like dropsets, rest-pause, and supersets. You know they can be beneficial for increasing muscle. But if you're relatively new to the iron game, you'll need to know when to add them into your workout and which equipment will do the...

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...

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to hypertrophy (the scientific term for muscle growth) is that the only factor in building bigger muscles is lifting heavier weights—and that one automatically leads to the other. This myth has been perpetuated for decades by the bodybuilding and...

I used to only care about numbers on the scale, letting my weight motivate me rather than how healthy I felt. I dieted to lose weight on the scale, and exercised to burn calories rather than building calorie-burning muscle. At 5-foot-6, I set a goal of being 120 pounds. This number fell at the...

There are two things that almost every lifter in the weight room cares about: growing their chest and increasing their bench. Fortunately, if you focus on one, you can usually improve the other. Although strength is usually a bigger priority for powerlifters, bodybuilders can also benefit from...

Lifters are getting smarter. They know that it's not just about how big their bench press is; going heavy isn't the only way to make muscles grow. Being able to add weight to the bar is the byproduct of the gains you make from previous workouts—and from implementing other training strategies...

When it comes to gaining muscle, there are many contributing factors. Let's look at what you're doing that could potentially be holding you back in the gym. 1. You're Not Overtraining, You're Under-Recovering Consider what weight training does to your body. By lifting weights, you are tearing...

So, you’ve reached your weight loss goal. Now what? Well, maintaining your weight loss can be tricky. When it comes to changing your nutrition plan, it’s a good idea to add food back slowly. At the same time, experts recommend continuing an exercise routine for overall health and to help...

If you ever feel like your body hovers around a certain number on the scale — no matter how much you clean up your diet or ramp up your workouts — it’s not all in your head. When it comes to weight loss, this is referred to as the set point theory. “It suggests your body will fight to maintain a...

If you are a fan of weighing yourself every day, you probably see the number on the scale change every time you step on it from day to day. Maybe you did actually lose or gain, but more likely, your weight is reflective of something less impactful; simple fluctuations in your daily life. If you...

So, you’ve reached your weight loss goal. Now what? Well, maintaining your weight loss can be tricky. When it comes to changing your nutrition plan, it’s a good idea to add food back slowly. At the same time, experts recommend continuing an exercise routine for overall health and to help...

If you ever feel like your body hovers around a certain number on the scale — no matter how much you clean up your diet or ramp up your workouts — it’s not all in your head. When it comes to weight loss, this is referred to as the set point theory. “It suggests your body will fight to maintain a...

Many people have a hard time wrapping their heads around ketogenic diets or simply known as keto diets. We get it, it seems contradictory on the surface … I can eat all the fatty foods I want — even bacon — and drop tons of body fat? That makes no sense! Yet for many people, “going keto” has...

If you are a fan of weighing yourself every day, you probably see the number on the scale change every time you step on it from day to day. Maybe you did actually lose or gain, but more likely, your weight is reflective of something less impactful; simple fluctuations in your daily life. If you...

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...

This is an all too common story for people with no experience or knowledge on how to build muscle and gain weight. In most cases, after trying to gain weight for several months the person will quit. That’s a pity, because the only thing stopping the person from progressing is knowledge. In this...

When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s almost impossible to bite into a rice cake without being offered diet advice: Cut carbs, limit fat, drink shakes, you name it. Is one approach better than another? Christopher Gardner, PhD, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, wanted to find...