Most strength and physique enthusiasts spend a lot of time manipulating their training and nutrition during their lifting career. Rightly so, as they realize these are the two most important variables for helping them reach their goals. On top of this, many also consider dietary supplements as a tool to aid their progress. [Read more…]
Demystifying Periodization
People think periodization is a complex, sometimes nearly impenetrable topic. Sure, the original forms of periodization that were translated from Russian and used by sports scientists to plan 4-year Olympic training cycles for athletes needing to balance skill, agility, speed, reactivity, strength, endurance, accuracy and coordination training were necessarily complex. Add the language barrier and the cultural mystique between the west and the east during the cold-war era, and you’ve got something that seems insurmountably complex. [Read more…]
Beyond the Diet
Most in the bodybuilding community are motivated by a desire to look a certain way, or at the very least to improve upon their physique and take more control of their appearance. Understandably, this often necessitates dietary manipulation. More often than not, individuals go through phases of caloric restriction to reduce fat mass (while attempting to retain muscle mass), alternated with phases of caloric surplus to increase muscle mass (while attempting to minimize fat gain). Competitive bodybuilders and physique athletes do this in an effort to be competitive season to season, and it is a necessary approach to make progress between seasons, and to step on stage extremely lean.
Unfortunately, this back and forth can often interfere with having a healthy, normal relationship with food. It is rare that bodybuilders, especially novices, are comfortable and capable of managing their body composition without being at either end of the spectrum. Maintenance is often seen as antithetical to the goal of bodybuilding; which is to always progress, in one way or another. Thus, the idea of not being in an assertive deficit or surplus is unfamiliar at best, or seen as a waste of time at worst.
How To Thrust
“Not Quite the Glute Guy” or “Stunt Double for Bret Contreras” or simply, “How to Perform the Hip Thrust – Lessons from Bret Contreras” – by Eric Helms
This blog post will conclude my posts on “how to lift”, that address some of the more difficult to perform bodybuilding assistance exercises. [Read more…]
The Most Often Incorrectly Performed Lift: The RDL
In my years as a personal trainer, and even more recently as a bodybuilding and powerlifting coach, I’ve consistently seen lifters at all levels struggle to properly hip hinge.
This is unfortunate, because the RDL, one of the most common hip-hinge lifts is actually quite useful. For hypertrophy, I would argue when compared head to head with a conventional deadlift, the RDL is probably a better movement (if performed correctly). [Read more…]
Feeling Your Lats On a DB Row
I recently completed a big-time coaching and career PR as I spent three weeks in Europe. First, I had the honor of being a part of the coaching team in the corner of my long-time client, friend, and colleague, Bryce Lewis at the IPF Classic World Championships. Working alongside the coaching legends Matt Gary and Sioux-z Hartwig-Gary was amazing. The fact that Bryce pulled off a silver medal second place finish was icing on the cake! [Read more…]
Do You Have A Scientific Attitude?
This is a blog post I originally wrote for our friends at DeNovo Nutrition for the Philosophy Element of their “Elements Education” series. It’s an absolute honor to help such a great group of people in their efforts to expand the knowledge and reasoning skills of the community. Not to blow my own horn, but I thought this article was some of my better work. [Read more…]
“Good Question!” – Are Flexible Dieting and Accurate Food Tracking Mutually Exclusive?
Welcome to our “Good Question!” series, where we answer the best questions from the 3DMJ community in blog format. Today, I’ll be answering the question, “I went to a lecture on metabolism and food tracking, and learned everything is variable and full of errors. [Read more…]
“Good Question!” – Path to Becoming a Coach
Welcome to our “Good Question!” series, where we answer the best questions from the 3DMJ community in blog format. Today, I’ll be answering the question “What path should someone take if they want to be a health and diet coach?”. A great question in and of itself, and for some additional context, the person also said the following: [Read more…]
The Inclusive Vs Exclusive Mindset – Going Beyond IIFYM
If you’ve ever heard me discuss nutrition, you’ve heard me caution against a “clean and dirty/good and bad” outlook on food. You’ve heard me say there are no “bad” foods that measurably harm you or your goals if consumed, regardless of the frequency of their consumption, their dose consumed, or the composition of the rest of your diet. [Read more…]