Timeline Photos

Omer Fogel

No Excuses

FailArmy

Don't laugh - this could be you!

International Powerlifting Federation - IPF

How old is your Deadlift?

Timeline Photos

Lauren Ashleigh - Lifestyle, Fitness & Health

Timeline Photos

#gratitude

The Movement Canberra

Boris Sheiko Official

SUNDAY SERMON Prologue: If you don't know who the man in the photo is or you've never heard of him; as Mr T says, "I pity the fools!"

Gym Instructor

Timeline Photos

TRUTH HURTS "You're not a dog, or a hamster. Stop rewarding yourself with food for exercise accomplished." - Paul Carter You really can't out train a bad diet in regards to improving body composition. It takes one big ol' muffin to completely undo that hour of cardio. If body composition improvement is your goal, it's better to achieve an energy deficit from your diet than trying achieve it through training. Lifting weights doesn't burn a lot of calories. And if you're going to go to the cardio well for an energy deficit you'll be there for a long time. And fairly often. Routines are nice, but developing a set of training principles you draw from will serve you best. Over time you will find a set of training principles that form the basis of your "routines", based on your experience with different principles. You're not a dog, or a hamster. Stop rewarding yourself with food for exercise accomplished. With that said, when you do decide to venture off into the land of cheesecake and cookies, do so guilt free. If you're hitting your dietary guidelines 90% of the time, you're probably going to arrive at the goal destination at near the same time you would if you were hitting 100%, with a bit less stress involved. Every training session does not have to be crush, kill, destroy. You can't train consistently in this manner for long stretches at a time. There's a lot to be said for putting solid work in, and just being consistent with that. Any complete training plan has a recovery protocol. Whether that be deloading, or massage, or periodizing your volume, intensity, and frequency. Remember that training itself is catabolic. Progress doesn't happen until the needs for recovery are met. Both from a muscular perspective and from a nervous system one. Managing life stress is also paramount. Finding healthy coping mechanisms to deal with "life" should be something you develop for quality of life AND lifting. A lack of sleep and poor hydration are two things that will kill performance and recovery. Lack of sleep may not hurt a single training session, but it will make fat loss harder if it's consistent, and being even moderately dehydrated will cause a decrease in performance. The best rep range for growth is the one you enjoy doing the most. We've seen muscle growth happen both anecdotally and through studies from low, moderate, high, and ultra high rep ranges. It's more important to pick one you like, because you'll be consistent with it. Don't try to emulate the program of someone far more advanced than you. What they are doing now isn't what they were doing 10 years prior to that. And what they were doing 10 years ago probably has no bearing on you either, since you aren't them. Find YOUR training principles that serve YOU best at your current level of development. Try to get as much of your nutrients through food before you run off throwing in 982 supplements. All the supplements in the world can't really make up for crappy eating habits. If you're a novice or intermediate, squat a lot, pick up a lot of heavy things, press heavy stuff, chase progressive overload. This is the time when adding weight to the bar will give the biggest return on your training investment. Laugh as often as possible. Love people really hard. Cultivate things outside of the gym that grow you and serve you as a person. Lifting weights should be what you do, not wholly define who you are. ~ Paul Carter

ATTN: