All over, we hear over and over how important it is to “change up your workout routine often” so that you can avoid getting bored and keep motivated. The truth is that this is possibly some of the WORST advice that can be given to someone starting to work out – or someone who has been working out for awhile.
Here’s why.
There are two main factors that come into play when trying to get in amazing shape. They are:
1. Building habits.
2. Improving at what you’re doing.
NEITHER of the above can be accomplished if you constantly change up your workout routine. You can’t build habits when you keep doing something else, and you can’t improve at something if you don’t keep doing it!
That’s why it’s so important to NOT change your workouts often. Do bodybuilders ever stop bench pressing? Do swimmers ever stop swimming? Do soccer players ever stop playing soccer? No. […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

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Who’s ready for a little Monday morning motivation? Mark’s Daily Apple readers are putting the principles of The Primal Blueprint to work and turning their lives around as a result. If the Grok tattoo doesn’t leave you speechless there may be no hope for you, but I for one was at a loss for words after reading some of these amazing tales of personal triumph.
What will your story be 6 months, a year, 5 years from now? One of gaining weight, injury and illness?, or one of optimum health and wellness? You have incredible power over how these things play out. Read these stories for inspiration and then pen your own starting today. Grok on!

_________________________________________________________________________
Mark,
I’ve been meaning to write you a thank you note with a little bit about my story. Throughout my teenage years, all the way through college, I have always been involved in sports […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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Keeping Muscle Mass

Resistance training is the ’secret’ to maintaining muscle mass while dieting.
I guess technically it’s not really a secret since this has been shown in dozens of published clinical trials using many different protocols…
But ’secret’ just sounds cool.
Anyways, something you should know about this little fact:
Your ability to maintain your skeletal muscle mass is likely a direct relation to it’s use.
In other words: If you only trained your right arm, this will most likely NOT prevent muscle loss from occurring in your left arm.
As an example:
If your right arm is in a cast it will atrophy (shrink) while the rest of your body stays the same…Regardless of nutritional intake.
This would apply regardless of whether or not you are fasting.
Bottom line: If you are following Eat Stop Eat properly, then you are fasting AND resistance training, and this resistance training should include all the muscles of your body…not every day, but as […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

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This is a video of Matt Costa’s Kickboxing class at 8 AM on Cinco De Mayo taken by Rev. Jay Bowman.
Do you see how many people there are? Matt had people running outside because there too many to run inside. And notice how EVERYONE is smiling. They know what’s up!

Matt Costa knows how to make your workout fun!

Matt Costa heads the kickboxing classes at KnuckleUp and he’s not afraid to make you work. The classes are intense, and you will definitely feel like you worked out after you’re done.
And while every gym says their classes are fun, Matt makes sure his really are. You’re never doing the same thing over and over again. Matt mixes it up almost every other minute, and you’re never sure what you’ll be doing next.
If you want to learn kickboxing, or even if you just want to get in shape, try out Matt’s Kickboxing class. […]

Original post by knuckleup

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The easiest type of salad dressing to make is vinaigrette: shake or whisk together oil and vinegar, add a little salt and pepper and you’ve got yourself some salad dressing. As anyone who eats salad regularly knows, however, dressing your greens in the same basic vinaigrette day after day gets a little boring. The salad recipe submitted by Reni Westmoreland reminded us that drastically changing the flavor is as simple as changing the type of vinegar you use. If you’ve been reaching for the same bottle of balsamic, or rice wine or apple cider vinegar for your dressings, then Reni’s Raspberry Vinaigrette might just be the change you need.

In Reni’s salad, raw spinach leaves are coated in a lively vinaigrette made with olive oil, raspberry vinegar, mustard and garlic. Sweet and tart with a subtly fruity flavor, the raspberry vinaigrette tastes like summer bursting out of the bowl. Nuts go […]

Original post by Worker Bee

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No story today, just a picture….
This may look like the line up for a bodybuilding supplement expo…
But it’s not.
Instead, it’s the sponsorship list for an upcoming scientific conference on sports nutrition.
I’m not commenting or passing judgment…because, quite frankly, where else is sponsorship money supposed to come from?
It’s more just something I want you to consider.
BP

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Original post by Brad Pilon

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By now, you should be convinced that attaining and maintaining mobility in your thoracic spine is a good idea for many reasons. Kyphosis of the thoracic spine is a virtual epidemic (just take a look around at everyone the next time you’re in a coffee shop or classroom – rounded backs abound) and everyone at some time or another has felt a little twinge of shoulder pain when doing a particularly adamant set of pull-ups.
Before you start with the exercises, let’s first figure out the extent of your thoracic immobility. The industry standardized way of determination is a simple one:

Lie down on the floor, back flat against it.
Your knees should be up with your feet and glutes flat on the floor.
Lock your elbows and bring your arms directly overhead, attempting to touch your wrists to the ground above your head.
Make sure to maintain contact between your lower back and the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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Back in January I launched a Beta release (just to my newsletter) of a muscle building course I created called "Visual Impact". I did my best to keep it low key and didn't post it on my blog or anything like that. My goal was to expose this course to a small group and get their feedback and then make an improved version and then create the final product. I sent out a survey a couple of months after this Beta release and to my delight, almost everyone who bought it was still following the program and getting solid results. This is practically unheard of when it comes to fitness information products. Most people start a program and 2-3 weeks later move on to the "next greatest thing". I am proud to say that wasn't the case with my program.

[A big focus of this program is adding muscle quickly, but […]

Original post by admin

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It doesn’t really matter.
well, no that came out wrong.
It’s not that the four words really don’t matter, it’s that ‘It Really Doesn’t Matter’ Are the four words.
…now that we have that cleared up.
Here’s the deal…
In the health and fitness world EVERYTHING is important.
Your core strength is important.
The ratio of fructose to sucrose in your diet is important.
whether your vegetables are from Chile or are homegrown is important.
Your deadlift is important.
Your metabolic rate is important.
Foam Rolling is important.
It’s all important because it’s important to the person writing to you, and they want it to be important to you too….
but it might not be.
In fact, it might not really matter at all.
Alright it’s time for another random ‘Pilon Analogy’
Imagine it’s the day before you start a your new job.
You’re trying to plan your commute into work and you want to be on time (after all, you need to set a good impression)
You […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

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Do your shoulders slump and round when you walk, sit, or stand?
Do you have trouble keeping your chest up when squatting under a bar or lifting heavy things off the ground?
Do you get lower back or neck pain when doing twisting or rotational movements?
Have you resigned yourself to living with that nagging rotator cuff pain that flares up during workouts and in bed?
If you answered “yes” to any of those (and most people will answer yes to at least one), you may have poor thoracic spine mobility. Even if you don’t notice any of the symptoms leaping out at you, it never hurts to get more mobility, especially in the thoracic spine. And establishing good habits by actively maintaining and training mobility, as opposed to being content with what you have (even if it’s not optimum), is always a good move. Scoff at the prospect of thoracic spine mobility all […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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