Muscle Pyramid

Progressive Tension Bodyweight Training – Part 1

When most people think of bodyweight training they think of high rep sets of push ups, dips, squats, lunges and chin ups. No wonder most people think you can't get big and strong with strictly body-weight training. Because in order to build muscle and increase strength you need to gradually increase resistance overtime. Adding endless reps of push ups and chin ups won't do much except increase your muscular endurance. However, that’s only one style of bodyweight training and I am going to introduce you to a whole new style of bodyweight training that will blow your socks off. I call it progressive tension bodyweight training. So instead of adding weight to an exercise you simply progress to more advanced variations of a movement that will create more tension in your working muscles. Your muscles respond to tension, whether its from a piece of iron, a sandbag or your own bodyweight. The greater the tension - the more strength that is required and the more muscle you can build. If … [Read more...]

How to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle at the Same Time

By George Harris

Intermittent Fasting - Lose fat and gain muscle at the same time

If I was to tell you about a diet that allowed you to grow muscle AND drop fat at the same time would you want to know about it? Well, that’s exactly what I am going to do right now, because you can have the holy grail of bodybuilding, the magic elusive that is fat loss with muscle gain. That "diet" is called Intermittent Fasting, and it’s one of the fasted growing diets right now, and rightly so! If you’re like me you’ve probably tried all sorts of different bodybuilding and fat loss diets, with varying degrees of success, but one thing stands out amongst them: You can’t build muscle and lose fat at the same time. But with Intermittent Fasting you can! I’m also not going to pretend that I created this lifestyle (it makes more sense to call Intermittent Fasting a lifestyle than a diet) and I'm also not the only one that promotes this eating lifestyle. Many people have acquired Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle and tweaked it in their own ways. The style that … [Read more...]

My Progress and New Photos

By Vaclav Gregor

Okay, Few days ago I did a great fitness photo shoot. I was preparing 12 weeks for this photo shoot and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I also managed to achieve my goals, exactly as I set them up and I even overachieved my expectations in one area. Before we get to the latest photos and measurements I would like to first mention where I originally started. At least where I actually bothered to take some pictures and measure my muscles. And here are some measurements: Shoulders: 118 cm / 46,5 in Chest: 97cm / 38,2 in Waist at belly button 83cm / 32,7 in Weight: 74,5 Kg / 165 lbs That was just pathetic. This was a first photo I have ever taken without a shirt off. I was really embarrassed and insecure about my looks, but I guess that is why I started going to a gym at a first place. Funny thing is that I was already working out for almost three years and as you can see I had very little muscle mass. I was skinny and not very masculine at … [Read more...]

Stop Using Bodyweight as Tracking or Goal Setting Tool

By Vaclav Gregor

Often times what happens is that guys want to get lean so they set a weight goal and then use weight in every day/week to track down their progress. Problem with this is that you don’t know if what you have lost is water or fat. And if your goal is muscle gain and you set a weight goal, you won’t know whether you gained muscle mass or fat. It’s hard to be sure, which is why I think using weight as an indicator of how good shape you are in and as a tracking tool is the worst idea ever. Also, it seems that when you are a guy and you are heavy then you are perceived as more manly, well by guys at least. It’s hard to get over the idea of comparing weights. Guys have some deep belief that they have to be big and heavy to be manly. This is crap. The only think you need to be is in shape and belief it or not, being in attractive shape is contrary to being heavy and big. First of all in order to be big and heavy you need to have at least some fat and anything beyond 10% of body fat … [Read more...]

How to Speed up Muscle Soreness Recovery

By Vaclav Gregor

Guys no longer care about regeneration and muscle recovery. Muscle development is their only interest. Well guess what if your muscles are sore as hell all the time there will be no muscle development whatsoever. On the other hand if you empower yourself with regular muscle recovery routine, you will create an environment in which it’s more likely you will grow your muscles. Think of athletes. They can train every day and when they run into some problem they get over it very quickly. How is it possible? Well, in the first place they have a whole team that can take care of them, however what is important for you is that they also put a lot of focus on muscle recovery. Obviously you don’t have so much money or care as athletes, but you can still get some inspiration from them. Ignoring the importance of proper recovery is a big, big mistake. When you are training in the gym you are breaking your muscle tissue and you need to make sure your body has the best conditions to … [Read more...]