by Chris Marzarella, CFT

In years past, if you mentioned the term “bulking”, you think of doing zero cardio (cardi-no!!), eating copious amounts of food and after you’re full, you eat again, and again…and again. Let’s not forget the sugar-ladened “weight gainer” drink or powder. Might as well eat cake mix with a scoop of protein powder. This bro-science method has some validity. You gain, but the “results” from this four to six month process (sometimes inappropriately longer) are not worth the effort. This can translate to a gain of a half pound of muscle to four pounds of fat.

by Matt Weik

We live in a world where social media is used and abused—to a point. Sure, social media is great for staying connected with friends and family, but who would have thought the day would come when celebrities and athletes were no longer utilized to grow a brand? Not only is social media FREE, but you actually get analytics and data to show how posts are doing in terms of engagement and clicks. Athletes and celebrities shouldn’t quit their day jobs.

by Matt Weik

The prize money from winning big IFBB pro shows around the nation is constantly growing—which is a great sign for the overall success and growth of the sport. However, if you aren’t one of the top pros, it is very difficult to make a living these days pursuing your dream of competing full-time. This leaves bodybuilders looking for supplemental income through another avenue. So what can they do and what are some currently doing?

by Josh Hodnik

Nutritional supplements have rapidly gained popularity over the past few decades. During this time, we’ve seen countless supplements trend in and out of the spotlight. Partly because, many supplements never delivered the results that marketers claimed they would. Another reason would be that the consumer’s wants and needs are constantly changing. Fat loss supplements have been in constant demand, and with society’s inflating obesity problem, their demand will more than likely continue to grow. The demand for protein powders have recently declined, as some have decided that a whole food diet may be superior.

by Matt Weik

We live in America. And as American’s, many of us enjoy a nice beer every now and then—some of us enjoy beer more frequently than others. One thing we all know is that beer isn’t the healthiest beverage to be consuming on a regular basis. All of those added calories add up and before you know it, you’re buying new pants. However, researchers in Singapore are toasting to a new product they are looking to bring to market—probiotic beer.

by Matt Weik

I won’t lie, I downloaded Lumosity about a year ago and used it for a couple of weeks. Some of the games were entertaining, while others were down right mind-numbing. I don’t have a poor memory, in fact, my wife thinks I’m able to remember the smallest details of something that most people would easily forget or have not even noticed at all. However, I wanted to see if Lumosity actually did anything for me cognitively. Did I feel smarter? Was I able to remember things more easily? Was I able to process information quicker? Was it actually training my brain and giving myself any type of benefit at all?

by Anders JP Eskilsson

A common misconception among females in this case, is that weight training will give them a masculine look. This is a false perspective caused by simple laziness in most cases.

What´s important to realize is that it takes more than just a couple of months to build a muscular and jacked physique if you start from scratch with normal genetics. It takes a tremendous amount of work to achieve a great looking physique, especially for females. This is due to the lower levels of testosterone. The idea that it’s easy to gain muscles is actually kind of discrediting all the athletes who work their butt of to get to where they are.

by Matt Weik

I have been an athlete my entire life—ending my “career” in college. I’ve played with injuries, and I’ve trained with injuries. To put it bluntly, I was a stubborn MFer. I wanted to be in the game or match and I wanted to win. Competition drove me to perform at a high level and at whatever cost necessary. Now, I look back and think how stupid I was back then and how those choices are affecting me today.

by Matt Weik

The news we all have been accustomed to hearing is that a professional athlete tested positive for a banned substance (PED) and puts the blame on the supplement industry that a product they were taking “must have been tainted and caused a false positive.” We all know the narrative. However, it appears one athlete in particular is clearing the industry of wrongdoing and touting all the good it has done for her and how she believes supplements have helped not only her health, but her performance on the pitch.