by Matt Meinrod

A few years back I was shopping at the grocery store and a man actually stopped me in my tracks and said, “Do you mind if I look inside your cart, you must be doing something right.” At first it was weird, but within a second or two it made me feel good, I laughed, and proceeded to let the guy take a sneak peek into my life. Any more than 10 seconds and I would have had to push the guy out of the way for being a creepster, but I let him have his fun. He didn’t ask questions as to why I bought $5 frozen bread (Ezekiel); why I chose organic red meat over the store brand; And why it looked like I was shopping for just a day or two worth of food compared to most people that shop for the week or month.

Contrary to popular belief, training is not the only way to stimulate muscle growth. In fact the biggest growth spurts for the average person occur in the absence of any intention to increase muscle mass (adolescent development and puberty).

It is becoming very common in todays world for people to talk about just hitting daily macronutrient goals. Doesn’t necessarily matter when, or how, as long as the end of the day the numbers add up to the imaginary guideline you set for yourself at the beginning of the day. While this is going to result in a dramatic improvement in body composition (assuming the totals are set to a somewhat reasonable ratio) for the average person who has never put any thought into diet and is overweight, ultimately most people will not get the best results they could. I REALLY do not want to go into an IIFYM (If it fits your macros) debate, honestly that’s the last thing I want to do. But I do feel there is an area or two of the concept that doesn’t get the attention it deserves, so I am going to touch on them.

by Geoff Roberts

The many false assumptions and cruel comments made in regards to bodybuilders generally stem from two different places. These two places being insecurity and jealousy. It is easy to see how a 5’11” 270 pound man with single digit body fat levels and a 31 inch waist could make a “normal” man feel insecure about himself. Jealousy, coming from either a man or woman, tends to elicit similar responses as insecurity, being that insecurity is often times the cause of these bouts of jealousy.

Everyone who considers themselves half a bodybuilder (and probably most men in general) have been asked this question more than a few times in their lives – “How much do you bench?” Most of the time, people don’t even know what answer will impress them or what the numbers mean, they just seem to blurt it out in some awkward stutter when talking to another man who might carry some muscle.

When I look back and try to think of the times I hold closest to my heart in my years training, it’s hard to judge. While I certainly train more efficiently, effectively, and intelligently now, it’s hard for me to not feel like something is missing in comparison to my initial love affair with the gym as a late teen/early twenty something.

by Matt Weik

Once upon a time people who roamed the earth would eat food to sustain energy and to survive. They didn’t have the luxury of half-gallons of ice cream, bags of potato chips, French fries, and beer. But all those things taste great, right? True. But our mentality has shifted from the days of survival to the days of comfort. American’s sit down and eat to fulfill an emotional need. At gatherings people stand around a bunch of food that most people probably aren’t hungry for and they eat anyway to be social. This is one of the many reasons why such a large percentage of American’s are overweight or obese.

by Anthony Roberts

One of the most peculiar things about the steroid community, and in particular, the online steroid community, is the ongoing level of misinformation about the androgen receptor and the boogeyman of receptor downgrade. Because most people have experienced receptor downgrade in other forms, it’s a topic that we are somewhat familiar with (i.e. you drink so much coffee that caffeine doesn’t hit you as hard anymore, or you develop a tolerance for alcohol, etc…)