Everybody loves lists and the fitness industry is no different, which is why articles like “6 Ways to Turn Calves into Cows!” and “12 Tips to Lose Your Belly!” are so popular. However, when it comes to packing on lean mass, it can be just as important—if not more—to know what NOT to do. Here are 13 mistakes many trainees make when trying to add lean body mass.
by Charles Poliquin
Muscle hypertrophy training, or doing resistance training that builds your muscles, is something everyone you wants to live a long, healthy, lean life should know about. Hypertrophy that is functional is not just for athletes, body builders, or young men. Rather, everyone will benefit from functional hypertrophy training because at its most basic level, this style of strength training will improve your body composition, make you more agile, mobile, and strong.
This article will provide a basic introduction to functional hypertrophy. It will also include a deeper look at more advanced strategies used for hypertrophy that I recently covered in the Hypertrophy Bootcamp at the Poliquin Strength Insititue in East Greenwich, RI.
by Mike Arnold
Nearly everyone has at least one bodypart that, despite our best efforts, refuses to grow at the same rate as the rest of the body. While this generally isn’t too big of a deal for the recreational BB’r, when it comes to the serious competitor, particularly those who stand make a living from the sport, proportion issues can mean the difference between success and failure.
For years there was little that could be done to correct such muscle imbalances. By and large, BB’rs were at the mercy of their genetic lineage, but this did not stop them from doing their best to change the hand they had been dealt. As a result, various and sometimes odd training programs were concocted, which promised to help transform these lagging bodyparts into strong ones. This practice was well noted as early as the 1940’s and continues to remain an integral part of the training experience today, which is evidenced in the success of programs such as FST-7. While the principles on which many of these training systems rest are not necessarily based on credible science (fraudulent marketing is better than no marketing) one cannot deny the positive impact that intelligent training can have on muscle growth.
by Mike Arnold
Normally associated with women, the hormone estrogen is usually of little relevance to men outside the BB’ing lifestyle, but to the steroid initiated, it is a potentially side effect ridden metabolite which must be controlled. Being responsible for gynecomastia, water retention, HPTA suppression, fat gain, mood disturbances, and other undesirable side effects, it is not something we can afford to ignore. Quite simply, elevated estrogen levels can be and often are a consequence of steroid/prohormone use, so if we desire to look and feel better, while maintaining optimal health, we should endeavor to maintain normal levels of this hormone at all times.
There are a few ways to accomplish this. We can either discontinue using any steroid (legal or illegal) capable of estrogen conversion…or we can utilize a class of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors (A.I., for short). In order to understand of how A.I.’s can benefit us, we must first learn how steroids elevate estrogen levels in the first place.
by Mike Arnold
In the previous article we learned what Milk Thistle is, how this amazing herb works in the body to help prevent/correct illness, and we familiarized ourselves with its history in the medical establishment throughout the generations. In the following text we will review several of Milk Thistle’s most promising applications, while providing some real-world examples of individuals who have been successfully treated under medical observation.
Tongkat Ali is an interesting supplement for athletes over the age of 55. Ralf Henkel of the University of the Western Cape in South African and Ruxiang Wang of the Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China drew this conclusion after performing an experiment with 25 older cyclists. Tongkat Ali supplementation gave the cyclists more muscle power and boosted their testosterone levels.
Tongkat Ali is an interesting supplement for athletes over the age of 55. Ralf Henkel of the University of the Western Cape in South African and Ruxiang Wang of the Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China drew this conclusion after performing an experiment with 25 older cyclists. Tongkat Ali supplementation gave the cyclists more muscle power and boosted their testosterone levels.
Legend has it that as the Virgin Mary was passing by, some of her maternal mother’s milk was spilt upon the nearby thistle. This caused the veins within the leaves of the plant to turn milky-white and as tradition would have it, was also responsible for imparting this plant with its original and still current name; Milk Thistle.
The breakthrough came in 2012, for the pro-hormone analogue of the anabolic steroid trenbolone. Chemical bodybuilders who had tried the new designer supplement and were convinced of its effectiveness wrote about their experiences on all international forums. Trendione, the name we’ll use for the active ingredient in these products, is apparently active when taken orally. And sure enough, we found an animal study that confirms this.
Trenbolone is an expensive hormone. On the raw materials market a kilogram of trenbolone costs over six times as much as a kilogram of testosterone. This is because trenbolone, with three double bonds in its skeleton, is an anabolic steroid that requires considerable chemical gymnastics to produce.
by Mike Arnold
4-Andro rx, also known as 4-DHEA, is a PH to the grand-daddy of all steroids…Testosterone. With an abundance of information available on this essential hormone, I have decided to focus less on the physiological effects of Testosterone itself and instead, have chosen to illuminate the reader on the various potential applications of this legal testosterone elevating agent. In doing so, some may pose the question “why not just use injectable testosterone instead?” Not one to shy away from the tough questions, I will say right up front that when compared directly to testosterone, 4-Andro has its limitations. This is inevitable for a testosterone PH, as all prohormones are limited by their conversion rates to the target hormone. At this stage in the game, no one has yet been able to create a PH which is able to convert to Testosterone in quantities approaching what the typical BB’r might inject. So, for those individuals who have no objection to the use of CIII drugs, by all means, go ahead and use injectable Testosterone; it is the superior choice. However, there is a substantial portion of the population which is opposed to this practice and it is to them that this article is primarily addressed.
200mg of Standardized Eurycoma Longifolia Extract Increases Total Testosterone by 47%
Kudos to Benson, who certainly is one of the Minds on the Mind And Muscle Forums (I don’t know about his muscle, though ;-). Benson dug up a very recent article on the effects of “Ali’s Stick” (Tambi. 2011), which would be the literal translation of “Tongkat ali”, also known as the “Malaysian ginseng”, a herb that has been used by generations of men in South-East-Asia to improve their sexual performance, on testosterone levels in 76 male patients suffering from late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) and, consequently, Aging Males’ Symptoms (AMS).
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