Articles

What Every Aspiring Bodybuilder Should Know From the Start

November 14, 2014
6 min read

arnold-schwarzenegger

by Anders JP Eskilsson

Many of us who once started with weight training or bodybuilding dreamed that one day to be able to be on stage competing with other bodybuilders. For many of us the interest for bodybuilding began already in a young age. I think one of my first meetings with bodybuilding or anatomy was when I got my first He-Man action figures when I was maybe 5-6 years old. I was impressed with the plastic figures because they looked so muscular and powerful. In addition, when I got older, the Hollywood movies came along with actors such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

November 10, 2014June 14, 2017
11 min read

by Mike Arnold

No longer considered a novelty item, the pre-workout category of supplementation has evolved dramatically over the last 10 years, with the one-dimensional products of yesteryear being replaced by more holistic formulas. In the beginning, these products relied almost solely on stimulants as their claim to fame, as popular opinion declared that the more jacked you got, the better the product was. With effectiveness based almost entirely around this stimulatory effect, we saw competing companies start dumping stims in by the handful, regardless of whether such a practice was actually beneficial for muscle growth, let alone healthy. The excessive stimulant content of some of these preparations left them nearly unusable by the majority of the population, and if you were unfortunate enough to have purchased one of these, the following crash was often enough to make you think twice before taking another dose.

October 17, 2014June 19, 2017
15 min read

ADVANCED-CYCLE-SUPPORT

by Mike Arnold

As this series draws to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to conclude by posting a list of clinical trials detailing Milk Thistle’s effectiveness as a liver protectant. As science continues to learn more about this herb, I believe its status as the premiere liver protectant will continue to grow. See below for clinical trials.

Fast Metabolism, or Poor Appetite?

October 17, 2014October 18, 2014
6 min read

bodybuilder

by Geoff Roberts

The list of misused or exaggerated terms in bodybuilding and fitness stretches far out of sight. Of the hundreds of misused terms in our industry, two interesting terms that are often incorrectly used, but seem to fly under the radar are “metabolism” and “appetite”. It seems that every athlete in our sport claims to have either a rapid fire metabolism, or the metabolic rate of a three toed sloth. Why is it that athletes rarely if ever claim an “average” metabolism? This question is especially interesting when one considers that the word average implies to something that pertains to the majority. So what could conceivably explain this phenomenon?

Faster Negatives for Superior Muscle Growth?

October 16, 2014October 18, 2014
10 min read

Chest-workout-rock-body-fitness

by Mike Arnold

The most basic component of every workout is the repetition. Although small, it forms the foundation of everything we do. In fact, the entire training experience, when broken down into its most fundamental essence, is comprised of nothing but reps. Perform several reps in succession and we have a set. Perform several sets and we have a workout. All are derived from and revolve around the concept of the rep. In addition to this distinction, the manner in which we perform our reps is also of considerable importance. Although seemingly trivial on the surface, rep performance plays a crucial role in determining the type of results we get from our training. Is strength your main focus? How about muscle growth? Are you training for explosiveness, or are you trying to build up your muscular endurance? If you look closely at the training styles of various athletes, you will see a significant difference in the way that they perform their reps.

Understanding Post-Cycle Therapy

June 21, 2014May 17, 2017
13 min read

As the greatest development in the area of adjunctive performance enhancement in the last 20 years, post-cycle therapy offers undeniable benefits to the cycling steroid user. The ability to maintain long-term endogenous testosterone production, preserve muscle mass between cycles, reduce off time from AAS, and protect fertility are usually the most appreciated. With so much confusion on the subject, let’s take a few minutes to discuss the various PCT drugs and their role in maintaining our hormonal landscape. Although differences in financial status, goals, and degree of suppression prevent a single program from meeting the needs of all, there are some basic guidelines that any effective PCT program should adhere to.

March 1, 2014October 17, 2014
6 min read

1-Andro-Rx

Month of weight training with prohormone 3-beta-hydroxy-5-alpha-androst-1-en-17-one: four lean kgs’ gain
A couple of years after the American government banned the highly effective designer steroids 1-testosterone and 1-androstenedione in 2004, the biochemist Pat Arnold introduced 3-beta-hydroxy-5-alpha-androst-1-en-17-one [structural formula on the right] under the name 1-DHEA. And 3-beta-hydroxy-5-alpha-androst-1-en-17-one was pretty effective too, write sports scientists at West Texas A&M University in an article that’ll appear soon in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

February 18, 2014October 17, 2014
17 min read

gain-muscle-mass

by Vince DelMonte

I spent most of my life as a skinny guy, as one of the many guys who is genetically unfortunate when it comes to building muscle. Now I’ve made a career of not only building my own physique but helping thousands of other skinny guys do the same thing.

Skinny guys are often referred to as hardgainers because it’s assumed that we have to work out much harder and longer in order to see gains that are “acceptable”. However, what I’ve learned from my own experience and from coaching and mentoring other former skinny guys is that you don’t necessarily have to work out harder, just differently and strategically.

February 6, 2014October 17, 2014
16 min read

Complete-Protein-Van

Trying to decide on which proteins to use at what times and for what reasons can be a mind numbing process. There are basically two major proteins in the bodybuilder’s arsenal. Those being casein and whey. They are also sometimes referred to as slow and fast acting proteins respectively. The purpose of this article series is to give you an in-depth look at the properties of each of these proteins, explain what it all means and why it is important to you. And, Finally, to provide a systematic way to apply it all.

December 17, 2013October 17, 2014
7 min read

Halo-Extreme

by Mike Arnold

Released by Upjohn in 1957, Halotestin was and remains the most potent androgen ever released by a pharmaceutical company for prescription use. Originally developed to treat medical conditions such as hypogonadism, breast cancer, and delayed male puberty, Halotestin was used with a fair amount of success. Although considered a marvel of steroidal engineering in its day, its popularity in the medical community began to wane as more effective, less side effect ridden treatments became available. Inevitably, large-scale production transitioned into small-scale production, precipitating a decrease in overall availability. While the drug’s relevance among medical practitioners may have been in decline, its desirability in the BB’ing and strength communities was as great as ever.