How Much Rest Time Between Sets Is Optimal?
Strength training is gaining popularity in the fitness world – and it is now among the most popular physical activities for increasing muscular strength, muscular power, endurance, and hypertrophy (which refers to increased muscular size as a result of exercise). For muscle growth, having periods of rest is just as important as working out. Why? […]
The Pros & Cons of Training To Failure
Strength training is a crucial exercise for muscle strength and balance. It helps you build and maintain muscle, which is especially important to do as we age. Whether you’ve just started training, or have been training for a while, you’ve probably came across the term “training to failure” at some point. Is training to absolute […]
Protein Before Bed – Will It Help You Gain Muscle Faster?
The conversation about dietary protein intake and muscle-building is never ending. One thing that is certain is that to effectively build muscle it is a physiological requirement to ensure muscle protein synthesis levels remain higher than the rate of muscle protein breakdown (on average). In the absence of dietary protein intake, it is not possible […]
CICO Diet – Everything You Need to Know
In the United States, over 60% of adults are overweight, and over 30% are obese, with the rates of obesity consistently and rapidly increasing [1]. The reason for this issue is simple in nature, with modern populations continuing to eat more and move less. This drives the central dictator of weight gain – energy imbalance [2]. Since […]
The Ultimate Guide to Post Workout Nutrition
Exercise, especially at high intensities and durations, causes the breakdown of muscle proteins (protein degradation), depletion of energy stores, and fluid imbalances. This makes nutrition an important consideration for recovery needs, otherwise these processes will impair recovery, adaptations to exercise, and lead to muscular injury. Typically, most people focus solely on protein intake to initiate […]
The Ultimate Guide to Calorie Cycling
One major worldwide problem is the high incidence of obesity that has grown rapidly during recent decades. The current prevalence of obesity is estimated at approximately 400 million people worldwide [1]. In the simplest of terms, the main cause of obesity is an energy imbalance – eating more calories than expended per day. The secondary drivers […]
The Ultimate Guide to Fixing Muscle Imbalances
Muscle imbalance is an issue that affects many gym goers, athletes, and people in certain jobs, it can range from a mild symmetry issue, to a serious medical condition. Fixing muscle imbalances are dependent on the type of imbalance in question. The more serious muscle imbalance issues are beyond the scope of this article and […]
The Ultimate Guide to Getting More Vascular
There is an argument that can be made that looking vascular is pure vanity, there aren’t really any physiological benefits to looking more vascular. It just looks cool. But since when has looking cool been a bad thing? In this article we will provide the ultimate guide to getting more vascular, teaching you how to […]
What Are “Refeed Days” & How Do They Work?
Dieting can be difficult, really difficult. Sometimes it can feel like the most frustrating, futile, way to spend your days. Agonizing over the calories found in 15 Ritz crackers, losing sleep because you have a big family meal coming up and the macro ratios don’t look good. Because dieting is so tough, there are thousands […]
What Is Bulking? Everything You Need To Know About Gaining Mass
Whether you are aware of it or not, there are three stages of training: cutting, maintenance, and bulking. You are always in one of these stages. If you go to the gym because you want to lose weight then you are cutting, if you are training just to stay healthy but don’t want to increase […]