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Showing posts from April, 2022

Ep. #900: The 18 Best Barbell Exercises for Getting Bigger and Stronger

What’s so special about barbell exercises? Why are they the basis of all the best strength training programs? Why can they help you gain whole body muscle and strength faster than anything else? I’m going to answer those questions and many others in this podcast, while also covering my favorite barbell exercises that I’m regularly including in my routine.  The reality is you can replace almost all of the machines and other contraptions and toys you see people using in the gym with a barbell and some plates. In other words, you can greatly simplify your training with just a handful of these exercises, and you can do so safely without ever outgrowing them. So, listen to this podcast to learn the benefits of barbell training and my favorite barbell exercises for your whole body.  Timestamps: 0:00 – Want a free meal planning tool that figures out your calories, macros, and micros, and allows you to create custom meal plans for cutting, lean gaining, and maintaining in under 5 minu

How to Do the Romanian Deadlift: Form, Benefits, and Variations

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At first blush, the Romanian deadlift looks like a lazy or downright dangerous version of the regular deadlift. Ironically, it’s not a one-way ticket to snap city, but one of the single best exercises you can do for developing your hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, and even your forearms. It’s also easy to learn, load, and program, and when it’s performed correctly, it’s also perfectly safe. In this article, you’ll learn what the Romanian deadlift is, which muscles it works, the benefits of the Romanian deadlift, how to Romanian deadlift with proper form, the best Romanian deadlift alternatives , and more.   Table of Contents What Is a Romanian Deadlift? Romanian Deadlift vs. Deadlift Romanian Deadlift: Muscles Worked Romanian Deadlift: Benefits 1. It allows you to train your posterior chain without overreaching. 2. It trains your hamstrings eccentrically and in a stretched position. 3.  It allows you to train your hamstring with heavy weights. Romanian Dead

Ways to Keep Nutrients Intact When Cooking

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Ways to Keep Nutrients Intact When Cooking Learn how to keep nutrients intact when cooking and preparing food at home!  Cooking methods aren’t one-size-fits-all, certain cooking methods can result in more or less nutrient translation to your end product. Because of this, you can intentionally vary the cooking methods you choose based on the different nutrient makeups of certain foods. Pretty cool, right?  Now does this mean you need to be hyper-vigilant and only use certain cooking methods for certain foods? Absolutely not! But it can’t hurt to learn how to optimize those health benefits and soak up all that nutrition when you can.  Today, discover the basic framework for optimizing the health benefits of the food you’re about to eat so you can get the best nutrient bang for your buck. Raw Whole Foods  When discussing nutrient utilization, it’s best to start with the original food component – raw fruits and vegetables. By consuming fruits and vegetables in their most natural state

Weekly Research Roundup: Activation Exercises to Boost Glute Growth, the Problem with the 5:2 Diet, the Best Time of Day to Do Cardio, and More

It’s estimated that there are over 2+ million scientific papers published each year, and this firehose only seems to intensify. Even if you narrow your focus to fitness research, it would take several lifetimes to unravel the hairball of studies on nutrition, training, supplementation, and related fields. This is why my team and I spend thousands of hours each year dissecting and describing scientific studies in articles, podcasts, and books and using the results to formulate our 100% all-natural sports supplements and inform our coaching services.  And while the principles of proper eating and exercising are simple and somewhat immutable, reviewing new research can reinforce or reshape how we eat, train, and live for the better.  Thus, each week, I’m going to share five scientific studies on diet, exercise, supplementation, mindset, and lifestyle that will help you gain muscle and strength, lose fat, perform and feel better, live longer, and get and stay healthier.  This week, yo

Ep. #899: Dr. Kevin Stone on How to Stay Fit, Injury-Free, and Perform Your Best As You Age

Aging is an inevitable part of life. But just because we get older doesn’t mean we have to stop doing the physical activities and sports we love, get injured, or accept the role of geriatric couch potato. That’s why I brought Dr. Kevin Stone onto the podcast to discuss athleticism, injury prevention and recovery, joint health, and staying fit as we age.  Dr. Stone is a world-renowned expert in sports medicine and orthopaedics, and his work at The Stone Clinic as an orthopaedic surgeon and in the field of joint replacement and treatment has resulted in 50 patents and various publications, grants, and awards. He’s also the Chairman of the Stone Research Foundation, which is a non-profit that pushes forward the science of accelerating healing and treating injured joints. Beyond the operating room, Dr. Stone also has expertise and practical knowledge from working with athletes of all types and ages. He’s worked with the US Ski Team, the US Pro Ski Tour, the Marin Ballet, the Smuin Ba

Does The Bone Broth Diet Work? A Science-Based Answer

The Bone Broth Diet is a weight-loss diet created by naturopath Kellyann Petrucci. It involves following a quasi-paleo diet five days per week, fasting for the other two, and supplementing with bone broth—a brew you make by boiling bones in water for several hours. Proponents of the Bone Broth Diet claim it provides rapid weight loss, better health, and flawless skin. Detractors say bone broth is nothing more than a marketing gewgaw that does little to help you improve your body composition or health. Who’s right? Learn the answers in this article.   Table of Contents What Is the Bone Broth Diet Plan? How to Follow Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Diet Does the Bone Broth Diet Work? The Bone Broth Diet and Weight Loss The Bone Broth Diet and Metabolic Health The Bone Broth Diet and Gut Health The Bone Broth Diet and Inflammation The Bone Broth Diet and Skin Health The Bone Broth Diet and Bone and Joint Health The Bone Broth Diet: Problems FAQ #1: Are there different versi