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Showing posts from February, 2023

Ep. #1035: Can Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) Help You Get Bigger, Leaner, and Stronger?

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube Looking for a dietary supplement that can help you lose fat, build muscle, and improve your overall health? Many people claim CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) is the answer. CLA is a widely popular supplement in fitness circles and advocates believe it provides numerous health benefits. From promoting muscle growth to aiding fat loss, and even reducing the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, CLA seems like a wonder supplement. Is it too good to be true? In this episode, we’ll explore the evidence surrounding the benefits and risks of CLA. Is it really free of side-effects? Is there enough reliable evidence to back proponents’ claims? Listen to this podcast to find out! Timestamps: 0:00 – Please leave a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe! 1:54 – What is conjugated linoleic acid? 11:13 – Try Whey+ risk-free today! Go to buylegion.com/whey and use coupon code MUS...

The Best Lower Chest Workout for Well-Defined Pecs

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Many weightlifters struggle to develop their lower chest. To make matters worse, the evidence-based fitness community claims there’s not much they can do about it. There are many excellent exercises for developing your pecs as a whole, they say, but none of them target the lower part in particular. The best you can do is stick to the same old chest exercises and hope the bottom of your pecs fills out in time. Is this true? Or can you train your lower chest specifically? And if so, what are the best lower chest exercises ? And how do you arrange these exercises into an effective lower chest workout ? Get evidence-based answers to all these questions and more in this article.   Table of Contents Chest Anatomy Can You Train Your Lower Chest? The Best Lower Chest Exercises 1. Bench Press 2. Dip 3. Dumbbell Bench Press 4. Decline Bench Press 5. Decline Dumbbell Bench Press 6. Dumbbell Pullover 7. Cable Pullover 8. Incline Push-up 9. High-to-Low Cable Fly 10. Dec...

How Noah Used Bigger Leaner Stronger to Lose 26 Pounds and 8% Body Fat

The post How Noah Used Bigger Leaner Stronger to Lose 26 Pounds and 8% Body Fat appeared first on Legion Athletics . https://ift.tt/J2hFM7m February 26, 2023 at 06:00PM Legion Athletics

Ep. #1034: Q&A: Diet Soda, Specialization Routines, Thoughts on 5:2 Diet, Carb Tolerance, and More

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Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube What’s the best cardio if you only have 10 minutes? Is drinking diet soda ok in moderation? What do I think about the 5:2 diet? Can you train heavy while also preparing for long-distance runs? What are my thoughts on biohacking? Are there different health effects between high-fat and high-carb diets while in a deficit? All of that and more in this Q&A podcast. Over on Instagram , I’ve started doing weekly Q&As in the stories, and it occurred to me that many podcast listeners might enjoy hearing these questions and my short answers. So, instead of talking about one thing in an episode, I’m going to cover a variety of questions. And keep in mind some of these questions are just for fun. So if you want to ask me questions in my Instagram stories, follow me on Instagram (@muscleforlifefitness), and if I answer your question there, it might just make it onto an episode of the podcast! If you like this type of...

Research Roundup #35: Sumo vs. Conventional Deadlift, Eating Based after Hard Workouts, & Mental Tricks for Weight Loss

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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 three 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. ...

10 Evidence-Based Training Tips to Upgrade Your Workouts

Behold! Not one, not two, but a camel-load of only the finest, evidence-based training tips this side of Damascus. Don’t do behind-the-neck pulldowns. They’re more likely to irritate your shoulders, and they’re no more effective than front pulldowns . If the regular barbell squat irritates your back , try the sumo , front , or safety bar squat . They’re easier on the lower back . If lateral raises bother your shoulders , you may be lifting your arms too high. You should raise them until they’re parallel with the floor, but no further. Also, if your torso is swinging around, the weights are probably too heavy. To minimize body English, lighten the load, and squeeze your glutes hard with each rep. Train your calves with both bent- and straight-leg exercises. Straight-leg exercises (like the leg press calf raise) emphasize your gastrocnemius, and bent-leg exercises (like the seated calf raise) emphasize your soleus. If you tend to tip too far forward when ...

Ep. #1033: Chris Barakat on the Science of Body Recomposition

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube Most people know newbies can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, but can intermediate or advanced lifters accomplish a body recomposition? In other words, if you’re already fit, can you optimize your body composition by building muscle and losing fat simultaneously, or do you have to cycle through bulks and cuts? More importantly, how do you actually do a body recomp? Is there a difference between recomping and bulking or cutting, and what are the key factors and variables to adjust if you want to build muscle while burning fat? To help answer these questions, I tagged in my friend and scientist, Chris Barakat, who’s actually published research on this topic. If you’re not familiar with Chris, he’s a published scientist, educator, coach, and natural bodybuilder, and he’s a repeat guest on the podcast for good reason. His years of developing his book smarts along with his practical knowledge of gym kno...

Ep. #1032: Book Club: My 10 Favorite Takeaways from “Yes!” by Goldstein, Martin, & Cialdini

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on YouTube My Book Club series is back! These are my top 10 key takeaways from Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert Cialdini.  “Can you recommend a book for…?” “What are you reading right now?” “What are your favorite books?” I get asked those types of questions a lot and, as an avid reader and all-around bibliophile, I’m always happy to oblige. I also like to encourage people to read as much as possible because knowledge benefits you much like compound interest. The more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I also believe there’s little hope for people who aren’t perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So, if you’re a bookworm on the lookout for good rea...