Many often advocate for using a full range of motion when lifting weights. How important is this? Does science agree with this advice, or is there more to it?
Many folks ask the age-old question – is a bigger muscle a stronger muscle? In this piece we dive into the nitty gritty science of getting stronger in order to find out.
While the end-game differences between bodybuilding and powerlifting are well-known, how does this affect training and nutrition for each sport?
Writing a solid training program is one of the most nuanced tasks in the fitness field. How can you go about creating your own program? We’ll get into the nitty gritty in this series.
Mechanical tension has quickly become the main accepted stimulus for muscle growth. What is mechanical tension? Can we measure it? Why would this be important for growth?
Growing the pectorals is a goal of many gym goers. What’s the best way to go about developing this oft-sought after muscle group? Let’s see what the science says about the pecs.
Metabolic stress refers to the build-up of metabolites in the muscle during fatiguing exercise. This accumulation of metabolites can help trigger growth! Training methods that induce high levels of metabolic stress include blood flow restriction and training with high reps and short rest periods. Source: Wackerhage, H., Schoenfeld, B. J., Hamilton, D. L., Lehti, M., […]
This is one of several studies that confirmed the theory that too much cardio can interfere with gains in strength size. Cardio is still an important component of a training program, but keep steady state cardio to less than 30-mins and fewer than 4-days per week. Stick to biking, StairMaster, and elliptical as running will […]
This study found that adding burnout sets to the end of a strength training workout can improve gains in muscle size and strength. This change occurred during the last 4-weeks of the study when the burnout sets were added, so it’s a great representation of how important volume, training close to failure, and variation is […]
Accessory exercises can be important for improving strength in the bench press. This study found that dumbbell bench and dumbbell flyes induced similar amounts of pectoral activation when compared to barbell bench. This means that these movements can be used to further strengthen the chest muscles in new ways as opposed to just bench pressing. […]