Strength and Physique

Hey James, I've been looking into supplements and am looking into the reviews for NO2. I've found that a large majority of persons using it don't see results in weight gain or weight loss, and only seem to feel the effects of a "pump". I guess my question for you is, with the increased expansion in the blood vessels (which would be the cause for the "pump") would it be safe to say that this product would be better used as a way to assist the body in consuming other supplements i.e. creatine, protein, etc? In other words would this product be better used as an enhancer for other fitness supplements as opposed to by itself? My Answer: Interesting theory, but I would say no. Some people swear by it, and for some people it does absolutely nothing. I always get samples from magazines that I write for, and the NO2 supplements do absolutely nothing for me. No pump for me at all. Now would the hemodilation help you absorb other supplements better...

Q: My name is Clay. I currently live in Queensland, Australia. I have been going to the gym for some time in the past. However for the last 1-2 yrs have not been able to fully get involved with the routine.  Living in a remote area of Australia as a pilot we have a backyard gym with all the necessary equipment to train. I have thus been getting back into the gym everyday resting after about 5 days, then back into it again. I'm around 6' and weigh 73Kg's (have done so for the past 2 years without any shift, minimal weight gain). Age: 24. I realise that I am an ectomorph. My metabolism is amazingly fast. I eat quite a lot of pasta, chicken, spaghetti and fruit but never seem to put on any weight. I'm quite thin however. After going to the gym, my definition comes about quite quickly.  The issue I have is that I want to put on bigger muscle and some weight. With the right diet and the combination of the right protein and calories with the right workout I know...

Q:  I would like a sample routine for the heavy/light training program that you have listed in Strength and Physique: The Articles . Also a sample routine for a cross wiring workout. Thanks for your time. Joanna My Answer: The Heavy-Light Method is a solid strategy to follow in your quest for size and strength. It is simple but complete, versatile and effective. The Heavy/Light strategy goes like this: perform heavy sets to develop strength and muscular density and then perform light pumping sets for that same muscle group to increase blood flow and capillary development. Hence, you develop both sarcomere and scarcoplasmic hypertrophy of your muscles. Here’s a sample Heavy-Light Program in detail: Day One Pull-ups (5 sets of 4-6 reps, 2 minutes of rest between sets) Seated cable rows (3 sets of 10-12 reps, 1 minute rest between sets) Incline barbell bench press (5 sets of 4-6 reps, 2 minutes of rest between sets) Pec deck machine flyes (3 sets of 10-12 rep...

Q:  Thanks James, the list of exercises looks great. Just one question on calf training though: you don’t include Donkey Calf Raises in your list. On his website , Larry Scott offers a purposely designed machine for performing them without a partner. What are your thoughts on this exercise? Regards, Barry H. My Answer: Donkey calf raises are a great exercise, but I would have to disagree with most bodybuilding enthusiasts that the donkey calf raise is the best calf exercise. First let's tackle the machine Larry Scott created. I've never run across a gym that has this machine, so I can't tell you how effective it is in developing the calves. I did, however, try to simulate this machine by using: 1) a low pulley machine attached to 2) a weight belt 3) over a calf block and 4) bench All I can say I was not impressed with the feel of the exercise, especially given all the trouble of set-up. The reason why you can't approximate the donkey calf raise th...

My name is Jake. I live in Sydney, Australia. I have loved health and fitness all my life and recently have become excited about weight training and building muscle. I am 172 cm and 55kg. I am looking to add about 10kg of lean muscle mass to my physique. There is so much information on the internet about 'THE BEST WAY' to build muscle, it is all just so confusing and overwhelming. I would LOVE to hear from you the best way to gain muscle through quality nutrition, supplementation and recovery. I hope you have a good week ahead of you, and I would really value your advice and guidance. Thank you. Kind regards, Jake My Answer: Jake, that is way too much to cover in a single blog post. You're asking many people on the net, so you will get a ton of answers to pick and choose from. So I will keep my answer short and to the point. - If you want to have impressive muscular size, then you'll need to up the calories and protein. What I suggest is to follow the Zig...

Hello, I’m a 34 (soon to be 35) year old looking to gain muscle and weight. Although I eat a lot, (at least I think I do) I’ve been at 145-150 lbs for as long as I can remember. I saw your article on Bodybuilding.com and would like to give it a try. My only question with the pyramid program is: Do I change the weight for each rep? In other words, do I lift the weight 10 times with a certain weight and then 8 times with another weight, and so on and so forth? Or, do I find a weight that I can lift 15 times and do all sets with that weight? Any help would be appreciated. - M. Palacios My Answer: Yes, adjust the weight according to the repetitions. Adjust the weight so that you come close to failure at each target rep.

Charles Poliquin talks about why you store fat in certain places and how it is an indicator of your hormonal profile.