The Optimal Bodybuilding Split
The biggest mistake I see among lifters is rushing into advanced training too soon. Let’s back up for a minute.
A Bodybuilding Diet for Powerlifters: How to Eat to Build Muscle and Get...
A few easy dieting strategies can make a big difference in your recovery, strength, and—most of all— how you look.
The BFR Hype
Aside from a super pump, what’s going on in your muscles when you do Blood Flow Restriction training? A lot. Here’s what we know.
Bodybuilding for the Powerlifter: The Big Picture (With Sample Routine)
Instead of just trying to get strong by getting as big as humanly possible, many lifters are paying more attention to their muscularity. Just take a look at Larry Wheels or Dan Green, and you’ll immediately know how successful this strategy can be.
Strategic Variation: The Misunderstood Key to Long-Term Growth
Muscle growth doesn’t happen overnight. So, instead of thinking you have to hit every fiber from every angle right now, realize that hitting them all over the course of several months will be far superior for your results, keep you progressing indefinitely, and help you to avoid injury.
5 Ways to Improve Training Efficiency
Life is chaotic. Instead of missing another training day because you’re too busy, become more efficient. This article is designed to help you to get the most bang for your buck from every training session.
3 Scientific Theories Behind Blood Flow Restriction Training
More than a popular trend, these three theories from Dr. Leonneke receive support from studies showing increases in muscular strength, hypertrophy, and testosterone levels after BFR training.
The Science of Muscle Memory: Is it Real?
Is it actually easier to regain lost muscle and strength than it is to build it for the first time?
Why Is Everyone Suddenly Taking Collagen?
Collagen is one of the most abundant proteins in the human body and is part of connective tissues, muscles, bones, tendons, and blood vessels. Naturally, this means people are experimenting with its supplemental use.
Unilateral Training in the High School Weight Room — The Missing Link
It is our job to be more efficient in our programming, and here is why unilateral work plays such a huge roll in that.
Increase Muscle Mass with Massage
If you’re looking for a way to restore muscle function and promote muscle growth, a trip to the massage table may be the answer.
Is Inflammation the Bad Guy?
Inflammation is your body’s biological response to harmful stimuli, which in this case is the damage induced to your muscles from training. But trying to ward it off with NSAIDs and ice may be a mistake.
Chase the Pain for New Levels of Muscle Growth
To improve the CTP protocol, I’ve made a few tweaks so that you introduce a unique pain technique through one round and then switch it each time.
Four-Day and Three-Day Training Splits for Strength and Size
With the holidays and all of the celebratory foods coming, why not make those extra calories work for a change? This plan is designed to get you bigger and stronger using a 4-day split (and a 3-day split if you’re pressed for time).
Density Training — How I’m Training Now
Inspired by John Meadows’ primary and secondary workouts, combined with what I know about density training from Vince Gironda, my current split accounts for time and intensity limitations.
The Science of Winning According to Vasili Alexeyev
This is a repost of what Dave feels is one of the most educational articles we have ever posted.
A Contrarian’s Approach to Building Muscle
As improvement season heats up, I’ve been doing the exact opposite of the traditional bodybuilder’s approach, and the results have been incredible.
An Argument for Post-Training Cardio Gains
Worried that too much cardio could hinder your muscle growth? Performed the right way, at the right time, low-intensity aerobic activity can actually improve muscle hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy and the Non-Hormonal Stimuli That Make Muscle Grow
The fundamental molecular basis underlying muscle growth is complicated, but that doesn’t mean building muscle has to be difficult.
Muscle Failure and Its Applications
Most people who step under the bar want to get big and strong, period. Muscle failure is paramount in this regard. Here’s how to use it properly to build muscle without overloading your central nervous system or risking injury.
What I Think I Know About Muscle Growth
I am not an in-the-lab scientist; per my own training practice, I care about what I can apply, not what I can argue about.
WATCH: Is GPP Actually Important?
You hear a lot about GPP and aerobic capacity, but does it actually make a difference for a powerlifter or a bodybuilder? Dave and Justin weigh in.
Improved Back Recruitment for a Bigger V-Taper
My program design was technically sound and my lifting technique was good, but my back still wasn’t improving. This is when I turned to the study of anatomy and biomechanics.
Manipulating Acute Variables in Training— A Guide to Building Lean Muscl...
If you’re training under a Conjugate System, variation is your key to success. Let’s talk about the two acute variables that you should use to your advantage: exercise variation and equipment selection.
Build the Back, Spare the Spine
The healthier you can keep your spine, the longer you can train heavy and grow muscle. Here are my top-10, spine-friendly exercises.
Maximizing Muscle Growth Q&A: Rep Ranges, Chest Size Without Heavy P...
You have questions, team elitefts has answers. Today’s topic: building muscle through rep ranges and exercise selection.
WATCH: Unilateral Specialized Power Training
To improve athletic power, functional core strength, and body composition, check out these video exercise executions and training strategies that you can use right away.
Mixing Macros — How to Use Macronutrient Combinations to Improve Your Ph...
Different macronutrient combinations can each have their own physiological effects, advantages, and disadvantages. Take total advantage of it.
7 Bodybuilding Lies That Are Keeping You Skinny and Weak
These fallacies are plastered in every shitty magazine and web blog — you may still be falling for them. I’m here to share the truth.
3 Old-School Exercises You Need in Your Training Plan
Growing and progressing is the name of the game. You should do what works even if it isn’t new.
Powerful (Yet Healthy) Boulder Shoulder Training
Building rock solid shoulders with excellent functional strength requires the correct strategies and gritty effort. This guide will show you how to get the most out of your shoulder work.
Inside the Mind of Stuart McRobert — Training Advice You're Not Fol...
Get bigger and stronger with these four cornerstones of McRobert’s training method.
Calves to Cows — 5 Methods to Improve Your Calf Development
You can’t easily change the shape or insertion of the lateral or medial head of the gastrocnemius muscles. But you can develop impressive calves with these techniques.
A Call to Arms Series: Eccentric Biceps Training
Try this one-armed eccentric barbell curl to induce sleeve-busting growth.
Glute Gains: Mastering the Pelvic Tilt Technique
If you aren’t doing this right, say goodbye to building a fully developed backside.
Hypertrophy Hierarchy: How Your Muscle-Building Program Should Evolve Ov...
The techniques of top bodybuilders may look fun. They may entice you. But first, you need to earn them.
Eccentric Training Techniques for Added Strength and Size
If you want your strength and muscle mass to go up, you need to focus on how the weight is going down.
Are You Getting Enough O2? — Oxygen's Role in Muscle Growth
On the quest for hypertrophy? Take note of these facts before shunning cardio.
Why Strength Training Builds Mass (and Running Doesn’t)
A new study offers insight into why muscles adapt differently to different types of exercise.
So Many Stupid Reps — Just for Bodybuilders?
Julia, in conjunction with Alexander Cortes and Scott Paltos, discusses how training like a bodybuilder and adding in higher reps might help powerlifters with the big three lifts.
Ask DeFranco's Gym: Is It Advantageous to Borrow Bodybuilding Metho...
DeFranco urges you to toss the old-school mentality.
Arachidonic Acid Trip
To inflame or not to inflame – that is the question. Whether ‘tis more anabolic in the body to suffer the sets and reps of outrageous volume or to take rest against a sea of sessions and, by opposing, end them?
Integrative Bodybuilding: Peri Workout Recovery Supplementation (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this series, Scott focuses on the conflicting results of both acute experiments and training studies in regards to peri—workout RS.
Cheat Your Way to Gains
Let us look at the benefit and practical application of cheating exercises for advanced lifters.
Peri-Workout Nutrition, Part II: To Carb or Not to Carb
I’m going to discuss two schools of thought on this issue: to immediately carb-up post workout or to prolong or completely avoid carbs post workout.
Three Simple Steps to Building Maximum Muscle
Even with today’s technology, we still don’t completely understand everything involved in muscle growth.
The Pace of Your Stroke: Using Tempo for Gains in Size and Strength
I’ve dealt with several injuries over the last few years and it has caused me to do more research on how to get jacked (more research than I ever wanted to do in my life). However, it’s allowing me to get bigger and stronger, while still rehabbing injuries. The secret to this success has been speed.
