When you own the gym, you can train alone, but there’s no such thing as training by yourself.  I sold the last of my shares of my gym in Mexico in 2018.  However, I still get requests for stories about owning a gym in Mexico. This offering is not so much a story per se, but more of a brief rant about something many people might not ever consider - training in the gym you own.  While my preference is to train alone, my members made sure didn’t train by myself.  Their advances/ interruptions were innocent enough, sometimes the intent was merely getting a moment of my time to discuss important issues, such as how much nicer the steam room would look if there were a row of colored tiles around the door. While such a thought never even crossed my mind, it was a powerful enough of a thought...

Arms, particularly the biceps, are one of those body parts that either grow easily, or are incredibly stubborn and difficult to gain size. Everyone wants big biceps, but not everyone can seem to grow them. The internet is full of all kinds of routines that aim to build a cannon ball biceps and no shortage of people trying to see if they can get their biceps to grow. The problem is, these folks are relying on one of the smallest muscle in the upper arm structure to do all the talking. While the triceps make up about 70% of the upper arm mass, there’s other underlying muscles, beside the biceps, that can help the cause, but no one pays attention to them. They just want big arms. It was 1982, but I remember its like it was yesterday. “You want to put an inch on your arms almost immediately?” Not...

There are two terms for muscle growth.  One is “hypertrophy.”  Hypertrophy is the enlarging of existing muscle fibers. The other term for muscle growth is “hyperplasia.” Hyperplasia results when satellite cells on the muscle fibers are activated resulting in the growth of new muscle fibers. This could be occurring for a variety of reasons, the least of which being combating physical weakness. The majority of strength increase is the result of hypertrophy. But, before you ever cinch up a lifting belt and wrap your hands around an Olympic bar, there is an undeniable concept you absolutely must understand and accept 100% if you want to see real gains in muscle size and strength:  Muscle growth (hypertrophy) is an adaptive response to progressive gravitational stress. It’s actually considered a survival mechanism. In order to grow muscle the body must be subjected, repeatedly, to a work load it cannot accomplish with the...

Bodybuilding is brutally hard work. You not only have to follow a very strict diet and make sure you get all your nutrients, in the right combinations, but you also have to take your intensity in the gym up to a level you’ve never reached before. You have to train like a beast - a crazed wild beast. Going to the gym and getting this work done is serious business. But, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. An incredibly simple little thing that’s a whole lot easier than sticking to your diet and working out like an animal. Pay close attention, because if you ever pay attention to anything I tell you, this is it. I know a lot of you might already know this, but, if you’re like countless others I’ve trained and counseled over the years, you don’t think it’s a big enough deal...

Cardio sucks. Plain and simple.  No one likes cardio, especially on a diet designed to get you ripped. In a perfect world, you should be able to get ripped by manipulating your diet and training in such a way that you wouldn’t need to do any cardio. But this world is far from perfect, and if your aspirations are aimed at getting ripped enough for the stage, or anywhere close, you’re going to, in addition to starving to death on your diet, find yourself on a stair climber, a treadmill, rower, bike, etc. doing cardio, on top of your diet. Back in the Arnold era, there were guys who actually did no cardio, but you can’t compare the condition those guys brought to the stage to how ripped bodybuilders get today. Clearly, there was a big difference, and the biggest difference was the addition of cardio to the diet phase....

There is no denying the fact that muscles get attention, especially when they’re big and not covered in fat. A well muscled, well conditioned physique is usually the envy of all who view it. It’s hard to disagree that muscles are cool. Of all the muscles getting the attention at the beach or around the pool, there’s actually a preference, particularly among females, for a formidably built chest. Of all the other muscle groups, it’s the chest that stands out and gets the attention. There is even research to suggest that women, when given a choice between a male figure with a developed, muscular, chest vs a scintillating set of man boobs, will instinctively prefer the muscular version. This is thought not to be because of sexual desire, but because the muscular chest fosters feelings of safety and protection. The muscular chest indicates the man will be a good hunter,...