I am delighted to share that my new article, Mistakes I Carried: Building Strength in a Time of Crisis, has just been published in the American Historical Review. For historians, the AHR is the big one. But what excites me most is not the prestige of the publication. It is that the piece gave me… Continue reading The Weight of History: Building Strength in a Time of Crisis
Gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is often held up as the Holy Grail of body recomposition. A desirable goal, that advanced or even intermediate trainees are now told is only possible for beginners or those using chemical means. Today's post examines the rather lengthy sounding Anabolic Burst Cycle of Diet and Exercise… Continue reading Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat: The ABCDE Diet Experiment
Compared with his less fortunate brothers who box and run, the lifter has no restrictions as to diet. The man who boxes requires good wind and staying power, and he, therefore, has to care- fully limit his allowance of liquid, and has to exercise great care in his selection of foodstuffs, avoiding pastry, all starchy… Continue reading Arthur Saxon, ‘My Ideas on Diet’, The Development of Physical Power (London, 1906).
THE RADICAL GENETICS Five years ago, Adam Smith was heading down the wrong road of life. At 6-3 (190 cm) and a "sopping wet" 140 lbs (63 kg), Adam had severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine) which caused a serious curvature to his upper back, hips that looked displaced slightly to the right, and the… Continue reading John Christy, ‘Evening the Genetic Score’, Hard Gainer Magazine, September/October (1995)
John Grimek was one of the greatest American weightlifters and bodybuilders of the 20th century. Nicknamed 'The Monarch of Muscledom', Grimek also competed for the US in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. It's fair to say he knew something about lifting weights. Today's article sees Grimek discuss one of the most pressing issues in bodybuilding.… Continue reading How Fast Should You Gain Weight and Size – John C. Grimek (1976)
The following extract comes from Vince Gironda’s 1984 Book: Unleashing the Wild Physique (available here). This book cannot be recommended highly enough, from VInce’s no nonsense take on steroids to his innovative training techniques. Today’s post comes from Vince’s advice on a lacto-vegetarian diet. The Lacto-Vegetarian Diet This is the easiest diet to follow because you can eat as much as… Continue reading Vince Gironda’s Lacto-Vegetarian Diet
You cannot spend a third of a century around physical culturists and barbell men without coming to a few conclusions. You see many enthusiasts who thrive on their training schedules and attain a perfectly satisfactory degree of physical development. You see others work and strain without noticeable improvement for months or years. Quite often these… Continue reading Harry B. Paschall, ‘How Barbell Men Go Wrong’, Muscle Moulding (London, 1950)
Take it from the pros, splitting is the way go. Full-body training, provided that the intensity is high and the routine is good, can produce some amazing results, but splitting lets you get more from less: more results from a shorter period of time spent in the gym. If you had to train all your… Continue reading ‘Basic Split Training’, Animal Owner’s Manual (New Jersey, 2010), 14
Though few exercise programmes maintain a venerated status for long in the Iron Game, the mystique surrounding 20 Rep Squat programmes has endured. As hinted by the name, such programmes require lifters to back squat twenty times before unloading the bar, and in my own experience, lying on the ground questioning your decision-making. Primarily touted… Continue reading The History of 20 Rep Squats
For Nasser El Sonbaty, who has spent 19 years torching, torturing and otherwise harassing every muscle fiber on his 5'11" frame, there are two absolutes. "The first thing is consistency; the second, intensity." Given his behemoth lower quarters -- complete with voluminous muscle bellies, subterranean separation, Gibraltarian density and shape -- we took notes. Nasser… Continue reading Kathleen Engel, ‘Put Size on Your Thighs with Nasser El Sonbaty’, Muscle & Fitness, 63: 6 (2002), 134-138
