Your obliques are your large abdominal muscles, located to the sides and front of your abdomen. They flex and rotate your spine, and stabilize your pelvis and trunk. In this article, you will learn about your oblique muscle anatomy, what some effective oblique exercises are, and how you can combine them into a workout. Oblique … Read more
Your lateral delts, or lateral deltoids, is the middle part of your shoulder muscle. It originates on the acromion of your shoulder blade and inserts on your humerus (upper arm bone). Its main functions are to abduct your shoulder, as well as keep your arm in place when you are lifting or carrying heavy loads. In this article, you … Read more
Is one of your arms smaller and weaker than the other? Or maybe one of your legs? Today’s question comes from Johanna, who wants to know how to fix such muscle and strength imbalances: “What should I do about muscular asymmetries? I’m getting better muscle contact on my right side, and the muscles on my … Read more
Can you build muscle in a caloric balance, and how does it compare to bulking? That’s what today’s question from Eskil is about: Can you talk about the difference between building muscle while in a caloric balance vs. bulking? That is, being in a caloric surplus. I answer this question in the video below, but … Read more
Today we’ve got a question on rep strength vs. max strength, from Miss Blue: “What are your tips for people like me, that have a high rep strength relative to their max strength. I’m having a hard time increasing my 1RM in the bench press, but I can still do 11 reps at 85% of … Read more
A few weeks back we received a question from a reader: Are assistance exercises necessary to get stronger in the squat and deadlift, or is it enough to train just those two exercises? I recorded an answer to that question which you can watch in the video below, but if you prefer reading, then just … Read more
I remember when glutamine was one of the hottest supplements around. One of the go-to supplements for anyone interested in strength training, or in exercise in general for that matter. Not only could it make you bigger and stronger, it also kept the respiratory infections away and helped you recover faster after your grueling workouts. … Read more
Preventing falls is a top priority to keep older people healthy and mobile. Over one-third of all community-dwelling people over the age of 65 fall every year, and that rate increases with age. At that age, falling isn’t just a matter of getting up again and going about your day. The older you are, the … Read more
Eccentric strength training is when you apply a greater load, sometimes more than your 1RM, during the negative part of a lift. You then remove the extra load before the concentric part. You can also use a spotter or an assisted machine to lighten the load during the concentric phase. Many strength training programs designed … Read more
Systemic concentrations of anabolic hormones like testosterone do not predict the muscle growth strength training produces. However, local factors inside your muscles, like androgen receptor content, do. The results from a recent study show that overtraining leads to lower muscle androgen receptor content. This suggests that you don’t want to cross the fine line between … Read more