The X-Frame Protocols: Bicep Basics

By Monte Spicer Muscle growth requires muscle stimulation. I know I’ve been saying this for every body part we’ve covered so far, but it works the same way with every muscle. Your workouts, and the exercises you choose, have to stimulate growth by stimulating your muscle fibers and stimulating a … [Read more...]

From Bookworm to Bikini: Week Nine

By Caroline Gick Last week was all about training. This week, I want to talk about my diet. I’m at the four-week mark—in terms of time remaining until my show—and my challenge over these next thirty days will be to lean out in certain areas while not getting too hard and vascular in others. To … [Read more...]

How To Be Awesome: Dealing With Bad Days

By Jesse Burdick Eric Spoto’s day was shit. Absolute, total, unmitigated shit. At one in the afternoon, he’d managed just two hours of sleep since the night before. All he’d had to eat since three in the morning was a handful of pistachios, a cup of yogurt, and a glass of apple juice. For most … [Read more...]

The X-Frame Protocols: An Introduction to Excellence

By Monte Spicer Clear your mind. Now, picture the letter X—an X with the caps lock on, and not the lowercase version. Look at the structure of the X. Examine its design. It’s wide on top, narrow in the middle, and wide again at the bottom. … [Read more...]

How (Not) to Talk to Women

  Girls are cannon fodder at the gym. It’s not right, and it’s not fair, but that’s the way it’s always been—and the way it always will be if we don’t stand up for ourselves. Every girl appreciates the well-timed compliment, but there are ways guys can improve the way they go about doing this—and … [Read more...]

Your New Lifestyle: Relax Your Way to High Performance

Want to smash weights every time you're in the gym? Learn the meaning of rest and recovery first.  By Jim Laird What do the words “day off” mean to you? Do you know what a day off even is? What are you doing on your so-called days off? I want you to think about this right now, because you need to. … [Read more...]

How to be Awesome: Why Your Personal Trainer Sucks

By Jesse Burdick Who's the best personal trainer or strength coach in the world? I'm hoping that's me, but if it's not, I really have no idea. The reason why I don't know is because the best trainers and coaches in this business are extremely busy, and nobody's ever heard of most of them. They're … [Read more...]

How to be Awesome

By Jesse Burdick Every second of every day gives you a new chance to start shit over. Even if you don’t think it’s possible at this point, you can get moving on something good right now if you want to. That’s the best thing about training: it’s always there. Tomorrow morning, you can resolve to get … [Read more...]