muscle

Get your blood work done? Good. But as an athlete, there are some things you need to know – things your doc may not know. I was 20 years old and in for a routine check-up that included some labs. At this point in life, I lifted weights six times a week. I assumed everything would look flawless...

The Death of Bodybuilding? Forget about steroids. Now there are biceps and triceps implants, silicone abs, and even plastic lats and delts. How far can it possibly go? Find out here. Advances in modern medicine and technology have brought to market an ever broadening array of cosmetic procedures...

Three-time Mr Olympia winner Frank Zane built one of the most beloved physique’s in the late 1970s, but in a recent social media post has explained once again why he feels that excessive bulking is ultimately unproductive. Here’s Zane’s advice for replicating his success. “Bulking up means...

The Body Composition Destroyer How does terrible sleep affect testosterone, cortisol, and muscle protein synthesis? It's even worse than you think. Luckily, it's fixable. Question: What's the best way to torture a person without causing them obvious physical harm? It's easy: deprive them of...

by Christian Thibaudeau What to Do When You Look Suddenly Skinny or Fat Did you wake up today looking worse than yesterday? Don't buy it! Here's what to do instead. Many things impact how your body looks. If you wake up suddenly looking worse, the reason probably isn’t as bad as you think...

The dumbbell bicep curl and loaded preacher curl are great moves for arm day, but classic physique competitor,Wesley Vissers, also likes to take to the cables to crush those biceps, as the defined Dutchman recently explained. “A lot of people ask me, why do you train the biceps this way?”...

Chinedu Obiekea—aka Andrew Jacked—may be one of the biggest bodybuilders in the Open Division, but he’s also one of the most “flex-ible” competitors on the scene as demonstrated in a recent post on the big man’s Instagram account. The Nigerian IFBB Pro loves to limber up during workouts, as...

Why Are Those Guys Bigger Than Me? Some guys build muscle easily. Others struggle. Here's why and what to do about it. You lift hard, eat right, and keep up with all the latest training info. You do everything to build muscle, but it's a slow slog. Frustratingly, some of your gym buddies don't...

Many new lifters get and stay motivated when they make fast and significant progress. This is commonly known as “newbie gains,” and it can be the driving force to help new fitness enthusiasts go all in on training—especially when their personal missions are to get jacked. The downside to this...

The Truth About Exercise and Nutrition T Nation is known for providing cutting-edge training and nutrition info. We’re also known for telling it like it is, even if a few feathers get ruffled. So, let’s dishevel a whole brood of chickens by asking our staff a simple question. What’s something...

How to Train Smarter and Rest Harder Gains stalled? Not progressing like you should be? It may not be your workout. It may be your rest days... or lack thereof. Here's why. Build More Muscle on Off Days The way you handle your off days can greatly affect your ability to build muscle and get...

Ultra-high processed foods may be convenient, but they are crushing your gains and heading you towards osteoarthritis, according to a new study presented by the Radiological Society of North America. Here’s what you need to know. The first-of-its-kind body imaging study, designed to find out...

In the first two phases of the program, the focus was on strength and power. Now it’s time to hit the mirror muscles and get the look too. Mirror Time! For the past two months of our Beast Building program, we’ve been focusing mostly on strengthening the nervous system and the muscles, at the...

If you don't manage inflammation properly, you'll never make any gains. Here's how to make this bogeyman bend to your will. Inflammation is fast becoming the bogeyman of the muscle-building world. In fact, it may even overtake cortisol as the frontrunner of known muscle killers. Is this...

Scientists have discovered a compound that precisely controls nutrients so what you eat literally turns to muscle instead of fat. Medical research has given us something special, something that has the potential to make building muscle and losing fat a whole lot easier. Scientists have...

Dietary Restrictions You Don't Have to Make Don't fall for these nutrition myths. Unnecessary dietary restrictions will make you sad... and maybe even unhealthy. Here are the top ten. A British study found that the average shelf life of a new hobby was 16 months. Whether your new-found passion...

The Trommelen Study Is 30 grams of protein the maximum you can use in one meal? New research says no. Here's why. A new revelation about protein just dropped in the journal Cell (1). Let’s dig into it. People always say, “The body can only use 30 grams of protein at once!” Is that true? Well...

How to Make Every Gram of Protein Count Everyone fights about how much protein to eat, but what really matters is how much protein you absorb. Here's how to soak up every gram. For years, Big Buff Bobby and Dr. James Squatzalot have been fighting over the optimal amount of protein the people of...

What you eat will either be used by muscle or stored as fat. It's called nutrient partitioning. Here's how to optimize it. Do you know anybody who’s built? I mean really built? One of those rare people who’s a mix of chiseled granite, flesh, and comic-book superhero? Almost every calorie these...

Croatia’s Petar Klančir is a respected bodybuilder and a force to be reckoned with in the gym, so it’s great that this man-mountain is passing on his hard-earned tips for making epic gains. Recently, the coach and HYROX athlete explained one of the moves that builds his pectorals, focussing on...