relative strength advantage

by Yavor - April 2, 2010May 29, 2015

George Clooney Workout for the American: An Analysis

So I finally saw the new movie with George Clooney called the American and was pleasantly surprised by the movie. But the reason for this article is because George Clooney worked out like a madman for the movie to portray a lone wolf type of assassin in battle ready shape.

The movie turned out really, really good. Both Clooney and the lead actress, Violante Placido, daughter of legendary Italian actor Michele Placido gave a great performance. In fact, the movie somewhat reminded me to one of my favorite flicks as a teenager – True Romance with young Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette (penned by Quentin Tarantino). So anyway back to fitness.

George Clooney’s Assassin Fitness Workout Plan

by Yavor - March 23, 2010May 29, 2015

Full Contact Twist For Samurai Abs Of Steel

The full contact twist, the way I am going to teach it you, is an exercise that will give you extremely strong abdominal muscles as well as general full body strength. With this exercise you can’t help but feel the core muscles work.

You see, when you do crunches or sit-ups, you have to do countless reps, until you fatigue the muscles and finally start feeling them working. This is not the case with this drill. Here you feel the abs right away and this is part of the reason I like the full contact twist so much.

To do the exercise, you need to hedge one end of a barbell in a corner or under something that keeps it from slipping. Then load the other end of the barbell with a weight plate, squat down, grab it with both hands and then stand up and extend your arms forward.

Now the movement starts – twist from side, moving the bar in an outward arc until it touches your thigh. Rotate the hips and torso as well as the trailing foot in the direction that the bar goes. Watch this instructional video below so it becomes clearer and then take a look at the technique tips below.

Here I’m demonstrating the full contact twist with just 15kg on the barbell. This weight is a good start if you consider yourself strong, but haven’t tried this drill. If you are new to training, don’t hesitate to start with an empty bar for a set or two and gradually increase the load.

What is the Full Contact Twist

by Yavor - July 21, 2009May 29, 2015

Mario Lopez Workout Routine: You Might As Well Call Him Super Mario!

The Mario Lopez workout has been the subject of much debate. The actor, who has consistently maintained a lean and muscular body similar to the physique of Mark Wahlberg, most recently displayed his toned physique in Dancing with the Stars.

Boxing Workouts to Shed Body Fat

by Yavor - June 21, 2009May 29, 2015

Mark McManus Interview, The Muscle Hacker Shares His Wisdom On Building Muscle And Carving Out A Six Pack

This is a long over-due interview with my buddy Mark McManus. When it comes to training specifically for aesthetics and muscle growth, I consider him my go-to guy. And, he definitely walks the walk – check out how he looks!

What is your training experience?

by Yavor - May 19, 2009June 3, 2015

How To Get Insanely Good At Chin-ups And Pull-ups

Chin-ups and pull-ups for me are the most intense upper body exercises. Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by them and had always wanted to master them. This wouldn’t happen until my early twenties and here I will share my approach of getting really good at chin-ups and pull-ups with you. But first let me tell you what happened today.

No picture of a dude struggling on the pull up bar? Lets have a totally random gorgeous woman instead! By the way, most guys are totally clueless when it comes to what women like about a man’s physique. Here is the deal: hot girls dig the V-shape of the torso (the waist to shoulders ratio). Gunz or bi’s or however you call ’em serve mainly to intimidate other guys.

I Was Chilling After A Nice Walk In The Saturday Sun

by Yavor - April 24, 2009June 21, 2015

Running Stairs – The Most Badass Fat Loss Conditioning Drill… Ever!

Ever since I was a kid I remember being very winded when I had to climb up to the top of my building. And since lately I’ve been strapped for time, I decided to start running stairs when get home.

I’d just run up to the last floor and take the elevator down to my apartment.

There are very few people that run stairs and also very few people that don’t get winded when they climb a 8-9 storey building. Working the stairs makes girls trim and sexy and the dudes lean and mean.

This is why bodybuilders, soccer players, Shaolin monks and even Victoria’s secrets models keep their conditioning up with this drill

But many athletes such as basketball and soccer players, track athletes and martial artist include this drill in their conditioning. And for good reason. Running stairs kicks ass!

It melts fat and conditions you to be efficient at short distance sprinting such as running to catch the bus, scrimmaging on the basketball field, or rushing to get to class on time.

Running Stairs Technique

by Yavor - April 18, 2009May 29, 2015

Starting A Diet – Jennifer Connelly And The Day The Earth Stood Still Have Something To Teach You

A couple of weeks ago I watched a cool sci-fi movie – The Day The Earth Stood Still. I just wanted to share some reflections on it with you. The reason for this is that some of the lessons from the movie have very much in common with the kind of transformation, or change if you will, a guy or a gal has to experience in order to get a great body.

OK, I admit it. The post was kind of an excuse to feature a pic of the beautiful Jennifer Connelly. Couldn’t help it LOL. Seriously, her eyes… Anyway – my point is that in order to change some people need to hit the very rock bottom of their condition. They need to realize how pathetic their situation really is in order to take the drastic measures that are needed to change their body… or their lives!

Here Is the Quote From the Movie

by Yavor - April 2, 2009June 3, 2015

Renegade Blogger Exposes The Fitness Industry Supplement Conspiracy

I receive many questions from young guys asking me how they should train. Almost every single one of those emails includes a question about what supplements I would recommend to someone who is trying to build some muscle or burn a bit (or a lot) of fat. Every single time my answer is that you don’t really need supplements. If you even take any, they should be the icing on the cake.

What matters when building muscle is that you do the right exercises and that you always, and I mean always seek progressive overload. As for losing fat – no pill will help if you don’t learn the cold hard truth that you need to eat less and exercise more.

[Our lady visitors were starting to complain of too much hot girl coverage and practically no dudes. So here is a fit good looking guy… under another hot girl lol. Ok, I couldn’t help it! Can’t blame a guy for sneaking in pics of gorgeous girls… Plus, I know most… ok practically ALL guys actually workout because they want to hook up with beautiful women. Just reporting on a fact lol]

I Was Pleasantly Surprized

by Yavor - March 26, 2009June 3, 2015

Renegade Rows – Do You Make These Mistakes? Part II

A reader of this site, Andy, asked me in Part I of the renegade rows series what to do once renegade rows become way too easy. He says he doesn’t feel his abs sore after workout. I will answer this in two parts. First, I wanna make something clear regarding muscle soreness. It is a sign of only one thing – that your body was not ready or adapted for the stress that caused the soreness. Nothing else. So you may continue to workout, especially when training for strength as opposed to muscle size (these are two different goals!), without needing to blast your body so that it’s sore every time.

The second issue is whether you do the renegade rows with proper form to ensure that your core gets maximum stimulation. So in this article I will address the issue of proper form in more detail.

Good Explanation Of Proper Form

by Yavor - March 24, 2009May 29, 2015

Renegade Rows – How to Get Ridiculously Hard Abs, Part I

The renegade row, developed and named by coach John Davies, is one of the hardest and most effective abdominal exercises. The reason for this is that renegade rows force you to use the primary function of the stomach muscles – stabilization. In other words the exercise teaches you how to keep your body as rigid as possible. You have no other choice but to contract your abs as hard as possible. Otherwise you won’t be able to maintain a rigid body.

Above is a video of the renegade row. Watch and note the three main keys to the proper execution of the movement.

Technique

by Yavor - March 18, 2009June 3, 2015

Video Reveals Stallone’s Expendables Workout: 62 And Still Killin It in the Gym! The Sly-O-Rama Continues!

Hey wassup. Just wanted to give you another quick heads up re Rambo’s training – a special video with Stallone’s Expendables workout. If you missed the recent pic featuring ripped Sly, here it is once again – Sylvester Stallone Ripped for His New Movie The Expendables. So yeah, the reason I am writing this quick little post is cause I got this great vid right here for you.

There you go, Sly busting his ass in the gym for the upcoming movie The Expendables. Below are some of the gut busting exercises Sly’s doing.

Muscle Building Workout

by Yavor - March 15, 2009June 3, 2015

The L-Sit – Train Your Abs Like A Gymnast

What if it were possible to achieve the core and abdominal strength of a world class gymnast while training at home, only for a few minutes per day with no equipment or gadgets? Well guess what – it is possible to do it if you master the L-Sit.

Pictured above is Bruce Lee in an even harder variation of the L sit – the V sit. He is wearing the suit from the movie Game of Dead which he unfortunately did not finish filming. What little he did film is fantastic though.

Variations

by Yavor - February 23, 2009May 29, 2015

Sylvester Stallone Ripped for His New Movie The Expendables

This is a quick little post because I wanted to share with you this ‘leaked photo’ that is taking the net by storm. Sylvester Stallone ripped and in uber shape folks! And look at that bad-ass ink work on the shoulders. This is going to be one sick puppy folks, can’t wait for the flick. So yeah, this will be a crazy 80’s/90’s action extravaganza. Can’t wait.

This will be like the Ocean’s 11 of action movies. Anybody else as excited about this as I am, or is it just me lol? Btw – check out these videos from the Expendables Workout.

Sly hasn’t looked this good the last 15 years. And, get this, he is 62 now. O, yeah!

And If This Wasn’t Enough, Here Are Some of The Other Action Stars Who Signed Up For The Expendables

by Yavor - February 22, 2009June 3, 2015

You Don’t Have to Be on One Tree Hill to Look Good Naked

Hey what’s up. I wanted to talk about one of my favorite TV shows – One Tree Hill. The reason I’m mentioning this is that it gives a perfect representation of what I am talking about when I describe the lean look and urge you to lose fat first thing. Do it as soon as possible folks. This is the number one key to looking good. That, and having some muscle mass – passing a beginner strength training level is enough. But a low body fat percentage comes first.

This is one of the coolest shows on the tube, at least the first couple of seasons will have you hooked. What is cool about the show is it gives a realistic image of getting a lean and attractive physique. That’s what I always stress – get lean first!

by Yavor - February 21, 2009May 30, 2015

25 Movies That Motivate Me To Train Hard

I find myself getting really pumped up when I watch a good movie. For one thing, I enjoy a good movie. Plus, it never hurts to see one in which the actor or actress is in top shape. Well, Caleb Lee happened to tag me to share 25 random things about me. So here goes – my top 25 movies that motivate me to train hard, kick ass and take names.

American Psycho
The self-obsessed and narcissistic psychopath played by Christian Bale takes great pride in every detail of his life. He is constantly on a diet and exercises religiously. The ironic thing is that although Christian Bale got into fantastic shape for the movie, the message of the film is that this level of body consciousness shows an unhealthy mind, obsessed with vanity. He is still a great physique role model though LOL.

I Am Legend
What better way to portray the solitude of the man dedicated to his training than to feature it against the backdrop of an empty city. Will Smith purposefully leaned down quite a bit in order to be convincing as a man fighting for his survival. Plus a real fun movie, folks.

I, Robot
Every movie with Will Smith is worth watching so that you can nourish on some of his contagious energy. He always gives it all. Because of the physicality of the movie Will Smith opted to present a powerful looking physique. So he made the list.

G.I. Jane
At age 35 Demi Moore really started showing she was taking great care of her body. Ridley Scott cast her in the role of a woman training to be a navy seal. What follows are some of the best training sequences captured on film, including Demi doing one arm pushups. Note – Demi also shows off a fantastic physique in 2 other corny but fun movies – Charlie’s Angels 2 and Striptease.

American History X
We got Edward Norton. Personal trainer Anthony Cortés got him so buff and the change was so dramatic, that Arnold Schwarzenegger himself supposedly thought Edward was on steroids. Norton’s comment – he says he just are like hell and trained like it was going out of style.