Healthy Life Guide

QUESTION : I just recently started putting your weight training advice into action and using your recommended workout routines. However, it’s all a lot less than I’m used to doing. There’s less total workouts, and less sets and exercises for each muscle group in each workout. By the time I’m done, it just does not feel like I’ve done enough. I still have plenty of energy left and just feel like I could have done more. So I just wanted to double check with you: are you sure I’m doing enough in my workouts? ANSWER : Now this is a question that seems to come up a lot, especially among beginners and early intermediates. If you’ve been checking in on the comments section of The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine, then you’ve probably seen me answer some version of “am I doing enough” about a dozen times already. And come to think of it, I’ve likely done the same via email at least twice as many times over the last...

When it comes to structuring the sets and exercises in your workout routine, there’s a ton of different ways you can do it. Today however I want to look at 2 of those ways: Supersets Alternating Sets The reason I want to combine supersets and alternating sets in one article is because they are somewhat similar, and that similarity tends to cause people to use those terms interchangeably as though they mean the same thing. In reality however, supersets and alternating sets are definitely NOT the same thing, as there is one huge difference that separates them. How big is that difference, you ask? Well, it’s big enough for me to consider one of those workout methods to be highly useful (to the point where I’d sometimes recommend it), and the other to be kinda dumb for most people (to the point where I’d hardly ever recommend it). So, let’s now compare supersets and alternating sets and see which ends up being which. What Is A Superset? Supersetting involves do...

At this point you should have a quite good understanding of why properly planning your weight training volume (the amount of sets, reps and exercises you do) is so important. And, you should also be familiar with what I consider to be the optimal volume range for most people, which is the total amount of reps you should do for each muscle group per workout and per week. From here, the next logical step is to break this optimal amount of volume down in terms of how many sets and reps you should do per exercise each workout. So, let’s do just that. How Many Sets And Reps Should I Do Per Exercise? Simple. You should do exactly enough to allow you to fall within the optimal volume range for each muscle group . Honestly, as long as that happens, then exactly how you divide your volume up among exercises becomes a little less important. Of course, that is just the quick and simple answer. You’re probably going to want to know the most common and all around proven ways of doing ...

Based on the title of this article, I can already guess exactly what you’re expecting to see here… The Most Amazing Workouts! You’re expecting to see back workouts . Not just any back workouts, but the “ BEST ” ones ever created. You’re expecting to see a breakdown of the perfect exercises to do with the perfect amount of sets and reps for each along with the most effective advanced training methods to use along with it. Basically, you’re expecting to see the ultimate “back day” for your training program. Sorry to disappoint…  but you’re not gonna see that here . The truth is, if you’re reading this, there’s about a 100% chance that you should not actually have a “back day” in the first place. It’s unnecessary at best, counterproductive at worst. This of course is a reference to the stereotypical once-per-week “back day” bodybuilding nonsense you typically see in articles a...

Let’s say you want to build muscle, or lose fat, or increase strength and performance, or just improve your overall health and fitness level in any way. What do you do next? Well, if you’re smart, you put together a workout routine (and diet plan ) that will best allow you to reach that goal. That could mean weight training , cardio, sport-specific training of some kind or all of the above. But when this entire program is all set up and finally ready to be put into action, there’s still one final question you may have… when should it be done? Meaning, when is the best time of the day to work out? Not just in general, but for you specifically? What is the ideal time for you to exercise? When should you work out for the best possible results? Well, for most people, the answer is super simple: whenever . As long as you’re getting it done, that is really all that matters in the grand scheme of things. Whether you exercise in the morning, afternoon, night or a...

:Do you eat brown rice? Or white rice? Or really any type of food product with rice in the ingredients (cereal, baby food, etc.)? If so, and you haven’t been living under a rock, you may have noticed the big fuss taking place recently thanks to a report from Consumer Reports showing that all rice products contain “substantial” and “worrisome” levels of arsenic . Yes, the same toxic arsenic considered to be a group 1 carcinogen and capable of causing various health issues (e.g. cancer). Holy Crap, Is This For Real? Yup. We’ve actually known long before this report came out that all forms of rice contain higher amounts of arsenic than other foods. that is right, MANY other common foods (fruits, vegetables, grains, etc.) also contain some amount of arsenic, as does water. It’s just that rice contains a whole lot more of it. What this report did is basically confirm this and, through quite comprehensive testing, give us more details and speci...

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that people seem a lot more interested in how long it will take to reach a certain fitness goal than actually  DOING  what’s needed to reach that goal in the first place. that is probably why I get asked  how long it takes to lose weight , or  build muscle , or  get a six pack  almost as often as I do about HOW to reach those goals. And this is reason #1,835 that people fail to get the results they want. They’re just too focused on time frames and making things happen fast that they never actually make things happen at all. that is why my answers to questions like these are always more sarcastic than useful. Something like “It will take you  exactly  78 days, 14 hours, 32 minutes, 15 seconds” or “Infinity plus one” or “Longer than it would have if you didn’t waste time asking stupid time-frame questions first.” Real mature, I know. However, since I still get a...

QUESTION : Every once in a while I come across something that makes it seem like vitamins aren’t actually safe, or healthy or even good for you to be taking in the first place. As someone who takes a Vitamin D, calcium and fish oil, this concerns me. In fact, just this week I saw an article in the newspaper that talked about a new study which found that women who take certain vitamins had an increased risk of death . Is this really true? Are the vitamins that are supposed to be helping us actually capable of killing us sooner? ANSWER : Want to hear a secret? Unlike most of the questions that are asked to me and then answered on the site, this one wasn’t emailed to me. It was actually asked out-loud in real life by none other than my mom. Yup, for real. I’m of course paraphrasing her question a bit to be more descriptive (she basically asked “what’s the deal with this study?”), but she gets full credit for the existence of this article. Thanks mom! Now...

In the most basic and obvious sense, weight training exercises can fall into 3 different groups based on how they are preformed and what type of equipment is used. They are: Free Weights Body Weight Exercises Machines Despite what anyone else tells you, each type of exercise can serve a useful purpose in literally every workout routine regardless of what your goal is. However, certain types of exercises are definitely more ideal for certain people based on factors like experience level, training preferences, body type/genetics, and of course, your specific fitness goal. So, let’s go through free weight exercises, body weight exercises and machines and look at some examples of each, find out what their pros and cons are, and see how they compare with each other. You’ll then be able to easily determine which is best (and worst) for you. Free Weights A free weight exercise is any exercise where the resistance is provided by a barbell, dumbbells, or any other free moving objec...