Deadlift Video of Phil Stevens Post Injury

This is pretty cool.

A Note About “Do Follow” Comments

As you may know, I have set up this site (in fact, all of my sites) as “do follow” because I want to encourage active commenting. It is my belief that doing so will foster an atmosphere of caring and sharing and that this will benefit all of us who come here. Lately, people have been trying to exploit the system by leaving comments like “Hi.” Take a little bit more time and add to that please! If you're going to make the effort and take the time to register, type the comment, and click submit, why not make the comment relevant to the post? Seriously, it takes, what, 30 seconds to make an intelligent comment? If you make a comment like “Hi” you've wasted your time because I will not only remove it, but I will also mark it as SPAM, which will only serve to hamper your commenting abilities on other blogs. Here's an excerpt from my newly-updated “Do Follow” page:

Finally, if you make a comment like “Hi” or “Thanks” I will most likely purge it from the system. Let's work on making this a community where each of us contributes. I do my part by making posts and pages and by responding to comments; can you do your part by making intelligent comments?

I don't mean to be  a jerk about this. But you have to remember, this is my blog and I put a lot of effort into it. You could return the courtesy by putting a little effort into it. I certainly hope this is the last time I have to write about this topic, but I am skeptical; there will always be people who want to take and never give anything. But you're not like that, right?

Fix Anything Yourself

Courtesy Men”s Health
Forget a handyman. Use these 16 tips to save money and earn bragging rights Read more.

Supplement Layering

As you may know from many of my previous posts, I have a bittersweet relationship with food supplements! You could say that I love to hate the supplement companies.

Or, I hate to love them sometimes!

There are a ton of useless supplements on the market. But there are some tried-and-true nutritional supplements, too. Supplements I wouldn't attempt to live without.

Okay, I could live without them, but my muscle-building and fitness-related goals would seriously suffer. Supplements make things easier. And, I daresay, better.

I've come to fully believe in something I call "supplement layering." It's a modular system of food supplementation that makes it super-convenient and easy to take the right supplements at the right times. All without "burning out" on supplements.

Base Level (aka, Maintenance Level)

My base level consists of the following supplements. I take these day in and day out, with one exception: Every Thursday & Sunday, I take nothing. I don't necessarily fast, but I do eat much less than normal and I take NO SUPPLEMENTS. This practice works hand-in-hand with the cycling, or periodization, principle I employ in my training.

• Multivitamin/mineral tablet or pak
  
• Joint complex of glucosamine, condroitin, and MSM
• Calcium complex consisting of calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Fish Oil
  
• Ginkgo Biloba
• Prograde Longevity
  

Mass-Building Level

I add in the following when attempting to pack on mass. This is detailed in 5 Supplements for Building Muscle.

• Creatine Monohydrate
  
• Whey protein powder
• Desiccated liver tablets
• Branch-chain amino acids or BCAA
• Other "aminos" – ornithine, arginine, glutamine

Fat-Burning Level

When trying to cut weight and/or "rip up" I remove the Mass-Building supplements and substitute these for fat-burning instead.

• Prograde LEAN
  
• Prograde Metabolism
  

Power & Strength Level

I combine the Base Level (x2 – yes, I double the dosages) with the Mass-Building Level and add in the following. The idea here is to get a blast of quick protein and carbs delivered to the muscles prior to working out and right after.

• Workout Drink

I use this drink both before and after my intense weight workouts.

That's it folks. It's simple & effective nutritional supplement usage that will allow you to reach any given goal faster and with more confidence.

The Basics to Build a Deck of Cards Workout

Syndicated from eZineArticles
The deck of cards workout provides a challenging workout for all ability and fitness levels without needing to use any equipment. All you need is a deck of cards. The basic workout uses the four different suits to determine what exercises you will do and the cards themselves determine how many repetitions you will do of each exercise. Read more…