Predicting Maximal Strength of the Functional Athlete

The fitness industry has changed enormously over the last several years.  Initially it started out as a training methodology, and now it has become a popular strength and conditioning sport.  As any athlete knows, it requires huge amounts of work, conditioning, and strength, but just how strong is the top level athlete, and how strong can they become?  Keep reading to find out where the practical strength limits are for both top level athletes and for the above average athlete in the gym.  

Read more

Fitness Supplement Review: Blonyx HMB+Creatine

Normally I’m very skeptical of supplements.  I’ve always felt that many companies are less than scrupulous, and many of their products leave much to be desired.  It was with this in mind that I contacted Blonyx after my review of supplement research indicated that HMB and Creatine were the only supplements that have broad scientific validity.  They were kind enough to send over a sample of their HMB+Creatine product for me to conduct a 30 day self experiment.  Spoiler alert, it works, but not exactly how I thought it would. 

Read more

Functional Fitness Strength Training with Bands and Chains

Anyone experienced in the iron game can tell you that after a certain point, doing the same old thing will stop yielding results.  Most of the time, we then try to change a few details of our training plan, vainly hoping that will put us back on the gainz train.  I’m here to say that isn’t enough.

If you’ve spent some time under the bar, and aren’t making progress, then you need a change.  You need some variable resistance, in the form of bands and chains. Not only do they look badass, they can give you nearly twice the results in the same time period.  Read on, to learn how to implement them into your training plan.  

Read more

Absolute Strength: Stronger Than You Think

If you are reading this article you are stronger than you think.  Most people do not have a realistic understanding of how strong they really are.  This occurs because we can see videos of extraordinary athletes moving mountains of weight as easily as typing “strong dude” into a youtube search bar.  This phenomena is known as the availability heuristic, which means that because of the many instances of seeing something, you assume that it is the norm.  Nothing could be further from the truth, especially when it comes to strength training.  This article will show you how strong you really are compared to novices and elite athletes, using actual data, not broscience.  

Read more

Fitness Programing: Invictus Analysis

In the last several years functional fitness has changed from a fringe exercise cult with a puking clown as it’s mascot, to a world wide phenomena and competitive sport televised on ESPN.  As it has become more popular, the cream of the fitness community has risen to the top, with a few gyms producing many successful athletes.  Crossfit Invictus is one such gym, but what is the secret to their success?  This article will break down their programming style, showing you the principles behind their programing and the reasons why they are so successful.  

Read more

Supplement Review: HMB, Creatine

The first rule of supplements is, don’t take supplements.  By definition, they only supplement an already sound diet, which sad to say, doesn’t describe most people.  If you do have a good diet and exercise program, and have been consistent with it for more than a few months, then you might consider taking some supplements to enhance your performance.  This article will be for those people, and will cover scientifically validated supplements that will enhance your performance as an athlete.

Read more

Bodybuilding for the Functional Fitness Athlete

Few things cause as much angst for functional fitness folks than the prospect of bodybuilding.  Since it’s inception there has been a natural tension between these two different tribes of gym bro’s.  On one hand, bodybuilders couldn’t care less how functional they are as long as someone’s mirin’ on their instagram.  Where as functional athletes spend the majority of their time talking about metcons, paleo diets, and rolling their ass’s on pieces of foam.  You might think that these two groups have very little in common, but you’d be wrong.  This article will cover recent research on increasing muscular size, hypertrophy, and how this applies to us, because lets face it guys, secretly we want to be jacked and functional.

Read more

A Fat Loss Plan for Functional Fitness Athletes

The reason you aren’t losing weight isn’t because you can’t, it’s because you won’t.  The science behind weight loss is straight forward and it is well known to anyone who knows how to operate google.  You must create a caloric deficit to lose weight.  So what’s stopping us?  We are.  We find it easier to keep doing what we are doing, vainly hoping for an easier way to lose weight, a magic pill, a new exercise routine, anything.  We do this because we know that dieting is hard, and even harder to do consistently.  This article will cover recent research on weight loss, it’s implications for functional fitness and strength athletes, and methods to increase adherence to a simple weight loss plan.

Read more

Physiological Factors Affecting Functional Fitness

Functional Fitness has become immensely popular in the last 5 years, with several million participants.  The exercise science and research community has been slow to respond to this trend and is just now starting to publish research that examines what factors are related to functional fitness training.  In this article, we will look at which factors the exercise science community has traditionally associated with fitness, and what factors matter most for those excelling in functional fitness.

Read more

affiliate blonyx 10% web banner 728x90