Tagged with 'ifbb pro'

Most competitors like the off-season. They can make improvements and get bigger and stronger without worrying about being ultra shredded. But what if things get out of hand? How far is too far? Renee Jewett lets us know how she makes that call and what to look out for in her latest article.

"How do I add muscle and lose body fat?" Everyone is seeking an answer to this magic question. In his latest article, John Jewett shares some ways we can operate a proper off-season that will keep body fat in check while adding a substantial amount of tissue.

Who is Animal athlete Joe Mackey? We know he's an IFBB Pro bodybuilder and one of the strongest athletes in his division. Was this always the case? How did he get into the weights? All that can be found in his latest article.

A massive back is a status symbol among bodybuilders. Much like the ever-coveted big legs, having a back that turns heads is an indicator that an athlete has put in the heavy-duty work. You don't acquire a thick cobra backside by doing sissy movements, half repping, and training lightly. You have to put some elbow grease into it. Shawn Smith shares some tips for building a massive back.

You need a professional approach to achieve great success in life, especially in bodybuilding. Athletes use their mindset to stay on the straight and narrow so they can arrive at their goal as efficiently as possible. None of this is by chance. It's all by design. John Jewett explains the importance of an Olympian mindset and how it can get you to the top of the game.

Two-time 212 Mr Olympia runner-up Derek Lunsford has some things to say about the pressure involved in executing what he and others around him had come to expect.

Renee Jewett, one of Animal's newest athletes, details in her fitness journey from start to IFBB Wellness Pro.

As athletes, we evolve as the years go on. Whether it's diet, training, our look, or all of the above, we progress forward and change as needed. Things that worked back in the day may now not apply to our present circumstances. Chris Tuttle has adjusted his training since he started. Here's how.

Stop doing cardio and you will never lose your gains—this answer seems like the obvious one, right? It’s commonly thought that in concurrent training—the combined training of aerobic and resistance training—endurance training creates some interference that can limit hypertrophy signaling. As a result, bodybuilders all around have been trying to limit cardio to prevent muscle gains from slipping away, but if implemented correctly, cardio won't steal your gains. From a bodybuilding standpoint, cardio must happen sometimes to create the energy deficit possible to get stage lean. From an off-season perspective, there is some merit to continuing cardio for general health reasons, such as aiding sleep and stress management, and allowing those squats to wear out your quads before wearing out your lungs. I am going to cover how to implement cardio with the least impact to strength and hypertrophy gains.

Bodybuilding is as much internal as it is external. Yes, it is the goal to look as big and ripped as possible but the idea of health is also a factor. The types of food you choose to put in your body can have a positive or negative effect on how the inner workings operate. It comes down to what you choose to fork into your mouth. Chris Tuttle, Registered Dietitian, dives deeper on the subject.

In the fitness world, people rely heavily on calorie free foods and products. They want to enjoy all the yummy sweet and savory foods but limit all the calories. Zero calorie foods are also a go-to for many in order to satisfy cravings. I hate to break the myth here, but zero calories on a food label does not mean it truly is zero calories. Although the amounts consumed for some foods might not add up to be significant, that is not always the case. The biggest issue is that it is easy to abuse zero calorie food items when food focus is so high on test prep. If you are dieting on 1500 calories, you can easily rack up an extra 150 calories for the food items you thought were zero calorie. Now you just bumped your calorie intake up 10%; that can be the difference between getting that last bit of body fat off or not. Let’s look over some common zero calorie foods.

While maintaining good mental health has always been important for our overall wellbeing, it's more relevant now than ever due to current events derailing many of our normal routines. There are many strategies that we can employ to help ourselves keep our heads "screwed on straight." Evan Centopani, one of Animal's most grounded and logical athletes, highlights some ways we can make sure our brains and thought processes are operating optimally.