Optimizing Muscular Hypertrophy – A Scientific Perspective I am pretty confident that the majority of strength and conditioning coaches and the better personal trainers are familiar with the two distinct forms of muscular hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar.  In case you are not I will give you a quick rundown before we delve deeper into optimizing [...]

By James White Editor’s note: the title of this article is slightly misleading and I encourage those of you who are interested not necessarily in lifting heavier poundages, but in the optimal health and performance of your body to read this article.  There are a few take home gems in this for everybody.   Shortcuts [...]

The following article on frequency of training is a series of excerpts Nick Mitchell contributed to a Men’s Health article (July 2011) on the best exercise protocols for differing frequencies of training. Frequency of Training: One workout a week I took a different tack from what MH originally wanted for a one session a week [...]

This article on the one best workout for fat loss and muscle building was originally written by Nick Mitchell for AskMen.com in 2007 a few months after a particularly horrible Charles Poliquin training session… At my London personal training gym we specialise in workouts that will hand your arse to you on a plate. Sweat [...]

The plateau effect occurs in strength training when one can no longer see improvements in their training intensity (as defined by _weight lifted”) or volume. The body cannot adapt to the attempted progression in overload and as a result strength stagnates and improvements in performance and aesthetics cease to occur. From the elite lifter to [...]

Testosterone is a much maligned thing. An excess of it is blamed on all sorts of aggressive, anti social behaviour, and even the poor old prostate unjustly points it’s finger at testosterone for all it’s problems in later life. True, the irrationalities of our youth can sometimes be blamed on a wild excess of testosterone, [...]

I believe in the power of positive thinking. There should be no room in our lives for either negative thoughts or negative people. However, we also need to live in the here and now, and right at this moment in time life can be pretty tough and stressful. We are living in startling times – [...]

How to Look Good Naked Part II : Developing the Glutes This article on glute training was originally written for AskMen.com, however the information is 100% relevant for members of both sexes who want to tone, tighten and develop “winning glutes”! Of course, “winning glutes” may mean different things to different people, so at the [...]

Unfortunately it is all too common to see trainees give up on a set they could have easily finished. Half the problem is allowing negative thoughts into the mind. It is best to remain positive during the set or not to think at all. This article outlines techniques you can use to extend a set [...]

By Nick Mitchell This is the original version of an article that Nick was asked to write for the May 2010 edition of Men’s Health magazine. Let me break this to you gently, science needs to catch up with the reality of real world gym training and physique improvement.  Those of us in the trenches [...]