I know that weight training is the best way to reshape your body. Imagine yourself having gained ten rock hard pounds on your shoulders, back, and chest, along with a serious drop in body fat and you will have completely reshaped your body—in a good way.

However, I still am a firm believer in the benefits of doing some form of aerobic work, not just for fat loss, but for overall health as well.

There are tons of things you can choose from; however, for me there is only one—good old fashion walking.

Why?

First off, you can almost do it anywhere, anytime, and you really do not need anything more than a good pair of walking shoes.

Second, it is low impact. I know a few people who have gone through knee replacements and trust me it was not pleasant for them, so I’ll leave the running to other people.

I know some of you will be saying, “What about sprinting, I thought high intensity cardio was a great way to burn off fat?”

Yes, it probably is, however, I’ve read about too many people messing up their Achilles tendons and tearing hamstrings to really consider this option.

Also, if you are really doing some intense leg workouts, the last thing you need is more work for your legs, and that is exactly what you will get if you do some high intensity cardio, be it, sprints or interval training on a stationary bike.

That leads me to my third point about walking—it burns calories—without being stressful on the legs—meaning it does not dip into your reserves too much.

And last but not least, you can scale it up, meaning, if you really are dragging and you do not feel like doing any cardio you can just go for a slow walk. However, if you are really in need of some calorie burn off, you can go for a brisk walk.

CONCLUSION

Walking may not be the hot thing-of-the-month, however, that does not mean it is not effective.

So the next time you are looking to burn off some additional calories try a nice brisk walk.

Trust me you will not be disappointed!

Below is my review of Gaspari Nutrition’s MyoFusion Protein Powder.

When I first started seeing ads for MyoFusion I must admit to being excited because like many who have been bodybuilding for a while and remember the days of terrible shakes—and companies that we just did not trust—I trust Gaspari Nutrition and believed that this product would be top quality.

And I was not mistaken, although when I went to my local nutrition store to pick up a can of MyoFusion (the two pound can), I was a little concerned because I had hoped to pick up the milk chocolate flavor—but all they had was the Double Chocolate.

TASTE:

Very drinkable, goes down easy and even though I am only about half way through the can, I can see myself not getting tired of this flavor—which is very good, not too heavy on the chocolate, but enough so that you can taste it.

MIXABLITY:

Takes a little longer to mix in my over sized cup (using only a spoon) than some of the protein powders that I have used, but to me this is not a big deal.

NUTRITION PROFILE:

With twenty-five grams of high quality protein per scoop, only three grams of fat, and five carbs (for the double rich chocolate variety) it works out very nicely.

I was also happy that they did not add-in a full spectrum vitamin and mineral blend, as I already take a high quality multi, however, if this is something that you are looking for in your powder you should take this into account before purchasing a can.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I consider protein powder to be essential to every serious bodybuilder because of today’s hectic lifestyles—who has time to sit down to prepare a healthy meal.

And as I stated at the beginning of this review, I trust Gaspari Nutrition and would recommend this protein to anyone who is looking to try something new.

However to be totally one hundred percent honest, I am not a fan of all their products, so please do not take this review to mean that I endorse everything that they make—because that is not the case.

STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR GOALS!

With summer practically here and many a hot summer day ahead, perfect for showing off massive pecs as you go shirtless at the beach or pool, I figured now would be a great time for a chest post.

Many a young man has headed to the gym with two things on his mind, girls, and the intention of building a massive chest.

I remember those days!

Ah to be young again, I had no idea what I was doing, but I wouldn’t trade those days for anything, however, if I had a chance to do it again, this is what I would do.

First, I would move the flat bench press to the back of my routine—why, simple, for most people it simply builds massive front delts and triceps—not pecs.

Not to mention all of the stories of people tearing pecs doing flat benches—no thank you—I’ll pass on that.

O.K. so if bench presses (the flat variety) would be relegated to a supporting roll, what would take front and center?

For me the barbell incline press wins the chest building battle hands down—and for a number of reasons.

The number one reason is because it is harder (but not impossible) to cheat on, which means less chance of injury and more work actually being done by the targeted muscle—the upper pecs.

Which leads me to the next reason, the barbell incline press hits the upper pecs—and hits them very well—which is important because most people are lacking in this area because they focus on the flat bench which works mainly the middle and lower pecs.

So when you focus on working hard on the incline press and work up to using some respectable weight on the exercise—trust me people will notice your upper pecs.

SOME POINTS

More people than not focus on the flat bench for the number one reason that it is an easy lift to cheat on, after all there are any number of ways to pull-off a bigger bench one of the most popular being rebounding the bar off your chest.

Not only is this process stupid but it is flat out dangerous, so please do not do it—that is if you value your health and the health of your pecs and shoulders!

Also, the flat bench as stated above works mainly the middle and lower pecs, which does not sound so bad, except that you have to continually work the lower pecs or they begin to sag—not a good look.

Am I against flat benching, no, not if you do the exercise the right way, and do not do it excessively?

As for why I favor the incline press more, well, it goes beyond cosmetic reasons because when you work the upper pecs you help to secure your shoulders and the carry over to the athletic field is a lot greater for the incline press than the flat bench.

CONCLUSION

I did not mean for this post to run so long, so I am going to save my secondary exercise for building massive pecs for later—so please be on the lookout for part two of this post.

Meanwhile get started on building those upper pecs—believe me your chest will thank you.

STAY PUMPED

With summer time nearly here I can almost see people gearing up on the cardio to get rid of this past winter’s bulk.

Which is why I decided that now might be the time to talk about the practice of bulking up, to build muscle.

In theory bulking up (for anyone new to bodybuilding, bulking up is the practice of eating more and training hard and heavy to help build more muscle, and usually this is done during the winter months) sounds good, after all, more calories plus hard training equals more muscle, right?

In a perfect world maybe, but there are plenty of factors to consider, the first of which is, how lean are you?

I will use myself as an example, when I bulked up I was a young man in my late teens and I could have been used as an anatomy chart by the local college.

In-other-words, I was as ripped as you possibly could get.

However, if you can barely see your abs I don’t think bulking up is the best strategy.

Because even with the best plan in the world, you are still going to gain some fat along with any muscle that you gain, so if you already have too much fat on you already, this, chances are, will just add to the problem.

I can hear some people shouting right now,

“But hey I’ve read that all the pros bulk up in the off season!”

While it is true that some professional bodybuilders bulk up in the off season, consider this, most if not all of them, have super genetics, which means more of the weight they do gain will be in the form of muscle—and not fat.

For the average bodybuilder out there, they might gain one pound of muscle for every two or three pounds of fat that they gain.

So packing thirty pounds in the winter will lead to a lot of fat that you must burn off come summer time.

Plus, due to all the fat that you’ve gained, there really is no way of knowing how much muscle you have really gained.

So by the time you diet down, you might only end up with five pounds of muscle for all of your work.

In part two of this post I will discuss how to go about gaining muscle without the need to bulk up in the traditional sense.

KEEP PUMPING!

I must admit that I find it kind of funny when I read the muscle mags today.

Not because they do not give good info, no, because they do in fact, they give tons of great information.

What I find funny is when the current crop of today’s top professional bodybuilders and top amateur bodybuilders talk about using free weights.

It is almost like it is some kind of revelation or something.

That is why I titled this post what I did, because back in the fifties, sixties, and seventies bodybuilders did not have all of the fancy equipment they have now, but that was O.K. because they all knew what worked.

Hard work on the basics, like bent over rows, squats, and dead lifts.

Then we got distracted by the fancy machines and the high carb diets and got away from what always works—hard work on the basics and plenty of protein.

And now it seems that the new breed of bodybuilder is finding out what so many already knew back then—if you want to improve your back—train it hard and heavy (relatively speaking of course) with the basics like chins/pull-ups, dead lifts, and all forms of rowing and it cannot help but improve.

Of course, the same goes for just about any body part.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against machines because they have their place, however, they should be used as more of a finisher than a main exercise.

I guess it is true what they say—the more things change the more they stay the same.

TRAIN HARD!

I little while back I read a training article about current Mr. Olympia Dexter Jackson and in the article he said something very important.

He said that whenever he feels a little twinge when training he takes a week sometimes two weeks off from training and he never has had a major injury.

Please don’t quote me on the above statement as I am doing it from memory so I doubt that is EXACTLY what he said. However it is what he does when he feels a twinge somewhere:

HE TAKES OFF FROM TRAINING!

Yes, I know most of you can’t even think of taking a week off from training (I agree as I can’t imagine it either) let alone two—however think about this for a minute, Mr. Jackson has been a professional bodybuilder for a long time and has steadily moved up the ladder and now he is Mr. O.

So I think he is worth listening to.

Plus, consider the alternative—if you continue to “push through it” and boom you tear something—I think your training will be disrupted for way more than two weeks.

So the next time you just ground out ten hard reps in the squat and something in your right quad just does not feel right—consider ending your workout right then—you might just prevent a minor ding from turning into a major injury.

STAY SMART

Years ago when I curiously picked up a copy of Muscle And Fitness at my local grocery store (this was before the net) I would never have imagined that I’d still be bodybuilding decades later.

Through all the fits and starts (and injuries), something inside me stayed true to bodybuilding.

I can still remember walking or riding my bike up to that grocery store and eagerly scanning the magazine rack to see if they had the new copy of Muscle And Fitness.

Later when I started to read Muscle Mag International I was like the proverbial kid-in-a-candy store because I actually had two (yes two!) magazines to look for every month.

I am sure the store managers got sick of seeing this skinny kid coming into the store the same time every month and buy nothing but one or two magazines (if they were in) and alright I’ll be honest—my favorite chocolate bar.

Honestly all I wanted were those magazines and my candy bar and nothing else.

Then I would rush home as fast as I could and devour each and every page in both magazines and, of course, try out all of the new routines.

I knew nothing about bodybuilding, supplements, proper eating and the like, and that was O.K.

What I knew was that I wanted muscles like the bodybuilders in the magazines had and that was that.

So that was my beginning in the sport.

Of course, we all got/get started differently, for some it is an older brother that we looked up to and want to be like, yet for others it was a trip to the movies where they first laid eyes on an action hero with muscles.

How we got hooked on bodybuilding does not matter, the simple fact is this, we are more than hooked on bodybuilding and all it encompasses, somewhere, somehow bodybuilding—the iron and steel, the clang of the plates, the strain and sweat of getting just that one last rep, became part of us.

To those who do not know the joy of all those early wake up calls, just so we can test ourselves—to push past previous limits before the sun peeks itself out to start another day—that is O.K.—Because we know, and that is enough.