Metabolic Masterpiece

Lose Fat and Get Jacked

Challenging Quadriceps Workout With Heavy Lifts and High Rep Sets

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This month we decided to blast our quadriceps and hamstrings during separate workouts. It’s a unique feeling when your quads are all pumped up, yet your hammies are pretty relaxed.

This workout challenged my quads on many levels…

 

As with every Aesthetic Muscle Plan workout, we include a variety of rep ranges to maximize aesthetic muscle gains…

A1 Front Squats 6-8 reps… 3 sets… 90 seconds rest between sets.

B1 Hack Squats 3-5 reps… 3 sets… 2 minutes rest between sets.

C1 Leg Extensions 100 reps (rest-pause)
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Niagara Falls and Six Pack Abs

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We just returned from an amazing family vacation to Niagara Falls, Canada. It was a very active trip with lots of walking, rock climbing, zip lining, and swimming.

Here’s some highlights from our trip…

 

While rock climbing with my daughter I was approached by a gentleman, asking me if it was OK to ask some fitness related questions… about Niagara Falls and Six Pack Abs

Six Pack Abs: Do You Want Them? Can You Get Them? Is It Worth It?

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Lately, there have been some very eye opening and thought provoking discussions around the topic of attaining six pack abs… thanks to several fitness professionals and enthusiasts who have been speaking up about how they “felt like shit” while striving for what some believe to be the pinnacle of fitness… ripped abs.

Believe it or not… Carving out chiseled six pack abs didn’t make them any happier… and their life didn’t magically improve.

I applaud this kind of transparency from my colleagues and friends. The insights from each individual transformation experience are absolutely priceless… and sharing them can make a VERY positive impact on a great number of people around the world.

six pack abs

To quote Alan Aragon from a recent MOVE seminar I attended, “I don’t think everybody can get a six pack… and I don’t think everybody should get a six pack.”

Allow that to sink in for a moment… about Six Pack Abs: Do You Want Them? Can You Get Them? Is It Worth It?

Leg Workout with Unilateral Exercises To Build ‘Functional’ Aesthetic Muscle

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Functional… has got to be one of the stupidest terms ever introduced to the fitness industry (in my humble opinion). One of my pet peeves is hearing ignorant fitness coaches mention that natural bodybuilders aren’t functional… and that natural bodybuilding produces muscle that’s all show and no go.

Many natural bodybuilders also compete in powerlifting. Many natural bodybuilders, like myself also play sports. Not only do we look great… but we ‘function’ (whatever the fuck that means), and perform exceptionally well.

This week we started a new training phase… Phase 9 from the Aesthetic Muscle Plan…

…and in addition to our heavy ass lifting sessions at the beginning of the week, we decided to include unilateral exercises during hypertrophy training sessions throughout the second half of the week.

Unilateral Exercises for the legs

You’d think that us old school meatheads would have collapsed under the demands of these single leg movements… yet we excelled… especially as we progressed through the workout. Our first sets (the ones recorded in the video below) may not have been perfect… and we still have plenty of room for improvement…

…But I believe, because of our natural bodybuilding experience, which involves training for the ‘feel’… we gain more from these unilateral exercises compared to much of the ‘functional’ crowd who I see rapidly and carelessly move through the motions while balancing on a Bosu Ball or wobble board.

Check out our complete Leg Workout using unilateral exercises and see how us meatheads make the most out of these experiences… constantly paying attention to our feedback loop and gaining valuable insights from every rep… using this knowledge to improve all of our future workouts and compound bilateral exercises…

 

Including unilateral movements has been absolutely amazing for about Leg Workout with Unilateral Exercises To Build ‘Functional’ Aesthetic Muscle

Back and Biceps Workout With Unilateral Exercises

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Today’s Back and Biceps workout included some unilateral exercises to enhance our mind muscle connection and add variety to our training. This workout is from Phase 9 from the Aesthetic Muscle Plan.

Prior to the workout I tried doing a one-arm Pull Up… and to my surprise I was able to do some. I guess this bodybuilding bro is functional after all 🙂

During the workout we utilized the assisted Pull-Up machine to hammer out some extra reps. Check it out…

 

One thing became very apparent during the workout… about Back and Biceps Workout With Unilateral Exercises

Evidence Based Recommendations For Natural Bodybuilding Contest Prep

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As with resistance training… I take an evidence based approach to nutrition. Sure I’ll take some advice from my fellow bro’s from time to time… but my nutritional foundation is built on science.

The diet industry is plagued by dogma, misleading claims, and flat out bull shit…

…Which is why I found it incredibly refreshing to see my colleagues Eric Helms, Alan Aragon, and Peter Fitschen provide detailed nutrition guidelines based on their review on a wide body of fat loss research.

I highly recommend you read this absolutely incredible, free, open source, research review paper called…

Evidence-Based Recommendations For Natural Bodybuilding Contest Preparation: Nutrition and Supplementation

Although the paper focuses on bodybuilding contest prep… I believe the advice is VERY applicable to anyone going through a cutting phase… especially if you are already fairly lean and going for six pack abs.

It’s a solid… ridiculously in depth read. Be prepared to set aside an hour to really soak up the evidence based material.

I share my thoughts and break down the research in a video here…

 

The recommendations and guidelines shared in Eric, Alan, and Peter’s research review are spot on with the approach I am taking during my current cutting phase… and producing exceptional results.

The #1 recommendation… about Evidence Based Recommendations For Natural Bodybuilding Contest Prep