Mike Westerdal

IGF1 and Muscular Development

When growth hormone travels from the pituitary gland to the liver it stimulates the production of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), which are polypeptide protein hormones. Though there are a number of varieties, among the various IGFs, IGF1 is of the mo... Read >

How to Burn More Fat with Resistance Cardio

Some guys are naturally lean and can more or less stay that way seemingly no matter how much food they eat. But in reality, men like this are rare. Most of the rest of us need to incorporate cardio into our training routines in order to keep the excess bo... Read >

1 Simple Modification To Lower Body Fat

I’m going to cut right to the chase and get to the point. Eat more veggies than starchy foods for your carbohydrate source Here’s why: The end result of all carbohydrates broken down by the body is glucose, also called blood sugar. So whether ... Read >

Gaining Muscle Weight is NOT a Mystery

How you gain weight is no mystery. You gain weight by consuming more calories than you burn off in the course of a day. The excess calories, if not used by the body for energy, muscle building, or some other metabolic process, is stored as body fat. It’s ... Read >

Review of Nick Nilsson’s Mad Scientist Muscle

Nick Nilsson is an experienced weight lifter with a degree in physical education and psychology. He’s also a personal trainer and an author, having written three different books on the topic of weight training. I recently had the opportunity to review his... Read >

Training Principle: Accumulation and Intensification

We all know what overtraining is and how it should be avoided at all costs, right? Overtraining can result in the loss of strength and muscle mass accompanied by increased risk of injury. Even more, it often includes emotional symptoms similar to depressi... Read >

Top 10 Controversial Vince Gironda Beliefs

Vince Gironda is one of bodybuilding’s pioneers. In fact many call him the father of bodybuilding. His roots go all the way back to the mid-1900s, when he opened his own gym in 1948, in North Hollywood, California. As a trainer and gym owner, Vince quickl... Read >

Rest-Pause Training

Variety is the spice of life-it's also what gets our muscles growing again when we hit a plateau. Muscle growth is a reaction of the stress of weightlifting. Muscles grow during the recovery phase in an effort to be "prepared" the next time you lift a hea... Read >

Top 5 Hybrid Training Questions

1. Is there really such thing as type III muscle fiber? A Type III muscle fiber is just a cool name for a hybrid type II muscle fiber that takes on traits of a type I fiber. It's nothing new. It's just something a lot of people haven't heard about.... Read >

Primal Workouts

Nature is amazing. Plants, animals, humans, insects and ecosystems, left on their own, over time adapt to their environment to not just exist, but to thrive. Each species is designed to do whatever it does best. For example, carnivores like wolves, lions ... Read >

Military and Police Workouts

Policemen, firemen and guys in the military have long been looked up to as "poster boys" of optimum fitness. In fact, over the last 15 years or so, there have probably been no less than a hundred different books written on the subject of how any ordinary ... Read >

100 Rep Giant Set Training

Nutrition and training expert John Parrillo is an innovator who has been on the cutting edge of bodybuilding for more than two decades. His ideas go against conventional wisdom and have been hailed as revolutionary by some and dismissed by others. Some pe... Read >

Build Hybrid Muscle & Burn Fat G-Flux Style

If you haven't heard guys in the gym talking about G-Flux yet, I'm sure you will soon. What is G-Flux you ask? Although it sounds like it might be a hot new supplement, it's not. G-Flux is actually a training and eating regimen that helps the body to burn... Read >

Medieval Workout Methods - Revisiting the English Knights

A lot of the stories about the English Knights present them as gallant, chivalrous "gentlemen" who spent a lot of time tooling around on horseback and rescuing beautiful damsels in distress in their spare time. But don't be fooled by the fairytales though... Read >

The Barbarians - A Huge Hybrid Muscle Upset!

Everyone knows that the ancient Roman warriors kicked ass. In fact, the growth of the Roman Empire was just about unstoppable for nearly 500 years. That is, up until 476 AD, when they found themselves fighting the Barbarians who invaded Rome from the Germ... Read >