Steve Burden

When to Start Cutting for Summer (Beginner’s Guide)

January 30, 2023 By Steve Burden

Every year, as spring begins drawing to a close and the first signs of summer are on the horizon, you can count on two things: The evenings will get longer and lighter, and gyms will start filling up with people looking to get “beach body” ready.

Now, as we come out the other side and summer fades into our rear-view for another year, the majority who failed to achieve their goals will start bringing out tired tropes like “there’s no point now” and “next year.”

The question you need to ask yourself though is, “Why wait?”

In order to ensure that you do, in fact, reach your beach body goals by next summer, it’s essential you work out exactly how long you need to achieve them.

That’s why, today, I’m going to help you determine exactly when to start cutting for summer, so you don’t find yourself in the same position this time next year.

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Is a 225 lbs Bench Press Good? (Statistics + Target Reps)

November 9, 2022 By Steve Burden

Of all the exercises out there, the bench press seems to have permeated into the mainstream culture more so than any other.

“How much do you bench?”

That’s a question anyone who’s even remotely serious about working out will have heard or, more likely, even been asked themselves.

What if we changed the question, though?

What if it became “How much SHOULD you bench” instead?

Many lifters seem to have set a benchmark—excuse the pun—of 225 lbs as the number representing success on the bench press.

Today I’m going to look at why that is and what a realistic goal to target with your bench press actually is.

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Does Pre-Workout Break a Fast? (And Does It Matter?)

October 28, 2022 By Steve Burden

When it comes to the world of fitness, everyone wants to see results as quickly as possible.

Everywhere you turn, celebrities, athletes, and trainers are telling you about “the best way” to achieve your goals.

This frequently leads to people trialing new supplements, fad diets, and fashionable workouts, desperately trying to find one that gives them that “quick fix” they’ve been looking for.

But what happens when you try two options that not only don’t work together, but could potentially negate the effects of the other altogether?

Well, that’s what we’re going to be discussing today, as I’m going to look at whether or not taking a pre-workout supplement breaks your fast, and if so, does it actually matter?

Before we get started, though, let’s quickly go over what fasting and pre-workouts actually are.

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Does Creatine Break a Fast? (And Does it Matter?)

November 15, 2021 By Steve Burden

One of the greatest things about the fitness industry is how it constantly adapts throughout the years, never afraid to change its standards based on new information or techniques that are discovered.

While in years past you’d have heard bodybuilding great Arnold Schwarzenegger touting the use of supplements such as creatine, you’d likely have associated concepts along the lines of fasting more with holy men, like the Dalai Lama.

In the modern fitness world, though, they go side by side, considered some of the most effective supplements and dieting techniques, respectively.

The question is, though, while they are both effective individually, what happens when you combine the two?

To answer that, we’ll first have to look at what both of those things are.

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Planet Fitness Doesn’t Have Scales (Wait….What?)

November 8, 2021 By Steve Burden

There are certain things in life that we shouldn’t be surprised by anymore, yet time and time again, they catch us off guard.

Whether it’s Floyd Mayweather coming out of retirement, The New England Patriots winning the Superbowl, or Planet Fitness promoting an idea that goes against traditional fitness ideas, we should see them coming a mile away.

But somehow, we’re just as shocked as the last time when they arrive.

It’s the latter of those occurrences we’ll be taking a closer look at today, as with their latest brainwave, Planet Fitness has decided it would be a good idea not to have scales in their gyms.

No, really.

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Incline Inner Bicep Curl: Benefits, Muscles Worked, & How-To

October 18, 2021 By Steve Burden

Nothing draws attention to your physique more than a pair of sleeve splitting arms. I’m sure we’ve all heard people being asked to flex their muscles, and they never have to ask which ones.

Unfortunately, achieving a pair all of your own is easier said than done. Otherwise, you’d likely see every guy you walked past sporting them.

It wasn’t just a few sets of basic curls that helped Hulk Hogan build those 24-inch pythons, brother.

If you really want to earn a set of biceps you can be proud of, you need to hit them from every angle, using every tool at your disposal.

That brings me to the focus of today’s article, the lost art of the incline inner bicep curl.

A strong favorite among bodybuilders since the days of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’ll explain exactly what they are, how to do them, and why you should definitely be including them in your routine.

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Brad Pitt’s Fight Club Workout & Diet Plan (Explained)

November 2, 2020 By Steve Burden

Always remember the first rule of Fight Club: Talk about Brad Pitt’s physique in Fight Club.

What, that’s not the first rule? Okay, well, maybe it isn’t, but it should be.

Over the years, Brad Pitt has put his body through a number of impressive changes to accommodate the roles he was playing, but perhaps none are more impressive than the shredded physique he displayed as Tyler Durden in Fight Club.

Achieving such a look is no small feat and requires an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to pull off.

Well, if you’ve always wanted to achieve such a look, let me show you exactly what it took to accomplish, as I dissect both the workout program and diet plan he used to put together that famous figure.

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How Many Exercises Per Muscle Group?

October 16, 2020 By Steve Burden

Do you ever find yourself slaving away in the gym and thinking, “Should I really be spending this long training one muscle?”

Or do you sometimes feel your workouts are much shorter than others around you and think you must be missing something?

While there’s no set length of a workout, as people have different goals and their bodies react to stimuli in different ways, it is important to make sure each muscle is receiving a sufficient workload.

Hitting that sweet spot ensures they get worked hard enough to encourage growth but not so much that you end up overtraining them, which at best will waste your time and could potentially even do more harm than good.

Well, if you are one of those people who is a little unsure, then don’t fear, I am going to try and help you out.

In today’s article I am going to show you how many exercises you want to be doing to get the best results possible, whatever your goals may be.

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Do Resistance Bands Build Muscle or Tone? (The Truth)

October 16, 2020 By Steve Burden

Do resistance bands build muscle or tone image

We all wake up first thing in the morning planning to hit the gym on the way home from work. But then life gets in the way.

The gym is closed or packed.

You left work too late and now don’t have an hour to workout.

Your muscles are still aching from your last workout.

While unfortunate, not being able to hit the gym doesn’t necessarily mean you have to skip your workout. An at-home resistance band workout may be a viable alternative every now and then.

Resistance bands are lightweight and easy to store when space is low.

The question is, though, are they actually suitable for what you need?

That’s the question I’ll be helping to answer for you today, as we look at whether resistance bands can actually help you to build muscle. Or are they just a toning tool?

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Ottermode: How to Get a Swimmer’s Physique (5 Tips)

October 11, 2020 By Steve Burden

There’s something quite alluring about seeing a toned body stepping out of the water.

For years James Bond girls walking out of the ocean and glistening in the sun or rows of Olympic swimmers surrounding the pool have been seen as iconic images: The pinnacle of human appearance.

Now, while the water may provide a great effect, these things wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective if the people in question didn’t have elite physiques, to begin with.

Understandably then, many guys aspire to achieve that swimmer’s physique for themselves but often struggle to recreate it. After all, these guys are elite athletes whose lives literally revolve around fine-tuning their bodies.

That said, with enough dedication, it is definitely achievable, as they are only human, after all.

Even if they may not seem it.

That’s why today I’m going to give you 5 tips to get you well on your way to achieving that physique you desire—AKA: Ottermode.

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