ATOMIC DOG Staying Faithful by TC The Atomic Dog is a weekly feature that isn't necessarily about weight training or bodybuilding. Sometimes it's about sports in general, sex, women, or male issues of some kind. At times it's inspirational, but it can also be informative, funny, and even a little weird, but hopefully, always interesting and a little controversial. We hope it reflects the nature of Tes...

Out of Kilter II: No More Back Pain by Ian King A few weeks ago, we published an article by Ian called Out of Kilter . In it, Ian taught us how to correct and identify postural imbalances which will help keep us injury free in the future. In this article, the big Aussie will continue with that theme, focusing this time on treating and preventing back pain. Oh, My Achin' Back! ...

The Dead Pool, 2003 by the editors The Dead Pool That Almost Wasn't The now infamous Dead Pool began in 1998. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's an article series that speculates about which top bodybuilders are most likely to die based on reported or perceived drug excesses. Admittedly, it was a sick idea, but when TC came up with the idea over five years ago, it seemed like an appropriate wake-up ...

ATOMIC DOG The Great Santini by TC The Atomic Dog is a weekly feature that isn't necessarily about weight training or bodybuilding. Sometimes it's about sports in general, sex, women, or male issues of some kind. At times it's inspirational, but it can also be informative, funny, and even a little weird, but hopefully, always interesting and a little controversial. We hope it reflects the nature of Te...

Superman Sets How to build power and functional hypertrophy with timed sets by Christian Thibaudeau Anatomy of the Rep Most strength training programs are based on only one thing: reps. How often have you heard "ya gotta do 1 to 5 reps for strength and 8 to 12 reps for size" and other such pearls of wisdom from Michelin Man Joe, the self-appointed expert at your gym? If you’re anyth...

Ever read one of those other bodybuilding magazines and wonder why the exercise gear they review is so lame? We'll tell you why.

Big Boy Basics 8 training principles you should be using plus a beginner program! by Chad Waterbury Lessons From Dallas I made a trip to Texas a few weeks ago to give a seminar and hang out with T-mag assistant editor Chris Shugart. My introduction to Dallas was nothing short of memorable. There are many valuable pieces of information I learned during my first trip to the "Big D." The first ...

ATOMIC DOG Corn-Fed Blubber by TC The Atomic Dog is a weekly feature that isn't necessarily about weight training or bodybuilding. Sometimes it's about sports in general, sex, women, or male issues of some kind. At times it's inspirational, but it can also be informative, funny, and even a little weird, but hopefully, always interesting and a little controversial. We hope it reflects the nature of Tes...

Staying Power How to use Strength-Endurance Training to be Stronger… Longer by Matt Wiggins There's one question I can't stand hearing and it's "How much can you bench?" If I had a quarter for every time I've heard that damn question, I could quit my job. Either that or stay parked in front of a pinball machine for 16 years. Virtually any trainee (male trainees, at least) that's ever set his ...

The Big Sleep, Part 2 Snooze Your Way to Bigger Muscles and Less Fat! by JR Elsing In Part I you learned that lack of quality sleep can really slow your gains in the gym. In Part II, JR will teach you how to determine the optimal amount of sleep and how to make the most out of your time in the sack. Hardcore Slumber Are you getting optimal, muscle building levels of sound sleep? ...

Frankenfood Part One of the Just Suck It Up Series by Lonnie Lowery Halloween is just around the corner and while most poor buggers are afraid of werewolves, vampires, poltergeists and the like, Lonnie Lowery doesn't bat an eye when it comes to facing those particular types of monsters. Instead, he's afraid of particular types of food , food created by evil scientists hell-bent on bringing about the destruc...

Variable Cluster Training by Don Alessi Absolute Mass We all know building a muscular body takes time, but if you want to speed things up and kickstart some serious hypertrophy, you must make intelligent use of two core muscle-building concepts: absolute strength and absolute volume . Absolute strength is 66% correlated to functional mass. The stronger you are, the larger the fiber cross-sectional area (...

ATOMIC DOG The Tao of TC by TC The Atomic Dog is a weekly feature that isn't necessarily about weight training or bodybuilding. Sometimes it's about sports in general, sex, women, or male issues of some kind. At times it's inspirational, but it can also be informative, funny, and even a little weird, but hopefully, always interesting and a little controversial. We hope it reflects the nature of Testos...

The Big Sleep, Part I Snooze Your Way to Bigger Muscles and Less Fat! by RJ Elsing Wake Up Buff! (Sorta) It sounds like one of those annoying spam e-mails: "Lose fat while you sleep! Build muscle overnight!" But the truth is, you can get bigger, get stronger, and enhance athletic performance with the right amount and right kind of sleep. To those trying to improve their body or performanc...

21st Century Core Training by Mike Robertson, M.S., C.S.C.S. Don’t let the title throw you off. This isn’t your average fluffer article, full of tidbits on doing proper crunches, sucking in your gut, or anything of the sort. This is a bare bones, return-to-your-roots article guaranteed to give you the knowledge necessary to develop a strong, powerful core. Starting with the Ab Roller several years ago, th...

ATOMIC DOG Texas Hold'em by TC The Atomic Dog is a weekly feature that isn't necessarily about weight training or bodybuilding. Sometimes it's about sports in general, sex, women, or male issues of some kind. At times it's inspirational, but it can also be informative, funny, and even a little weird, but hopefully, always interesting and a little controversial. We hope it reflects the nature of Testos...

Part-Time Beast Big Time Gains for the Part-Time Lifter by Christian Thibaudeau Brief But Brutal When you read one of my articles you can be sure of two things. One, you’ll get the straight dope. I’m not the kind of guy who likes to use light and smoke effects to dazzle you into believing in what I’m saying. You’ll believe it because it works! Two, what you're reading will be tried-...

Out of Kilter How to Identify and Correct Imbalances by Ian King Why are you reading T-mag? What's your the main goal? Most likely you want to get bigger, stronger, or perform better athletically. Well, guess what? You're missing something. Your answer should have been, "I want to develop long term joint and soft tissue health which, in turn, will allow me to get bigger, stronger and perform better....

Kill The Gurus! by Dave Barr Have you ever wanted to be recognized as an authority on bodybuilding, powerlifting, and performance enhancement? Do you want to be the "Go-To" guy when people want to know how to get big and strong? Ever imagined having the prestige of being a "local guru"? You probably wouldn’t be here if these things didn’t apply to you, so read on and see ...