At last, we’ve brought back our 15-part series on Alexey Faleev and his "80/20" system of power bodybuilding and physical culture as a downloadable PDF book! It’s available here, 100 pages for a suggested donation of $5 (or none at all). I am donating proceeds to charitable organizations doing works of lean, solid goodness around... Continue Reading →
Leaning Out
Here at Lean Solid Dog HQ, we heard from an infantry reservist and Afghan veteran with a job, a grad program, and a young child to raise by himself, and he asked me to post my thoughts about getting lean again. I have definite thoughts on the subject, but my only qualifications for holding them... Continue Reading →
How to Customize Rogozhnikov’s (Non-) Routine
Rogozhnikov emphasizes that you are allowed to tinker with his plan. He emphasizes that he isn’t teaching a “routine” at all but an approach, and he tolerates much more customizing and fiddling from you, the athlete, than most Eastern European coaches would. And if you are reading this blog, you will probably need to tailor... Continue Reading →
Rogozhnikov: Post-Soviet Hero of Anti-Labor
Why do I like Russian coach Konstantin Rogozhnikov so much? One reason is that his name looks cool in Russian italics: “Константин Витальевич Рогожников.” But more importantly, I like him because I am lazy. If you visit us regularly here at Lean, Solid Dogs, then (1) I weep for you, and (2) you know that I... Continue Reading →
Cycling, Part 1: The Salad Days of the Powerlifter
We’ve edited our Faleev “80/20” power bodybuilding series into a 100-page, for-charity, donation-based e-book now available here. Enjoy!
Of Anvils and Overtraining: Why Bodybuilding Is Probably a Lousy Choice
In America, we confuse bodybuilding (lifting for bigger muscles) with strength training in general. From the 50s on, from its Mecca on Venice Beach, bodybuilding loomed biggest in the public eye, thanks to its proximity to Hollywood and the new muscle mags aimed at boys and young men across America. So naturally Americans inherited most of... Continue Reading →
Lazy Fitness
If you are a Lean, Solid Dog, you need a lot of rest. By a quirk of history, Americans took much of what we “know” about fitness from a terrible source, bodybuilders. Why terrible? Because since the Seventies, bodybuilding has been transformed a few times over by steroids, and if you are training with "Vitamin... Continue Reading →