Whenever possible, avoid the Smith Machine for bench press, (or shoulder press, or squats, for that matter). It can serve as a last resort, but it fails on two counts. First, you disengage all of the stabilizing muscles required to balance a bar,  thereby letting the machine cheat for you. In other words, you can’t…

If it comes down to a choice between the two, dynamic stretching first (and even during) a workout is generally deemed more advantageous than only static stretching after exercise. I either jump rope, or do a brief set of Asanas (Sun Salutations) before I lift weights, as it opens up my whole body very quickly and…

Thanks for the break down and follow up. I wasn’t sure how well the average duffel bag would hold up long term to repeated abuse, and wondered if the zipper or seams would tend to bust? A lot of folks at my gym use the sandbags for slams, and we’ve seen a few “epic” moments even with those commercial bags.

Seriously, we have to resist the urge to label everything with click-baity headlines, as doing so just undermines efforts to identify genuine incidents of racially motivated hate crime. As this article clearly states, Acuna had already shot someone, was stealing a car, and obviously had zero compunction about killing…

I love DIY options for workout gear, permitted that the effort and cost of input doesn’t exceed that of simply buying the item outright. In this case, it seems like most people are going to break even. The typical, mid-range fitness sandbag is going to run about $1 - $1.50 per pound capacity, which is really not that…

Too Many Cooks, along with Unedited Footage of a Bear, represent what I think of as some of the greatest achievements in television in a very long time. Perhaps some of that is bias, as I very rarely see anyone willing (or permitted) to go all of the truly weird, fucked-up places that my own imagination goes on an…

Ok, 14min Daft Punk song, challenge accepted. Listens to 1 min, skips to 4 min, skips to 7min - no distinct evolution beyond filter tweak of same exact loop. Starts to sound like it’s finally breaking at around 10min. Immediately devolves into wonky un-listenable chaos for last 3 min. Calling this a “slow burn” is…

Ok, look, we all know that frozen pizza is junk, and even the best of them is sub-par to a mediocre fresh pizza. But that still doesn’t mean they’re all created equal. DiGiornio at least tries to be tasty. Home run, Jack’s, Tombstone, and Red Baron are bargain basement trash, and strictly for the extremely…

Agreed, I don’t think anyone - save for a small band of really sheltered tweens - genuinely regarded that music as even distantly resembling punk. But the magazines and PR agents around her tried their hardest to push that image and tag line on the public by often referring to her that way. Of course, it was the late…

Right, so while it’s been thoroughly stated, it still can’t be over emphasized... that girl was never - NEH-VERRRR - in the slightest degree a punk musician. She made gum-smacking, bratty suburban teen pop music that was so cloyingly, unironically cheesy in its posturing that even Backstreet Boys seemed edgy by…

Every time society celebrates a victory like this, we must also make note of it within the broader contextual awareness of how insane it is that such a change was necessary at all, and that we operated by such absurd, puritanical, and superstitious laws up to that point. The prohibition mentality has always been among…

I know that it’s always a matter of subjective taste and opinion, but it just astounds me that people continue to watch these reboots and regurgitated story lines so eagerly. Roseanne was a good show at the time it originally aired, and that’s it. No show ever benefits from a reboot - it’s just cultural laziness and…

Got high hopes for DD Season 3. Other than that, I’m not seeing a ton of great October additions.
On another note, can you do one of these for Amazon Prime (just plain subscription, no add-on premium channels)? Every time I log in and think maybe something decent will have been added, I see the same old obsolete…

Gevalia is a good option for ground coffee, and price-wise is cheaper than Dunkins or Starbucks. Far better than Folgers or Maxwell House, IMO. Recently I started buying the whole bean Sam’s Choice Ethiopian coffee, (also a great price-point at under $5) grinding it at home, and am really enjoying it.   

The benefits to free weights over machines are almost endless, and assuming someone has the slightest idea of how to perform the basic movement of any exercise, there are very few reasons to choose a machine over free weights. If there are mobility issues, injuries, or some other specific limitation, a machine can be…

Gee, Kanye, I’m sure Elon is super thrilled to have your endorsement, especially in the form of an impromptu manic episode. Maybe it’s just time for him to go the fuck away...for a really long time. Dude was a so-so rapper with some ok hits a decade ago, currently reduced to idiotic publicity stunts, confounding…

The hex bar is a great tool for training, but a hex deadlift will target muscle groups differently than a barbell deadlift, each with advantages of their own. They definitely aren’t just interchangeable. Hex will use much more quad power and upper body, while barbell will hit the hamstrings and lower abs & hip-flexors…

That was my first thought, as well. Many people get hyped up the first time doing deadlifts with any decent amount of weight, and just start loading plates on in a hurry, resulting in rage-face moments as pictured above usually with crap form & improper breathing. I’ve seen folks control 500lbs with razor-sharp…

As we all know, the hippo campus is located in Africa, and serves as the primary campus of Sahara University, at which hippos learn their trade.

Just a glance at his current twitter feed, and you see the smug, defensive, and utterly moronic ramblings of an egotistical douchebag inexplicably bragging about “kicking leftist ass,” and telling someone else “your momma hates you...”