By Brandon Cook

“Why bother lifting weights if you aren’t following a sound nutritional regimen? Sure, it may be fun, but are you really accomplishing anything?” -Robert Cheeke

You can lift weights all day and have the perfect routine designed for your body type, but if your nutrition is off you’re wasting your time.

You may be doing everything else right (training, recovery, mindset) and I hope you are! However, if your idea of a nutrition plan is swinging by Biscuitville for breakfast, hitting up the local Mickey D’s for lunch and eating dinner out of a box or bucket…

YOU’RE SCREWED BRO!

You can’t out train a bad diet, no matter how hard you try. Even if you could, you’d only look healthy on the outside, while dying of a coronary on the inside.

Hmm, that reminds me of a poem the Joker touted in the ol’ Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson:

“I’m only laughing on the outside
My smile is just skin deep
If you could see inside I’m really crying
You might join me for a weep.”

I think that puts it in perspective!  (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“Every major food company now has an organic division. There’s more capital going into organic agriculture than ever before.” – Michael Pollan

Living a successful life and building the physique of your dreams, all comes down to choices.

And your local supermarket has a TON of foods for you to choose from.

Unfortunately, what is stocked on most of the shelves are crappy, processed foods that are manufactured in a lab somewhere. If you’re smart you’ll avoid 95% of anything that comes in a bag, box or can.

The late Jack Lalanne wisely reminded us that “If man made it, don’t eat it.”

As for the small percentage of foods you may get in such packaging… the fewer ingredients on the label the better! You do read the labels, right?

Today I want to eliminate some of the confusion by covering some of the most anabolic foods you can select. I should also mention that you should choose organic 100% of the time if it is available and you can afford to do so.

Don’t be like most people who buy the cheapest food they can find. This isn’t a commodity item… we’re talking about making an investment in your health and future life experience.

What you spend now could possibly save you thousands of dollars later on in pharmaceuticals and hospital bills… not to mention unnecessary suffering! (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“Most people want to believe rather than to know, to take for granted rather than to find out.”- James Thurber

 In Part 1, we learned that a “contrarian” is a person with a preference for taking a position in opposition to the majority.

In Part 2, we covered the first 10 Ways to Become a Contrarian Bodybuilder by doing the opposite of what most people do.

In this killer post I’ll cover the next 10 Ways to succeed at building the body of your dreams by doing the opposite of what most trainees are doing. Then I’ll segue into revealing the highly controversial and Original Contrarian Bodybuilder! You’ll definitely want to read this all the way to the end. (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“All fixed, set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”– Bruce Lee

In Part 1, we learned that a “contrarian” is a person with a preference for taking a position in opposition to the majority. We also discussed why this may be an intelligent thing to do, despite the fact you may be considered a freak, a lunatic and/or put on house arrest for the remainder of your life.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about… you probably didn’t read Part 1 and should go do so immediately! Part 2 will still be here when you finish. lol

In this post we are going to cover the first Ten Ways You Can Become a Contrarian Bodybuilder. I’ll start off each point with what the majority of the people do when they first begin training and then explain how you should approach your training from the Contrarian perspective. Capiche’?!?!

Let’s do this!  (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“We are all brainwashed to believe that you can get bigger and stronger and leaner in a very short time, with very little effort and even less dedication. But nothing could be further from the truth, my friends.” – Jason Ferruggia

If you want to gain weight fast and have made up your mind to transform your body once and for all, then you’re in luck.

Today, I’m going over the top 10 tips that I’m personally using to gain another twenty-thirty pounds of muscle. These tips may seem simple and that’s because they are. However, applying them to your life is definitely not easy.

If you want to gain muscle fast, then you need to make this your primary mission (at least for a little while.)

I used to weigh 130lbs at 5’11” tall and through training, persistence and hard work I’ve gotten my weight up to 165lbs. However, adding another 20-30 pounds of muscle would be pretty awesome. That’s why I’ve made that one of my prime missions in life.

This blog exists to keep me focused and accountable to that mission and so that I can share with you what I’m learning along the way.

So, if you’re ready to learn how to gain weight fast, then let’s do this! (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“The deviation of man from the state in which he was originally placed by nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of diseases” ~ Edward Jenner

“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”
~ Thomas Edison

In this day and age humans are smarter and more intelligent than we’ve ever been in the past 200,000 years of our existence. As the dominant and sole survivors of the many hominid species that began emerging and evolving in Africa over 2 million years ago, humans today… Rule the Earth.

It was our very intelligence that eventually led us away from our caveman diet or primal diet and on to agricultural, animal husbandry and newer methods of feeding ourselves. With the current health crisis and dramatic rises in obesity, some may wonder if this was a good thing? (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.”
~ Jeff Arder

“Be careful about reading health books.  You may die of a misprint.”
~ Mark Twain

Growing up I ate the Standard American Diet, which forms the somewhat humorous (and at the same time depressing) acronym S.A.D. This consisted of sugary breakfast cereals, lunch meat sandwiches, gummy fruit snacks, spaghetti O’s, macaroni and cheese, lots of sweets and candies, potato chips, soda, ice cream, hamburgers, french fries, pizza, hot dogs and hot pockets and all the things “kids love!”

Maybe you can relate? Is this the diet you grew up on too or may still be eating? (more…)

By Brandon Cook

“We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There’s really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win.”
-Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.”
-Bruce Lee

The New Year is RISING and my plan for how to gain muscle mass in 2010 underway…. I’ve made up my mind to DO THIS and to increase accountability I’m documenting the whole thing on my body transformation page. Stop by and leave me a few words of encouragement and support.

The pressure’s on and I can already tell a BIG difference in my dedication to making a transformation this year just knowing that I’ve announced this to the world. I’m fully committed.  (more…)

By Brandon Cook

(The devolution of modern man thanks to Mickey D’s)

Now I know what I’m about to say in this blog post is somewhat debatable, at least according to those people who believe the Earth is flat, only 2,000 years old, and is still the center of the universe! However, I’m going to say it anyway. (more…)