Josh Hewett | Top Form Fitness

Pre-Exhaust Training – Old School Mass Builder

One of my favorite advanced training techniques for hypertrophy (building muscle) is pre-exhaustion. This “old-school” method was used and recommended by some of the great golden-era bodybuilders from back in the day such as Casey Viator, Arthur Jones, and Mike Mentzer. However, I don’t recommend using this training protocol until you have a good foundation getting stronger with the big basic compound movements (such as squats, presses, and pulls). For myself, I like to alternate between a program like my Barbarian Strength Training and Pre-Exhaust Training every few weeks. […]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:00:11-04:00

Take charge of your health & appearance with natural solutions (guest post)

In a busy world such as we live in today, it’s not unusual for the day to day stress to reflect in your health as well as in your appearance. You may find it challenging to make time to look after your health as you should, or perhaps you are unsure of the best ways to do so. As life gets busier and work and family are placing larger demands upon you, you my find that you are getting less sleep, less exercise, and feeling more stressed. While you may not be suffering from serious health conditions, the stress of daily life may affect you in different ways. This can be in form of fatigue, depression, achy muscles and joints, as well as how you look such as baggy eyes and tired looking skin. And let’s be honest, as much as we realize the importance of our health and wellness, most [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-14T19:54:37-04:00

12 Days of Christmas Fitness

Here's my gift to you: The 12 Days of Fitness (Christmas Workout). I had several of my clients perform variations of this program yesterday... it's a fun way to get in a decent circuit training workout for the holidays. There's 12 rounds of this circuit, each round adding another exercise with one more repetition (up to 12 repetitions for the final exercise, of course). It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to complete, depending on your rep speed and rest intervals. Here's the video tutorial I created for it (you'll be impressed by my angelic singing voice!):

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:03:09-04:00

The Problem with the Fitness Industry

What the Hell is Wrong with the Weight Loss Industry? I recently watched an excellent video created by Mike Howard of Lean Minded, where he basically throws the entire fitness industry under the bus. The thing is, he makes some important observations, his critique is well-founded, and he provides some great suggestions about what to do about it. His opinion on this topic is very similar to my own, and his advice is right in line with what I’ve been saying for a while now (on my blog, YouTube, and other social media). I shared the video below in this article, and I encourage you to take a few minutes to check it out. He touches on several problems in the fitness industry at present: People seem to believe that everything causes weight gain… except excess calories. People are chasing a quick fix to get short term results for a [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-14T19:53:47-04:00

Top 5 Priorities of Fat Loss Nutrition

One of the things I’ve frequently noticed in interviewing new clients, speaking to other trainers, and communicating with other fitness freaks online, is how many different opinions there are and how much confusion there is related to fat loss nutrition. Some people are just completely clueless, while others are so devoted to a particular way of eating that their diet becomes like their religion! People have some pretty strange ideas about their diet. With so many different fad diets and nutrition protocols out there, it’s no wonder people get confused. For example, you’ve probably heard about: Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Low Fat, South Beach, The Zone Diet, Volumetrics, Raw Food Diet, Dr. Bernstein, No Carbs After 6:17PM, etc. That’s not even getting into tracking systems (calorie / portion control plans) like Weight Watchers or Nutri-System. Now, I’m not saying that all (or any) of the above nutritional strategies are necessarily [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:04:43-04:00

Instructor Courses for Teaching Clients Effective Exercises for Fitness

Guest Post from Jenny Richards, Health & Fitness Journalist: If you are a fitness freak and aspire to help others achieve their fitness goals, you may pursue a career in health management, especially personal training. Go for scientific research based accredited personal trainer certifications. These certifications would help you become expert fitness and health professionals. You would be able to deliver personalized fitness programs for your clients so that they could adopt healthy lifestyle on a long-term basis. A certified personal instructor could help out people with fitness issues at any of the numerous facilities nationwide. Right at the outset, he should be able to make his clients understand the importance of exercises for promoting good health and fitness. To know more about Gym management courses, visit Keleven’s guide. Role of Exercises in Enhancing Your Health One cannot undermine the role of exercises in promoting fitness and good health. A [...]

Josh Hewett2020-08-06T14:38:04-04:00

8 Ways to Progress Your Workouts (without Adding Load)

The key to making physical changes with your training program (ie: improving your physique, building muscle, etc) is PROGRESSION. Most people think that means lifting more weight than you did before, which certainly is the primary way to progressively introduce greater muscle tension. But if your goal is to gain muscle, maintain lean tissue while losing fat, or reshape your physique (rather than just to “get stronger” or improve performance) there are other forms of progression worth implementing. If you’re new to lifting weights then it makes sense to focus on getting stronger first. But if you already have at least a year of lifting experience and a decent strength base, it’s time to look at ways to progress in addition to increasing load. These strategies can also be employed if you hit a plateau where you are unable to move more resistance than you already are. […]

Josh Hewett2022-03-18T21:20:15-04:00

Which Supplements Are Worth Taking?

If you’re into fitness chances are at some point you’ve considered using supplements to help you reach your goals. The problem is there is so much hype, marketing, and misinformation about supplementation that it makes it really difficult to know which supplements are actually worth taking. As a trainer I get a lot of questions about what supplements to take, and since I became sponsored (by SD Pharmaceuticals) I’ve done a lot of research into this topic. The fact is that there are some supplements that can have a very significant benefit to you, while others might be a waste of money. […]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:07:46-04:00

8 Benefits of Strength Training For Women

I wish all the women who are afraid that lifting weights will “bulk them up” would show me their muscle-building secrets! I’ve been busting my ass for years to gain a few more pounds of muscle mass! Where does this fear come from? Certainly not from personal experience. Men and women need to approach their resistance training program with a similar intensity. Of course there will be small variations in each individual’s workout, but to get results both men and women need to participate in a challenging strength training program as part of their overall exercise plan. […]

Josh Hewett2020-06-14T19:48:00-04:00

The Bulgarian Method – It’s for Normal People Too (guest post)

The Bulgarian Method – it’s for normal people too (and it’s not as bad as you think)! -By Martha Munroe I’ve read a number of articles online from weightlifters trying out what they call “The Bulgarian Method” of weightlifting and reviewing what their experience was like. For those of you not in the know, the Bulgarian Method is a system of training for weightlifting developed by Ivan Abadjiev for the national weightlifting team in the 1970’s and 80’s. During his career he produced 12 Olympic champions, 57 world champions and 64 European champions. The reputation of the Bulgarian system is that it is brutal – lifting to max everyday, often several times/day, with very few assistance exercises. The verdict of many people testing this out is that it’s unsustainable, dangerous, and can’t be done without steroids. My personal experience with the Bulgarian method has been very different from that. My [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-14T19:47:01-04:00

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