Hi Fitness Friends! Here are 11 good articles, 4 good videos, and some glute training feedback to kickstart your week.

Good Articles

Here are some good articles from the past couple of weeks.

The Muscle Pump: Potential Mechanisms and Applications for Enhancing Hypertrophic Adaptations

Click HERE (click on the pdf button at the link for the full paper) to see an article my good friend Brad Schoenfeld and I recently got published, in The Strength and Conditioning Journal, on da Pump.

Does training heavier lead to more hypertrophy?

HERE‘s a great article from Chris Beardsley.

Does training to muscular failure lead to greater hypertrophy?

HERE‘s another great one from Chris Beardsley.

Big Time Fitness Peeps

Click HERE to see Greatist.com lay down the Top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Professionals, and HERE to see Jason Maxwell’s Top 40 Fitness Professionals he predicts will make a huge impact in 2014. It’s nice to be included on these lists and to see many of my esteemed colleagues on the lists as well.

However, the reason why I’m sharing these links is mainly because I’m very glad to see my friends Brad Schoenfeld, Alan Aragon, and Layne Norton appearing on the lists – proving that science and evidence based fitness is gaining steam! Last year none of them were included so this is very promising!

If you’re not following these peeps on Twitter, click HERE to follow Brad, HERE to follow Alan, and HERE to follow Layne.

5 Strategies for Choosing Exercises

Brad Schoenfeld discusses 5 strategies you should use when deciding what exercises to use in your training. Check it out HERE

How to Build a Bully: Inside the Stanford Football Strength Program

Click HERE to take a look inside Stanford Football’s strength training program.

Increase Athleticism in 6 Minutes

Check out an article I had published on T-Nation  teaching you to how to increase your athleticism in 6 minutes a day. Click HERE to check it out – it’s just like my Five Things You Should Do Everyday blogpost with a few updates.

Woman goes to the gym for 100 days and makes this timelapse video

If THIS video doesn’t inspire you then clearly you’re not human!

You Know You’re a Meathead When…

HERE‘s a hilarious article by Ben Bruno. At some point in my life I could relate to every one of these.

Here’s A Horrifying Picture Of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You

Below is a pic from THIS article.

Effects of Load on Good Morning Kinematics and EMG Activity 

Those of you in the Phoenix area; Andrew Vigotsky is recruiting participants for a research study being performed at Arizona State University. If you are interested please contact Andrew via the email given in the flyer below.

Good Videos

Here are some good videos from the past couple of weeks.

Favorite Exercises to Build That Butt

Here is Lola, a Strong Curves lady, performing her favorite glute exercises

Chen Wei-Ling – 375 lb Raw Squat @ 101 lbs

Chen Wei-Ling cruises through an easy 375 lb RAW squat at just 101 lbs of bodyweight. WOW!

 Konstantin Konstantinov  Pulling Sumo For The First Time Ever

Here Konstantin does sumo block pulls for the first time ever and absolutely crushes 940lbs…Not bad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f-8LsnoOqo#t=15

 Anatomy of Barbell Hip Thrust

Here is the anatomy of the barbell hip thrust – the creator did a great job with this. If anyone is interested, HERE is a free trial to the product (NOT an affiliate link).

Glute Training Feedback

Here is some good feedback on glute training from the past couple of weeks.

Last year at this time, I had no idea how much running across Bret Contreras‘s name in a blog post could change my body and my outlook on working out and life in general.  Bret, you totally pushed me out of my comfort zone time and time again but it has made me physically and mentally stronger.  Instead of being the typical frumpy 40 something mom I am empowered, confident, and happy.  My kiddos take notice of this which in turn is a huge gift I am passing on to them.  Positive and confident parents help make positive and confident kiddos!  I have also been pleasantly surprised and sometimes shocked by people who approach me in the gym.  At the beginning they were skeptical to say the least but now I often hear “whatever you’re doing it’s really working for you.” or “you’ve changed your whole body composition!”  Although I have cussed your name quite frequently I do appreciate you Bret!  – Tammy

The Get Glutes program has been so effective in glute development, I am really content with where I am at, I am at month 6(had been lifting heavy for 2 years prior so had a good base). I have a question on maintenance vs gaining more muscle.  If I am happy with where I am at now in glutes development should I just keep doing the same in terms of weight loading?  Should I not aim to add more weight to my lifts?  I don’t think I want to put on more size, my 7 year old has already commented several times about my growing behind lol, yes the program is that effective!  – Orchide

 Hi Bret! Just wanted to say Thank You for your advice last year re my glute bridges and hip thrusts!  And I thought I’d share a cheeky (get it!) progress pic from last years work.  The first pic is April when I bought the shorts, the second pic is October, our second trip to Turkey last year!  I’m thrilled with the results and am super excited for what I can achieve this coming  year! Thanks again, keep up the good work, I do love to read it!! Happy New Year! – .ViV. PS, I got a new pb of 100kg squat on NYE!! 😀

 Thank You! You, Kiefer, Jimmy Moore and Rob Wolf helped me reshape my booty in 12 weeks! Thrusters! – Christin 

I can officially hip thrust 300 lbs!!!!! Woot woot! Challenge yourself!!!! You’ll be happy you did. I was using 90lbs this time last year. – Deanna

Hi Bret! I’m on month 11 of Get Glutes, and I’ve done 3 sessions per week all the way through. My friends and husband have noticed a huge difference in my physique since starting the program – better muscle definition all over and a much better booty. In addition, I was having pain in my hip, sciatica in the same leg, and pain between my shoulder blades (probably from carrying kids), but all of those issues have been completely resolved because of this program. Just one year ago, I had not done any strength training… only running, yoga and a plyometrics class.  Now, I can hip thrust 105 kg (x12), squat 40 kg (x5), and deadlift 50 kg (x5)!  Most importantly, I feel stronger, I’m pain-free, and I love the way I look. Thank you so much! – Laura, 39

Hi Bret, I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing amount of quality information you put on your blog. I’m a research-holic with almost anything I’m interested in, and your blog is like heaven! Haha! I’ve actually shown my friends your blog — and they’re hooked now, too. Also, I just wanted to thank you for writing about daily training. I had read about daily training before, but didn’t know what that would look like in my own workouts (I had read articles re: powerlifters etc.). Thank you for spelling it out for the little people like me. I have seen amazing results in just a few weeks! I wish I had taken “before” pictures. I’ve also been incorporating barbell hip thrusts and now my glute training is killing me (in the best way). I’ve never felt such a burn in my glutes, so thank you! Keep the articles coming! – Alexandra

I just want to say thank you! For the man hours you have put into all the research, tests, trials, blogs, etc. I am simply amazed at the progress that I am seeing! 5 months in, and the results are there. I thought for so long that I was just cursed with not having a nice booty… your tools, tricks, and knowledge have helped me to prove that wrong! I have totally improved all other areas of my lifting regimen as well. Thank you and a huge thank you from my Husband!! – Sarah