Fitmd

For most people, what you eat consistently matters far more than exactly when you eat it.

✅ Prefer training fasted? That’s perfectly fine.
✅ Feel better with a meal beforehand? That’s fine too.

The “anabolic window” has also been massively overstated. Your body doesn’t suddenly stop building muscle because you missed a 30-minute post-workout shake. Total daily calories, adequate protein, and consistency will have a much bigger impact on your results.

Experiment, find what helps you perform and recover best, and stick with it. 💪🏽

Random exercises produce random results

The research shows gloves:
❌ Reduce max grip force by 15–20%
❌ Slow rate of force development by up to 38%
❌ Blunt the tactile feedback your nervous system needs to recruit grip muscles efficiently

And before you say “but I’m working harder with gloves” — higher effort doesn’t equal better adaptation. Grip strength is built through absolute force output, not relative effort. Gloves reduce both the force you produce AND the neural efficiency of how you produce it.

The only legitimate reason to use gloves: skin protection. That’s it.

Lifting straps are a completely different conversation. Studies show straps increase deadlift 1RM by 10–16% and allow significantly more reps on heavy pulls by removing grip as the limiting factor. For heavy deadlifts, rows, and shrugs where your back and legs still have more to give — straps are legit.

Just don’t strap everything. Train your bare grip regularly. Grip strength is one of the most validated proxies for overall physical health we have, although it’s likely a correlative, and not causative, relationship (i.e. more active, healthier people have stronger grips). Nonetheless, training your grip is still probably a good idea.

As far as calluses? Use a pumice stone 2–3x weekly after showering, moisturize your hands after training, and keep your hands dry between sets. However, calluses will still form as a necessary part of adaptation, so it’s also a matter of where your priorities lie. It’s what I like to say to my clients: “Calluses build character.”

The 1-Arm Dumbbell Row is one of the best exercises for building a stronger, wider back.

This movement targets the lats, upper back, and rear deltoids while also challenging core stability. Focus on maintaining a flat back, neutral spine, and level hips throughout the set. Rather than simply lifting the weight, think about driving your elbow back in a smooth arc as if you're trying to put the dumbbell into your front pocket.

Control the weight through the entire range of motion, avoid twisting or shrugging, and let your back muscles do the work.

CABLE TRUNK ROTATIONS are a more dynamic version of the PALLOF PRESS, another exercise meant to work the deeper abdominal muscles. Rotational movements recruit both the inner and outer obliques, muscles that run diagonally along the sides of the abdomen, as well as the deeper sheet-like muscle called the transverse abdominis. These muscles also serve as stabilizers when performing heavy lifting, in which they may work indirectly. Here’s one way to target them more specifically.

People tend to associate how they feel before a workout with how productive it is going to be, assuming that it’s not going to be worth it if they don’t feel their best. Not only is your emotional state not always predictive of how your workout is going to go, it also doesn’t matter.

That’s the great thing about exercise. It improves your life whether or not you think you “had a good workout” or not. In fact, most people will still see progress over the long term regardless of how they feel on any particular day. Show up anyway. 💪🏽