“Important: changes to the rules for the IFBB Pro (and Semipro) Men’s Physique poses,” came an alert from the IFBB’s official Instagram account on October 8. Apparently, the big change is already being introduced but will become an obligatory part of competing in this division from 2027.

IFBB Men’s Physique Posing Requirements: Before 2027

Prior to this announcement, participants were required to hit the following five poses:

• Front Pose
• Back Pose
• Quarter Turns (to transition between front and back poses)
• Model Stance / Relaxed Pose
• Individual Presentation

What Is the New Mandatory Pose in Men’s Physique?

While the IFBB announcement did not give the newly required pose an official name, the reference image provides an example of a rear, back focused, three-quarter turn. Here, the athlete stands with his back facing the judges at a three-quarter angle, twisting his upper body slightly to the side. One arm extends downward with the fingers spread, while the opposite arm bends upward with the hand raised. Legs are staggered, with one foot behind the other, creating a long, diagonal silhouette. The new pose clearly highlights the latissimus dorsi, rear deltoids, triceps, obliques, and hamstrings while maintaining a fluid, dynamic appearance.

The IFBB also went on to explain that this pose will replace the first quarter turn during a routine. And, while this new requirement will mean more practicing for the competitors, some fans have already expressed their approval online.

“I like that,” wrote one Instagrammer. “Shows the lat sweep better than any of the current poses.”

“An interesting change,” added another viewer. “Great to see posing getting more attention”

What do you think?

To follow the IFBB on Instagram, click here.

As reported by M&F, Swoll, whose real name is Joey Sergo, was rushed into hospital on October 3, 2026, for matters related to his heart. This comes after several scares beginning in January 2023, when Swoll received surgery for “generic irregularities.” He was once again in a serious condition after a medical procedure in April 2024, resulted in part of a medical tool being left in his body. While fans had hoped that the fitness enthusiast’s ailments were behind him, this most recent incident saw Swoll taking to Instagram, to ask for “love and prayers.”

Joey Swoll Provides Update After Being Released from Hospital

On October 13, Swoll updated friends and fans with an Instagram Reel showing him back in the gym, doing what he loves best. “Cleared by my doctor to return back to the gym, so I hit some chest and triceps,” said the social media influencer. “I kept it light and I am taking it easy as I recover.”

Swoll also took the time to thank those that had provided him with some much-needed positivity in his time of need. “Thank you all so much, for all the love and support this past week!” he wrote. “Lying in the hospital, it was amazing to read all the positive comments and players. I’m SO grateful to have such an incredible community.”

Of course, community has long been the goal of Swoll, who often promotes accessibility and inclusivity within the gym space. “He’s back!” wrote one appreciative fan. “Speedy recovery,” wrote another. “Prayed for you many time over the last week,” wrote yet another.

It’s good to know that Joey Swoll can draw some power from the very community that he continues to help build. We wish him a fast and full recovery.

To follow Joey Swoll on Instagram, click here.

On Sept. 17, the FDA expanded an existing safety alert after testing found toxic yellow oleander in three more dietary supplements. Two were Niwali products labeled as tejocote, and another was Easy Forte Natural Fiber. Then on Sept. 21, Global Mix recalled Niwali Tejocote Capsules and Tejocote Pieces after FDA testing showed the stuff labeled tejocote was actually yellow oleander.

Yellow oleander contains cardiac glycosides, compounds capable of screwing with the electrical activity of your heart. The FDA says ingestion can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, abdominal pain, changes in heart rhythm and other neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems. Severe cases can be fatal. So, basically, not the kind of pre-workout buzz you’re looking for.

FDA Finds Poison in Products Sold as Weight-Loss Supplements

Now, before somebody reads this and throws every bottle of whey protein in the garbage, let’s keep our heads screwed on. This is not evidence that the entire supplement industry is selling poison. It is evidence that buying mystery weight-loss products from random corners of the Internet because the label says HERBAL is not necessarily the act of enlightened health consciousness people think it is.

And this isn’t one isolated bottle. The FDA has been chasing yellow oleander masquerading as weight-loss botanicals since 2023. Products have been sold as tejocote root, Mexican hawthorn, Brazil seed, India seed and other botanical weight-loss products, often through online marketplaces. The agency says its investigation is ongoing and it continues testing suspect products.

It gets better. In August, FDA testing found one weight-loss product called DMagic Plus contained not only yellow-oleander compounds but undeclared diclofenac, a prescription NSAID. Another called B. Magi contained yellow-oleander compounds plus undeclared phenolphthalein, a chemical the FDA says studies suggest may increase cancer risk. Now we’re not even talking about whether the ingredient works. We’re trying to establish what the hell the ingredient is.

And that’s the part fitness consumers need to understand. “Natural” is a marketing word. Nature makes blueberries. Nature also makes rattlesnake venom. The bottle doesn’t become safe because somebody put a leaf on the label.

This is especially important in weight loss because desperation is an enormous market. People want something that works fast, requires little effort and preferably has some exotic name suggesting it was discovered by a 117-year-old monk living on a mountain. Tejocote root sounds better than “eat fewer calories.” So does Brazilian seed. So does detoxifying botanical metabolic matrix.

Skip the Magic Roots. Stick to What Works.

Meanwhile the boring stuff keeps working. Control calories. Eat enough protein. Lift weights. Move your ass. Sleep. If obesity warrants medical treatment, talk to an actual medical professional about drugs that have actual manufacturing standards and human clinical data. Not nearly as sexy as a bag of magic Mexican roots you found on the Internet, but there’s an advantage. You generally know what’s in it.

And if you’ve purchased any product on the FDA’s yellow-oleander warning list, their advice isn’t “use half a serving.” They’ll tell you to stop using it and throw it away. The FDA says people who’ve taken one of the identified products should contact a healthcare provider even if they haven’t used it recently.

There are plenty of ways to lose weight. Cardiac poisoning shouldn’t be one of them.

The study recently published in the Cell Press journal, found that low carbohydrate diets triggered the largest rise in glucagon, which is the hormone responsible for burning the fat stored inside the liver. Keto also offered the largest decline in blood insulin levels. “The most surprising finding was that participants in the ketogenic diet group didn’t experience an increase in blood fat or cholesterol levels,” said Max Petersen, the study’s first author at Washington University School of Medicine. “Despite consuming the most fat.”

How Was the Study Carried Out?

42 obese adults with prediabetes and fatty liver disease were randomly assigned to one of three diets:

• Low carbohydrate / ketogenic
• Low fat
• Mediterranean

To make sure that participants followed their particular plan for 12 weeks, the scientists provided the appropriate foods and had regular meetings to make sure that the diet was being adhered to.

How Does the Keto Diet Reduce Fatty Liver Disease

The ketogenic diet reduced liver fat by an average of 67%, outperforming the Mediterranean and low-fat groups, who had both lost around 45% liver fat. But the success of the ketogenic diet is even more notable when you consider that all three groups lost around the same amount of weight.

“We know weight loss can improve metabolic health in people who are obese,” said the study’s corresponding author, Samuel Klein. “Our data suggest that if you have high liver fat content and prediabetes, reducing carbohydrate intake can have important therapeutic effects on metabolism beyond just weight loss alone.”

Drilling into the details, the ketogenic diet derived 4% of its calories from carbohydrates, and while all three groups saw a reduction on body weight of around 10%, the low carb group almost doubled their results when it came to no longer meeting the criteria for prediabetes.

Scientists now hope that this information can inform those who wish to avoid Ozempic style medications or wish to eat a diet that works in tandem with their prescription, to make better choices regarding the foods that they eat. “GLP-1-based medications have revolutionized the therapy of obesity. We now have a very effective pharmacotherapy for achieving significant weight loss,” said Max Peterson. “But in addition, our study shows that the specific composition of the diet can give you added benefits.”

Red Bull isn’t the only thing that gives you wings. 

Besides looking awesome, the lats keep your shoulders stable, support better upper-body posture, and connect your arms to your torso, improving form during heavy lifts. Strong lats improve pulling mechanics, create a stronger pressing setup, and help your upper back stay in a better position during squats and deadlifts. 

Here I’m going all things lats, including: 

• Lat anatomy and movement
• Why they matter
• What the lats need for size, strength, and better movement
• The best ways to train them
• How to program sets, reps, frequency, and weekly volume
• Common lat training mistakes
• Lat training myths
• Two sample lat workouts:

By the end, you’ll know how to train your lats for a stronger back, better pulls, healthier shoulders, and an upper body that fills out your T-shirt. 

Lat Anatomy

The lats, short for latissimus dorsi, are the body’s widest muscles and cover much of the back. They’re broad, flat, and fan-shaped, which is why well-developed lats help create that V-Taper look. 

Because of their size, the lats attach to the

• Spine
• Pelvis
• Shoulder blades
• Humerus

Because they attach to the upper arm and spine, they influence both shoulder movement and posture.

Their main movements are: 

Shoulder adduction: When you pull your arm down toward your side. 

Shoulder extension: When you pull your arm behind your body.

Shoulder internal rotation: When the inside of your shoulder joint brings your forearm and hand closer to you. 

They also help with scapular depression, which pulls the shoulders down away from your ears and is an important part of good pulling form. Train those actions well, and you’ll build a wider back, stronger pulls, and better control from your shoulders through your hips.

Why They Matter Besides the Obvious

We all know that lats are the engine behind rows, pull-ups, and chin-ups, but some don’t realize the vital role they play beyond them. 

During the deadlift, strong, engaged lats help keep the bar close to your body as you pull. When the bar drifts away, the lift gets harder, and your lower back gets unhappy. 

Your lats matter during the bench press, too. When engaged, they help create a stable base to press from, improve your pressing path, and transfer force from your leg drive to your upper body. 

That is why strong lats aren’t just a “back day” thing: they set the table for better pressing form.

Pulling your lats down and back creates upper-body tightness for barbell back squat. Doing so helps stabilize the bar and keeps you in a stronger, more upright position instead of folding forward into a good morning.

The lats also matter for shoulder health and posture because they influence shoulder position and upper-body alignment. When the lats are balanced in length, they let the shoulder blades rest flat, and the shoulders open back naturally. This supports better posture. 

And yes, they matter outside the gym, too. Pulling open heavy doors, climbing, carrying objects close to your body, and lifting things from the floor all involve the lats. Bigger lats create the look, but stronger lats help you pull, brace, carry, and move well. 

What the Lats Need

Because the lats are large and their muscle fibers run in different directions, train them through several pulling paths. You need vertical pulling, horizontal pulling, straight-arm work, loaded stretches, and good form to keep the tension where it belongs. 

Start Vertical: Pull-ups and chin-ups remain the gold standard, while lat pulldowns let you use multiple grips and body positions to target the lats from different angles to increase volume for size and strength.

Rows That Train The Lats: The Underhand dumbbell row is a great example. Use an underhand grip and pull the dumbbell back in an arc, keeping your elbow close to your torso, starting below your shoulder and ending near the outside of your hip. This shifts the focus from the upper back to the lats. 

Straight-Arm Work: Straight-arm pulldowns and their variations are as close as you’ll get to a lat isolation exercise. They’re useful because they reduce bicep involvement, making them great for lifters who struggle to feel their lats.

Unilateral Variations: Bilateral variations let you use more load but often hide muscle imbalances between sides. Strengthening these imbalances improves performance and strength on bilateral lifts and enhances lat development between sides.

Lat Considerations For Growth

You know the exercises, but that’s only part of it. For maximum growth and strength, keep these four things in mind. 

Feel the Stretch: All muscles, including the lats, respond well to the loaded stretch because you’ll work through a full range of motion and the muscle stays under tension longer. Performing chin-ups and pull-ups from a dead hang will have your lats saying thank you. 

Don’t Go Crazy:  Good form, full range of motion, and shoulder mobility all matter. Train the lats hard, but keep the reps clean. Big lats are great, but big lats that move well are better.

Full Range of Motion: Own both ends of the rep. Reach into the stretch under control, then finish by pulling the elbows down, back, or toward the hips, depending on the exercise. Cutting the ROM short changes your gains. 

Progressive Overload: Add load, reps, sets, range of motion, or better control over time. But don’t sacrifice lat tension, shoulder position, or form to move more weight. 

Sets, Reps, and Frequency

Here are general recommendations that work for most lifters most of the time. 

Lat Strength

Use sets of three to six reps on heavier pulls. Good options include weighted pull-ups, heavy chin-ups, and lat pulldowns. Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets, and keep the reps clean. 

Lat Size

Use sets of eight to 15 reps on pulldowns, rows, dumbbell rows to the hip, seated machine rows, or cable rows. This is your bread-and-butter hypertrophy work. Use a full range of motion, control the stretch, and finish each rep by pulling the elbows toward the ribs or hips, depending on the exercise. 

For a Better Connection

Use sets of 12 to 20 reps on straight-arm pulldowns, kneeling straight-arm pulldowns, cable pullovers, and band straight-arm pulldowns. These are great for lifters who struggle to feel their lats because these exercises isolate them. 

For Deadlift and Big-Lift Carryover

Straight-arm pulldown variations are useful before deadlifting because engaging the lats helps maintain a neutral spine and keep the bar close. One or two sets of 10 to 15 reps work well as a primer.

Training Frequency

Most lifters can train the lats directly two to three times per week.

Think of 12 to 16 direct lat sets per week as your weekly target. How you divide those sets depends on your goal.

If strength is the priority, spend more sets in the 3 to 6 rep range with weighted pull-ups, heavy pulldowns, chin-ups, and rows. If size is the goal, focus more work in the 8 to 15 rep range with pulldowns, rows, single-arm work, and machine or cable variations. If you struggle to feel your lats, include 12 to 20 rep sets of straight-arm pulldowns, pullovers, or band work.

Here’s an example of how to organize your weekly volume. 12 weekly sets might include four heavier sets, six muscle-building sets, and two higher-rep straight-arm sets. That gives you a fantastic combination of strength, size, and lat connection.

Common Lat Training Mistakes

Using too much weight you cannot control might stroke the ego, but it does nothing for your gains. Here are a few more mistakes to watch out for to get the most out of your lat training. 

Arm Heavy

Your hands hold the bar, but your elbows should lead the movement. When lifters focus only on pulling with their hands, chin-ups, pulldowns, and rows often turn into biceps-heavy exercises with a side order of forearm fatigue.

Fix: Drive your elbows down during pulldowns, pull your elbows toward your hips during rows, and tuck your shoulder blades into your back pocket for chin-ups. 

Missing The Stretch

Many lifters cut the top of pulldowns, pull-ups, and straight-arm exercises short. That leaves a lot of potential lat tension on the table, because the lats love a loaded stretch.

Fix: Reach overhead or forward under control, keep the ribs down, and feel the stretch without dumping on the shoulder joint. The goal is to control a stretch, not just hang through the connective tissue.

Rib Flare

When the ribs flare, the lower back often arches, turning a lat exercise into a lower-back exercise. This can happen during pulldowns, pullovers, and straight-arm work when someone tries to create range they don’t own.

Fix: Keep the ribs stacked over the pelvis by breathing out and bracing the core on top of that. This gives the lats a better chance to lengthen and shorten without the lower back taking over.

Too Much Upper Traps

If your shoulders shrug toward your ears during rows or pulldowns, your upper traps dominate. Doing so takes the focus off the lats and can lead to upper trap and neck pain. 

Fix: Tell yourself to keep your shoulders away from your ears and your chest up. You do this by keeping your neck long.

Lat Training Myths

Lat training has its share of gym myths because everyone wants a wider back. Some advice sounds good until you realize it ignores range of motion, elbow path, body position, and the fact that your biceps will love to steal the show if you let them.

Wide Grip Builds Wide Lats

Wide-grip pulldowns and pull-ups are great, but they aren’t magic — and they don’t build wide lats. A wide grip doesn’t automatically increase lat tension. In fact, it often shortens your range of motion, limits the load, and shifts stress to the shoulders and upper back for many lifters. Shoulder-width, medium, and neutral grips offer a longer ROM, and you can lift more weight. 

All You Need Is Pull-Ups

Pull-ups and chin-ups are gold-standard lat builders — but the lats need more. The problem is that pull-ups lock you into a single line of pull. Because the lats are large and wide, with muscle fibers running in different directions, dumbbell and machine variations let you adjust your body position and grips to change the line of pull and target muscle fibers that chin-ups miss. 

Rows Are Only For The Upper Back

Rows hammer the upper back, but they can also hit the lats with the right setup, grip, and elbow path. Rowing high with flared elbows shifts more attention to the traps, rear delts, and upper back. Rowing back toward the hip with your elbow close gives the lats more work. 

Lats Are Only For Back Day

They assist with deadlifts, squats, bench press setup, posture, and shoulder control. So yes, train them for width. But don’t forget they also help you lift better when no one is admiring your V-taper.

Two Samples Lat-Focused Workouts

The lats don’t need a separate “back day or bust” approach. You can train them hard during an upper-body session or weave them into a full-body workout. 

Here are two examples.

WORKOUT 1: UPPER-BODY LAT-FOCUSED WORKOUT

Goal: Build lat size and strength while still training the chest, shoulders, upper back, and arms.

1A. Chin-up, Pull-Up, or Lat Pulldown: 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps

1B. Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps

2A. Underhand Dumbbell Row: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps per side

2B. Dumbbell Overhead Press: 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps

3A. Chest-Supported Row: 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps

3B. Biceps Curl Variation: 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps

WORKOUT 2: FULL-BODY LAT WORKOUT

Goal: Train the lats as part of a full-body workout.

1A. Band-Resisted RDL: 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps

1B. Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps

2A. Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps per side

2B. Goblet Split Squat: 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps per side.

3A. Unilateral Cable Row: 2-3 sets of 15 reps per side

3B. Back Extension: 2-3sets of 12 to 15 reps

3C. Dumbbell Pullover: 2-3 sets of 10 to 15 reps

THE FINAL WORD

The winning formula is this: train the lats with vertical pulls, rows, straight-arm work, single-arm variations, and exercises that challenge the stretch position. Keep the ribs down, control the shoulders, pull toward the hips to engage more lats, and stop letting your biceps, traps, and lower back take over.

Remember to lock the lats in during your squat, bench, and deadlift because they are the difference between a sloppy rep and a clean one. Use enough volume to grow and enough weight to build muscle and strength, but never shortchange the range of motion.

If you do it right, you’ll need to buy more shirts.

Krizo, who also won the Prague Pro back in 2022, will now have a chance to better his career high, sixth place ‘O’ showing at next year’s event after a stunning display saw him take the $30,000 check and stamp his ticket to Las Vegas on Oct. 11. 

On Sunday night, Krizo’s combination of size and conditioning made him the overall pick of the judges. “1st place,” wrote the big man in a celebratory comment via his official Instagram account. “Nomination for Olympia 2027 in the pocket.”

Krizo has also confirmed that he will step on stage again at the Slovakia Pro, scheduled for Oct. 25, 2026. “We are very much looking forward to further progress,” he added. Of course, the Prague Pro also played host to several other exciting divisions, including Mike Sommefeld winning in Classic, and Shuan Clarida topping 212. Here are the full results.

Full Division Winners at the 2026 EVLS Prague Pro

• Men’s Bodybuilding Open: Michal “Krizo” Krizanek (Slovakia)
• Men’s 212 Bodybuilding: Shaun Clarida (USA)
• Men’s Classic Physique: Mike Sommerfeld (Germany)
• Men’s Physique: Emile Walker (UK)
• Women’s Physique: Dorethane Agathina (Germany)
• Women’s Bikini: Sara Punzetti (Italy)
• Women’s Wellness: Carolina Cardoso (Portugal)

Elsewhere on the show, Olympia standout Andrew Jacked returned to the stage for a guest posing spot, and the crowd were very jubilant to see the 2026 Arnold Classic winner. The flexible star even shared that he may compete in Prague next year. “Okay, I’ll make it happen,” he told the lively audience.

The campaign for the title of 2027 Mr. Olympia is already heating up.

To follow Krizo on Instagram, click here.

Then somebody finally starts looking under the hood.

A study published September 18 in Science Advances used some fairly sophisticated molecular tools to compare regular exercisers with sedentary people and found differences not merely in cholesterol, blood sugar or some other number your doctor circles in red. The differences went all the way down into metabolism, immune-cell gene activity and the accessibility of the genetic machinery those cells use to do their jobs. That’s considerably more interesting than telling us people who exercise tend to be healthier.

The researchers pulled data from the Chinese Immune Multi-omics Atlas, an enormous project that has profiled more than 10 million circulating immune cells from 428 adults. For this particular exercise analysis, they compared 40 regular exercisers with 46 sedentary subjects. The active group reported training at least three times a week and accumulating at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

And this is where things get interesting.

How Does Exercise Change Immune Cell Gene Activity at the Molecular Level?

The exercisers showed metabolic patterns associated with greater fatty-acid oxidation and antioxidant activity. Their immune cells also looked different. Researchers found changes involving cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, two components of the immune system involved in identifying and destroying infected or abnormal cells. They also found differences in chromatin accessibility, basically how available certain sections of genetic instructions are for the cell to use, along with changes in signaling associated with antigen presentation and inflammation.

In plain English, the bodies of people who exercised regularly appeared to be operating with a differently tuned metabolic and immune system.

Before somebody starts selling Immune Chromatin Activator Xtreme in a black bottle with lightning bolts on it, however, there’s a rather important catch: This study does not prove exercise caused those differences.

It’s cross-sectional. Researchers essentially took a molecular snapshot of people who exercise and people who don’t. Maybe exercise produced the differences. Very plausible. But perhaps people who exercise regularly also eat differently, sleep differently, have different body compositions or differ in some other way the study couldn’t completely untangle. The researchers also didn’t have the kind of detailed exercise information we’d need to start claiming that deadlifts improve natural killer cells more than rowing or that four workouts beat three.

And please don’t turn “exercise affects the immune system” into “exercise makes you immune to disease.” That’s not what the study says either. Immune biology is ridiculously complicated. More activity from an immune cell isn’t automatically better, and an immune system turned up to 11 isn’t necessarily desirable. Ask anyone with an autoimmune disease.

What makes this study important is something else. For years we’ve measured exercise by what we can see. Bodyweight. Waist circumference. Blood pressure. VO2 max. Muscle. Strength.

Exercise Biomarkers: Visible Muscle vs. Cellular Housekeeping

Those are obviously important, particularly to the M&F crowd, because nobody has ever stood in front of a mirror admiring his chromatin accessibility.

But underneath the stuff we can see, exercise is apparently associated with a massive amount of biological housekeeping.

That’s a useful thought the next time you have one of those workouts where nothing spectacular happens. No PR. No great pump. The scale hasn’t moved. You look exactly the same walking out of the gym  as you did walking in.

You may still have accomplished quite a bit.

The more science learns about exercise, the less it looks like something we do merely to improve the body.

It’s beginning to look like something we’re supposed to do.

Of course, chicken breast and broccoli will always have a place, but for a crispy, pan served alternative, this salmon fillet topped with a delicious honey and citrus corn salsa will please your taste buds as well as your health. “I love cooking with Chilean salmon because it’s naturally rich in flavor, has a tender, flaky texture, and is incredibly easy to cook,” says Valdes, who dropped 40 pounds on his own fitness journey. “Perfect for a quick meal that still feels special!”

As a busy chef, Valdes began to burn away the bulge when he began to make some positive choices regarding his culinary creations. “One of the biggest misconceptions I had, when I first started changing the way I ate, was that ‘healthy’ food had to be boring,” says Valdes. “I knew that wasn’t going to work for me. So, this salmon is exactly how I like to eat today. Plenty of protein, fresh ingredients, beautiful color and a ton of flavor. Salmon is satisfying after a workout, and the citrus corn salsa gives you sweetness, acidity, freshness and crunch without needing a heavy sauce. Plus, this dish tastes like something I actually want to eat, rather than something I’m forcing myself to swallow.”

How to Make Chef Chris Valdes’ Crispy Chilean Salmon with Citrus Corn Salsa

If cooking solo, here is the recipe for four servings. You could eat one and freeze the rest for a future post-workout meal. Or why not become the most popular member of your gym and share the love of fit food!

Ingredients for the Salmon:

• 4 Chilean Salmon Fillets (approx. 6 oz each)
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 lime, juice and zest
• 1 orange, juice and zest
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Ingredients for the Citrus Salsa:

• 2 cups corn kernels
• 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 red onion, finely diced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 orange, juiced
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Directions to Prepare the Salmon

1. Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels.
2. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.
3. Brush the mixture generously over the salmon and allow it to sit for around 10 minutes while you prepare the salsa.

Directions to Prepare the Salsa

1. For the salsa, combine the corn, red bell pepper, red onion and cilantro in a bowl. Add the lime juice, orange juice, honey and olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper and toss everything together.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place the salmon in the pan and cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes on the first side, depending on thickness.
2. Flip and continue pan frying for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the salmon reaches your desired level of being cooked.
3. Place each salmon fillet on a plate and generously spoon the fresh citrus corn salsa over the top.
4. Finish with additional cilantro and fresh lemon or lime for presentation, if desired.

Macro Breakdown: Why This Recipe Outperforms Chicken and Rice

“After training, I want something substantial enough to satisfy me but fresh enough that I don’t feel weighed down afterward,” explains Valdes. Indeed, a 6-ounce salmon steak is good for around 40g of protein. “Salmon gives me a great source of protein, and pairing it with fresh vegetables, corn, citrus and herbs makes the meal feel bright and satisfying.”

Valdes also tells M&F that this recipe is a great example as to how this chef’s approach to food has evolved for fitness. ”I’m not removing flavor, I’m just building flavor differently,” he explains. “Citrus, garlic, herbs, and spices do a lot of the heavy lifting here!” Fortunately, Valdes understands that eating better doesn’t mean you have to stop loving food. “It just means learning how to love food more consciously,” concludes the cook.

To follow Chef Chris Valdes on Instagram, click here.

Hemsworth, who is best known for playing Thor in the Marvel Universe was away filming his latest movie  when the actor took some time off set from set to get between the ropes. “Shooting ‘Extraction 3’ in Thailand,” shared the willing warrior in a now viral Instagram post on Oct. 7. “And, have been lucky enough to hit pads with my good mate Jack Boonsanong.”

The 6’3” Aussie was seen shirtless as he left it all in the ring during his Muay Thai training session at The St. Regis exercise room in Bangkok. It was there that he put on an impressive display, showing speed and strength as he struck the pads with a barrage jabs, hooks, knees, and kicks.

Will Chris Hemsworth ever compete in MMA?

While strong star has openly admitted that he has a burning desire to test himself in a real MMA fight, Hemsworth has also been quick to question his chances of success. The 43-year-old has previously told Complex that “A part of me wants to … I’ve trained a lot and sparred a lot over the years,” adding “I’d love to just, one day, go, ‘Right, what have I gotten here? And I’ll probably end up flat on my back, starry eyes.”

Despite his self-depreciation, Hemsworth’s recent rumble in Bangkok caught the attention of some serious MMA muscle including the UFC, who left a ‘playing close attention’ emoji under his video. Lightweight combat star Michael Chandler also added, “Boom boom boom!!!” in appreciation.

With a busy Hollywood career on the go, the chances of Hemsworth stepping into the octagon for a competitive fight might be slim, but we are certainly here for his inspiring training sessions.

To follow Chris Hemsworth on Instagram, click here.

Kingdom Strength Studio in Columbia, TN, was the venue for a different kind of commitment ceremony, as a disciplined duo took time out of their traditional nuptial process to pump some iron instead. “Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Thompson!” wrote the caption on Kingdom’s Instagram account, sharing the feat on social media. “Celebrating their wedding day with a 600-pound couples deadlift.”

Couple Commits to 600-pound Deadlift During Wedding Day

In the video, the life partners can be seen taking a deep breath, but this wasn’t about second thoughts over their union. Instead, they got to grips with the seriously stacked barbell and bent their knees in anticipation of the hard work that was yet to come. Then, proving that they are undoubtedly a match made in heaven, Mr. & Mrs. Thompson made the impressive lift. While the barbell bent under the pressure, the deadlifting duo remained strong, successfully completing their first rep as a married couple, and even holding it aloft for a period of time, so that pictures of the big day could be snapped for posterity.

Kingdom owner, Craig Aldana, who was also guest on the day, proved the strength of the congregation by making eight reps of 500 pounds that the couple can expect some seriously strong support in the future.

Sure, the tailoring may have been tested to its limits on the happiest of days, but they do say, those who train together, stay together!  

To follow Kingdom Strength Studio on Instagram, click here. 

 Walker brought his best physique yet to Las Vegas in September, winning his first Mr. Olympia title and confirming his interest in treading the boards at the Arnold Classic in March. And why wouldn’t he? Having picked up the $600,000 check for first place in Sin City, “The Mutant” could add another $750,000 to his bulging bank balance if he is successful in Columbus. Recently, Walker has stated that he wants to put even more distance between himself and top contenders like Derek Lunsford, Samson Dauda, and Andrew Jacked. But how much bigger and better could Walker realistically get in the next few months?

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Nick Walker is already adding size ahead of the 2026 Arnold Classic

In a recent Instagram post, Walker shared that one week post Olympia, he is now at 267 pounds and rising. “Food slowly going up. Cardio slowly going down,” he explained.

“How much better can Nick get?” asked TMP host Dennis James during the show.

Milos Sarcev responded that The Mutant could become even more dominant with his “stomach in check, with a little bit more width, and thickness to the back. A little bit more sweep to the thighs.” He also felt that while Walker is becoming “granite hard,” he is not as striated as he could be, although “The Mind” said he has improved in this area with the chest.

“Like you said, if he had more sweep, oh, that would change his shape,” agreed The Menace. “That would take him to another level up.”

“It would make his waist look even smaller,” added Jose Raymond.

Dennis James noted that despite the potential improvements that Nick Walker could make, his current physique is the best package that he has ever brought to the stage, observing that The Mutant’s midsection was now under control. “He was the one with the flattest stomach on stage,” complimented the host. “That alone deserves to with the f***ing show.”

To see this conversation in full on The Menace Podcast, where the panel also discussed the latest bodybuilding news and results, check it out on the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel.

Gellar, who is looking fine at 49, is expected to front the mystery series, Bad Summer People, which is based on the 2023 novel of the same name, and is certainly leading the pack when it comes to crushing her workouts but explained in a recent Instagram post that her sweat filled sessions were “Not just about getting my body in shape. It’s also about my mind.”

The fit female completed a full body workout, utilizing cables, resistance bands, and battle ropes, wowing her 5-million-plus followers with her warrior spirit.

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s full body workout

Working under coach Tadeusz Gauer, Gellar made gains with the following exercises:

• Lat Pulldowns
• Knees to Elbows (using Core Stability Board and Wobble Board)
• Standing Cable Chest Press
• Banded Sit-ups
• Face Pulls

Why this workout works

Using the V-Bar attachment, Gellar gets started with lat pulldowns, targeting her lats, upper back, and biceps, before torching her torso, arms, and legs with the core stability board and the wobble board. Here, the Scooby-Doo star recruits every muscle group as she brings her knees to her elbows.

Third-up, Gellar gets to grips with the straight bar to perform the standing cable chest press, while still engaging her core and maintaining control and time under tension. Next, the actor anchors her upper and lower body with resistance bands, increasing the force required from her upper body, lower body, core, and back, to complete each rep. The Cruel Intentions icon then crushes her face pulls, revealing her dialed-in deltoids and toned trapezius.

For her finisher, Gellar goes to battle with the ropes, blasting her upper body while also working on her grip strength, and overall stamina. “Consistency always shows,” commented coach Gauer. “Sarah Michelle Gellar comes in ready to work every single time—we don’t take it easy.”

Judging by the results, the ageless actor is proving that hard work pays off.

To follow Sarah Michelle Gellar on Instagram, click here.

Swoll, whose real name is Joey Sergo, shot to fame with his analysis of various gym scenarios, blasting attention seekers who attempt to entrap other members to star in their videos for engagement, and serving up his own style of gym justice while encouraging the use of gymnasiums as a positive space for making a brave change.

The news of Swoll’s latest heart issue comes after he was diagnosed with “generic irregularities” in January 2023. He received corrective surgery back then, but required emergency care in April 2024 after part of a medical tool was left in body, forcing the bodybuilder and cultural commentator to undergo a six-hour operation to save his life. At that time, news of Swoll’s suffering drew support from his legions of fans, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and seven-time Olympia 212 Champion, Flex Lewis.

Joey Swoll Provides Update on Latest Health Scare

While Sergo did not elaborate on the specifics of his current predicament, he did share that “It’s been a rough few days,” in the Oct. 6 Instagram update for his 5.5 million Instagram followers. “I’m still here, but doing better. Please send love and prayers.”

This wish was of course granted, with former Olympia champions Brandon Curry, Dexter Jackson, Derek Lunsford, Phil Heath, and Jay Cutler sending their best wishes, along with strongman, Luke Stoltman, and countless fans. “Get well soon, you got this,” wrote one follower, while another added “I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

The whole team at Muscle & Fitness wishes you a speedy recovery so that you can get back to what you do best, Joey!

To follow Joey Swoll on Instagram, click here.

For years, the peptide has floated around bodybuilding gyms, MMA circles, CrossFit boxes and Internet forums with almost supernatural billing. Torn tendon? BPC. Bad shoulder? BPC. Gut problems? BPC. Your Labrador limping after chasing a squirrel? Give the dog BPC.

Okay, don’t do that. But you get the idea.

What Is BPC-157 and How Does It Claim to Heal Tendons?

BPC-157 has become known as the “Wolverine peptide” because of its supposed ability to accelerate healing. It’s frequently combined with TB-500 in what people rather dramatically call the Wolverine Stack.

Until recently, nobody really knew how many people were using the stuff. Now we have our first decent look.

Researchers at health-data company nference searched more than 15 million de-identified medical records and identified 1,039 patients whose doctors had actually documented BPC-157 use. Newly documented users increased roughly 33-fold between 2020 and 2026. The work is preliminary and has not yet been peer reviewed, which is important, but it’s probably the clearest evidence yet that BPC-157 has escaped the peptide-geek underground and entered the mainstream recovery conversation.

And who’s using it? Increasingly, guys like us.

Who Is Actually Using BPC-157? (New Patient Data)

Over the study period, new users became younger and more male. Reported reasons included sports injuries, chronic pain and gastrointestinal complaints. Among patients whose source was known, compounding pharmacies and gray-market peptide sellers predominated. Here’s where this story gets weird.

BPC-157 has never been approved by the FDA for treating anything. Not tendons, not torn pecs, not tennis elbow, not the digestive problem your buddy swears disappeared three days after his first shot.

Much of BPC-157’s reputation comes from preclinical research, particularly animal experiments. What we still don’t have are the adequately powered randomized human trials you’d normally want before declaring that a drug heals human connective tissue. The new medical-record analysis doesn’t solve that problem either. It’s observational, outcomes weren’t systematically collected, and there’s no untreated control group. If somebody says his shoulder improved while using BPC-157, we don’t know whether BPC healed it, physical therapy healed it, time healed it, or he simply stopped doing the stupid exercise that hurt it in the first place.

Meanwhile, regulation is moving almost as quickly as usage.

An FDA advisory committee voted this summer to recommend allowing BPC-157 for certain pharmacy compounding, but advisory votes aren’t FDA approval and aren’t proof that the drug works. A final regulatory decision remains pending.

The Dangerous Risks of Buying Peptides Online

There’s another problem that should concern anyone buying peptides off the Internet. You may not even be buying BPC-157.

WIRED recently purchased several supposedly injectable peptides from New York shops and had them laboratory tested. Products labeled BPC-157, PT-141, NAD+ and retatrutide failed to show the advertised active ingredients. Whatever was in those bottles, the testing couldn’t verify that it was what the label said.

You can argue about whether an experimental molecule works. You can’t intelligently argue about the effectiveness of a molecule that may not even be in the bottle.

I’m not anti-peptide. Far from it. Peptides may eventually give sports medicine some extraordinary tools. BPC-157 might even turn out to deserve some of its reputation. I’ll even admit to using it and I feel like it works.

Unfortunately, science doesn’t work by testimonial. The interesting story isn’t that BPC-157 has been proven. It hasn’t. The interesting story is that thousands of people apparently decided they couldn’t wait for it to be proven.

And now medicine is scrambling to catch up with us. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Valdes recently took a little time out of the kitchen to chat with M&F, explaining how he’s not only lost this weight, but has also tackled his body and mind to keep it off in a sustainable way.

“I would describe my cooking as bold, flavorful, and heavily influenced by my Cuban roots,” says Valdes. “I love taking the Latin and Caribbean flavors that I grew up with and giving them a modern twist.”

Of course, the life of a chef runs somewhat contrary to a calorie deficit, and with a wide range of ingredients offered by these styles of cooking, staying in shape requires a conscious effort.

“I don’t think you can label Latin food as simply healthy or unhealthy,” says Valdes. “There are so many naturally nutritious ingredients such as beans, vegetables, lean proteins, seafood, avocado, fresh herbs, citrus and spices. “But at the same time, some of the comfort foods that I grew up loving can be fried, heavy in carbohydrates, or served in very large portions. I’ve now learned that I don’t have to stop eating the foods that connect me to my culture. Instead, I can change the cooking method, adjust the portions, and make smarter ingredient choices while keeping the flavors that make those dishes special.”

Of course, the foods that we crave are often tied to our emotions. “Since I was a kid, food was love, comfort, family, and celebration,” says Valdes. “My dad would treat me to chicken nuggets almost daily. “I grew up in our family restaurant, where food was around us 24/7. And, growing up Latino, it felt like everything provided a reason to gather and celebrate… and wherever there was a celebration, there was food.”

Chef Chris Valdes Examined His Emotional Relationship with Food

As a kid, Valdes’ world was turned upside down when his father went to prison and the family restaurant closed. “Around that time, I remember seeing cooking on television and becoming fascinated by it,” he shares. “When I started cooking for myself, I discovered this space where I could create, focus, and feel good about something during a time when so much around me didn’t feel good. In many ways, cooking saved me then. What started as a source of comfort eventually became my passion, my career, and the way I would build my life.”

Still, tasting six of seven dishes per day while in culinary school would make its mark. “There still isn’t really an ‘OFF’ switch,” he says of his appetite. “I even daydream about food.”

At 23 years old, Valdes was told that his cholesterol was “far too high,” noting that this was a “wake up call.” But his initial efforts were simply not sustainable. He hired a trainer and threw himself into the gym, but when he scaled back the sessions, much of the weight came back. “At 25, I even underwent liposuction,” shares Valdes. “At the time, part of me believed that if I could physically change my body, maybe everything else would fall into place, but it didn’t. What I learned was that changing my body didn’t automatically change my habits, my mindset, or my relationship with food. Liposuction could change what I saw in the mirror, but it couldn’t teach me discipline or consistency… I had to do that for myself.”

The chef, who often wows audiences on Good Morning America, knew that his identity and his livelihood revolved around food so abstaining was not an option, but changing his relationship with eating would become key. So, to stay active, Valdes tried, and then discovered a lasting love for CrossFit, and these sessions also served to improve his mental outlook.

“I didn’t have to think about everything I was carrying or what tomorrow looked like. I just need to get through the next rep,” explains the chef, noting that he built up healthier rituals by committing to the 21/90 rule, which theorizes that it takes 21 days to build a new habit, and then an additional 90 days to make it stick.

Chef Chris Valdes Now Cooks Healthier, but Never Compromises on Taste

To dial-in his food intake, Valdes made some quick and lasting changes such as giving up on sugary sodas. “It’s funny because something that once seemed completely normal doesn’t appeal to me anymore,” he shares. “I also started pulling away from really greasy foods and becoming more conscious of how certain foods made me feel after eating them. I realized that eating something just because it tasted good, for five minutes, wasn’t always worth feeling sluggish for afterward.”

Valdes explains that once he stopped thinking about removing ingredients like sugar and fat, his next step was to concentrate on the healthy ingredients that he could add. “Now I add more protein, vegetables, fresh ingredients, and foods that actually kept me satisfied.”

For this successful chef, keeping the weight off has been made easier by making smart swaps. “I’ll grill, roast, air-fry, or sear something instead of automatically deep frying it,” says Valdes. “I will use fresh citrus, herbs, garlic, chiles, and spices to create flavor rather than relying on heavy sauces. I’ll choose leaner proteins, incorporate more vegetables, and pay attention to portion sizes.”

One thing that Valdes draws the line at swapping out is flavor. “If the healthier version doesn’t taste good, you’re probably not going to stick with it,” he notes.

Being more conscious about his cooking methods and the ingredients utilized has not only battled the bulge but also made Valdes a better chef.

“I don’t consider myself a ‘healthy chef’ and I don’t want people to think I’m suddenly giving up the Cuban and Latin foods that I love, because that’s not realistic for me, and I don’t think it has to be,” he explains. “Instead, I’ve become much more intentional, and this has actually made me more creative as a chef, because I love the challenge of finding ways to keep the soul of a dish, while making choices that better fit the way I want to live today.”

To follow Chef Chris Valdes on Instagram, click here.

GLP-1 medications have quickly changed that conversation. They can meaningfully reduce hunger and food intake while helping people achieve levels of weight loss that have historically been difficult to reach through lifestyle changes alone. Suddenly, many of the promises behind the latest diet or fat-loss program face serious competition.

That puts both industries in an interesting spot. If medication can handle more of the appetite and weight-loss side of the equation, telling someone to exercise simply because it burns calories starts to feel pretty thin. Nutrition also has a bigger job than finding another way to eat less.

Both fields still have plenty to offer. The question is whether they can make a stronger case for their value once weight loss is no longer the only thing driving the conversation.

GLP-1s probably won’t end diet or fitness trends, but they could force the industries behind them to rethink what they’re selling.

GLP-1s Changed the Weight-Loss Equation

Most diet trends have spent years trying to make one basic thing easier: eating less. Some wrap that idea in a new food list or timing strategy. Others promise better appetite control. Either way, the sale usually depends on convincing people there’s a more manageable path to weight loss.

GLP-1s complicate that pitch because they can directly affect hunger and how much someone eats. In a 2026 60-week randomized trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adults taking semaglutide consumed significantly fewer calories than those receiving a placebo throughout the study, with greater appetite suppression earlier in treatment. A separate 2026 systematic review in Nutrients found that adding GLP-1 and related incretin therapies to lifestyle interventions led to substantially greater weight loss than lifestyle intervention with a placebo or control treatment.

That changes what traditional diet programs are competing against. Aimee Dempsey, RD, sees the biological effect on appetite as a major reason GLP-1s differ from other diet strategies. The medication can influence the drive to eat in a way a meal plan alone can’t.

“GLP-1s make the traditional promise of ‘just eat less’ much less compelling because they can actually change the biological drive to eat less.”

Fitness Has to Sell More Than Calorie Burn

The pressure isn’t limited to diet programs. Fitness has leaned on weight loss for a long time, often selling workouts around how many calories they burn or how quickly they can help strip fat. GLP-1s make that sales pitch harder to lean on.

Exercise has plenty going for it without asking it to carry the entire weight-loss conversation. A 2026 American Heart Association scientific statement noted that exercise alone usually doesn’t produce clinically meaningful weight loss unless activity levels are exceptionally high. It still improves cardiometabolic health and physical fitness, even when the scale barely moves. Mike Young, PhD, sees that separation between weight loss and physical capability as important.

“Medication can help someone eat less, but it cannot improve their ability to lift, climb stairs, carry groceries, play with their children, or maintain independence as they age. Training remains the tool for building and maintaining those capacities.”

That gives the fitness industry a different lane to own. Someone may be losing weight with the help of medication and still need to get stronger, improve their conditioning, or feel more capable in everyday life.

If GLP-1s take some pressure off exercise as a weight-loss tool, that may actually make the value of training easier to explain.

Weight Loss Still Has to Protect Muscle and Nutrition

Losing a lot of weight quickly creates another question that doesn’t show up on the scale: what exactly are you losing?

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Diabetes, Obesity, & Metabolism found that lean mass accounted for roughly 25% to 39% of total weight lost with incretin therapies. That proportion wasn’t dramatically different from lifestyle-driven weight loss, while lifestyle intervention paired with resistance training showed a more favorable lean-mass profile.

Those numbers reflect an important distinction. Lean mass measured through body-composition testing isn’t the same thing as skeletal muscle, so a drop in lean mass shouldn’t automatically be read as an equal amount of muscle loss. A 2026 review in Metabolites specifically cautioned against treating the two as interchangeable.

For someone using a GLP-1, resistance training is still hard to ignore. Young also points out that reduced appetite can make it easier to come up short on protein when total food intake drops.

“A well-designed resistance-training program gives the body a reason to retain muscle and strength. Adequate protein provides the nutritional building blocks to support that process, particularly when reduced appetite makes it easy to under-eat.”

Protein gets much of the attention, but reduced appetite can create a more basic problem: simply eating enough. Dempsey is especially concerned about that as food intake falls.

“The goal should never be to see how little someone can eat. It should be achieving the health benefits of treatment while maintaining muscle, strength, nutritional adequacy, and quality of life.”

A 2026 consensus statement in The Lancet, Diabetes & Endocrinology on incretin-based therapies recommends focusing on dietary quality, protein intake, and progressive resistance exercise to help preserve fat-free mass and physical function during weight loss.

O’Connor brings the same concern into day-to-day practice. A smaller appetite can make it harder to get enough food and fluids, especially for someone who’s still training regularly. In that setting, nutrition becomes less about cutting and more about making sure the smaller amount of food someone can comfortably eat still meets the body’s needs.

The Diet Industry Isn’t Going Away. It’s Adapting.

If GLP-1s make appetite control easier, the diet industry doesn’t suddenly pack up and go home. It finds something new to sell around the medication.

We’re already seeing that happen. A 2026 study in Food Policy found that GLP-1 use increased consumers’ willingness to pay for many protein products. Food companies are responding with more protein-forward options, while some brands are developing products specifically for people using GLP-1 medications. Reuters has also reported a sharp rise in demand for whey protein as manufacturers try to meet growing interest in protein-rich foods among GLP-1 users and other health-conscious consumers. Dempsey sees that as part of a broader shift in diet culture, where the market reorganizes around the medication instead of disappearing.

“GLP-1s may kill the fad diet, but they won’t necessarily kill diet culture. They may just give it a pharmaceutical upgrade.”

The old diet plan may lose some of its pull, but the urge to optimize results isn’t going anywhere. The market can simply shift toward foods, supplements, and strategies built around the medication.

O’Connor sees another reason traditional diet trends are unlikely to disappear: access. A 2026 JAMA Health Forum study found clear differences in GLP-1 prescribing between employer-sponsored insurance plans that covered the drugs for weight loss and plans that didn’t. Cost and coverage can still keep these medications out of reach for some people, leaving room for familiar weight-loss programs to circulate alongside the newer GLP-1-focused market.

The diet industry may end up serving both at once: people trying to get more out of medication-assisted weight loss and people still looking for another route entirely.

What Happens to Fitness and Diet Trends Next?

GLP-1s probably aren’t the downfall of the fitness or diet industry. They are forcing both to compete in a different environment.

For fitness, that means giving people a reason to train that holds up even when weight loss is being driven elsewhere. Strength, conditioning, and physical capability have a much stronger case than simply chasing calorie burn. Nutrition is shifting similarly, especially as reduced appetite makes food quality and adequate intake more important.

Diet trends will keep changing shape, and fitness will keep evolving alongside them. What gets harder to defend is anything built mostly around the promise of faster weight loss.

If GLP-1s make that pitch less valuable, the industry may be better off. Fitness and nutrition will have to prove their worth in ways a prescription can’t replace.

References

1. Tronieri, Jena S et al. “Short- and long-term effects of semaglutide 2.4 mg on energy intake, appetite, and food reward: a 60-week, double-blind randomized controlled trial.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition vol. 124,2 (2026): 101403. doi:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2026.101403
2. Bruna-Mejias, Alejandro et al. “GLP-1RA- and Incretin-Based Therapies Within Lifestyle Interventions for Adults with Overweight or Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Nutrients vol. 18,11 1781. 31 May. 2026, doi:10.3390/nu18111781
3. Swift, Damon L et al. “Role of Physical Activity in Obesity Treatment and Cardiometabolic Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Circulation vol. 154,1 (2026): e1-e16. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000001441
4. Eisa, Naseem, and Omar Barood. “Lean Mass Changes With Incretin Therapy Versus Lifestyle Intervention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials.” Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, vol. 28,6 (2026): 4818-4827. doi:10.1111/dom.70666
5. Šantić, Roko et al. “Lean Mass and Musculoskeletal Preservation in GLP-1-Based Obesity Treatment: Nutrition, Exercise, Supplementation, and Monitoring Strategies.” Metabolites vol. 16,6 364. 27 May. 2026, doi:10.3390/metabo16060364
6. Dobbie, Laurence J et al. “Nutritional, functional, and psychological considerations for incretin-based therapies in adults-an EASO, EFAD, and ECPO Consensus Statement.” The Lancet. Diabetes & Endocrinology vol. 14,9 (2026): 754-777. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(26)00122-1
7. Bina, Justin D., et al. “GLP-1 use and protein demand.” Food Policy, vol. 138, Jan. 2026, 103026, doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.103026.
8. Marrow, Alexander. “Weight-Loss Drugs Fuel Protein-Rich Whey Craving.” Reuters, 5 May 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/weight-loss-drugs-fuel-protein-rich-whey-craving-2026-05-05/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2026.
9. Shahzad, Mahnum et al. “GLP-1 Prescriptions for Weight Loss by Differences in Insurance Plan Coverage.” JAMA health forum vol. 7,6 e261838. 1 Jun. 2026, doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2026.1838

Long before Hollywood, action movies, and roles that required him to look like he could legitimately handle himself in a fight, Grillo was an athlete. He wrestled, lifted weights, boxed, trained jiujitsuitsu, and developed the kind of relationship with fitness that has little to do with preparing for a particular role.

Today, the 60-year-old actor still trains every day. He boxes for roughly 90 minutes, follows that with strength and conditioning five or six days a week, and remains fascinated by combat sports, performance, and what the human body can do.

For Grillo, staying fit isn’t a Hollywood obligation. It’s part of who he is.

When we caught up with him, he was between workouts, eating cottage cheese and talking about everything from his preparation for Boss Level to testosterone replacement therapy, mental health, faith, sobriety, and why men need to take a more responsible approach to their health as they age.

Building for More Than the Job

If there’s one role that tested Grillo physically more than the others, it was playing Roy Pulver in the action-packed dark comedy Boss Level.

In the film, Grillo plays a former special forces operative caught in a time loop and forced to fight his way through the same deadly scenario repeatedly. The production didn’t simply require him to look like an action hero. He had to move like one.

For eight weeks, Grillo had a strength and conditioning coach, a boxing trainer, and a gym built into the house where he was staying.

“Boxing every day for my cardio and then real heavy lifting,” he says.

His trainer, Brendan Johnson, put him through what Grillo describes as an almost powerlifting-style routine.

“We got me really strong, but really big and pretty lean,” he says.

The result was a physique that looked ready for the role, but came with a price.

Grillo normally walks around at roughly 165 pounds. For Boss Level, he pushed himself to around 190 pounds while staying exceptionally lean.

“The biggest problem was getting rid of it,” he says.

Losing the muscle wasn’t a matter of simply backing off the weights for a few weeks. It took roughly a year for Grillo to return to his normal size in a way he considered healthy.

“I would never want to do that again,” he says. “I’m too old.”

It’s a revealing answer from someone who has spent decades pushing himself physically. Getting into extraordinary shape for a role may look impressive on screen, but Grillo has learned that the body keeps the receipts.

Training Has Never Been About Hollywood

The irony is that Grillo doesn’t actually need a movie to motivate him to train. Even when he isn’t preparing for an action role, his routine remains demanding.

He boxes for approximately 90 minutes every day and incorporates strength and conditioning five or six days a week. His training has evolved over the years, but the consistency hasn’t changed. Wrestling introduced him to competitive athletics, while boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, CrossFit, and strength training have each played a role at different points in his life.

“I did CrossFit for a while in New York and got a few injuries,” he says. “I was a little obsessed with that for a minute, but it was a bit much on my nervous system. Boxing and trying to do CrossFit the same day was a little much.”

Combat sports ultimately became the area that held his attention most. Grillo says he is fascinated by the culture surrounding fighting, which is one reason he traveled around the world for Netflix’s Fight World. The series allowed him to immerse himself in different fighting communities and explore why various cultures developed their own unique approaches to combat.

That fascination extends to Jiu-Jitsu, which Grillo began practicing long before the discipline became as mainstream as it is today. He also continues to follow boxing and MMA closely and describes himself as someone who is drawn to the discipline required to become an elite fighter.

For Grillo, the appeal isn’t simply about looking tough. It’s about what training reveals about a person’s character.

From ‘Boss Level’ to ‘Tulsa King’

Grillo’s physicality has become an increasingly recognizable part of his screen presence, but his recent work on Tulsa King has allowed him to explore a different side of the action genre. The Paramount+ series, led by Sylvester Stallone, brought Grillo into the same orbit as one of the actors who helped define the larger-than-life action stars Grillo grew up watching.

His relationship with Stallone goes beyond simply sharing the screen. Grillo has known and worked around Stallone for years, and he describes the opportunity to work alongside him as another connection to the generation of actors who helped shape his own approach to physicality and action.

“I’ve been around Arnold through Sly, through Tulsa King, and through friends,” Grillo says. “He’s been so inspirational and motivational in that world.”

That connection is particularly meaningful for Grillo because Stallone represents much of what he appreciates about the action genre: longevity, physical preparation, and the ability to continue reinventing yourself without abandoning the physicality that made audiences connect with you in the first place.

Grillo has spent much of his career working alongside actors and athletes who understand that physical credibility matters. Whether he’s preparing for a fight scene, stepping into a demanding action role, or simply showing up for his daily training, he approaches the work with the same mentality he’s had since he was a kid.

The difference now is that Grillo is increasingly interested in what allows him to sustain that level of performance for the long haul. His training, recovery, testosterone replacement therapy, sleep, and mental health have all become part of a much larger conversation about what it means to remain capable as he gets older.

For Grillo, Tulsa King is another chapter in a career that continues to put him alongside the kind of larger-than-life personalities he grew up admiring. But the physical preparation behind those roles remains grounded in something much simpler: He genuinely loves the work.

From Joe Weider to the Olympia

That appreciation for physical culture also connects Grillo to the history of Muscle & Fitness. He grew up during the era when Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzenegger were helping transform bodybuilding from a niche pursuit into a mainstream fitness movement.

Today, Grillo trains at Gold’s Gym Venice, where he sees images of Weider and Schwarzenegger every day.

“It’s the Mecca,” he says.

Although Grillo may not consider himself a traditional bodybuilding follower, his appreciation for the sport runs deep, particularly when it comes to the physiques and personalities that helped define its golden era. His connection to fitness goes back to the influence of Joe Weider, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the culture they helped bring into the mainstream. For Grillo, bodybuilding has always represented more than simply building muscle. It is about discipline, symmetry, athleticism, and the pursuit of physical excellence.

“I’ve always loved the beauty and symmetry of guys like Arnold, Frank Zane, and Lee Haney,” Grillo says. “They were beautiful to look at.”

That appreciation makes the Olympia a natural fit for Grillo, who sees the event as a celebration of the same fitness culture that has been part of his life since he first picked up a Joe Weider weight set as a kid. While his own training has evolved toward boxing, combat sports, and functional strength, Grillo continues to appreciate what bodybuilding has contributed to the larger fitness world.

“I love fitness. I love fit bodies,” he says. “Arnold changed fitness. He really did in the ’70s and ’80s. He made it mainstream and really made it a household sport.”

When the possibility of attending the Olympia comes up, Grillo is immediately receptive. “It’d be awesome,” he says, hinting at a potential trip to the biggest weekend in bodybuilding.

Grit’s Not Going To Carry You

For most of his life, Grillo approached aging the same way he approached training: work harder, stay disciplined, and keep moving. Eventually, however, routine bloodwork gave him a reason to reconsider whether discipline alone was enough to maintain the level of performance he expected from himself.

Grillo’s physician, Dr. Rand McClain, discovered that his testosterone was unusually low during a routine checkup. Grillo recalls his testosterone level being around 200, a number that prompted McClain to question how he was maintaining such a demanding training schedule.

“He said to me, ‘I don’t know how you do what you do and recover and are able to do it so consistently,'” Grillo recalls.

His initial response was essentially that he had always been disciplined. His doctor, however, challenged that assumption.

“‘Grit’s not going to carry you through the third act of your life,'” Grillo remembers him saying.

That conversation led Grillo to explore testosterone replacement therapy. He admits that he initially questioned the idea because he was already training hard and felt that he was doing everything he could to maintain his health. After reviewing his bloodwork and deciding to try TRT under medical supervision, however, he noticed changes that he hadn’t expected.

“I didn’t realize how tired I was before and how I wasn’t recovering properly and how I wasn’t training at my peak,” he says.

Grillo compares the experience to giving up alcohol. He had previously believed that drinking wine every day wasn’t having much of an effect on him, but it wasn’t until he stopped that he realized how different he felt without it. He describes his experience with TRT in a similar way.

“It’s like when I started taking it, I realized how tired I was before,” he says. “It changed my life. It really did. It changed the way I looked and it changed the way I felt.”

He also noticed improvements in his sleep and mood. Grillo says that he once averaged only four or five hours of sleep a night but now regularly sleeps closer to nine hours.

Understanding TRT Before Taking It

As Grillo has become more vocal about testosterone and men’s health, he has also tried to emphasize that TRT shouldn’t be treated as a shortcut or something men should pursue simply because another person is using it.

His first piece of advice is straightforward: Get bloodwork.

“Hands down, you get your blood done first,” he says.

That point is particularly important to Grillo because testosterone levels can vary significantly from one person to another. A man being a certain age doesn’t automatically mean he has low testosterone, and feeling tired doesn’t automatically make someone a candidate for TRT.

“Some guys might be 50 and they might have 700 testosterone,” he says.

For that reason, Grillo believes the process should begin with a physician and objective testing. He says that even telemedicine should involve medical oversight and that patients should understand whether they are actually candidates before beginning treatment.

That philosophy is also part of what drew him to become involved with the $99 TRT Club. Rather than approaching hormone therapy simply as another component of the fitness industry, Grillo says he wants the conversation to center on education, appropriate testing, pharmaceutical-grade products, and responsible decision-making.

“You have to make sure that you are a candidate for it,” he says.

His larger point is that men shouldn’t look at another person’s physique or experience and assume the same treatment will produce the same outcome.

“Everybody is different,” he says.

Looking Beyond TRT

The conversation around men’s health is also expanding beyond traditional testosterone replacement. Peptides, gene therapy, and other emerging approaches to longevity and performance are becoming increasingly common topics among athletes and men looking to maintain their health as they age.

Grillo is fascinated by the possibilities, but he is equally cautious about moving too quickly.

“I think what’s happening with peptides, what’s happening with gene therapy, what’s happening with any number of things that are scientifically and are now proving to be real beneficial for not only longevity, but just day-to-day living, I think it’s great,” he says.

The concern is what happens when innovation moves faster than research.

Grillo points to previous generations of bodybuilders who experimented with substances before researchers fully understood their long-term consequences. He believes today’s consumers need to learn from those experiences rather than repeat them.

“We have to be careful that we’re not dealing with that,” he says.

That caution extends to his own approach. Grillo says he wants to understand what he is putting into his body, give treatments time, and avoid constantly chasing the newest product simply because it has become popular.

“We all need educated consumers,” he says. “And mostly the people who are selling the products need to be a thousand times more responsible than the people buying the products.”

For Grillo, the future of health optimization is promising, but it also requires patience.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he says. “It’s all kind of a work in progress.”

The Conversation Men Need to Have About Mental Health

The physical side of aging is only one part of the conversation Grillo wants men to have. His own experiences with sobriety and losing people close to him to suicide have made mental health an equally important part of his definition of wellness.

Grillo says that when someone isn’t in a healthy mental state, adding another variable to the equation isn’t necessarily the answer.

“If you’re not in a good headspace, if you feel off, if you’re despondent and you can’t find joy in life, you don’t want to stick something in your body,” he says. “You want to get this straight first.”

His own response to difficult periods has often involved training. He tells friends to go to the gym, sweat, move, and get the physical benefits that come with exercise. But he is careful to acknowledge that exercise isn’t a replacement for professional help.

“Sometimes that’s not enough,” he says. “And you have to seek professional help.”

His experiences have also made him more attentive to subtle changes in the people around him. He looks for signs that someone is becoming quieter, withdrawing, or losing their sense of happiness. That awareness extends to people who contact him through social media.

Grillo says strangers frequently send him long messages describing what they’re going through. He doesn’t pretend that he can solve their problems, but he tries to encourage them to find professional help and, when appropriate, simply listens.

“Sometimes it’s just the voice, the kindness of a stranger, that might help you,” he says.

For Grillo, that may ultimately be one of the most important responsibilities that comes with having a public platform.

Faith is Worth the Fight

When asked what keeps him centered amid the demands of Hollywood, family, training, and everything else that comes with his career, Grillo doesn’t hesitate.

“God,” he says.

Faith remains an important part of his life, and he believes that maintaining a spiritual foundation has helped him navigate both success and difficult periods.

“I talk to God all the time,” he says. “And I have blind faith.”

Grillo also describes himself as a constant searcher. Whether he’s learning about training, combat sports, emerging health science, or simply trying to better understand himself, he says that curiosity keeps him feeling young.

That may be the thread connecting everything else he does. Training keeps his body engaged, fighting keeps him challenged, learning keeps his mind active, and faith gives him a sense of grounding.

“Being physically fit is part of the equation,” he says, “but all the other stuff is just as much, if not more, part of the equation.”

Still Moving Forward

There is no indication that Grillo plans to slow down anytime soon. He’s still training every day, still boxing, still interested in combat sports, still riding dirt bikes, and still looking for new experiences.

Even as he talks about aging, his focus isn’t on trying to recreate the body he had at 25. Instead, he’s interested in maintaining the ability to perform, recover, explore, and continue doing the things that make him feel alive.

“I don’t expect to train like I did when I was 25,” he says. “But there’s a certain level I know I can maintain.”

That perspective may be more valuable than any individual training program or recovery protocol. Grillo understands that getting older means changing the approach, but he doesn’t believe it requires giving up the pursuit.

The kid who started lifting a Joe Weider weight set at 12 is still there. The wrestler is still there. The boxer is still there. The actor who built a gym for Boss Level is still there.

And so is the gym rat.

For Grillo, the goal isn’t to stop the clock. It’s to keep moving while it runs.

And if he has anything to say about it, he’s going to keep doing exactly that for a long time.

Marathons require commitment, discipline, and a serious time investment for training, so when it turns out that someone claiming a personal best took a shortcut to boast about their finish time, every rule-following participant has a right to feel slighted. Such was the case when popular social media influencer,  Sun “Abeeeer” Yuanyuan was pictured on the back of a bike instead of getting her steps in between the 35 and 40km mark in Berlin. Following the result, Abeeeer has now gone viral for all the wrong reasons, with pictures circulating that show her riding side saddle. While Yuanyuan had touted a personal best, the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit showed that her bike ride had corresponded with her fastest split during the race.

Sun “Abeeeer” Yuanyuan Apologizes for Cheating at the 2026 Berlin Marathon

Cycling back on her original claim that she had done herself proud, Abeeeer was forced to apologize for her unsportswoman-like conduct with a statement on Oct. 3, explaining that she had been “feeling unwell.” This did not appease sponsor Brooks China, however, and they have now severed ties with the social media influencer.

Still, Yuanyuan has expressed remorse for her less than honest run. “I will not make any defence for the above behavior,” she wrote, acknowledging “a very dishonest act,” and violating the “sporting spirit of fair marathon competition.” The disgraced influencer also added that reflecting on the day makes her feel “deeply guilty.”

For its part, Brooks China has also apologized to runners, and users of its products, and has noted that the company will reevaluate how it selects future partners and collaborators.

Phenomenal athletes.

Terrible business model.

This past weekend, World Athletics tried something different.

What Is the World Athletics Ultimate Championship?

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship ran Sept. 11–13 in Budapest, bringing roughly 400 elite athletes into a compact three-evening championship designed specifically as a season-ending showdown. Olympic champions, world champions, Diamond League winners and top-ranked athletes were thrown together without the sprawling week-plus format we’re accustomed to seeing at major championships.

And then they did something truly radical.

They paid them.

The total prize purse was $10 million, the largest in track-and-field history, with individual champions receiving $150,000.

A $10 Million Purse Could Change the Game

Suddenly everybody can run faster.

I’m kidding.

What I like about this format is that somebody finally acknowledged an uncomfortable reality: elite sport is also entertainment.

Purists hate that idea, but we’re getting tired of them.

Nobody is suggesting we replace the 1500 meters with contestants being chased by a pit bull. But professional athletes have extraordinarily short earning windows. Their bodies are the equipment, and unlike a NASCAR engine, you can’t rebuild them with parts from Summit Racing.

If you want the best athletes to race each other more often, make it worth their while. And Budapest produced exactly the kind of matchups the concept promised.

In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos ran 45.98, the third-fastest performance in history, defeating Olympic and world champion Rai Benjamin, who ran 46.40. Former world-record holder Karsten Warholm was third in 46.78.

Add some money and these guys all of a sudden are trying to tear the track out of the ground.

Josh Kerr won the 1500 in 3:29.35, holding off Cameron Myers at 3:29.68. Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw took the women’s 5000 in 14:30.36. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage detonated a 91.09-meter final-round javelin throw to win his event.

The compressed format also creates something television desperately needs: consequences.

In the men’s hammer, only the top six survived beyond round two. Olympic and world champion Ethan Katzberg fouled his first two throws and was finished. Germany’s Merlin Hummel won at 81.46 meters.

Brutal. Not to mention compelling television.

A Faster Format Gives Track a Television Hook

Traditional track meets can be magnificent if you’re already a track fan. To the civilian viewer, however, they can resemble eight different sporting events accidentally occurring in the same stadium.

Ultimate is trying to solve that. Three nights. Stars. National teams. Limited fields. Faster progression. Real money. Somebody wins and somebody goes home pissed off.

Sound familiar? That’s because it’s basically every successful professional sport.

There will be legitimate complaints. Compressed formats can punish athletes who peak for traditional championships. Invitation and ranking systems inevitably create arguments about who gets left out. Reducing attempts in field events introduces more volatility—as Katzberg discovered rather spectacularly.

But volatility isn’t necessarily a defect. If everything lines up right it can also be drama.

Bodybuilding figured this out long ago. The Olympia isn’t compelling because we’re fascinated by tanning products and quarter turns. It’s compelling because once a year the best people stand next to each other and somebody has to lose.

World Athletics has finally taken that principle and added serious money.

Good.

Because “the honor of competition” is wonderful. But honor doesn’t make mortgage payments.

In the later stages, the work is no longer about who hits the harder serves or who covers more ground. It becomes a daily exercise in managing keeping an explosive body healthy enough to endure long matches, quick turnarounds, travel, and the accumulated wear and tear that comes with a professional tennis season.

This requires Shelton to be deliberate about the specifics around his training. He admitted that when he first arrived on tour, he was still approaching some of the preparation like he had while at the University of Florida. Experience has forced him to become more consistent with sleep, nutrition, supplementation, recovery, and understanding what his body needs.

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There Is No Single Exercise That Translates to Shelton’s Explosiveness

Shelton’s game is built around skillsets that are difficult to train simultaneously. Tennis requires enough endurance to remain effective several hours into a match, but speed, the ability to accelerate, stop, change direction while producing explosive strokes repeatedly is equally important.

Shelton believes this is why it’s essentially a requirement for tennis players to become complete athletes before they can evolve into specialists.

“You have to be able to navigate the endurance aspects of the game as well as the explosive physical aspects,” he says. “I think that’s not easy because tennis is such a technical sport, and there’s only so many hours in a day.”

A broad athletic base might matter early, but as players advance past the junior level, Shelton believes the training has to get more focused on the action that happens on court. This doesn’t mean building a program around a specific aspect of the game you’re great at.

Asked which exercise or training method has made the biggest difference in his performance, Shelton pushed back against that premise, as there’s always fluidity when it comes to programming.

“Throughout the year, your program changes depending on how your body’s feeling, where you have deficiencies, or areas of your game that you need to work on,” he says. “I think the biggest thing is being able to adapt and being able to make changes when you see them.”

It’s this level of adaptability that would seem more valuable than a favorite workout. If Shelton’s body exposes a weakness, the program changes. If tournament volume creates a different need, the program changes again. Training serves the athlete rather than forcing the athlete to service a rigid program.

Recovery Starts Before the Match Ends

Once a Grand Slam begins, Shelton says there is a shift in the objective. The fitness base has already been built, and keeping the body capable of using it becomes the challenge.

“Once you get past the training and you get to the tournament, it’s a battle to be able to stay healthy and not sore, pain-free throughout a tournament,” Shelton says. “There’s always going to be stuff that comes up. But doing the best job managing that with treatment, with strategically taking days off, it’s the most important part of playing well at the end of a Slam.”

After an extended match, Shelton has developed a daily defined process. He spends about 10 minutes cooling down on a bike, followed by another 10 to 15 minutes of stretching and mobility. Refueling comes immediately afterward through food or a protein shake.

Treatment is largely dependent on the clock. A late finish can push physio work into the next morning, while an earlier conclusion provides the opportunity to get on the table that night.

Recovery after a match is essential, but Shelton feels that what he does before taking the court is equally valuable.

“I think there’s way more work done on the pre-side, in terms of warmups and activation that gets my body in the right place, than trying to do everything after the fact,” he says.

One of the favorite tools is one that doesn’t get the coverage of other training moments: isometrics. Before training or competition, Shelton can spend 10 to 15 minutes using static contractions for his lower body.

“For me, I think isometrics are a great way to prime the body before playing a physical sport or lifting, working out, or doing cardio.” Shelton says. “It’s been a game changer for my lower body, knees, and ankles.”

This is an element that the everyday athlete can add to their routine. Shelton’s game is built on explosive power, but his ability to display it depends heavily on decidedly less glamorous habits.

The smaller details that don’t make the highlight reel are what makes those highlights possible. And as Shelton has learned, taking care of the body before it starts asking for help is one of the most professional things an athlete can do.

Ben Shelton-Inspired 35-Minute Tennis Performance Workout

This workout borrows from the principles Shelton discussed rather than attempting to recreate his professional program. The emphasis is on isometric activation, lower-body durability, explosive movement, and enough conditioning to challenge both power and endurance.

Becoming More Professional About the Details

Shelton spoke with Muscle & Fitness through his partnership with Thorne, which has become part of that routine rather than something he utilizes when his body begins to feel worn down.

“I use the products every single day,” Shelton says. “I use the creatine. I use the magnesium bisglycinate before I sleep. I use the beta-alanine. I use the daily electrolytes when I’m on the court and the whey protein isolate after matches.”

Even with the individual products serving different purposes, the common element they provide for Shelton is consistency. In a sport where cities, playing surfaces, match times, and length are consistently changing, having elements of your preparation remain the same gives him one less variable to manage.

Supplementation has become an important factor for many athletes, and knowing exactly what enters the body can’t be taken lightly. One mistake can lead to severe consequences.

“Putting a contaminated substance into your body is very serious in our sport, and it can completely derail your career,” Shelton says. “You’ve got to be extremely careful.”

Shelton says he and his team researched Thorne heavily before the partnership was agreed to, and the third-party testing became a major factor in establishing that trust.

Shelton’s attention to detail does expand well beyond supplements. It’s a progression in understanding the necessary improvements to becoming one of the best in an unforgiving sport, and far beyond his understanding when he first joined the professional tour, and he described himself as “just a college kid.”

The athleticism was apparent, but becoming a professional required learning the less exciting elements of performance still count. With being further into his professional career, he now pays closer attention to the amount of sleep, what he eats, and what his body needs throughout training.

“I’ve just become more professional in every aspect,” Shelton says. “I think that I’m a little bit more in tune with my body now.”

Isometric Activation: 8 Minutes

Perform two rounds with controlled effort:

• Calf raise hold: 30 seconds
• Split-squat hold: 30 seconds per leg
• Glute bridge hold: 30 seconds
• Wall sit: 30 seconds
• Rest 30 seconds between rounds

Shelton spends roughly 10 to 15 minutes on isometrics before physical activity, particularly for his calves, quads, hamstrings, knees, and ankles. For readers, this shorter block provides a practical introduction without exhausting the legs before training.

Athletic Strength Circuit: 12 Minutes

Complete three rounds:

• Goblet squat: 10 reps
• Reverse lunge: 8 reps per leg
• Pushups: 10–15 reps
• One-arm dumbbell row: 10 per side
• Lateral skater bound: 8 per side
• Plank shoulder taps: 20 total

Rest 45 seconds between rounds. Keep the resistance moderate and make clean movement the priority, particularly during the lunges and lateral bounds.

Explosive Conditioning: 10 Minutes

Use an assault bike, stationary bike, rower, treadmill, or running area.

Perform 10 rounds of:

• Hard effort: 20 seconds
• Easy recovery: 40 seconds

The first few intervals should feel challenging but controlled. Try to maintain similar output during the final rounds instead of sprinting the opening repetitions and fading badly.

Shelton-Style Cooldown: 5 Minutes

Finish with easy cycling or walking for two minutes, then spend three minutes stretching the calves, quads, hamstrings, and hips.

But like many training myths that float around the gym floor, this one has enough legs to run.

The six-pack muscle might look like separate muscles divided at the belly button, but that’s not the case. You can’t switch off the top half while firing up the bottom half like you’re choosing burners on a stove.

However, not every ab exercise affects the Rectus Abdominis the same way. The exercise you choose and how you perform it can shift where you feel it and which part of the muscle it emphasizes.

That’s where the distinction between isolation and emphasis becomes important.

That’s the nuance we’ll dig into rightnow. Because as you’ll see, the answer isn’t as simple as “upper and lower abs don’t exist.”

Let’s dive in.

Why We Think We Have Upper and Lower Abs

Suppose you’re lucky enough to see your abs. They don’t look like one continuous muscle, but a stack of individual muscle blocks running down the front of your torso.

However, looks are deceiving.

“Anatomically, we don’t really have separate ‘upper abs’ and ‘lower abs’ in the way people often talk about them,” explains Gareth Sapstead, author of Ultimate Abs: The Definitive Guide to Developing a Chiseled Six-Pack.. “The rectus abdominis is one paired muscle running from the pelvis up towards the ribs/sternum, with the tendinous intersections creating the six-pack appearance.”

But don’t swing too far the other way either, because here’s where this discussion gets interesting. Once people learn that the RA is one muscle, the pendulum often swings the other way completely:

Upper and lower abs don’t exist, so every ab exercise trains the entire rectus the same.

Sapstead doesn’t buy that explanation either.

“I think the fitness industry sometimes swings too far the other way, saying there’s no such thing as upper and lower abs, so exercise selection makes no difference.”

“I don’t think that’s quite right either,” says Sapstead.

Although the rectus abdominis works as a unit, different movements can shift where the greatest muscular demand occurs, Sapstead says. You cannot switch on your upper or lower abs, but that doesn’t mean exercise selection and execution are irrelevant.

“I prefer the term ‘bias’ rather than ‘isolate,’” explains Sapstead.

That’s the distinction we’ll use throughout here.

To understand how bias versus isolate works, we first need to look at what the rectus abdominis does.

What the Rectus Abdominis Does

Its obvious job is spinal flexion—bringing your rib cage and pelvis closer together. During a crunch, you’re moving your rib cage toward your pelvis. In a properly executed reverse crunch, you move your pelvis toward your rib cage. Both are spinal flexion.

But why does it matter in our upper-versus-lower discussion?

That’s important because the direction of movement changes, but we haven’t switched from one abdominal muscle to another. Instead, we’ve changed which end moves and how the muscle is challenged.

“The rectus abdominis still functions as a unit,” explains Sapstead. “But we can alter where the exercise places greater demand.”

But flexion isn’t its only job.

The RA resists excessive spinal extension. During an ab-wheel rollout, for example, gravity wants to pull your lumbar spine into extension as your arms move farther from your body. Your abs must create tension to prevent your lower back from arching.

Creating tension also matters outside direct ab training. A strong core connects the upper and lower body, letting you transfer force while squatting, deadlifting, carrying, throwing, and doing other athletic movements.

The rectus abdominis also helps control your pelvis and rib cage position. When it contracts, it can contribute to posterior pelvic tilt—think about tucking your pelvis under you.

Now let’s get to a question that might be circling in your head: If the rectus abdominis functions as one muscle, can you actually isolate the upper or lower portion—or are we simply changing the emphasis?

Can You Really Isolate One From the Other?

You should know the answer. No, you cannot isolate your upper or lower abs, no matter what you have been told before. But exercise selection still matters.

“Exercise selection, loading direction, and pelvic/trunk movement can alter regional recruitment enough that talking about an upper or lower ‘bias is still useful,” explains Sapstead.

That word—bias—is the key.

That is why trainers such as Sapstead doesn’t dismiss someone who says they want to target their lower abs; he changes how the spinal flexion movement is performed. For him, the big difference-maker is posterior pelvic tilt.

“The rectus abdominis attaches onto the pelvis, so if I want an exercise to have more of what people would perceive as a ‘lower abdominal’ bias, I want the pelvis actually moving towards the ribcage rather than flexing the hip.”

That distinction matters with leg raises and hanging knee raises because moving your legs isn’t the same as moving your hips.

“You can perform hanging knee raises all day long by flexing and extending at the hip, “ explains Sapstead. “The legs move, but the pelvis doesn’t. At that point you’ve created a very different exercise.”

Sapstead has a fix: “Imagine trying to bring your belt buckle towards your ribs.” Now you’re adding posterior pelvic tilt rather than relying on hip flexion. Hello abs, do you feel that?

But the upper rectus didn’t shut down, and the lower rectus didn’t suddenly become an independent muscle.

You’ve changed the movement to alter the emphasis—not created isolation.

Next, we will see if the science backs this up.

What the Science Says

This is where the upper-versus-lower ab debate gets more interesting, because science doesn’t provide a clear answer. Mixed evidence is another reason “bias” fits better than “isolate.”

One older study compared a curl-up with a posterior pelvic tilt and found greater upper rectus abdominis activity during correctly performed curl-ups. Among participants with higher overall abdominal activity, the posterior pelvic tilt placed greater demands on the lower rectus than the curl-up did.

But technique mattered because these differences weren’t noticeable in people who did it wrong. That’s an important detail when we’re arguing over which exercise trains which part of your six-pack.

Another study of 25 healthy participants found that the reverse curl produced the greatest lower ab engagement among five ab exercises.

But not every study finds a difference.

A pilot study comparing six exercises—including curl-ups, leg lowering, rollouts, and reverse curl-ups—found no significant differences in upper- and lower-ab activation across all exercises tested.

Another study examining several ab exercises also found no significant differences in upper- or lower-rectus activation. So, the evidence doesn’t fully support the idea that crunches activate the upper abs while reverse crunches activate the lower abs.

What the research and the gym lab suggest is more subtle: exercise selection, body position, movement direction, and execution may alter the relative contribution of different regions, but it still functions as one muscle.

“Regional emphasis is plausible. Regional isolation isn’t,” emphasizes Sapstead.

What Training the Lower Abs Really Means

Why does this upper-lower myth keep hanging around and get millions of YouTube views? For many people, “How do I train my lower abs?” really means, “How do I get rid of the fat there?”

Those are two different questions.

You can strengthen and develop the rectus abdominis, but training the muscle underneath an area doesn’t mean you’re burning the fat sitting on top of it.

“I’d also mention that seeing your lower abs is a completely separate conversation from training them,” explains Sapstead.  Now comes the part all the sellers of those ab gadgets don’t want you to hear.

“You cannot spot-reduce fat from the lower abdomen by doing reverse crunches,” says Sapstead. “But you can develop the underlying muscle.”

That’s the same spot-reduction myth we’ve busted before, but this doesn’t make direct ab training pointless, far from it.

Your abs are muscles, and progressively training them can make them thicker, stronger, and more developed. So, train your abs to build them—more on that next.

How to Train Your Abs

If the upper-versus-lower debate teaches us anything, it’s that you cannot divide and conquer. Train your core’s functions instead. That’s why a well-rounded program uses varied movements rather than 17 slightly different crunches.

Trunk Flexion

This is the classic ab-training function: bringing your rib cage toward your pelvis.

Good choices:  Tall Kneeling Cable crunch, weighted stability-ball crunch, and weighted crunch.

Bodyweight variations are great, but weighted ones require more deliberate effort and focus on form.

Pelvic Stability

The goal is to stabilize the pelvis and produce a deliberate posterior pelvic tilt rather than hip flexion.

Good choices: Reverse crunch, hanging knee raise with a pelvic curl, and stability-ball reverse crunch.

Sapstead’s earlier coaching cue applies here: “Imagine trying to bring your belt buckle towards your ribs.” The height of your knees or feet matters less than what your pelvis is doing.

Anti-Extension

Anti-extension exercises challenge you to keep your lower back from over-arching.

Good choices: Ab-wheel rollout, TRX body saw, and dead bug.

The rollout gets harder as you extend farther because it challenges eccentric strength against a longer lever.

Anti-Rotation

Anti-rotation exercises train your core to prevent unwanted twisting while your limbs move.

Good choices: Pallof press, renegade row, and half-kneeling cable press.

This ability to resist unwanted movement is part of what makes core strength useful beyond the gym.

Anti-Lateral Flexion

Pick up a heavy dumbbell in one hand, and your torso wants to bend toward the loaded side. Your core’s job is to tell it, “Not today.”

Good choices: Suitcase carry, chaos suitcase carry, and side plank.

The suitcase carry pulls the torso laterally, forcing the opposite side of the core to resist lateral flexion.

Remember Progressive Overload

“For physique purposes, I’d also treat the abs like any other muscle,” explains Sapstead. “If you want them to grow, they need progressive overload.”

Progress using load, reps, range of motion, lever length, or exercise difficulty. Sapstead likes manipulating lever length—moving your arms overhead during a crunch or extending farther during a rollout will increase the challenge without adding load.

So forget about building an “upper- and lower-ab workout.”

Build a stronger core by training all of its functions and progressively challenge it like any other muscle group.

Myth Fallout: What Happens if You Still Believe?

Believing you can isolate your upper or lower abs won’t destroy your gains, because let’s face it, you will still be training your abs either way. But it can lead to questionable training decisions.

Exercise Hopping

If you’re always searching for the one magical lower-ab exercise, you’re probably not spending enough time getting stronger at what works. Your abs respond to progressive overload, just like other muscles. Load, range of motion, lever length, reps, and better execution all give you ways to progress.

Hip Flexor Madness

When you try to target those lower abs, you turn every reverse crunch and hanging leg raise into a hip-flexor exercise, with the abs along for the ride. This happens because the goal becomes getting the feet higher rather than controlling the pelvis.

“For the lower rectus specifically,” says Sapstead. “I’d worry less about how high somebody can lift their legs and pay much more attention to whether they can  produce and control posterior pelvic tilt.”

Ignoring The Core’s Other Functions

Obsessing over the upper and lower abs can make you ignore everything else your core does. The rectus abdominis gets all the mirror love, but your trunk also needs to resist extension, rotation, and lateral flexion. That’s why exercises such as rollouts, Pallof presses, dead bugs, and suitcase carries belong in the core conversation.

The Final Word

So, after all this talk about upper abs, lower abs, and pelvic tilts, where does that leave us?

Somewhere in the middle.

The rectus abdominis is a paired muscle, and you cannot completely isolate one region while switching off the other. But saying exercise selection makes no difference goes too far in the opposite direction.

Different movements may alter regional recruitment within the rectus abdominis. So, stop worrying about finding the perfect upper- or lower-ab exercise and begin training function.

Train trunk flexion, learn to control your pelvis, strengthen anti-extension, anti-rotation, and anti-lateral flexion. Progress your exercises with more resistance, reps, range of motion, longer levers, or harder variations. Then you’re doing what really matters: training your abs like all other muscles.

And when someone tells you that one exercise is finally going to isolate those stubborn lower abs, remember: You don’t have upper and lower abs—you have abs. 

While Trucco tells M&F that his high school days were not a “golden era” as far as sports were concerned, the star’s athletic endeavors did prove to forge an early relationship with fitness. “I played some football and wrestled a little, because it seemed like the thing to do,” says the star. “My head and heart weren’t really in it, but it did introduce me to structured workouts and training,”

Having been encouraged by the results that he saw from weight training, Trucco’s penchant for pumping iron would serve him well as he hit his sophomore year and shot over 6-feet tall, later reaching the lofty height of 6’3” “Weight and resistance training started to help reframe my body, and gave me the confidence I sought and needed,” explains the actor who was involved in a serious car accident in 2007, leaving him with four fractured cervical vertebrae and the necessity for spinal fusion surgery.  While the star did make a miraculous recovery, Trucco’s current training methods still include weights, but they also revolve around longevity and functionality. To that end, the actor also incorporates cycling, pickleball, and love of circuit training into his routine.

How Does Michael Trucco Stay Fit at 56?

“I’ve had the great fortune to work on many varied roles and projects over the years, which require a healthy amount of physicality and fitness,” reflects the star, who undertook a brutal bootcamp to prepare for the role of a U.S. Navy SEAL in the 2018 movie, Hunter Killer.  Trucco says that he undertook an intensive daily routine that included basic muscle burners like pushups, situps, and squats. “I was never more ripped in my life!” recalls Trucco, who practices the winning mindset of being ready to stay ready. Still, when it comes to sustainability, the actor is never afraid to mix a range of training disciplined, combining old school techniques with efficient technology in order to maintain a physique that could be envied at any age.

“I’m all about the home gym,” he explains of his preferred training environment. “I set up a very basic but thorough exercise area in my garage with a Peloton bike, dumbbells, resistance bands, and a fairly complete universal cable machine,” he shares. “Throw in some padded mats and I’m all set.”

Trucco explains that his journey with the Peloton has been an enlightening one. “When I first got my Peloton bike, I had no idea there was this whole other treasure trove of programs and routines outside of the cycling classes,” he says. “My main two focal points right now are cycling and strength programs,” adds Trucco. “I’ve logged into many classes, utilizing almost all of the instructors!”

The star shares that he’s also a fan of the “MadMuscles” workout and nutrition app. “The programs are set to deliver a number of different exercises, usually between six and 10, to form a superset that you repeat several times… with timed intervals and rest periods,” explains Trucco. “A good example of one that I did recently is a 39=minute full body routine, which contains a super set of 6 exercises: 20 squats, 1 minute of plank, 1 minute Superman pose, 40 reverse crunches, 24 shoulder tap push-ups, and 20 short crunches. Then you repeat that super set 4 times in 39 minutes. It’s intense and relentless, but very effective!”

Michael Trucco Loves to See the Sights When Filming on Location

While the actor loves to get his sweat on, Trucco tells M&F that he gets a mental clarity from slowing things down while traveling for a project. “My favorite city to shoot, outside of Los Angeles, is, by far, Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada,” shares Trucco. “I get outdoors however and whenever the schedule allows. Any downtime or days off, you’ll find me out on the town, usually along the seawall down in Coal Harbor or False Creek, or my favorite, Stanley Park. I’ll just lace-up and leave the hotel and start walking in any direction just to enjoy a beautiful city.”

Trucco also leaves a bicycle at a friend’s house in British Vancouver so that he can pedal his way through his version of paradise. “I take every opportunity to get out and move when the weather is nice,” he shares. “Because when its nice weather in Vancouver, there’s no finer place on earth.”

Busier than ever, Trucco will also appear in season two of the golf-based comedy, Stick, and although he did not have to pick up a club while making the show, he would have to prove his skills in the upcoming Netflix thriller, “Poser.” In one scene, Trucco had to send the ball soaring through the sky. “I was nervous, because I knew that a hundred cast and crew members would be standing around, watching this scene, and I didn’t want to fall flat on my face and look like a total hack!” Fortunately, some driving range practice paid dividends. “I ripped the ball clean, right on the sweet spot of the club!” he beams.

With sports like pickleball and golf, a home gym, and the necessity to work on his gold swing providing great opportunities for exercise, Trucco feels fortunate that maintaining his fitness has become a lifestyle rather than a chore. “My advice to anyone over 50, looking to get or stay fit, and needing a little nudge would be to first set realistic expectations. Second, and most importantly, be kind to yourself!” says the sensible star. “For me personally, perfection is not the goal here. It’s unrealistic and it’s not necessary. Instead, feeling good about yourself is the goal. So, shoot for that.”

To follow Michael Trucco on Instagram, click here.

They say that the best wrestling characters are those that draw from reality and in the case of Genesis, the facts speak for themselves. “I’m billed as being from the harsh Australian outback, which is 100% true,” says the star. “I’m from the Northern Territory. It’s not even a state. Very outback, very isolated, indigenous, a small mining town called Nhulunbuy in Arnhem Land.”

Growing up with a love of action movies, O’Sullivan says that she was a “super tomboy,” and a fan of Jackie Chan, finding herself drawn to the karate sessions that were offered at her local town hall. “That’s where I started my love of martial arts and fighting,” she says, eventually waving goodbye to her crocodile friends in favor of the bright lights of Los Angeles, where she continued her studies in acting and stunt performing. “I learned Wing Chun and Muay Thai,” she notes, sharing that weapons training would also become part of the origin story for developing her wrestling character. “As Genesis, I wield nunchucks,” says the bodyslamming sensation who made her debut with the Women Of Wrestling promotion back in 2019.

WOW Taught Genesis the Difference Between Martial Arts and Pro Wrestling

O’Sullivan’s first taste of the squared circle came during a tryout at WOW’s training facility. “I loved it,” she says, noting that the art of bumping in professional wrestling is entirely different to that of martial arts, because in wrestling, you are often throwing yourself towards the floor rather than resisting the impact. “When you first jump and land on your back, it’s a very big shock to the body,” explains Genesis. “You’re like, what am I doing?” Fortunately, WOW’s stable of wrestlers is overseen by female wrestling legend, and creative director, Selina Majors. “Selina is great for learning the mentality behind wrestling,” reveals Genesis. “How to tell a great story, not just to try and look cool while doing a backflip.”

Genesis shares that honing her craft as a wrestler is an ongoing journey, and pushing herself to try new moves, such as a twisting leg drop from the second turnbuckle, has brought both success and failure. “We do it because we love it, but that’s why we also have to be very careful with each other,” she explains. “You only pull out those moves when you really must, and you want to make sure that you’re in the best possible shape to do it. Obviously, mistakes happen but that’s why we train.”

What Is WOW Star Genesis’ Upper Body & Grip Workout?

Speaking of staying in shape, Genesis still loves to get out into nature and clears her mind by taking long hikes but while in the gym, she also loves lifting weights and works towards failure. The star shares her current chest and shoulder workout below:

Warmup on the Elliptical

The workout: Perform 8-12 reps per exercise. Repeat for 3 rounds.

• Standing Cable Flies
• Shoulder Press Machine
• Chest Dips
• Standing Cable Crossovers

Just like her signature leg drop, Genesis puts a twist on her movements, but this time the purpose is to work on her grip strength, so she rotates her wrist at the end of each rep. Also known as “wringing,” this technique builds forearm stability while enhancing functional grip strength. “That’s the stuff you lose if you don’t work on it,” explains the exciting pro wrestler. “You have to be OK to move your body in certain positions, and some people put you in wacky holds as well.”

Genesis understands the importance of being strong and mobile in the ring and is also keen to spend time stretching after the workout, to maintain flexibility.

Season 5 of WOW could be a new beginning for Genesis

A force to be reckoned with, Genesis is excited about the impending return of WOW and is even digging deep into her bag of tricks to see what other tools she has to further intimidate her opponents. “If I had to bring in another weapon, I would bring a bow staff,” she says, with more than a little mischief on her mind.

In the season four finale, Santana Garrett was crowned as the new WOW world title holder, and with a fresh location of L.A. Live being tipped for season five, the martial-artist-turned-pro-wrestler rightly has her eyes on the prize. “I’m ready for title shots,” Genesis tells M&F Hers. “Santana Garrett is the WOW World Champion, so she’s number one on my list!”

For more information on WOW — Women Of Wrestling — and announcements concerning season five, as they are released, click here.

To follow Genesis on Instagram, click here.

With Nick “The Mutant” Walker taking both the People’s Champion award, and the $600,000 jackpot after his successful weekend in Las Vegas, The Menace Podcast felt that inconsistency in front of the judges may have been Derek Lunsford’s downfall. “His abs were washed out on Friday,” claimed Dennis James of Lunsford’s performance in pre-judging. “And he had it more crisp on Saturday.”

Milos Sarcev noted that  Lunsford had improved in certain areas, including his ability to showcase his abs in the final. “This time he had it,” observed “The Mind.” Both James and Sarcev agreed that after the prejudging process, Nick Walker and Derek Lunsford appeared to come out on top. “Nobody really expected the change that Samson was going to make overnight,” added Sarcev, explaining why Samson Dauda ultimately earned second, dropping Derek Lunsford down to third. The panel also discussed the possibility that Dauda’s confidence may have been lacking on Friday, but after making some tweaks, he then put himself right into the  mix during the final.

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“I think that was the best Samson, ever,” observed The Menace, justifying the fact that he placed ahead of Derek Lunsford. Milos Sarcev added that Lunsford had put in a valiant performance at the Olympia but could not match up to The Mutant on the night.

Still, the panel noted that the difference between the top four athletes (Nick Walker, Samson Dauda, Derek Lunsford, and Andrew Jacked) is now so close that depending on the show and the day, either man has a chance of beating the other. “It’s going to be the hardest thing, for Nick to win that again next year,” said James. “He can do it. We already know he can, now. But it’s going to be super hard because these guys are all so close.”

To see this conversation in full on The Menace Podcast, where the panel also discussed the latest bodybuilding news and results, check it out on the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel.

Another major highlight of the big weekend for many who were in Las Vegas was the support that was exchanged between the Olympia and the United States Armed Forces. 2026 may have seen the largest presence of the military in many years, and the admiration between athletes and service members was obvious from start to finish.

Military Ticket Program Celebrated 25 Years

On Saturday night, September 26th, M&F Senior Military Editor and 26-year Air Force veteran Rob Wilkins, Chef Andre Rush, and retired Army Staff Sergeant and Purple Heart recipient Charles Eggleston took to the Olympia stage to pay tribute to the Olympia’s military-ticket program, which celebrated 25 years in 2026. Wilkins spoke about the history of the program and revealed that over 17,000 tickets have been offered to service members over the last quarter-century, including nearly 1,000 this year. Wilkins spoke on the Olympia stage about the significance of that statistic.

“It is more than a gesture. It represents 25 years of saying thank you to those who served.”

Wilkins then asked for service members, veterans, and first responders to stand to be recognized by the audience. Rush followed Wilkins and offered his own token of appreciation for military spouses and family members supporting their loved ones while they wear the uniform. Their efforts may not be acknowledged as often, but they are very vital in the eyes of those who are in the Joint Force.

Rush emphasized, “They are our foundation. So, you’ve got to give it up for them. Thank you for your own service.”

Eggleston concluded the segment by asking the audience to acknowledge veterans if they see them, especially in this 250th year of American independence.

“The military brought it to us the right way. We’re here because our military made it happen.”

Recruiters at the World Fitness Expo

The Olympia World Fitness Expo may have been the most successful edition to date. There were busy booths in every aisle, including those of the Navy, Army, and Marines. Wilkins reported also speaking to members of the Coast Guard during the Olympia Weekend. Each booth featured various physical challenges and included recruiters who were looking for new members to join their ranks. Wilkins explained why opportunities like these are so important for recruiters.

“The Olympia Expo is a great place for these conversations. Thousands of people come here with a passion for fitness, performance, discipline, competition, and self-improvement—qualities that also contribute to success in military service. These conversations are especially important when fewer than 1% of Americans serve in uniform at any given time.”

Whether it was pullups, reflex challenges, weight events, or simply chatting with spectators, each booth stayed busy throughout both days. The service members even walked the aisles themselves to watch the various strength sport events, Olympia prejudging, or listen to experts in a variety of fields share their knowledge. They would also be stopped multiple times to be thanked for their service by attendees young and old. Seeing those who wore the uniform enjoying the Olympia Weekend as fans themselves was a welcome sight for athletes and organizers alike.

A Marine is Bikini Olympia Champion

A special moment took place on Saturday night when Jasmine Gonzalez emerged victorious in the Bikini Olympia over two-time champion Maureen Blanquisco. Announcer Bob Cicherillo then enlightened the audience on a special fact: Gonzalez is a retired United States Marine. That news led to massive cheers from the audience.

The new Ms. Bikini Olympia shared her story and offered words of wisdom to any service members looking for their next chapter.

“Please find something that you are passionate about outside of what you’re doing in the military,” she said.”I found bodybuilding in my last year of active duty, and three weeks after I left active duty is when I received my IFBB Pro status.”

The connections between the military and bodybuilding go back far beyond the last 25 years, but it’s clear that the bond between the two endeavors are as strong as ever and will continue to strengthen beyond 2026.

For more on the Olympia, go to mrolympia.com . You can also read over 140 stories from various members of the military as well as first responders on our Fit to Serve page.