GIRONDA PRINCIPLE #3: WANT TO KNOW WHICH EXERCISE TO DO? LOOK IN THE MIRROR. ALSO: LEARN ANATOMY.

Bodybuilding is about visual impact. With that in mind, the mirror should be your guide as to which exercises you choose to incorporate in your workouts. If it’s chest, shoulders and triceps today, how do your chest, shoulders and triceps look?

Are your rear delts lagging?

Or maybe it’s your lower chest definition that’s lacking?

Only the mirror will tell you the answers to these questions, and only your knowledge of the right exercises to address each weak point will tell you how to remedy these weak points.

REN'S NO-CHURN PEANUT-BUTTER-CUP ICE CREAM.

I said my pistachio ice cream was the best thing you'd ever eat.

I was wrong. This is. And it takes ten minutes, four ingredients and no ice-cream machine to make.👇 INGREDIENTS

A tin of condensed milk (c.400g)
250g heavy / double cream
Smooth peanut butter (preferably organic)
100% cocoa (for dusting)

GIRONDA PRINCIPLE #1: AIM FOR DENSITY, DON'T OVERTRAIN

Each day I'll outline one of the central principles of Vince Gironda's legendary bodybuilding system.

Here's the first: do more work in a shorter period of time, and only do as much as you need to. 👇 Vince’s flagship workout was the 8x8, which he called the "Honest Workout." As the name suggests, you perform eight sets of eight reps for a particular exercise.

The devil is in the details, though, as always for Vince. You want to perform those eight sets of eight reps with as little rest as possible, increasing the density of the work you perform in order to stimulate more muscle growth.

5 Easy Fermentation Recipes

Eating fermented foods is really good for you. It was good for our ancestors too, & may have helped drive human evolution by pushing digestion outside the gut, allowing us to have shorter digestive tracts and bigger brains. Here are 5 easy recipes. FIRST: THE BENEFITS OF FERMENTATION

Scientists believe fermentation may have had a key role to play in human evolution, allowing our ancestors to grow bigger brains by shrinking their digestive apparatus. Fermentation could have allowed this to happen by allowing circulating microbes to kick off the digestion process outside the body (“external fermentation”), meaning that our ancestors could absorb more nutrients from a smaller gut.

It’s worth emphasising again that fermentation — processes of chemical transformation of a substrate (i.e. food) — can take place anywhere, whether inside or outside the body. When you let microbes sour cabbage in a jar, this is a process that is little different from what happens inside your gut or the gut of a chimpanzee or giraffe.

Here's a detailed description of some of the benefits of fermentation, from a scientific paper.

Rather than relying on the microorganisms within the gut, external fermentation is carried out by organisms in the environment or on the surface of the organic material itself. Like internal fermentation, external fermentation increases the bioavailability of ingested nutrients, specifically, the absorption of macronutrients and micronutrients. In addition, external fermentation contributes to the health and efficacy of the host’s gut microbiome, in turn, facilitating nutrient absorption. External fermentation enhances digestibility of carbohydrates and proteins. Fermentation of legumes hydrolyzes macromolecules into more easily digestible individual amino acids and sugars. These benefits have led public health scholars to recommend increasing the consumption of fermented foods in countries experiencing food insecurity and high infant mortality.

External fermentation also improves the bioavailability of micronutrients in a number of ways. B-complex vitamins produced from the external fermentation of carbohydrates can increase the amounts of B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin) by up to 10-fold. External fermentation can also break down ANFs [anti-nutrient factors].

Phytate, a chelating ANF, can be broken down by phytase, an enzyme that some mammals—but not humans—have evolved the ability to produce endogenously. External Lactobacillus-driven fermentation is an alternative to phytase: by lowering the pH, it provides a favorable environment for both bacterial and endogenous phytase to hydrolyze bound phytate and release minerals80. Oxalate, another chelating ANF, and tannins, ANFs which bind to and lower the bioavailability of proteins, can also be degraded through external Lactobacillus fermentations. Of note, phytate is more effectively degraded by external fermentation than by cooking, as phytase bioactivity decreases above 80 °.

External fermentation can go further than simply increasing nutrient bioavailability. It can also render poisonous foods edible. One example is the detoxification of cyanogenic glycoside in bitter cassava (also known as yuca or manioc), a common staple for hundreds of millions of people living within the Tropical Belt. If consumed unfermented, cassava’s cyanogenic glycosides are hydrolyzed by colonic microorganisms and absorbed as cyanide, causing convulsions, hypotension, respiratory failure, decreased heart rate, and death85,86. When processed properly, cell walls in the cassava tuber are broken down by Lactobacillus bacteria, permitting endogenous enzymes normally sequestered from the cyanogenic glycosides to hydrolyze the toxin. The production of lactic acid during fermentation also acidifies the environment and provides a favorable milieu for other microorganisms to contribute to the hydrolysis of up to 95% of the toxin prior to consumption.

THE BEST ICE CREAM EVER: NO-CHURN PISTACHIO.

Pistachio is the greatest ice cream of them all, but it's hard to come by, mainly because companies say it's too expensive to make properly.

Well, it isn't. All you need is three ingredients. 👇 You already know my OG no-churn ice-cream recipe from my cookbook Raw Egg Nationalism, which uses meringue mix, but this one's even simpler. The key ingredient is condensed milk, which provides an absolutely dreamy texture and richness and also means you don't have to churn.

People are talking about a preprint study that shows 0.5% of the brain by weight may be plastic. I picked this up and reported on it for @infowars, and wrote about it on my Substack, a month ago. It's bad. Very bad. 👇 Researchers looked autopsy samples taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico between 2016 and 2024 and compared microplastic levels between different organs—brain, liver and kidneys—and compared levels over time.

Here’s what they found.

In basic terms, brains contain more microplastics than the liver or kidneys, and levels of microplastics in all three organs have increased over time. The results are plotted in a series of graphs which I’ve posted below.

VINCE GIRONDA'S 6-WEEK AB SPECIALISATION COURSE.

This course does exactly what it says on the tin: it provides you with a six-week course focused on abdominal development. Add it to your normal weight-training regimen. 👇 The course is not intended for absolute beginners. Vince believed beginners shouldn’t train abs at all. For beginners, according to Vince, general training, and especially compound movements, is enough to stimulate the abdominals. Only later, after the bodybuilder has gained some experience, should they then start to train abdominals specifically.

One of my most treasured possessions is this picture of my grandfather (centre) escorting JFK from his plane at London Gatwick, in June 1963. Five months later, JFK was dead. My grandfather was posted to Libya's El-Adem airbase, with his young family, soon after. Colour versions of this photograph, and other photographs of my grandfather, are kept at the Kennedy Memorial Center, in the US.

TAMPONS ARE LACED WITH HEAVY METALS.

A new study shows that tampons are laced with heavy metals including lead, arsenic and cadmium. Every single tampon tested in the study had lead in it. 👇 The researchers analysed 60 tampons representing 14 different brands from the US, UK and EU. These included name brands and store-brand products. The samples were tested using a process called inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to identify metals present.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this study is absolute junk, which it is. But let me tell you one reason why, which you may not be aware of. 👇

https://twitter.com/Babygravy9/status/1798091154673512503

The study starts from the position that there must be some evolutionary reason for the persistence of genes for same-sex attraction, since they persist despite being apparently maladaptive (gay people don't reproduce).

The researchers therefore devised a "desirable dad hypothesis": that men possessing traits associated with same-sex attraction are actually more likely to be attractive to women.

Here's how the researchers describe this in the study abstract:

"Same-sex attraction, a heritable trait with a reproductive cost, lacks a comprehensive evolutionary explanation. Here we build on a hypothesis invoking antagonistic pleiotropy, which suggests that genes linked to male same-sex attraction remain in the gene pool because they have conferred some fitness advantage to heterosexual men possessing them. We posit the “desirable dad hypothesis,” which proposes that alleles linked to male non-heterosexual orientations increase traits conducive to childcare; heterosexual men possessing same-sex attracted alleles are more desirable mating partners as a function of possessing superior paternal qualities."

SUNLIGHT STOPS YOU GETTING FAT.

Apart from cholesterol, sunlight is probably the most demonised "substance" in all of health. You're told sunlight is harmful, but the opposite is true, as a new study shows. UV light makes you eat more, but it also ramps up your metabolism.👇 What the researchers found in this new study is that mice exposed to consistent UV radiation (one of the main components of sunlight) exhibited increased appetite, which could be seen not only in eating behaviours, but also in levels of the hormone leptin, which regulates appetite.

Regardless of whether or not the mice were fed a normal diet or a high-fat (i.e. junk-food diet) they didn’t gain weight. Yes, you read that right: even mice fed a junk-food diet, if they were exposed to steady UV radiation, didn’t gain weight, even when they ate more.

But how?

SOME NEW MICROPLASTIC STUDIES.

There's now massive amounts of research being conducted into microplastics and their effects. Barely a day passes without multiple new studies. Here are a few I saw on my travels today. 👇 No surprise: single-use beverage cups release significant quantities of microplastics when hot water is added to them. Interestingly, rinsing the cup with pure cold water before use reduces plastic release by over half (up to 65%).

AIR IN 99% OF CARS CONTAINS TOXIC CHEMICALS LINKED TO CANCER AND HORMONE-DISRUPTION.

A new study shows that virtually all car interiors are off-gassing harmful flame retardants. 👇 Researchers analysed the air in 101 electric, gas and hybrid cars made between 2015 and 2022, and found that 99% of the samples contained a flame retardant called TCIPP, which is being investigated as a potential carcinogen, and two others, TDCIPP and TCEP, which are already considered to be carcinogenic.

10,000 CHEMICALS LEACHING INTO FOOD FROM PLASTIC CONTAINERS.

A new study suggests that thousands of chemicals, a significant proportion of which scientists know nothing about, are leaching into foods from plastic containers. 👇 Significant numbers of these chemicals, like bisphenol A and phthalates, are linked to a variety of health problems, from reproductive issues to diabetes and even heart disease and forms of cancer.

Many, however, are totally unknown to science.

raweggstack.com/p/the-plastic-…

Eating vegetable and seed oils is bad enough, but eating them when they've been reused in deep-frying is even worse. A new study suggests that long-term consumption of food cooked in deep fryers is linked to serious neurological damage. 👇

https://twitter.com/SeedOilScout/status/1780604959211622649

Researchers divided female rats into five groups that each received either standard chow or standard chow supplemented with either a) 0.1 ml per day of unheated sesame oil, unheated sunflower oil, or b) reheated sesame oil or reheated sunflower oil for 30 days. The rats that consumed reheated sesame or sunflower oil showed increased oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver. These rats also suffered significant damage to the colon that caused changes in endotoxins and lipopolysaccharides—toxins released from certain bacteria. "As a result, liver lipid metabolism was significantly altered, and the transport of the important brain omega-3 fatty acid DHA was decreased," explains one of the researchers. "This, in turn, resulted in neurodegeneration, which was seen in the brain histology of the rats consuming the reheated oil as well as their offspring."

AUTISM AND GUT FLORA.

Yet another study has linked disturbed gut flora in early life to later onset of autism and ADHD. This one is a large-scale study of over 16,000 children born in Sweden in the late 90s. 👇 Over 16,000 Swedish children born 1997–1999 have been followed from birth into their twenties. Of these, 1,197 children, corresponding to 7.3%, have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, communication disorder or intellectual disability.

THE GIRONDA APPROACH TO AB TRAINING.

"Sharp, well-built abdominal muscles are worth a king's ransom. To my mind, there is no more treasured possession," said Vince Gironda. Here are the fundamentals of his approach to training the abdominals. 👇 1. NO SPOT-REDUCTION.

Sorry, but no amount of sit-ups will burn the fat off your stomach. Fat loss doesn’t work like that: it isn’t specific to the region that is being worked. Vince knew this way back when, and it’s been wholly substantiated by scientific studies as well.

BREASTFEEDING AND EXERCISE

Ladies: Want to supercharge your breast milk to provide baby with even more benefits and help stave off obesity? Exercise directly before you breastfeed and your milk will be packed with even higher levels of a powerful metabolic hormone. 👇 Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology collected 240 samples of breast milk from 20 new mothers before and at intervals after two HIIT exercise sessions. They then compared these with samples taken at the same intervals after periods of sedentary behavior.

Eating vegetable and seed oils is bad enough, but eating them when they've been reused in deep-frying is even worse.

A new study suggests that long-term consumption of food cooked in deep fryers is linked to serious neurological damage. 👇 Researchers divided female rats into five groups that each received either standard chow or standard chow supplemented with either a) 0.1 ml per day of unheated sesame oil, unheated sunflower oil, or b) reheated sesame oil or reheated sunflower oil for 30 days.

The rats that consumed reheated sesame or sunflower oil showed increased oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver. These rats also suffered significant damage to the colon that caused changes in endotoxins and lipopolysaccharides—toxins released from certain bacteria.

"As a result, liver lipid metabolism was significantly altered, and the transport of the important brain omega-3 fatty acid DHA was decreased," explains one of the researchers. "This, in turn, resulted in neurodegeneration, which was seen in the brain histology of the rats consuming the reheated oil as well as their offspring."

New research has shown that too much exposure to a growth factor called activin A in the womb prevents the proper development of the testes in male fetuses. And what increases activin A production in women? SSRIs. Women are generally told SSRIs are safe during pregnancy. 👇 The research, published in Frontiers in Endocrinology, is the first to show that increased exposure to activin A leads to some of the worst effects caused by endocrine-disrupting substances.

VINCE GIRONDA SHOULDER TRAINING.

"Was there ever a hero who didn't have broad shoulders?" Vince Gironda knew that the shoulders could make or break a man's physique, as this image of Steve Reeves (far left) shows. Let's dig in to Vince's approach to shoulder training. 👇 The quote below is from Vince's 1984 book The Wild Physique. Vince's main emphasis with the shoulders, as with every other body part, is proportion. You need to work with your body's natural endowment to ensure you maintain balance even as you add mass.