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More in Motivation

The Mr. Olympia is not canceled however the date is uncertain at the moment. News coming soon BUT in the mean time Derek Lunsford is fitting in training where and when he can as close to business as usual for the 2020 Olympia.

Here Derek hits some arm training and talks briefly about his typical, day-to-day meals.

 and DM him directly to pressure him for more updates!

Stay tuned for a great show down between Derek, Guy Cisternino and Shaun Clarida.

Video: Derek Lunsford Update - Olympia, Arms, Nutrition

More in Training

Hunter Labrada won Nationals in 2018 Matt Schmidt won Nationals in 2019. They link up with Bryan Troianello and have a real proper leg day.

"Last week we squatted with the spider bar with 4 plates a side for 10 reps. This week we are going to go for 4 plates and a 10 each side and go for 12."

THE NAME OF THE GAME IS PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD.

Hunter mentions a couple of very important things to remember.

1. You will never be able to train as hard by yourself as you can with legit training partners

2. You have to progressively overload if you want any kind of hypertrophy

Check out the full video and see what you can learn from these three. Get your notepads again and share with anyone looking for legit info to build off of.

Video: Overload Leg Day with Hunter Labrada, Bryan Troianello and Matt Schmidt

More in Ambassadors

Let's meet Chinese bodybuilder and GASP Ambassador Cao Yu!

Hello GASP family! My name is Cao Yu, I am from China! I was born in 1982, I live in Beijing. Bodybuilding and training have always been my passion and love. I have been training for over 20 years and competing since 2012. I have won several national level bodybuilding competitions, for example, I won the first place in the 85kg division of an IFBB competition in Hong Kong in 2013.

I am so honored and proud to join the GASP family. I have been in love with GASP since day one. I love the relentless, no compromise training and lifestyle. GASP is a brand that is truly designed for dedicated athletes. The fit, the fabric and the look is just impeccable. For me, GASP is a belief and a totem. Now when I am officially a part of the family, I've reached my destination for a brand new start!

I am also a personal trainer, I own All Black Training Academy which holds a professional training camp every month, we limit the number of participants to 20 people to assure the quality.

Now the majority of the people around the world are in quarantine. Special times demand special ways to continue chasing our dreams. It’s all about how bad you want it. I am still preparing for the 2020 Olympia China which is planned to take place in Beijing in June. I’m doing everything I can to train, eat, rest and repeat.

Adversity reveals the true character of a person. Never lose sight of your goals no matter what the circumstances are. You should hang tight to what you truly love. Stay safe and hope this will be over soon.

GASP - A Belief and A Totem - Introduction to Cao Yu 

In life and in bodybuilding, you cant get traction without a specific direction and fully executing the steps to make a process happen.

The same applies to lifting with intention. Believe it or not, a heavier weight is NOT the end all be all to progressive overload and making progress with your physique. Sometimes you have to re learn movements and then intentionally execute to get the desired stimulus.

Today with Joe Mackey and Eugene Torrence the desired stimulus is back... more specifically the smaller muscles like the rhomboids that need special attention since "contests are won from the back."

Check out the accessory and "primer" movements and stretches that Eugene Torrence (follow him on instagram at stretchingstation) puts Joe through and how Joe then follows up with his usual heavy movements while incorporating the re learned movement and after priming the rhomboids and smaller muscles of the back.

Video: Lit Up Back Training - Joe Mackey and Eugene Torrence

More in Destination

Our WHY as a company with destination, GASP and Better Bodies is to better the world with the help of fitness…

The vision and reason to exist behind the destination project was to create a second home away from home. A dream world for our own workouts that was free from unnecessary norms and expectations from society.

A place where we create social belonging regardless of background, color, sex or creed. An

open-door type of destination that is more like an extension of our own living room.

It has never been about making money but ONLY to create a place for passion and purpose driven people that have an emotional ownership in the destination project and its culture.

Now I can proudly say that in my book we are definitely on the right journey towards our own dream, where Destination is our second home and is well taken care of by its members and staff.

We have fun in and around our home base and the environment is truly JUDGEMENT FREE which is a hard thing to achieve. We are a diverse crowd of like-minded people…

Destination gym is 7 years old and has never made any money as every dime has been reinvested together with even more support from GASP and Better Bodies.

We are fueled by the progress and we continue to work hard to create more fun and improve the fitness journey through our WHY with the help of our destination members and

A Message From The CEO - Our "Why"

When you get to professional status, the details are going to be what separates the best of the best.

Joe Mackey has been lifting monster weights for a long time. The circumference of his limbs are evidence of that. In the IFBB Pro ranks however, details are what separates an amateur from a pro and a pro from a top tier pro who wins.

Teaming up here again with Joe Mackey is therapist Eugene Torrence. Eugene explains that they activate the glutes first and then really warm up with several movements first to be able to get the desired stimulus out of todays leg session.

"We want to activate the glutes, push with the heels to stimulate the outer quads."

Commenting on the double banded barbell squats Joe says, "i guess its time to start loving the pain."

Joe Mackey is still planning on competing at the Tampa pro this year along with Hunter Labrada making his pro debut.

Double Banded Squats - Joe Mackey Training Legs

Ashkan Aghili has been performing bodybuilding specific training since ’97 and have had an active competing career between ’99-05. A severe knee accident put the competing to an end for Ashkan but he still lives and breathe bodybuilding every day and still train like he would get up on that stage again.

Today his drive is all about inspiring others in their training and bodybuilding lifestyle. His goals are to constantly improve his physique and performance with the mindset that there’s no end to making improvements.

"Be consistent, be patient, never give up and keep pushing. Eventually you will evolve."

Get to know Ashkan

Nothing worth while ever came easy. If you want something great, you will most certainly have to bust your ass for it.

Here Jonathan Irizarry, national level bodybuilder and prep coach, takes us through one of his typical back training sessions. Exercise for exercise and set for set with Jon complete with some instruction on the exercises where people generally need some cues on how to perform.

Neutral grip pulldowns 4 sets x 10-12 reps

Real & Raw Back Training with Jonathan Irizarry

You don't build limbs the size of Joe Mackey's arms without being able to hoist some heavy ass weights. Joe reminisces on when he was a book worm and then when his genetics hadn't hit yet.

Joe has some awesome growing up stories here. Check it out along with the raw training.

From Geek to Freak - Joe Mackey 

What got you here won't get you there... This is a throwback yes, but it is a valuable message for what it takes to compete and win at the national level from Johnnie Jackson and Lee Labrada.

Forward progress in general is based on proper stimulus, measuring and being very proactive and hungry.

Hunter Labrada won the NPC National Championships in 2018. He was the best amateur and won his professional status amongst many other local and regional champions. However, to make an impact at his pro debut, Hunters physique from Nationals most likely wont earn him his first win on the pro circuit.

This is a look back at the 2018 Nationals, some great interview excerpts from Johnnie Jackson and Lee Labrada and a few of the country's best amateur bodybuilders.

Stay tuned in 2020 for Hunters pro debut!

Winning the NPC Nationals - Hunter Labrada 

Rows are common with any back workout. This session with Branch Warren and Johnnie Jackson and Butch Steinle consisted of 90% row.

After starting with neutral grip pull-downs it went 1) Overhand gripped rows with the horizontal leg press 2) Seal rows with a barbell 3) Low cable rows 4) Selectorized rows

The tempo is always explosive but ranges of motion differ based on the make and model of each machine hence the extreme variety.

Check out the full workout and how eccentric and concentric portions of every lift change with free weights, with and without chest support and with/without cables.

RAW Back Training with Branch Warren, Johnnie Jackson and Butch Steinle

Destination Dallas Texas is the home base of Better Bodies and GASP. Destination is a place for everyone interested in bodybuilding and fitness, where the focus lies in hard training and any unnecessary norms and expectations from the society are left outside.

This is a place where we create social belonging regardless of background, color, sex or creed. An open-door type of destination that is more like an extension of our own living room.

The environment is truly judgement free, and we are a diverse crowd of like-minded people.

Finding a good training companion or gym partner may kick your training motivation up a notch. It can also enable you to push yourself above the limits you had originally set for yourself, consciously or unconsciously.

We never turn down an opportunity to capture our dedicated athletes in their pursuit for excellence and we are proud to have a very diverse and mixed group of GASP athletes that frequently train at Destination. Not always do they know each other before they walk through the door, but the language of GASP and the gym is the same for everyone and at Destination we are all equals.

With our videos and content we aim to inspire and give you some extra ammunition on your personal fitness journey, wherever your starting point may be or whatever you aim to achieve.

In this arm training feature we meet up with 

 for some serious arm building exercises. Three bodybuilders with different backgrounds who all agrees on one thing; Progressive overload is necessary for muscle hypertrophy.

A full range of motion and perfect form has its room for individual interpretation and is not the only training style that works,or the only method these guys have ever used to train.

"If you've noticed, we all use perfect form and we all have pretty good arm development."

All three of them have an arm circumference that measures over 20 inches but on that same note, all three have been training for over 10-15 years. Dedication, consistency, a no compromise attitude, and a relentless pursuit are shared denominators in these guys lives.

One thing that is common between perfect form and form that can be seen as "cheating" is the overload principle. Regardless of preference of style, overload is a must or anyone will just be lifting weights vs actually training.

When an individual trains and progressively overloads the muscle, they activate stimulus that is creating an environment beneficial to getting bigger and stronger. When an individual merely lifts weight with no steady tracking of weight increase and not continually overloading the muscles week in and week out, there will naturally be a lack of stimulus to keep the body growing bigger and stronger.

Hunter Labrada and Joe Mackey are both 9 weeks out from competing in bodybuilding at the IFBB Tampa Pro. We we will document the whole process with more training collaborations all the way up to contest time. Both of these guys are training to win. Both have to take on each day relentlessly and at 100% to keep progressing towards the stage in just two months.

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 and share your best tips on how to build muscle.