Resources: Where to Find the Best Nutrition and Training Information on the Web

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Updated Feb 3rd, 2012

One of the most valuable things to me are my bookmarks. I have hundreds of pages bookmarked. I like to be detailed. I like to be able to refer back to things, and refer people onto useful things. (When I read a good article, I share it in Twitter, so why not follow me for good stuff daily.) Unfortunately I am not one of those people that can read things once and then be able to recall the information at any time.

Increasingly this last couple of years I have found myself using digital bookmarks in PDF files and internet pages, so I thought that potentially the most useful thing I could give you this Christmas is to share some of my fitness related bookmarks with you.

I think that reading and learning is the essence of life. The more I study; the more I realise I have to learn, but that’s the fun of it. It’s always humbling learning something new. When I’m not ‘geeking out’ on nutrition or training I read biographies. I find them inspiring.

The links below are mostly to specific articles alone. However there are some people whose entire sites are worth looking through. This is by no means a comprehensive list. I’ve kept it purposefully short so that it’s easier to navigate and less confusing.

If there’s something else you’re looking for drop me a comment at the end and I’ll provide a link to it if I have one.

List of contents:

Nutrition

  • Sites
  • Practical Diet Info Links
  • Information for those that want to dig deeper and study

Training

  • Sites
  • Articles and Videos
  • Four Great Books

Links for the Ladies

I’ve put the key links at the bottom of every website page too, for quick reference.
Click for more –>

Nutrition Sites:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

http://www.leangains.com/

http://alanaragon.com/researchreview

  • Alan Aragon is probably the most famous man on all of the huge BodyBuilding.com forums. He’s achieved this fame through shutting people down when they start talking nonsense about supplements or training.
  • He writes a highly respected monthly online magazine called Research Review, ”Unbiased critical analysis of the latest research on nutrition, supplementation and training.” For someone like me that needs to keep up-to-date on the latest research but doesn’t have the time or the brains to dissect the cleverly created BS research from the good stuff, this is a must. It’s the best $10 that I spend a month.
  • Sample issue here.

http://www.leighpeele.com

  • This is a treasure chest of goodies here in this one. For those that read Martin’s leangains blog front to back, you’ll know what I mean. Many people ask about body fat %, there’s a good guide here.

Nutrition – Practical Diet Info Links:

Nutrition information for those that want to dig deeper and study:

More to come.

Training Sites:

http://startingstrength.com/

  • This is Mark Rippetoe’s site, the man that literally ‘wrote the book‘ on Barbell training. Yes, this site doesn’t look very pretty, but neither are the English compared to the vikings across the water. Luckily we have great banter to make up for it, as does Rippetoe when he lets people have it on the forums. I promise you that digging through his site will be rewarding. I’ve included a lot of links to save you searching through below.

http://jasonferruggia.com/

  • I love his site. Quick, easy to read articles on a wide-range of practical training topics. He runs a no BS gym, and has 20+ years of experience. His advice & articles are thus first-class. I really like his emphasis on training hard, with attitude, but in a way that avoids long-term injuries (like this chin-up article). He’s a big believer in barbels and bodyweight exercises.

http://jcdfitness.com/

http://defrancostraining.com/

  • DeFranco specializes in training young men to get drafted into the NFL. The video says it all. I’ve hit a couple of PB’s directly after watching this on the iPod. Awesome!

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/

  • Do yourself a favor and enter your e-mail address in the pop-up window when you go to his site to get Robertson’s weekly newsletter. He’s well connected in the industry and it is truly excellent. Here’s his top ten blog posts of the year.

http://www.fitocracy.com/

  • Online, easy-to-use workout tracker, with a social networking element similar to Facebook. A very useful tool to connect you to likeminded people and to keep you motivated when you have a bad day. - Send me an “@” message on Twitter if you want an invite. (Or comment below with “Send me an invite” and I’ll e-mail you one.)

Training Articles and Videos:

Rippetoe’s StartingStrength.com:

Videos:

Articles:

Others:

More to come.
Four Great Training Books:

Read and absorb the lessons (of the first two in particular) and you’ll know more than 99% of people in the gym. Don’t let it give you a big head though, you still have to use this knowledge, lift the weight, and dedicate yourself to it.

  • “Starting Strength 3rd Edition” by Mark Rippetoe.
  • “Beyond Brawn 2nd Edition” by Stuart McRobert.
  • “Practical Programming for Strength Training” by Rippetoe and Kilgore. -  Why have light days? What are the needs for a Beginner vs. Intermediate trainee and how to define the difference? (No, not strength. Recovery times.) Really good.
  • “The Purposeful Primitive” by Marty Gallagher. -Probably not going to teach you anything that the above three won’t but it’s funny, interesting, has good stories, and has a good history of barbell training.

Links for the Ladies:

Though there may be hormonal and body-fat storage pattern differences between men and women, the most effective methods of training needed to brings about physiological change remain the same*. (Two small exceptions below.)

I know that barbell training may be a little scary, so with the help of the kind ladies over at the Girls Gone Strong group on Facebook, I’ve assembled a list of websites/blogs written by ladies, for ladies proving that there’s nothing except the joy/ expense of shopping for a new wardrobe to be scared of.

If you want to change your body, I mean really change it and look like a model as some of these ‘girls’ do, listen to them. In no particular order:

Exceptions for Training/Diet with ladies. (Read only if you’re geeky)
1. Women can find it relatively more difficult to get to extreme levels of body fat. Women deposit more body fat around the thighs and lower abdomen, and this fat is much more difficult to shift. – Typical steady-state cardio or HIIT can be ineffective or counter productive at this stage. The physiological nature of the fat is actually different. The blood-flow is lower, and the high (9:1) alpha/ beta hormone receptor ratio is working against us. Lyle McDonald’s “The Stubborn Fat Solution” is highly recommended, but only for those at the stage where the abs are threatening to come through anyway, yet thigh fat remains a ‘problem’.

2. Women tend to have a lower 1 rep-max compared to men, given the same 5 rep-max weight. This must be taken into consideration when doing intermediate programming -the tables used for men can be inappropriate. Rippetoe talks more about this in his book Practical Programming for Strength Training (linked above).

  • Finally, I’ve just created a new Facebook community page. Check it out.
I acknowledge that the lines between the two categories, Nutrition and Training are blurry. There are several sites that could easily fit in both.
If you have an idea for this page, or if one of the links has stopped working please post a comment and I’ll fix it.
This entry was posted in Nutrition, Training by Andy Morgan. Bookmark the permalink.

About Andy Morgan

I'm an online nutritional coach and trainer. After seeing one too many people get ripped off by supplement and training industry lies I decided to try and do something about it. The site you see here is the result of a lot of Starbucks-fuelled, two-fingered typing. It's had a lot of love poured into it, and I hope you find the guides to the diet and training methods I use on this site useful. When I'm not helping clients you'll likely find me crashing down a mountain on a snowboard, riding a motorbike, or staring at watches I can't afford.

30 thoughts on “Resources: Where to Find the Best Nutrition and Training Information on the Web”

  1. Pingback: Top Methods For Finding The Best Nutritionist | Nutrition

  3. Followed your advice and purchased: “Starting Strength 3rd Edition” by Mark Rippetoe.
    Great book so far. Thanks again.

    Reply ↓

  6. Hi Andy!
    Found your site through some post somewhere and have been browsing through for a couple of days. Love what you promote and also thanks for all your intelligent and easy to read info :)
    If the offer to Fitocracy still stands, I think I may like to give it a try.
    Thanks for what you do.

    Reply ↓

  8. Hey Andy – great site which I very much appreciate.

    Just wanted to point out that whilst you have an article on the benefits of doing cardio when fasted Alan Aragon’s cardio article suggests:

    “Fasted cardio is not optimal for reasons spanning beyond its questionable track record in research. There’s unavoidable positive metabolic synergy in fed (read: properly fueled) training, regardless of sport. This effect increases with intensity of training; even in untrained subjects, whatever fat oxidation is suppressed during training is compensated for in the recovery period by multiple mechanisms, many of which are not yet identified.”

    It seems to contradict what you suggested unless I’ve misunderstood.

    Reply ↓

    • Hey Ambrose thanks for the comment. It’s a really complicated topic with information from many sources. I don’t think Alan’s words necessarily contradict, rather they are one part of the bigger picture, which isn’t yet fully understood. Some of Lyle McDonald’s research, particularly the Stubborn Fat Solution, gets a whole lot more complicated. -It’s a great read though. He’d argue that insulin blunts fat burning, and thus training fasted or >3 hours after a meal is optimal. The principle of, the longer you go fasted the more energy your body uses comes from fat oxidization is true, I was just extending on from that to talk about LISS cardio.

      The main point I wanted to get across is this, for males over 8% body-fat, using cardio for fat burning is inefficient, and could be fixed with the diet. Time is the most valuable resource we have, so unless you enjoy cardio for the sake of doing cardio then don’t waste it.

      Lastly, please don’t use @stuntcock.com as your e-mail address if you wish to have an answer again. It’s just disrespectful.

      Reply ↓

        • Thanks for the reply Andy. It does indeed seem incredibly complex. Did you see the article on Wired that Martin linked to about causation and the failure of reductionism in a highly complex system? Here’s the link: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_causation/all/1

          It explains the challenges faced by those trying to unlock the processes at play with something seemingly as simple as the food we eat.

          Anyway I take your point and appreciate the time you took to reply.

          No worries on the Stunt Cock front. It is a clothing brand I am working to get off the ground. Glad you liked it :-) Buy a t-shirt and be the first one in Japan!

          As for conventional wisdom – that’s applies to broscience. You’re walking the unconventional path (along with Martin) and I salute you for that!

          Here’s to a great 2012 for you and all your readers/clients. Keep fighting the good fight.

          Reply ↓

          • Thanks buddy. Yes I read that article. Very true, and kind of worrying regarding the ever increasing costs of medical research and thus the future of our medicines. Interesting NY video btw. That stole 30minutes of my life yesterday.

            Good luck with the t-shirt brand.

            Reply ↓

  9. thanks for all this great info, it will make the work day go by faster for sure!! also, if you still have fitocracy invites i’d love one!

    Reply ↓

  10. Andy, Thanks for the great compilation! Hope you had a great Xmas and Happy New Years!

    If you have any left, can I get a fitocracy invite?

    Thanks!

    Reply ↓

  11. Wow Andy,

    thanks for a great gift! Lot of reading to do.
    Lyle McDonald’s style is hilarious by the way…

    Must say that stumbling upon your site has been one of the highlights of this year!
    Keep up the good work!

    Maurice

    Reply ↓

  14. Hey Andy,

    Thanks for this list! I have been meaning to read beyond brawn for a while, and the body fat article from Leigh is great!

    Wishing you much success in 2012!

    Reply ↓

  15. Hi Andy!

    Thank you for a great site and for your latest post – found a lot of useful links with new information to dive right into!

    PS. If the offer about fitocracy-invites still stands, I would very much appreciate an invite! Thnx!

    Reply ↓

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