I wanted to say "Thanks!" to all of you who visited in February. We hit 17,189 visits, which is incredible to me. I've been running this site for barely over a year now and I never imagined getting this kind of traffic.

"Thank you very much!"

Combined with this blog, Muscle-Build.com got over 20,000 visits in February. That is so totally awesome. Thanks again.

While traffic is very important to the success of Muscle-Build.com, it is not the only indicator of success. Ultimately, I want you to get what you need here. I want Muscle-Build.com to be your one-stop shop for all of your muscle-building, fat-loss, fitness, and performance-improvement needs.

In that light, then, please drop me a comment and let me know what you want to see here and on the main site.

I'd like to build my subscriber base too. Being a subscriber gets you weekly updates along with information that I don't normally publish. I also make available a ton of free stuff in the form of special reports. By becoming a subscriber, you instantly get 12 free reports plus access to dozens more.

All completely FREE.

I won't lie to you – I want you as a subscriber because – some day – you might actually buy something from me. I want long-term customers. I assure you that I will treat you and your personal information with the utmost respect and you can certainly unsubscribe at any time. No questions asked and I won't take it personally (though, in the quest to continuously improve my business, I would like to know why you unsubscribed).

Well, that's it for now. February was a phenomenal month for Muscle-Build.com. Even more astonishing is that this was the best month ever and it, of course, was a short month. At 20,000 visits, you get an average, in a 30-day month, about 650 visits a day. Reducing the days by 2 in February, I had to average over 700 a day. It doesn't sound like a lot, but little changes make have big effects over time.

Thanks again!

I admit I've not written a lot specifically for the women readers here, so here's a small attempt at giving my female visitors some attention.

You could say, however, that this recommendation covers the guys, too. I used this site extensively prior to my wedding day; they are the top-notch web destination for everything there is about marriage – the wedding, honeymoon, what to wear, how to write invitations and thank-yous. And a lot more.

Now, The Wedding Channel has a fitness section! Way cool. One of their first features is how to drop a dress size in 31 days or less. I can tell you that the stress of arranging the perfect wedding can put on some weight! At least, it did for me.

Headed up by celebrity fitness trainer, Marco Borges, The Wedding Channel is an essential pre- and post-wedding web destination. Check it out!

by Mark Wilson

I probably should have been born in the 1940's.

Why?

Because I look up to many of the old school bodybuilders from that era.

Long before steroids and performance-enhancing drugs soiled the sport, these men carved out astounding physiques, the old school way.

By training smart, and eating right.

Men like Armand Tanny, John Grimek, and Vince Gironda.

These pioneers of the muscle game didn't keep a bottle of testosterone cypionate in the medicine cabinet.

They didn't rely on fractioned, low-fat, over-processed foods either.

Vince shunned the primitive soy-based protein powders of the day, and got his aminos the way mother nature intended.

From food!

He believed a large percentage of your daily food intake should be consumed in a raw, natural state.

His go-to guys were steak tarter, whole eggs, and raw milk.

Yup, Vince, John, Armand, and most of the other muscle men of that era ate what I like to call "man food."

Food that real men consumed, before fat phobia took over our collective conscious in the late 70s and early 80s.

As a matter of fact, these men embraced fat, from clean, animal-based sources, and for good reason.

For one, fat is good for you!

Surprised?  More on that later…

Second, fat, especially saturated fat, is vital for optimal Testosterone Production.

Studies have shown conclusively, that male vegetarians, who typically consume very little saturated fat, have considerably lower levels of testosterone compared to non vegetarians.

In 2005 JS Volek conducted a study titled, The case for not restricting saturated fat on a low carbohydrate diet.

This research compared the dietary records of several men involved in weight training.

The authors found significant correlations between testosterone levels and total and saturated fat intake among men with a history of at least one year of weight training.

Penn State researchers came to some of the same conclusions…

Specifically, they found that monounsaturated and saturated fat raise testosterone levels, while polyunsaturated has the exact opposite effect.

The take home message from the study above?

Avoid the oxidized, liquid oils in clear plastic bottles, sitting on the grocery store shelf.

Instead, get your fat from grass-fed beef, free range eggs, whole milk, almonds, and olive oil.

These foods, specifically meat, milk, and eggs, are swimming in substances that a man's body needs in order to build muscle.

These include zinc, cholesterol (a steroid hormone precursor), B vitamins, choline, vitamin A, K, and D, iron, protein, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, calcium, etc..

Remember…

Take the yolk out of the egg, the fat out of the milk, or the meat out of the diet, and you can kiss these nutrients bye bye, because they're gone!

But what about health you say?

I say, don't sweat it!

As long as your fat doesn't come wrapped in two all beef patties, special sauce, and a sesame seed bun, you're going to be OK.

In other words, the fat, in and of itself, isn't the problem, it's what you're eating along with the fat, that is.

So, drop the burger, the fries, and the super sized drink, and you've got nothing to worry about.

Need proof?

The French diet is very high in saturated fats from butter, eggs, cheese, cream, liver, and meats, yet they have 50% less coronary heart disease, compared to those living in the US.

The Masai out of Africa, who consume meat, blood, and milk, and get more than 50% of their calories from saturated fat, suffer very little heart disease.

In a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Siri-Tarino and colleagues concluded that the evidence does not support "the conventional wisdom that reduced dietary saturated fat intake is beneficial for cardiovascular health."

They went on to say…

Clinical trials and prospective-cohort studies have not consistently shown that reducing dietary saturated fat lowers cardiovascular risk. And, replacing saturated fat with carbohydrate has NOT been shown to reduce CVD risk.

Again, I go back to the old school bodybuilders for proof that this current dietary mindset is entirely misguided.

Our three boys, according to conventional wisdom, should have all died very young from heart disease.

But, that's not what happened…

Vince survived to within a month of his 80th birthday.

John Grimek made it to 88, and Armand Tanny, the biggest carnivore of them all, lived until the ripe old age of 90.

Compare these numbers to the new school guys, who often check out before they reach the age of 60.

We could all learn a lot from the old school bodybuilders.

Mark Wilson is the owner of Boost-Your-Low Testosterone.com, a website dedicated to natural therapies you can use to increase testosterone levels, build muscle, and boost sex drive, without doctors, drugs, or artificial hormones.

Here's a great video from nutritional expert Dr John Berardi on how to cycle your supplements so that you don't develop any intolerances to them.

The Arnold Sports Expo was just like any other expo you may have ever been to: Lots of vendors trying to get you to part with your hard-earned cash in return for what they hope you will believe is the best product this side of the Mississippi.

The overwhelming majority (I'd say at least 70 percent) of vendors at the Arnold were supplement manufacturers or companies who sell mostly supplements (GNC, Bodybuilding.com, and the Vitamin Shoppe).

If a superstar bodybuilder like current Mr Olympia Jay Cutler (MuscleTech) couldn't lure you to the booth, then the supplement companies threw scantily-clad "fitness models" at the mostly-male crowd.

So there's obviously a lot riding on getting you to buy their stuff. If the product's benefits don't sell it, then surely a superstar bodybuilder who presumably uses it will; and if that doesn't work, throw some tits and ass your way, and you'll soon lose all of your judgment!

(I'm not kidding about this – there was one booth where the women were wearing pants – very tight, or course – that had small rectangular cut-outs strategically placed such that it made showing butt crack inevitable. I kid you not. Or maybe that was my imagination.)

I've talked about this before: Supplements help. A lot. But you have to take the right ones. All the others are junk at best. And seriously dangerous at worst.

There are some supplements that I will take the rest of my life because I know they work. I've tried a literal TON of supplements over the years (30+) and I know what works. I also have a good idea what doesn't. And I know which ones I'd never take.

You can read all about my take on supplements elsewhere here on the blog and also at the main Muscle-Build.com site. I just wanted to share with you something that really caught my attention.

It's not just the bodybuilding magazines hawking supplements (pick up any popular muscle magazine and I challenge you to find any editorial content within the first 30 pages) – it's Arnold and every other strength-sport competition and event.

Buyer beware. Again, I'm not saying supplements are bad. They're very important. Just know what you're buying before you shove it down your gullet. Otherwise, you're wasting your money and maybe jeopardizing your health.