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Here’s how to make the best damned ribs ever. It’s simple, quick, and best of all, yummy.

• Buy a couple racks of ribs at your favorite grocery store. I buy mine at Costco.
• Drink a beer.
• Cut into pieces small enough to fit in a clay or stone pot (you can get at Pampered Chef).
• Drink a beer.
• Smother ribs with KC BBQ sauce, whatever flavor you want. I use the low sodium kind.
• Mix the BBQ sauce and the ribs in whatever pot you picked above.
• Did mention? Drink a beer.
• Bake at 400 for 40 minutes or so (I know, where the heck is the BBQ?).
• Hey, drink a beer!
• Fire up the grill (charcoal is best, but gas works too).
• Thirsty? Drink a beer!
• Smoke/grill for 10-15 minutes to give more flavor.
• Eat, drink, and be merry.

That’s it. Super simple, easy, fairly good on the gut. Have fun.

Here’s to the fallen heroes. That’s why we observe Memorial Day after all.

Welcome to the May 22, 2009 edition of the Hardgainer blog carnival.

Oystein Lund presents So what does fitness mean anyway? posted at Muscle building for fat loss, saying, “What’s your motivation for doing this anyway?”

Joe E presents New Diet Craze: I Gross You Out So Much That You Quit Eating Crappy, Disgusting Fast Food! posted at Promote Health, saying, “Here’s 12 reasons why you should quit eating fast food!”

Steve Faber presents Aerobics is a Waste of Your Time if You Want to Burn Fat posted at Belly Fat Loser.

Conan Stevens presents Gain Weight – 20kg In 3 Months posted at Conan Stevens Online, saying, “Before i was a hardgainer, i was an easy gainer, then…”

FitJerk presents Building Muscle Mass By Eating More? Carbs? Why Gluconeogenesis Is Your Enemy posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “Most know that protein is the fundamental element that you need to eat to build rock hard muscles, and carbs are something you should cut down on to avoid getting fat. Right? WRONG! Learn the secret carb to protein ratio that explodes muscle mass!”

Verna Morris presents 25 Bookmark-worthy Cheat Sheets for Healthy Living posted at Nursing Assistant Guides.

Ralph Jean-Paul presents Lessons Learned During My Self-Discipline Fast posted at ralphs words, saying, “The benefits and lessons I learned during a challenging juice fast.”

FitJerk presents Supplement Review: Purple K Creatine From Fusion Bodybuilding posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “I stumbled upon a buffered type of creatine which is pH balanced, doesn’t need to be cycled, comes in a pill form and best off all, gives you the same results with a smaller dosage! Find out if it lived up to its claims!”

Colin Timberlake presents Training Log: The 2009 Arnold Classic 5K Pump and Run- Day 35 posted at colintimberlake.com, saying, “Former Mr. Olympia and the King of Perseverance Samir Bannout is used as the inspiration for a day of hard training.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Hardgainer blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: hardgainer blog carnival, blog carnival.

I just posted a review of the Hardgainer Project X system, written by “The Muscle Nerd” himself, Jeff Anderson, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s an awesome course made especially for the hardgainer. To say it’s “tailored” to training the hardgainer is a total understatement and misleading because HPX is much more than that -

It’s a complete guide to building muscle for the hardgainer. Some of Jeff’s stuff is novel; some of it is “old school.” But all of it is effective.

Read the full Hardgainer Project X review here.

Often, when you read bodybuilding-related blogs and websites, you’ll see the term “heavy.” But what does “heavy” mean?

Let’s say you can Bench Press 315 pounds one time. For you, that’s the heaviest you can go, right? But is 285 for 2 reps heavy? Hell yeah.

Is 225 for 20 reps heavy? If 20 is the most you can do, then yes, it is heavy.

Bottom line: If you cannot do another rep, it’s HEAVY.

It’s not the absolute weight, but rather the effort that is involved.

Maximal effort = HEAVY

Now, if you’re doing 50 reps, you’re probably not going to grow much, and that’s the whole idea behind bodybuilding, right? So, stick to a rep range for the upper body of 5-12 reps, 8-20 for the lower body. Make your “last” rep the last one possible. If your last rep, #12 in a Bent Row for example, is “easy” (meaning you could have done 1 more), then do 13. Your “last” rep ought to be a near-maximal effort. We’re talking full reps here.

Here’s a rule of thumb (provided you have a good spotter and/or you can safely do this by yourself) -

On your last rep, try to do another. If you can, then try another. If you cannot, you’ve done another 1/4 or 1/2 rep; there’s nothing wrong with that!

And also remember that this “last rep” is on your last set. I rarely recommend more than 3 sets of an exercise, so we’re talking 2 sets that build to the 3rd – and last – set. It’s on this last set where you would try for that “last rep.”

Got it? Make sense? Let me know your thoughts in the Comments!

According to a CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the number of obese adults has doubled in the past 30 years. It has gone from 15 percent in the late 1970s to an estimated 31 percent today. This is frightening.

Why is this so? Especially in light of all the new diets? Partly, it’s due to an increase in packaged food. But most of it is because the weight loss industry wants to keep you fat. After all, if you lose your body fat, they lose a customer. In short, they perpetuate a lot of myths about fat and weight loss.

I have a free report on weight loss myths here. Pick it up today.