Your weekly dose of LA Muscle health & fitness news, gossip and tips

One of the most commonly neglected areas of a workout is dedicating time to stretching, be it before, during or after a workout. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard people say that they really should stretch more.

As a busy, working mum, I know only too well the feeling of rushing to the gym on a tight timescale, smashing out a heavy weights session and having to leave before my body has even had a chance to realise what's hit it!

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There are many historical examples of people making and listening to music while doing hard labour. Whether it's chain gangs of prisoners singing in synchrony to the beat of their work, or the anecdotal 'whistle while you work song' from Snow White suggesting work is made easy with a little background noise!

But what about sport performance and productivity; Can listening to music really help increase your focus, improve your efficiency, and boost your performance? Click here to read more...

The unit of energy essential for all human movement is adeno-triphosphate (ATP). This molecule is held together by high-energy bonds which break, leaving us with adeno-diphosphate (ADP) and energy as a vital by-product. The better equipped your body is at replenishing this phosphate ion, the greater intensity you can train at without fatiguing. This is where creatine comes in. Supplementation will allow for improved ATP re-synthesis and training adaptations, including strength and size gains.

Click here for more on Nuclear Creatine

UK Bodybuilding champion and personal trainer to Hollywood celebrities, Dean Ash, shows you how to correctly train your back and biceps: HARDCORE workout!

In this video by the Active Channel, Dean will take you through several exercises specifically designed to build back thickness and those big biceps many of us are looking to develop. Dean is an experienced athlete and trainer who pays close attention to good form and pushing through that pain barrier, creating an intensity which yields astonishing results.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a form of cardio designed to strip away fat and improve the physiology closely related to endurance performance. Unlike typical steady state cardio, HIIT relies on bouts of high intensity - such as sprinting – followed by low intensity bouts, an example would be – 80m sprint into 80m walk (recovery) x 10.

Science backs this form of training, with studies indicating that HIIT is not only better at muscle sparing during low calorie diets (Wilson, et al.) but you will also continue to burn off calories 1.5-24 hours after your session – get sprinting!

This week LA Muscle gets up close and personal with sponsored athlete Rob Reinaldo. Rob is an incredibly talented bodybuilder, whose Goliath stature has won him numerous titles, including winning the NABBA Mr England and the WABBA Mr Universe. Rob has also recently entered the world of strongman, gaining a top 3 placing at the end of 2014 in Holland's strength and conditioning strongman show - created by two time World strongest man medalist Terry Hollands

Find out more about Rob Reinaldo, his regime and what keeps him motivated in this weeks LA Up Close.