Alexander Cortes

alexanderjuanantoniocortes.com

Alexander is an outlier in the fitness world, coming from an artistic background as a trained dancer with degree in performance choreography. After injuries took him away from his dream of being a principal ballet dancer, he heavily investigated training, rehab, and what it meant to become stronger and achieve better health. In 2009, he began personal training part time, and he realized he had a passion for teaching. Since that time, he relentlessly focused all his efforts on improving his professional skillset and becoming the best asset he can be to his clients. In 2012, he began writing, with his first articles published on elitefts. Since that time, he became an elitefts columnist and has maintained a voracious output as a writer. His content can be found on elitefts, in his bimonthly column, as well numerous fitness websites, in mainstream magazines, and his own website. Having worked under John Meadows as a coach, and maintained a constant high volume training clientele for almost 8 years, his maverick perspectives and practices distinguish his place in the industry.

 
10 Exercises to Strengthen Your Spinal Erectors
10 Exercises to Strengthen Your Spinal Erectors

The spinal erectors are often overlooked when it comes to building the physique AND deadlift. Try these 10 to add slabs of meat back there.

The 12 Best Exercises for Rear Delts and How to Combine Them
The 12 Best Exercises for Rear Delts and How to Combine Them

John Meadows’ expertise on shoulder training filled a void in the atmosphere of bodybuilding information. I’ve incorporated rear delt work with all of my clients, and I’ve learned a few things along the way.

How Do You Periodize Intensity Techniques?
How Do You Periodize Intensity Techniques?

Intensity is much talked about in bodybuilding, but what is it? Is it taking sets to failure? Lots of volume? Dropsets? Supersetting?

Relentless Hypertrophy Revisited
Relentless Hypertrophy Revisited

This strategy is a synthesis of various methods and tactics I’ve learned over the years from John Meadows, Swede Burns, Charles Staley, and a few others.

Apply the 80/20 Principle to Powerlifting
Apply the 80/20 Principle to Powerlifting

Use this principle to analyze your training program, your technique, your diet, your recovery, and your time.

Vince Gironda — The World's First Personal Trainer
Vince Gironda — The World's First Personal Trainer

I’ve studied and experimented with Vince Gironda’s methods my entire training career. He has had a major impact on me as a trainer and lifter.

Experiments with 5x5 Training
Experiments with 5x5 Training

You can use five sets for strength building, you can use it for hypertrophy, you can use it for power, and you can change it to suit whatever particular goal you have.

Kickbacks, Curls, and Training Girls
Kickbacks, Curls, and Training Girls

How do you train a woman in her 30s or 40s with zero background in lifting? Isolate, then integrate.

Ivan the Terrible
Ivan the Terrible

The customer is the ultimate determinant of your product and what it’s about. It doesn’t matter how you perceive your product — it matters how they do.

What I Think I Know About Muscle Growth
What I Think I Know About Muscle Growth

I am not an in-the-lab scientist; per my own training practice, I care about what I can apply, not what I can argue about.

5 Leadership Mistakes in Personal Training
5 Leadership Mistakes in Personal Training

Having recently read Michael Speidel’s “5 Lessons from 13 Years in Leadership”, I reframed it to personal training.

15 Tips for Getting JACKED...Over A Long Period of Time
15 Tips for Getting JACKED...Over A Long Period of Time

Some lessons are learned only through experience and accepting reality. If I could tell my 15-year-old self anything about training, it would be this.

The 10 Principles of Being Personal with Personal Training
The 10 Principles of Being Personal with Personal Training

Personal training is a field that allows for creativity in how you do things with exercise, but at its core, it is still working with people. You need them to like you.

7 Daily Rituals for Success
7 Daily Rituals for Success

Three years ago I wrote about habits of trying to be successful. Since then, these practices have evolved into something better: rituals.

Mobility Versus Flexibility
Mobility Versus Flexibility

Is mobility even a real thing, or a substitution for people that don’t actually train, compete, or play in an actual defined activity?

Build the Back, Spare the Spine
Build the Back, Spare the Spine

The healthier you can keep your spine, the longer you can train heavy and grow muscle. Here are my top-10, spine-friendly exercises.

Relentless Hypertrophy Protocol: How Sequencing and Repetition Stimulate Growth
Relentless Hypertrophy Protocol: How Sequencing and Repetition Stimulate...

The goal was to create a training model that would maximize hypertrophy in minimal time and that would be “low tech, high effect” in its design.

Perspectives on Hypertrophy
Perspectives on Hypertrophy

My viewpoint runs counter to much of the current climate, which is dominated by the short-term perspective of a “hypertrophy phase.”

Hypertrophy Is The Holy Grail
Hypertrophy Is The Holy Grail

After so many years and so many clients, I’ve begun to realize that everyone’s training needs are the same.

Don't Romanticize Self-Destruction
Don't Romanticize Self-Destruction

What must competitors put themselves through to attain championship notoriety? Being confined to a wheelchair? Torn relationships? Shortened lifespan?

Why Gyms Fail and How to Prevent It
Why Gyms Fail and How to Prevent It

Through education and planning, avoid these gym-owner mistakes.

Ignorance Can Be Bliss
Ignorance Can Be Bliss

An overload of information may tempt you to abandon your plan when something new comes along. Pick a program, one program, and stay committed.

The Work Comes First
The Work Comes First

You will find no forward momentum by doing nothing. Without work, passion and purpose won’t take you anywhere.

Being God Awful Precedes Being Good
Being God Awful Precedes Being Good

Personal training is like any other craft, it takes time and perseverance through many mistakes to master. I recently reflected on my climb as a professional.

Everything Starts at Zero
Everything Starts at Zero

For most things in life, you start with nothing. Get comfortable with this.

Training Women: Deadlift Considerations
Training Women: Deadlift Considerations

Before making the assumption that all women have wide hips and should therefore squat wide and deadlift sumo, consider these other factors that will inform good technique.

Training Women: There Is A Difference
Training Women: There Is A Difference

Men and women have different needs. Pay attention to these eleven factors when programming for your female clients.

Personal Training Is NOT Easy
Personal Training Is NOT Easy

To be a successful trainer, it takes more than showing up and looking the part. It takes more than you think.

The Assessment Paradox
The Assessment Paradox

When you test your clients, are you using the assessment to improve a fitness quality or simply to make yourself appear knowledgeable?

'It Looked Good in Theory'
'It Looked Good in Theory'

Trends dominate the personal training industry. Rely on self-education to determine the difference between what sounds good and what IS good.

Build a Bigger Bench: The Female Edition
Build a Bigger Bench: The Female Edition

The bench press is typically the weakest lift for women. It’s no mystery why—they require a targeted approach.

Mountain Dog Diet: Interview with Swede Burns
Mountain Dog Diet: Interview with Swede Burns
Get to know Swede Burns, as the teenager, bodybuilder, powerlifter, coach, author, and more...
Your Actions Are Your Lifeline
Your Actions Are Your Lifeline

Perfect circumstances are created, not found. How are you living out your words?

Why Context Matters
Why Context Matters

If you don’t know your audience, you can’t communicate your message. If your audience doesn’t have your knowledge, you can’t assume they’ll understand.

Dirty Bulking: The XXX Edition
Dirty Bulking: The XXX Edition

Take your eating seriously by following these ten tactics to pack on pounds in a short time.

The ONE THING You Need to be Doing
The ONE THING You Need to be Doing

You’ve been searching for it. A lot of people promise it. Here’s the real deal.

Show Me, Don’t Tell Me
Show Me, Don’t Tell Me

I don’t want to hear about how great you are. I want you to prove it.

Your Ego Is Your Biggest Obstacle
Your Ego Is Your Biggest Obstacle

When you’re occupied with trying to show how good you think you are, how will you have time to develop your skills?

On Necessity Versus Possibility
On Necessity Versus Possibility
There is a great difference between doing everything "necessary" to achieve an outcome, versus doing everything possible to achieve that outcome. Necessity is the bare minimum. It's the first tier of what absolutely MUST happen for anything to move forward. It's the basics and its mandated that the basics be done before anything else. That in […]
Competence is Confidence
Competence is Confidence

Belief in yourself is only useful if you take the time to build your abilities. Here’s the formula to turn bravado into skilled-mastery.

The Hypocrisy of Intent Without Action
The Hypocrisy of Intent Without Action

Are you using your busy schedule as an excuse for your wasted potential?

How To Get a Following in Fitness
How To Get a Following in Fitness
You owe it to yourself to get as many followers as possible.
Building the Yoke: Utilize the Function of the Upper Traps
Building the Yoke: Utilize the Function of the Upper Traps

Stop thinking of your traps and start thinking of your clavicles.

Over-Analysis and Training Effort
Over-Analysis and Training Effort
There's an overestimation that a wildly "smart" program will deliver some unprecedented form of results.
Value, Trust, and Gratitude
Value, Trust, and Gratitude

Your treatment of others is the foundation of every relationship in your life. Are you building yours up or breaking them down?

Haters Gaineth Nothing
Haters Gaineth Nothing

Would you rather engage in gratitude and abundance, or anger and vileness towards people you’ll never actually meet? Which is more meaningful?

The Search for Meaning
The Search for Meaning

How you spend your time on this earth determines what you define as meaningful. Does your lifestyle reflect your vision?

The Fit Chick Reality
The Fit Chick Reality

Underneath every hot body is a person’s reality—what are you willing to give up for that appearance? Is it worth it?

What Lifters Can Learn from Cyclists
What Lifters Can Learn from Cyclists

One percent can make all the difference in achieving your goals.

Cheat Meals, Refeeds, and Triple-X Eating
Cheat Meals, Refeeds, and Triple-X Eating

Could abandoning your diet be the secret to a leaner physique?

Seeing the Big Picture with your Training and Nutrition
Seeing the Big Picture with your Training and Nutrition

How to understand and breakdown the complexities of your food intake for better weight management.

Cultivate Your Passion
Cultivate Your Passion

Plan and prepare for success. Do not focus on your reasons for failure.

The Commercial Gym, Exposed!
The Commercial Gym, Exposed!

Not to be confused with, “exposing yourself in a commercial gym.”

The 8% Bodyfat Myth
The 8% Bodyfat Myth

Would you like to put on some size, and eventually walk around 8% bodyfat?

Training the Mind-Muscle Connection
Training the Mind-Muscle Connection

Get those stubborn muscles flexing with this neuromuscular innervation protocol.

The 8% Bodyfat Myth
The 8% Bodyfat Myth
Would you like to put on some size, and eventually walk around 8% bodyfat?
Every Industry is "corrupt", not just Fitness
Every Industry is "corrupt", not just Fitness

The common thread through all of this? Everyone is always in the “right”, the other party or persons is always in the “wrong”.

Every Industry is Corrupt
Every Industry is Corrupt
The common thread through all of this? Everyone is always in the "right", the other party or persons is always in the "wrong".

Items 1 to 59 of 102 total

Page