Ladies Who Lift
“I want to get stronger but I don't know how! I’m new to the weight room and find it intimidating.”
You want to get stronger but you find the weights area in the gym intimidating and you are nervous about injuring yourself.
You are either new to strength training or you have tried to do some in the past but you don’t feel confident enough in your technique or your knowledge to train on your own.
You want to learn good technique and know exactly what to do in the gym to get the results you want. You want to feel confident in your lifting and know what to do to keep progressing.
Olympic Lifting
“I love lifting weights but I really need help with the Olympic lifts. I haven’t had enough time and coaching to learn the technique properly.”
You want to learn or improve your olympic lifting: the snatch and the clean and jerk. You may be doing Crossfit, a sport or just interested in adding olympic lifting to your training.
You want a confidence-building experience where you learn the movements properly and at a pace that suits you.
You need dedicated time to master the technique under the eye of an experienced weightlifting coach.
Building Strength
"I want to learn how to squat, deadlift and bench press properly, but I don’t know where to start.”
You are new to lifting weights and you don’t know where to start. You’d love to learn how to squat, deadlift and bench press with correct technique.
But you find the typical weight room off-putting and you are not sure who to trust.
You want to be stronger without getting injured. You want to know that you are lifting with proper technique.
And most of all, you want to be confident you’ll actually get results!
What is a Deep Squat & Should You Try It?
Squats are a little like marmite. Some people love them, some people groan once it comes to that time in their workout routine. In strength training circles however, they’re a necessity component of being able to lift.
Squats are praised as lifting royalty because they give you a full-body workout, and help develop full-body strength, stimulate muscle growth and improve stability for your upper and lower body.
Many of us will have been taught to squat until our legs were parallel to the ground. But a recent fitness trend is encouraging us to squat deeper. Much deeper.
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How to Start Strongman Training
Just the mention of strongman training often instantly conjures up images of bulging biceps, truck pull competitions and Arnold Schwarzenegger style lifts.
If you’ve heard of the sport of strongman, you’ve probably heard of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (most commonly known as “The Mountain” in Game of Thrones), or Stoke resident Eddie Hall. Or perhaps, unlike its pronoun, you’ve heard of the World’s Strongest Women like Donna Moore or Andrea Thompson.
However, it’s this type of imagery that often dissuades beginners from pursuing the sport, fearing they lack experience or the full body capability to undertake what is a fantastic form of strength training.
Sure, whilst strongman training isn’t for complete gym newbies, it is for everyone – provided you’ve done some weight training before and can at least competently lift a barbell.
The Deadlift Hook Grip: Everything You Need To Know
When you first begin to learn how to deadlift, you’ll encounter a number of different types of grip as your legs and back begin to lift more weight off the floor than perhaps your hands can either hold onto or are used to!
Most people will start with a double overhand grip, which is a grip where your fingers wrap around the bar and your thumbs rest on the sides of the bar. But as you begin to get stronger and lift more, your deadlift could become too heavy and your original double overhand grip might start to fail.
If that’s the case, there is another grip that you could try: The Deadlift Hook grip.
The 5 Stages of Weight Lifting Progress
Shakespeare reckoned there were Seven Ages of Man. I’ve limited my stages of lifting progress to five.
The 5 stages of weightlifting
- Complete beginner
- The Novice
- The Intermediate
- Advanced
- The Zen Master
1. The complete beginner (the “baby” stage)
This is an exciting time for both lifter and coach. You go from knowing absolutely nothing, to being able to lift an actual weight. You’re like a baby, developing fast; every day is a new miracle. You can get a personal best practically every session. Read More
Leg Press Vs Squat: Should You Do Both?
It’s leg day, and you’re torn between whether to deploy the popular squat or the trusty leg press to give your quads a burn inducing workout.
You’ve been told the squat is the go-to for legs, bums and tums but looking at the machine, the leg press would seem to isolate the muscles you want to work far better than an all-rounder could.
So, should you do both? A few reps of one and then the other? The answer is that it depends entirely on what you’re looking to get out of the workout. Let’s take a look at both and answer some common FAQs so you can see where each exercise fits in a workout programme.
5 Ways To Smash Through Your Bench Press Plateau
The plateau. It’s any powerlifter’s, bodybuilder’s, fitness trainer’s, or even regular gym goer’s, dreaded word. You’ve been making steady progress, boasting of personal bests, watching those weights get larger and larger when suddenly.. It tapers out. Nothing goes up. You just keep hitting the same numbers, training session after training session. For the first couple of days, you think.. Ok. And then a week goes by and you realise: Your bench press is not going up. Then comes the constant barrage of mental questions: How do I get my bench press back? Why am I getting weaker in bench pressing?
Stop thinking those thoughts. You’re not getting weaker. You’re experiencing one of the dreaded plateaus and they’re perfectly normal. Sometimes they last days, and sometimes weeks, but in bodybuilding, some plateaus have been known to last years. However! If your bench press is stuck we’re here with 5 simple methods that you can try to rejuvenate those numbers and start recollecting personal bests.
An Easy Beginner Dumbbell Workout For Women
With more of us working out from home than ever, it can be hard to know where to start with easy dumbbell exercises and beginner weight workouts.
Below we’ve compiled the eight easiest exercises that can be effective with big weights or small, that give you a full body workout and most importantly, don’t need a lot of space, time or expertise to complete.
Home workout: Thurs 9 July 2020
Today’s home workout is full body, but particularly works the hips (hamstrings and glutes) and horizontal pushing strength.
Start with a bodyweight warm up.
Superset for legs and core
A1: Backpack single leg Romanian Deadlift, 3 sets x 12 reps, tempo: 3 seconds down Read More
Home workout: Tues 7 July 2020
This is an action-packed home workout, working all muscle groups. You can use a weighted backpack for this workout.
Start with a bodyweight warm up, then:
AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 5 minutes
This block is a great all-body warm up!
A. Inchworms with squats, increasing squat reps by 1 each round (option: include push ups, increasing by 1 each round
Start with 3 squats, 1 push up Read More
Home workout: Thurs 2 July 2020
A new challenge in today’s workouts! We are focussing on isometric holds to build strength – holding a challenging position for time. We’ll be doing a variety of holds for different muscle groups, including legs, core, shoulders and arms.
You’ll need a timer on hand or a wall clock to get the best out of this workout!
Strength Cycle 16 – Thur 2 July 2020
Download the workout via the PDF above.