At our last powerlifting team training session, I had the athletes doing sets of 4-6 reps on the bench press at 85% of max. It’s quite tough! One of my athletes did her first set, ably spotted by her training buddy. Rep 5 was a bit of a grinder but she managed it. I was […]
This article is about the rear foot elevated (rfe) split squat and the split squat – the variations I use with my clients, how I use them, and the reasons I use them. I hope you will take plenty away from this article, but do bear in mind that there are many other variations and […]
Picture the scene: a typical Monday evening in a commercial gym. The place is rammed! Yes, there are so many treadmills that one or two are still available, but you are here to lift weights and get stronger, dammit! A treadmill ain’t gonna cut it. The weight room is also rammed. Every bench is taken, […]
Many clients come to me saying that they can’t squat below parallel. It turns out that after working with me for a session or two, around half of them can squat below parallel. And the rest have all improved their squat depth significantly. I’d love to say I’m some kind of mad genius, but my […]
As a strength personal trainer, I have lost count of the number of people who have said to me “I don’t want to lift heavy because I am afraid I will injure myself”. But it’s perfectly possible to injure yourself with a warm up weight, lifting weights the right way with proper form is the […]
Picture the scene: you rock up to the gym all excited to do your 5×5 squats, only to find the squat rack is occupied by three dudes doing endless seated shoulder press. You immediately panic about your lack of ‘gainz’ and sulk because no exercise can possibly come close to the awesomeness that is the […]
Pull ups! We all want to be able to knock out them out like a marine. In the eyes of many, it’s the ultimate show of strength – especially when you don’t have a barbell handy! But getting that first pull up seems incredibly hard.
Weightlifting is more than just brute strength and being able to chuck the heaviest weights above your head. Olympic weightlifting champions can’t just stroll up to the bar with no warm up or training and that’s the job done – no matter how tired or stiff they might feel! As weightlifters, we have to perform […]
As a lifter, this is one of the most painful situations you will be in. Emotionally painful, that is. And with the deluge of social media, it has become even worse! Everyone and her dog is dying to tell you about their latest Personal Best. It feels like the whole world is rubbing your miserable […]
Often people struggle to focus when lifting heavy weights, especially in the olympic lifts, which happen so fast. Other thoughts muscle their way in just as you are preparing to lift the bar. You’re distracted, you’re overthinking it, and all of a sudden your lift is gone. I’ve found that one of the best ways […]