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 […]
Why do push ups? Push ups are a fantastic compound exercise for building strength in your pectorals, deltoids, triceps and abdominals. Using your body weight, there are a number of adaptations you can use to progress or regress the difficulty of the exercise. These are body weight exercises which involve knees on the floor, full […]
You’ve probably heard about the mind-muscle connection, but did you know you can leverage it to increase strength? Bodybuilders have known it for years. Now we have the evidence. You can increase the engagement of a muscle just by thinking about it.
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 […]
Pull ups are a key compound exercise to improving your upper body strength. But as far as body weight exercises go, they can also be one of the toughest. Primarily working your lats and biceps, a full pull up involves lifting your body towards an overheard bar so that it is level with your chin. […]
The best training for fat loss is the kind that makes you forget about your body hang-ups and enjoy what your body can do. What if instead of hating your thighs, you marvelled at how much they can squat, or how strongly they carry you up that hill? What if you stopped worrying about a […]
You’ve reached a certain level of competence so from the outside everything looks ok. But you are not improving at the rate you could be improving because you are avoiding certain movements.
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 […]
Is fear of lifting heavy weights affecting your progress in the gym? You’re not alone! I work with a lot of adults taking up weight lifting for the first time, or coming back to it after decades of not weight lifting. As we get older, we naturally feel more fear and it becomes harder to […]
If you struggle to keep new year’s resolutions, try this: instead of making your resolution about the final goal, focus on what you need to do to get it.