Warming up before exercise is crucial because it prepares your body for what’s to come. Stretching before physical activity ensures that all of the muscles are stretched out and ready to move, making it a great way to warm up before exercise. Whether you’re preparing to tackle one of the big 5 lifts, ensuring you’re fit for athletic exercise, or about to start developing your clean and jerk – a great warm up and cool down is always essential.

There are two types of stretches: dynamic and static. Dynamic or moving stretches involve large movements, such as arm swings. Static stretches hold the muscles in positions for 20 to 30 seconds, such as bending down to touch your toes. It is important to understand both types of stretches and what they can be useful for so that you can really make the most out of your workout and improve results. 

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When building strength, barbell squats are one of the most effective exercises you can do. Squats are a compound, full body movement that can help you build strength and muscle when performed with proper form. The barbell squat is one of the most effective exercises to increase raw strength and power because of how it utilises the hips, glute muscles, core, lumbar spine, and quads. 

But did you know that there are numerous different types of barbell squats? Though ‘front squat’ and ‘back squat’ are phrases we might regularly hear thrown around the gym, it’s key to understand the difference between the two so that you can utilise them to the best of your ability. At Strength Ambassadors, we’re experts in strength training and know squats like the backs of our hands. That’s why we put together this comprehensive guide to make your life easier and talk you through the key differences between the front squat and the back squat.

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We all know that there are a variety of benefits to weight training — including improved fat loss, strength and athletic performance — but at the core of weight training, there are 5 key lifts that are known as the big 5. Also known as compound exercises, the big 5 work multiple muscle groups at the same time, making them some of the most effective exercises you can do when it comes to building strength. The big 5 lifts include:

• Deadlift
• Bench Press
• Squat
• Shoulder Press
• Pull-Up

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When it comes to pull-ups, we’ve all had the same experience of wondering which grip is best. Hands facing the body? Hands facing away? One hand each way? Even the amount of different bars can be confusing! The problem is, if we’re unsure exactly what to do, we might be getting it wrong. This could cause ineffective workouts and even damage to the muscles, so it’s always best to trust the experts. 

At Strength Ambassadors, we know the ins and outs of building strength and for pull-ups, we know it can sometimes be hard to navigate which grip is the right one. Though other grips come with different benefits in areas like functional strength, could the neutral grip be right as a starting point? We’ve put together this handy guide explaining the ins and outs of neutral grip pull-ups and why they can make a great addition to your workout. 

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Today we’re going to be talking about a topic which slightly divides the weightlifting world: Deloading. 

Some lifters will groan inwardly at the very mention of the word “deload”. Why? Because they see it as a waste of time. Many fear that taking a week to lift lighter and do less will harm their progress, or stunt their hypertrophy programme (which you can read all about here). 

In actual fact the deload week benefits show that it could be the opposite. 

Let’s take a look at them, what a deload week is, and how often you should plan one.

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Kettlebell swings are an incredibly versatile and impactful exercise. Using an explosion of power resonating from a harmonious connection between your glutes, hips and hamstrings, they’re capable of boosting muscular power, increasing endurance and even burning the same amount of calories in 20 minutes (400) as you would on a cross country ski. 

Outside of their benefits, kettlebell swings also come in a number of variations which makes them a great option for beginners and experts alike.

But if you want to know which variation works what muscle before committing: here’s a guide to all the kettlebell swing muscles worked. 

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When gym goers head to the rack to lift weights, there’s normally a number of reasons why they’re doing it. It could be to enhance their general health, to increase their speed, or to enhance their endurance and explosiveness.

However, out of all the possible reasons listed, there are usually two prominent ones: To increase their muscle size, or to get strong.

And that is where strength vs hypertrophy training comes in.

Put simply, the goal of strength training is to increase muscular strength, whilst the goal of hypertrophy training is to significantly grow muscle cells through specific targeted exercises.

Depending on your overall fitness and lifting goals will depend on whether you should be favouring one over the other, or whether you should be combining both. But it’s something you should know before you next hit the weights room, so let’s get into it.

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To the untrained eye, powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting don’t look all that dissimilar. 

Lifters of either sport will attempt to pull heavy weights from off the ground, they’ll both throw their weights down pretty aggressively when done, and to a certain extent, they’ll even both use the same types of equipment for training, like barbells, kettlebells and dumbbells. 

The issue is that although they may look and sound the same, the subtle but scientific differences between powerlifting and weightlifting vary greatly, and they’re important to keep in mind for new lifters starting at the beginning.

Here I’ve listed the main differences that lifters should be aware of if they’re planning on pursuing one of the variations.

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