Posts in “Building Muscle”
Top 5 Deadlift Variations
I have said it before and I will say it again, in my humble opinion the Deadlift and ‘hinge’ movement pattern is the most effective exercise that can be performed. It is a compound movement that requires strength, stability and mobility and numerous different joints of the body. It is a fatiguing exercise that activates […]
Read articleAn Insight Into Alex’s Training Goals
Don’t worry this isn’t another blog about New Years resolutions. Although, on that topic, my reading is coming along beautiful – I am too chapters away from finishing my first book. ‘Black Box Thinking’, written by Matthew Syed. It’s an enjoyable read – a couple of clients have given me some more books to get […]
Read articleEmily’s Leg Workout
I’ve been pretty active over the years but I was never really sure what to do in the gym….did I train all body parts in one day? Should I split my training into an upper body workout and a leg workout? When should I do cardio, same day as weights? Different days? My training mostly […]
Read articleChristmas Peppermint Fudge Balls!
Christmas is two weeks away now, you will have noticed how the festivities are in full swing. A massive part of Christmas, is the festive foods. Some of the classics are mince pies, Christmas cake, cheeseboards, festive chocolates, mulled wine, trifle etc, etc, etc. Isn’t it hard to stay healthy with all these temptations to hand? […]
Read articleInterview with Ian Fisher, Yorkshire CCC Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach
Something a bit different for my blog. This week I had a chance to sit down with Ian Fisher, Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach at Yorkshire County Cricket Club. I asked him a couple question, mostly exercise, fitness and health related – but also some fun ones in there as well. From a personal training […]
Read articleHow To Master Your First Pull Up
Who here has pull ups in their regular gym programme? Anyone? No one? And why would you, they’re hard! Too hard in fact, that’s why you don’t do them. But you’d like to do them. Because, well they look cool. Pull ups also build great upper body strength and give you that sexy back you’re […]
Read articleWinter Warming Circuit Training Session
I joke around and always say – ‘self-praise is no praise’, however I just wrote the best circuit training session for class this evening! What The Benefits of Circuit Training? – High metabolic demanding, therefore it is great for fat burning. – Time efficient, people don’t always want to be in the gym for 60 […]
Read articleWinter Warming Spicy Lamb Stew
I think it may be time to ditch the shorts, it is officially cold! Just got inside from the lunch time class and my hands are like ice cubes – it has taken me 20 minutes to type this first sentence out! When it comes to weather like this there is only one type of […]
Read articleOlympic Weightlifting Workout
The next stage of my UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA) accreditation is a workshop on weightlifting, this is not just lifting any weights however you want but is the term used to cover the two specific movements – the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch. Both have been shown to increase power at the […]
Read articleNew to the gym? A Beginner’s Gym Guide
I am trying to challenge myself and trying a couple of new things that are outside my comfort zone. One of these is Yoga, I have booked myself onto a block of sessions and will aim to go at least once a week. Hopefully I will be able to touch my toes sometime soon… As […]
Read articleAgility And Speed Workout
How Speed and Agility Applies To You I am sure everyone will have gathered that I attended a UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA) Workshop this weekend down in London. It was about Plyometrics, Agility and Speed, some of you may not know what that means, some of you may like to know what it […]
Read articleFood Trackers – Good or Bad?
Up until about a month ago I had always tried to eat healthy but never counted my calorie intake. If I was eating mostly proteins, good carbohydrates and good fats – whilst limiting the ‘crap’ foods I would be happy. To be completely honest that worked well for me, considering how active I am I […]
Read articleHoliday Hill Sprints Workout
I am back! Did you miss me? I know without having to ask that all my personal training clients and class members did for sure, after all I do know how to put the ‘fun’ in functional don’t I??? (feel free not to answer this!) You will all be surprised to know I didn’t exercise […]
Read articleHow To Recover Properly
Ok so you have exercised Monday to Thursday a combination of heavy weights, aerobic interval training and hypertrophic training – your body is in pieces but you have a final session to do before the weekend. How on earth do you recover? Well there are couple basic strategies and a couple of more obscure strategies try […]
Read articleA Healthy Chicken Bake!
Non-gym goers love to make fun of people have an active lifestyle, saying that the food is boring and all they eat is chicken and vegetables. Obviously not true. However…chicken is one of the best sources of protein available and a good variety of vegetables is key to anyone’s diet or goals. I do agree […]
Read article