I was on the studio floor the other day giving some tips to a deadlifter who had just recently learnt how to deadlift, and I was trying to explain some of the psychological aspects involved. So said lifter had just failed at a relatively moderate weight. We went for a walk outside and I explained what …
Back strong and beltless. As many of you may already know, I am an advocate for deadlifting beltless. Recently though however I was lifting in a close friends gym in South Africa, The Yard Athletic, when one of the strength coaches there asked me why I lifted beltless considering the fact that I compete. “You …
Save yourself from fall related injuries. We had a very inspirational man train with us a while back, and he was 81 years old. He walked in after being at the golf shop nearby, and asked me if I could help him get mobile enough to put his golf tee in the ground without having …
Unless you have been living under rock recently you would’ve heard a fair amount of hype about the impact prolonged sitting has on your body. But how bad can it be? Well it’s pretty bad. The body is very good at doing what you ask of it. Therefore if you spend your entire day sitting …
Moment to moment survivability is your nervous system’s primary goal. It doesn’t care if you pull a 250kg deadlift or if you can run a sub 3hr marathon, it just wants to survive the attempt. The three main systems at play here that send the relevant information to the brain about both internal and external environments are …
I’m going to share with you a story that led to one of the most embarrassing days of my life, causing me to re-evaluate how I trained pull-ups. It happened about 13 years ago, when I decided to transfer from the Army to the Navy as a Clearance Diver. To be accepted, I had to …
4 Progressions to Increase Your Maximum Pull-ups Read More »
When I first started training with weights about 10 years ago, I remember walking into the gym thinking “okay, what’ll it be today, legs and shoulders or chest and arms”? This is a relatively common view on how to train, and it’s generally associated with bodybuilding or physique training. After many years of trial and error …
One of the greatest benefits of being a trainer would have to be the lifestyle. I train throughout the day, and I eat the food I want when I want. I get to bed early so I’m fresh for the next day. But my life hasn’t always been like this, and for a lot of …
I first started using kettlebells in 2007. I had done several instructors certifications that year so I thought I knew a thing or two about how to use them. One thing I didn’t know, unfortunately, was how important looking after your hands really is! If you get pain from your calluses while training, you’d be …
How To Deal With Calluses and Care For Your Hands Read More »
Like most things in life, too much of anything can cause harm and exercise is no different. I like to think about exercise as if it were a drug, say panadol for instance. Not enough panadol and it will not produce the desired effect, too much might actually kill you. You must have the exact …
