Everyone knows about the power of the mind. Mental attitude and belief are fundamental ingredients when it comes to making things happen, and although obviously there are physical limits, you’ll probably never get near them because you don’t believe that you can. I’m not saying that ‘if you believe it you can do it’ because…
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A big buzzword in fitness in recent times has been the theory of muscle confusion. Some of the fastest growing fitness followings such as Crossfit are built on the idea that doing traditional programs that focus on the development of the body through repetition and practice are not the optimum way in which to achieve…
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The word ‘muscle’ is quite evocative in the fitness media. Muscle is good, fat is bad. Every fitness promise is built upon the guarantee to build, sculpt, tone, lengthen, strengthen it. The flexed bicep is a universal symbol for strength, power and vitality. From a biological and evolutionary perspective it makes sense that muscle is…
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I was a about 12 when I first realised I liked fitness. At my school we used to have Wednesday afternoons dedicated to what we called ‘games’; you basically got the whole afternoon off to play sports. I didn’t really appreciate it back then but I know now that at school, if you’re no…
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Experience level: 4-5 years + Frequency: 3-5 days per week depending on goals Type of training: 10-16 week cycles, building strength As I have mentioned before the definition of advanced is not necessarily the amount of time spent training. If you have spent the last 5 years doing bicep curls and playing on your phone…
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After you have been training consistently for more than 4 to 5 years you will find that progress comes a lot slower. The days when you could keep putting 5kgs more on the bar each time are long gone. No matter what you do your weight in terms of lean muscle mass won’t go up.…
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(Click here to see numbers 1-4 in Part 1) This is a continuation of the list of useful (but by no means essential) things to use at the gym to help you make progress. There are million gimmicky gym kit ‘essentials’ out there, but I’ve selected a few that I both think could help you…
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With the annual bout of rampant consumerism already upon us, it might be time when you are thinking of getting some equipment for yourself or as a gift for your closest exercise buddy. As you might expect gym equipment suffers from the same malaise as supplements in the fitness industry, in that they are always…
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Weight training and training in general is not the goal for most people (unless you do Crossfit, where exercise is the goal). Most likely you train because you want to be better at another activity you run because you want to do better in your next race, you lift weights specifically because you want to…
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This is the final part of a 3 part series dedicated to discussing nutrition and training. Read Part 1 and Part 2. If you have taken even a passing interest in bodybuilding, weight training or strength sports such as rugby two words you will come across sooner rather than later are ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’. These…
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