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I have had tight hamstrings and glutes ever since I can remember. This resulted in a lot of discomfort when I was doing, well, everything!! I love to deadlift. Lifting heavy things off the floor feels good for some reason. However, I used to suffer for a few days after. Over the years I have tried yoga, […]

If you want to have a better understanding  of human movement then this book is for you. It highlights the importance of movement screening prior to prescribing exercise. Much like we screen an individuals health, with PARQ forms and BP assessment, Gray Cook urges that we also screen movement too.     I personally love the idea and it […]

There are three types of joint in the human skeleton and they are classified according to their degree of movement. Fibrous joints These are immovable joints with interlocking bones, e.g the plates in the skull. Cartilaginous joints These joints are slightly moveable and connected by ligaments, e.g the bones of the vertebrae. Synovial joints These […]

Neutral spine The term ‘neutral spine’ describes the position of the spine when all four of the natural curves are present and aligned. When the spine is in this neutral position the stress on the passive structures of the spine (vertebrae and ligaments) is minimal and the risk of strain or injury to the lower back […]

The spine is formed from 33 irregular bones that give the spine four natural curves. Two concave curves (lumbar and cervical), and two convex curves (thoracic and sacral). Each region of the spine has a different number of bones. Region Number of bones Range of movement Cervical 7 Contains seven irregular bones and capable of […]

Long slow duration (LSD) training also known as: continuous training; steady state training; endurance training or aerobic training, involves working for an extended period of time (usually 10+ minutes) at a fairly low continuous intensity. The intensity of this type of training does not change throughout the session, unlike interval training.   LSD training for […]

Fartlek is a Swedish term meaning ‘speed play’ and that is precisely what is done in Fartlek training – you play around with the speed of your training tempo!  Why use Fartlek Training? Fartlek training It is an unstructured form of interval training where work is performed continuously for a specific duration, but instead of […]

In negative / eccentric training, the concentric phase of an exercise is all but removed and all the effort is applied to the eccentric portion of the movement. Potentially this means the client can be exposed to supramaximal loads in excess of their normal repetition maximum. Examples of negative reps include leg extensions where the […]

To employ forced reps, the client performs as many reps on his/her own as they can until the point of failure is reached. At this point, the trainer provides a minimal amount of assistance to permit the performance of another rep. As the client fatigues further, the trainer will provide slightly more assistance each rep […]

  These systems involve the use of isolation exercises to preferentially fatigue a muscle whilst eliminating synergistic muscle weaknesses. Consider the following example: In the bench press, the agonist is the pectoralis major, with the main synergist being the triceps brachii. In the majority of clients the triceps will fail before the stronger pectoral muscles. […]