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Category: Training

Why I Rarely Use Barbells

Why I Rarely Use Barbells

The gym-less self-isolation training hasn’t been a challenge for most of my clients. Not because any of them have proper gym set ups at home. But because when we train at the gym it’s mostly with kettlebells, dumbbells, resistance bands and bodyweight. Stuff that’s easy enough to set up at home. Sure, there are some aspects we are now missing. Cable pulley system-machine-whatever-you-want-to-call-it, the power work with medicine balls, trapbar deadlifts and the access to landmine exercises. The last being…

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Minimalist Strength Training for The Housebound

Minimalist Strength Training for The Housebound

I like to think of myself as a minimalist. Not a hardcore minimalist who takes only chewing gum and a stapler to go on a zombie hunt. But a minimalist nevertheless. I have a somewhat nihilistic view towards most of the gym equipment. Although I work at a gym (Except now. Cheers, COVID-19. You dick.) with options galore of training equipment, I often set imaginary restrictions on the equipment I can and can’t use. Working with these invisible rules is…

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Don’t Take Your Strength Training Standards From Powerlifting

Don’t Take Your Strength Training Standards From Powerlifting

A fact: speeding through a red light will get you in trouble with the law. And if there’s no real-life-police or a tech-abled-camera-police to see it, you’ll at least get condemned, huffed and labelled as an irresponsible driver by your fellow motor vehicle operators. And as a bare minimum, you’ll see rude visual gestures from the people eager to cross the road. The cultural norms around driving are strong and based on the heavy sense of “people like us drive…

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Ten Principles for Training

Ten Principles for Training

Call them rules or principles, either way it’s reasonable to expect that you have a set of them guiding how you live your life. Even if you don’t have them written down, there’s that inner compass of values that you reflect on as you navigate life. You know, don’t lie, treat others with respect, don’t be a dick… As with life, principles in training matter because they keep you close to the track of what’s important for you. Here are…

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The Almost-Perfect Training Program for Busy People (Who Might or Might Not Be Going to Mars)

The Almost-Perfect Training Program for Busy People (Who Might or Might Not Be Going to Mars)

On every brilliant record there’s usually that one “meh” song that you’re willing to skip to get to the next. On Appetite for Destruction it’s “Think About You”. Although a good song, it sounds painfully 80s today. They should’ve put “Perfect Crime” or “Shadow of Your Love” there instead. I assume the Geffen suits had their say to make the album appeal for a wider audience. Sigh. Then, on one of my all time favorite albums, Exile on Main St,…

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How To Decide Your Next Training Goal Part III: Measuring Fitness and Filling The Gaps

How To Decide Your Next Training Goal Part III: Measuring Fitness and Filling The Gaps

This is the third and final part of the series. If you haven’t read Parts I and II yet, I recommend you give them a geez before diving into this one. It makes this Part III far easier to get into. You wouldn’t watch The Godfather Part III before watching the first two, right? Not that I am comparing this to The Godfather. It’s just the first that comes to mind when thinking of a trilogy of any sort. Part I:…

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How To Decide Your Next Training Goal, Part II: Are Your Strength and Conditioning Up To Standard?

How To Decide Your Next Training Goal, Part II: Are Your Strength and Conditioning Up To Standard?

This is Part II of a series of three. Not unlike The Godfather. I mean, The Godfather Part II is where it’s at. If you haven’t read Part I yet, I recommend you do so before diving into this. It’ll make Part II make more sense. If that makes sense.Part I: Overall health markers, movement, body compositionPart II: Are Your Strength and Conditioning Up To Standard?Part III: Measuring Fitness and Filling The Gaps Let’s continue the adventures into the standards….

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The Safest and Most Sustainable Way to Get Strong

The Safest and Most Sustainable Way to Get Strong

It’s a Tuesday night and the clock on the living room wall hits midnight. Sarah Connor is stressed to her eyeballs. She’s spent the evening at a friend’s party mostly worrying about getting home because she has to be back at the office by 7am, and it’s a 30 minute drive home. Sleep is not something Sarah is happy to sacrifice. She’s itching to bolt home as fast as possible. She tells quick goodbyes and throws her tired body into…

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Why You Should Keep Training When Injured (and How to Do It Without Exploding)

Why You Should Keep Training When Injured (and How to Do It Without Exploding)

Like so many times before, Captain Skip Brown Jr. is flying a scheduled morning flight from Sydney to LAX. He’s done this exact same flight, with this four engine Airbus A340 plane a hundred times, and counting. As with the previous flights everything’s going as expected, smooth. If you don’t count the shitty weak coffee, the cabin crew is serving this morning. Four hours into the flight though things take a rather upsetting turn. Without a warning one of the…

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Are You Getting Functional Training All Wrong?

Are You Getting Functional Training All Wrong?

“Functional training is only functional when your body is functioning well.” Dr. Andreo Spina Ah, functional training, one of the many great fitness buzzwords. Remember when being functional was synonymous with arm curls on a Bosu ball and back squatting on Swiss ball. Yep, we used to call it functional. Luckily things have moved on and most folks now understand that stuff that’s great for circus and Instagram isn’t always the stuff that actually serves a purpose in real life….

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