Since being on the ‘other’ side of 40 I have been getting asked for comment on the effects and importance of different forms of exercise as we age.   (I’m taking that as being complementary of expertise rather than an observation that I’m in the process of ageing…!) Give the frequency of these requests it seemed to make some sense to collate the most common ones together into a blog post  – so here it is, my most frequently asked questions and answers on exercising through the ages:   Exercise is a keystone of mental and physical wellbeing at any age   What do we ac ..read more

Walking is, in my opinion, the most under rated form of exercise there is. I am well aware that there are a lot of trainers and influencers claiming its not ‘proper’ training and you have to ‘go hard or go home’. But it is, and you don’t. I was recently asked by iNews to discuss the benefits of walking and why getting your steps can be one of the most beneficial things we do.  Transcript of the full interview here:   Getting your steps is about a lot more than burning calories   Is 10k steps a day a myth? Is there a better goal to aim for?  The figure of 10,000 act ..read more

The underlying principle of core training is one of creating stability.  We should be training our core to do two main tasks – protect the spine, and to transmit force between the upper body and the lower body.  Core training plans therefore, should be about RESISTING movement.  Get yourself into a good position, and then work as hard as you can to resist forces trying to move you! When we describe movement we use three planes of motion to explain what is happening.  Sagittal (forwards and backwards), Frontal (left and right), and Transverse (rotation). In reality, of cours ..read more

Breathing and breath work has been having a bit of a moment in the health and fitness industry, and rightly so. However, there is a little bit more to it than simply taping one orifice shut and assuming magical things happen when the air comes in through the other one!   doing this might not be doing what you think it is doing, and in many cases is doing the opposite Whilst there are certainly correlations between nasal breathing and parasympathetic activity, these are not necessarily mutual causations. There is a correlation between nasal breathing and parasympathetic activit ..read more

What is exercise ’snacking’? Exercise snacking is a technique I use with lots of my vip clients when schedules become too busy to accommodate their regular exercise program.   What we do is take the overall amount of ‘work’ that they would typically do over a week, and divide it out into several much smaller, and much more digestible pieces.  If we can’t find a full hour then we’ll do our best to find three lots of 20 minutes A balanced workout regime should include strength (resistance) training 2-3 times per week and cardiovascular training 2-3 times per week  – whilst being s ..read more

The health and fitness industry has blown up on recent years , and whilst getting more people to move who otherwise wouldn’t can only be a good thing (especially as we’re in the eye of the storm of a global health crisis),  something that I’ve noticed more and more in an attempt to get heard above the noise is the emergence of numerous ‘methods’,  quite often accompanied by an official sounding acronym and in some cases even with associated branded merchandise.   Every industry survives and thrives upon its appeal, and so repackaging tried and tested forms of exercise such as re ..read more

The 45 degree hyperextension is one of my favourite accessory glute exercises.   Working the glute group through hip extension, but with the legs anchored and the torso moving is actually getting the glutes to work as they should do in every day life – to keep us upright! The glutes have many functions, but training them through the action they perform for us every day helps in every aspect of life   One aspect of the 45 degree hyperextension that I don’t like is actually its name! If we use this exercise correctly – we are extending at the hip joint using the glutes, but definitel ..read more

There is no getting away from the fact the shoulder is a complex joint.  Its vast range of movement variability is a trade off for its instability – in simple terms it’s one of those joints where things can often go wrong.   The shoulder joint is really two joints, the glen-humeral (the ball in the socket), and the scapulo-thoracic (the shoulder blade on the ribcage)   Often people experience feelings of pain or ‘pinching’ in the shoulder,  particularly through specific ranges of motion,  clunking and clicking sounds either with or without pain, and  reductions ..read more

  I was asked by Women’s Health Magazine this week to answer a few questions about the rotator cuff, what it is, what it does, and how to protect it.  As this is also one of the most common questions I’m asked both in person and online I have collated all my answers below:   What is your rotator cuff? The rotator cuff is a group of four small muscles that cross the Gleno humeral joint, which is one of the two joints that make up the shoulder complex (the other being the scapula-thoracic joint) It consists of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. &nbs ..read more

This week I was interviewed by The Times to discuss one of the all time staples of many a gym routine,  the squat… Article is out now in print and online – and my full answers to the questions below here…   A squat is what we call a closed chain compound exercise. Closed chain means our feet are in contact with the floor, and compound means we are working multiple joints at the same time.   Would you say the squat is the single best exercise people can do (ie general public)?   I would be hesitant to say there is a one size fits all ‘best’ exercise.  As each of us ha ..read more