Training on Unstable Surfaces – The Whys and Wherefores

Unstable surface training became popular in the 1990’s with the widespread use of exercise and BOSU balls, wobble boards and small inflated discs, among therapists and trainers. It is rare to find a gym these days that doesn’t have these items as standard equipment. However, they are widely misused by both those in the industry …

Why You Should Make Sure You Train Legs

 I have had the experience of observing many people training in gyms over the years. A common trend I see in many gym goers is doing minimal leg work or even worse none at all. The most ridiculous manifestation of this phenomenon is the guys who look like this. There are many reasons that men …

Final Factors for Success in the Gym

Just to tidy up this series of blogs, there are a couple of other factors that can and will affect your success in the gym. While in my opinion these aren’t quite as important as the six I have already discussed, they are still important enough to merit discussion. Genetics will obviously have an important …

Factors for Success in the Gym No. 6

It should go without saying that if you are going to get the most out of the exercises that you are doing, then learning good technique is pretty important. When learning technique it helps to have an understanding of the muscles you should be using during the exercise and what role they are playing. This …

Factors for Success in the Gym No. 5

The fifth factor for success is patience. If you have followed this series up to now you will know I have discussed that you have to be consistent in your training, apply progressive overload to it, put in some serious hard work and make good exercise choices. If you are following all of these, then …

Factors for Success in the Gym No. 4

The fourth factor for success is exercise choice, which I touched upon in the third factor. While there are no bad exercises per se, there are some exercises that are far more effective than others. There are also some exercises that are inappropriate for certain people, either due to previous or current injuries, complexity or …

Factors for Success in the Gym No. 3

  The third factor for success is effort. This of course doesn’t just apply to the gym, it takes effort to become good at anything in life. Forcing your body to change requires hard work and there is no way around this. Forget machines which ‘tone your muscles’, only concerted and directed effort will get …