A woman’s weights: Catherine Imes’ painted kettlebells It struck me recently that whenever the topic of women and weights crops up, we feel the need to address the ‘fear of bulking up’ issue. The usual argument proferred in defense of weight training is that it doesn’t make you bulky or masculine; actually it can help [...]

Ever noticed how everyone seems to be obsessed with form these days? I blame books like Starting Strength – great book of course, but now suddenly everyone’s an expert! It’s one thing to know the theory; it’s another thing to apply it to an individual. If it was that easy, we wouldn’t need strength coaches [...]

Possibly the most popular exercise in any gym, the bench press is not just for ego and the t-shirt muscles. It is an event in powerlifting and a great way to build upper body strength. What is the bench press? The bench press is one of the three lifts in powerlifting (the other two are [...]

Spinster, lunatic, powerlifter… 19th October 2008 Bodyweight: 61kg Squat: 80kg Deadlift: 110kg (good) Bench: 52.5kg (poor) Argh! Have stalled on my bench press again!!!! Am complete and total failure at powerlifting! Should prob back off for a week. Saw Mark Darcy in the gym again today. God, he is so irritating! He came up to [...]

Unilateral exercises are, quite simply, exercises done on one side only, such as single leg squats or one arm dumbbell presses. Most exercises that you do in the gym have a single-side option. Why do unilateral exercises? Many of the best functional strength and conditioning coaches advocate unilateral work: “Most athletes and people in general [...]

Photo by trekkyandy Whichever diet you are on, whether it is one you have devised yourself or one from a book, there are quite a few things you can do to increase your chances of success. I call them rules of thumb because they are: – not specific to any one diet; – easy to [...]

The front squat is a very useful exercise that is not often seen in the average gym. But it is unjustly neglected and some coaches even prefer it to the back squat. What is a front squat? Holding the bar across the front of your shoulders, squat down until your hips are below parallel and [...]

Photo by malias Anyone who has delved into current theories of nutrition has probably heard that the low-fat obsession of the last few decades has largely proved unhealthy and damaging. The new culprit in today’s western diet is carbohydrate – more specifically, high glycemic index carbohydrate. Of course, if you do have an inkling of [...]