Photo by Takver “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems” – Mahatma Gandhi Getting stronger and fitter is an immensely powerful and rewarding process on a personal level. We can take that energy and ability and use it for even [...]

Yes I know it’s another hoary old chestnut but there’s a reason why: it’s a fascinating, annoying, intriguing, frustrating, astonishing, awkward and curious topic. The issue of performance enhancing drugs has popped up again because of the World Athletics Championships (which I have been glued to all week since I am off work), but it [...]

Are you competitive in your training? Join in the discussion!

Specific vs general is a popular argument in fitness circles and can often get quite technical. But I think that for anyone who isn’t a professional athlete, it doesn’t matter terribly whether you train for something specific or for general fitness. Which mode you choose depends on your personality. Some people respond to the challenge [...]

It is a fact of life that some people are born with unusual physical beauty, in the same way that some people are born with a talent for writing or playing the violin. Someone else’s abilities on the violin have absolutely no bearing on yours, so why should someone else’s physical appearance have any bearing [...]

Some of you may be really gung-ho about your training. Fit and proud, you revel in being the ‘weird one in the corner’ doing crazy stuff. You couldn’t give a toss what people think about kipping pull ups and you certainly don’t give a monkeys what you look like, puffing, heaving and sweating your way [...]

 Many people including myself and many readers of this site would say we do ‘functional fitness’. We use the phrase almost without thinking, but most people have never heard of it and it must sound very odd. This thought struck me as I was watching a climbing film, Alistair Lee’s Onsight where one interviewee comments that [...]

Photo by tobo I have just taken part in a Myers-Briggs exercise at work (INTJ in case you were wondering) and this got me thinking about how my personality dictates my approach to exercise and dieting – particularly dieting. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Myers-Briggs is a system for identifying your personality type, [...]

After a recent discussion here on strength standards for women, I have come up with some standards using the collective wisdom of All Round Strength Training! Click to go straight to table of strength standards for women (below) There’s not much general knowledge about what is “good” for women’s strength training. In many cases, a [...]

This is a question as much for my male readers as my female readers: do you have a conception of how much weight women can/should be lifting? Because relatively few women lift free weights and of those who do, many are new to lifting, it is deemed appropriate to be encouraging about any lifting stats [...]