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All-round Strength Training

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How-to: Overhead squat

» by gubernatrix March 25th, 2008 at 12:27 am » Comments (10)

This is the sixth article in my series of Top 10 Functional Strength Exercises. The aim of this series is to introduce some of my favourite strength exercises, that people may not be aware of or may not have tried.
What is the overhead squat?
The overhead squat is a deep squat performed while holding a barbell […]



Types of weight training

» by gubernatrix February 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am » Comments (2)

This is the second article in the series Getting into weight training: a female-friendly guide. A PDF version is also available to download for free: Getting into weight training: a female-friendly guide PDF

1. Why lift weights?
4. Exercise technique

2. Types of weight training
5. Training programmes

3. Starting out

6. Create your own programme

Most commercial gyms have a […]



The Clean: common problems

» by gubernatrix January 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm » Comments (8)

At a recent Crossfit London session, we focussed on clean technique. Although we had all done the clean before, we were generally not very experienced in this move and variously exhibited these common problems:

Rounding of the lower back
Elbows too low
‘Reverse curling’ the bar up rather than shrugging

Crossfit encourages full squat cleans, which are technically more […]



Crossfit London sunday workouts

» by gubernatrix December 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm » Comments (0)

Crossfit London does Fight Gone Bad
I’m in London for the festive season so I have grabbed the opportunity to get some quality Crossfit sessions in. I’ve been going to the weekly Workout On Sunday sessions down in Stratford, east London. As you can see from the picture above, there’s no poncing about in gyms, we […]



Olympic weightlifting: starting out

» by gubernatrix December 10th, 2007 at 5:57 pm » Comments (8)

I have been working recently on olympic weightlifting exercises. These tend to be full body exercises and will contribute greatly to all-round strength. They are working my body in ways it is not used to and I am enjoying the business of learning a new set of skills and techniques.
I haven’t had any personal instruction […]



How-to: One-arm dumbbell snatch

» by gubernatrix November 24th, 2007 at 3:36 am » Comments (10)

This is the first article in my series of Top 10 Functional Strength Exercises. The aim of this series is to introduce some of my favourite strength exercises, that people may not be aware of or may not have tried.
Many of these exercises are never featured in the mainstream fitness magazines or taught by the […]



Types of strength

» by gubernatrix November 10th, 2007 at 12:14 am » Comments (5)

If you are after all-round strength, it’s important to understand the different types of strength – or even that there are different types of strength. It will help you to pin down what kind of training you need to do to reach your goals. It will also help you to cut through the crap when […]



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