All articles (1201)
Everything we have written so far, from the first day in the gym to advanced programming.
Competition day: how to time food and drink backstage
A practical show-day timeline: your first meal, hourly top-ups backstage, how much water to sip, and how to pump up in the last twenty minutes.
5 min read
Backpacks and water canisters: how to pick improvised weights
How to judge a rucksack, a canister and what goes inside them so improvised load stays safe, measurable and heavy enough, and when it stops being enough.
7 min read
Chair and wall as home kit: what to check, plus twelve exercises
How to tell whether your chair and wall are safe enough to train on, how much space and money it really takes, plus twelve exercises and a four-week plan.
7 min read
Holidays and houseguests: keeping your routine through a big week
Why seven days of feasting will not undo months of training, the minimum worth protecting, how to build a plate, and what to do the day after.
5 min read
Walking after meals: how long it takes and when to go
How many minutes of walking after a meal are enough, when to set off, and how to fit it into a working day without extra time.
5 min read
Fifteen minutes a day: a training week for when time is short
What fifteen minutes of training actually buys you, a concrete five-day week you can run when time is short, and how to keep making progress.
5 min read
Weekends undo the week: keeping your eating on track Saturday and Sunday
The weekend maths, two anchors that hold your eating together, rules for restaurants and drinks, and how to start Monday without punishing yourself.
5 min read
Habit tracking apps: what helps and what is just decoration
Which habit tracker features actually change behaviour, which numbers are only decoration, and how to set tracking up so it lasts past week three.
6 min read
Two weeks off: how to keep your training routine on holiday
What a fortnight off really costs you, how a twenty-minute session with no equipment looks, and how to plan the first week back before you leave.
6 min read
Shift work and training: how to plan a week that keeps changing
How to build a training week around a rotating rota: how many sessions to aim for, when to train after a night shift and what to cut first.
6 min read
Three months off with an injury: how to get through it
What twelve weeks off actually costs you, what you can still train around an injury, and how to structure the first six weeks of your comeback.
6 min read
Panic attack in the gym: what to do in the moment and after
What happens in your body during a panic attack, what to do in the first few minutes, and how to get back to training without losing months to it.
6 min read
One bad set: how to stop it ruining the rest of your day
What to do in the two minutes after a failed set, how to salvage the rest of the session, and why one weak day says nothing about your trend.
5 min read
Anger and the gym: does lifting really calm you down
What actually happens to anger in the gym: why venting fails, how to run a session when you turn up furious, and when a walk beats a barbell.
5 min read
Post-competition emptiness: why motivation drops after the goal
Why motivation collapses a fortnight after the big day, how to tell it apart from fatigue, and exactly what to train in the first two weeks and the two months after.
6 min read
Fear of gaining fat: how to come off a deficit without panic
What the first two kilos after a diet actually are, how quickly to add calories back, and which numbers to watch instead of the scale.
6 min read
Training after losing someone close: when it helps and when it hurts
What grief does to sleep, appetite and strength, how much training makes sense in the first weeks, and the signs that the gym has started working against you.
6 min read
Parnasse stops Hooker in the opening round in Paris
Salahdine Parnasse stopped Dan Hooker with a body kick and follow-up strikes at 2:35 of round one on his UFC debut in Paris.
2 min read
Shevchenko vacates flyweight title through injury as Silva meets Wang Cong at UFC 332
The UFC says Valentina Shevchenko will be out for at least a year, leaving Natalia Silva and Wang Cong to contest the vacant flyweight belt on 3 October in Salt Lake City.
2 min read
How much strongmen really lift: the numbers behind stones and log
The actual weights of Atlas stones, competition logs and the old lifting stones, and why none of those numbers compare directly to a barbell.
6 min read
Sumo or conventional deadlift: which suits your build
How arm length, femur length and hip shape decide whether sumo or conventional suits you, plus an eight-week test to settle the question on your own body.
6 min read
Creatine: dosage, the loading phase, and what it really does
How much creatine to take, whether the loading phase is worth doing, and what actually changes in your training after a few weeks of daily use.
6 min read
Lifting belts: when they help and when they get in the way
What a lifting belt actually does, how to pick width, thickness, material and buckle, what drives the price, and the sets where wearing one only holds you back.
7 min read
How to choose running shoes: comfort, fit and injury risk
What actually matters in a running shoe: fit, drop, stack height and weight, how long a pair lasts, and the buying mistakes that cost you the most.
7 min read