Time of day and strength: are you really stronger in the afternoon
How big the morning-to-evening gap in strength actually is, which parts are well evidenced, and what to change in your own training.
7 min read
Training frequency: once or three times a week per muscle
What the evidence actually says about how often to train a muscle each week, where the science is settled and where it is still guesswork.
6 min read
Sauna and hot baths after training: what the evidence shows
What sauna and hot baths after training actually do, where the evidence is solid, where it is thin, and how to fit heat into your training week.
6 min read
Why strength rises before muscle: the first six weeks explained
In the first six weeks strength climbs far faster than muscle size — what the evidence firmly shows, what is still open, and how to train around it.
7 min read
Cross-education: what training your good arm does for the one in a cast
What actually happens to an immobilised limb while you train the healthy side, how much strength carries over, and how to use it.
6 min read
Mind-muscle connection: does focus really build more muscle
What the evidence actually says about focusing on the working muscle, where it is solid, where it barely exists, and how to use it in training.
6 min read
Detraining: how quickly you lose strength and muscle
What really happens to strength and size after two, four or eight weeks off, how little training it takes to hold on, and how to come back sensibly.
7 min read
Estimating your 1RM from reps: how wrong are the formulas
How accurate one-rep-max calculators really are, when they work, when they miss by ten per cent, and how to build your own rep chart instead.
6 min read
Periodisation: what the evidence says about linear and block plans
How much you actually gain by splitting training into phases, where the evidence is solid, where it is thin, and what to do with it in the gym.
5 min read
Genetics and training response: why two people don't progress alike
What genetics really decides about your gym progress, which evidence is solid, which is still thin, and how to use that in your training and diet.
7 min read
Fast and slow muscle fibres: what training actually changes
Fibre type is mostly inherited, but training does shift part of it — what the evidence supports, what stays unsettled, and how to train given both.
5 min read
Training in the stretched position: what the evidence shows
What is solidly established about loading muscles at long lengths, what is only likely, and how to use it in your own training without overdoing it.
6 min read
Placebo in training: how much strength comes from expectation
How many reps and kilos actually come from believing something works, where the evidence is strong, where it runs out, and what to do with it in the gym.
6 min read
How wrong are watches and trackers about calories burned
Why a watch reads your heart rate well but only guesses your calorie burn, how big the error usually is, and how to set your intake without that number.
6 min read
Training the healthy limb while the other is in a cast
What training the uninjured side actually does while the other is immobilised: how much strength carries over, where the evidence is strong and where it is thin.
6 min read
Why two people on the same programme progress differently
Same training, similar diet, very different results: what the evidence reliably shows about individual response, and what gets repeated wrongly in gyms.
6 min read
The repeated bout effect: why the same session hurts less
Why the same workout leaves you half as sore the second time, how long that protection lasts, and how to use it when you come back after a break.
7 min read
Caffeine tolerance: why it fades and how to reset it
How caffeine tolerance builds, what a break actually restores and what it does not, and how to time doses around training without wrecking your sleep.
7 min read
The upper limit of muscle growth: what the science actually shows
How much muscle you can realistically build drug-free, how long it takes, and how to tell an ordinary plateau from a genuine ceiling.
6 min read
Why some people progress faster: what we know about training response
Why two people on the same programme end up with very different results, how much of that is genetics, and which parts you can actually change.
7 min read
Body fat testing: how wrong are scales, calipers and DEXA?
What smart scales, calipers and DEXA actually get wrong, why their numbers never agree, and how to use body fat testing sensibly while dieting and training.
7 min read
Training to failure or two reps in reserve: how close to go
What the evidence actually supports about training to failure, what is still unsettled, and how to pick your reps in reserve by exercise and by goal.
6 min read
Mechanical tension: how a muscle gets the signal to grow
How a muscle fibre registers load and turns it into growth: what is solid about mechanical tension, what is still guesswork, and what it changes in your training.
6 min read
Fasted training: what the evidence says about fat and performance
What the evidence actually shows about training on an empty stomach: when performance drops, when it does not, and why burning more fat mid-session is not fat loss.
6 min read