Age-related physical decline will happen to us all, that’s just a fact of physiology I’m afraid. But, can you slow down the physical and cognitive decline by changing your lifestyle? The answer ton that is a big fat juicy YES! Basically, a big reason why so many people gain weight and experience an increase in health complications from the age of 40 onwards, isn’t so much that getting old makes them sick, but that they become less active, experience more life stress and don’t pay attention to their diet. In January this year, I turned 49 – this isn’t a boast but… I’m currently the fittest, ...

People often ask what the benefits of a coach or personal trainer are. For some people, it seems, they believe they can cut corners and just do it all themselves, and in some cases that might be true. If you have a high level of knowledge, are highly motivated and don’t struggle with autonomy then great do what you need to do. But most people aren’t like that. The number of times people ask me for free advice (please stop doing that this is my livelihood) tells me that they don’t have the knowledge or autonomy to govern their own health journey.

The number of times I have heard a person say they would like to build muscle and lose fat are too numerous to count. It is often said that you cannot do both, that the two goals are diametrically opposed. Think about it, one requires you to be in an anabolic state of high energy availability to induce hypertrophy (muscle growth). While the other requires you to be in a catabolic state to induce cellular atrophy for fat reduction. Therefore, to maximise either goal you need to focus on either/or. But there is this one weird trick (I’m using that term ironically, don’t @me) that trainers and...

He stared at me suspiciously as I sat in the café tucking into my jerk marinated chicken breast, spicy sweet potato wedges and spinach (with a few dashes of hot chilli sauce for good measure). I was the only one there eating out of tupperware and not mindlessly cramming a bacon and cheese roll into my gob as the crumbs missed the paper bag and spilled out onto the freshly swept floor.

As you likely know I’m a big fan of kettlebell training. It’s not that I think it’s superior to other forms of training, I just enjoy training with kettlebells more than I do other types of gym equipment. Now, don’t get me wrong, if I had room in my studio for a squat rack, Olympic bar and bumper plates I definitely would have those too. But I digress. But kettlebells are really useful and, in my opinion, should be a part of most strength and conditioning programs. They can help develop strength, power and mobility. You can adapt your training to target hypertrophy or improve muscular endu...