This blog is the concluding part to a three part series on exercise for back pain. The links to the other two blogs are at the end of this text. Lower back-pain can be a pain in the arse (hips, neck, spine, etc). But what happens when your back flares up and feels stiff, sore and immobile? You stretch it, right? Guess what? You probably shouldn't be stretching your back. Why? Allow me to explain. Joint by Joint The joint by joint principle was popularised by Mike Boyle, it's not necessarily an evidence-based approach, in that it doesn't really take much research to confirm that the body a...

Endurance athletes tend not to do much in the way of strength training, preferring instead to do more of what they enjoy doing the most. That’s fair enough but there are some very specific and relevant adaptations to concurrent strength training for endurance athletes that really ought not to be ignored. Runners, for example might do a bit of core training or maybe some yoga and then, for power they might do some sprint intervals, Fartleks or hill sprints, something like that. Cyclists like doing power intervals on the turbo or a Wattbike and feel that is all the ‘strength work’ they need...

If you have followed me for a while now you'll be well aware that I believe everyone should be doing some kind of resistance training on a regular basis. Not only do I believe it (and let me be clear that is not just a personal opinion based on emotion, it's an evidence-informed fact) but just recently the the World Health Organisation updated their physical activity guidelines. Here's the highlights for adults aged 18-64: should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity; or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an ...

Everyone knows that exercise is good for them, but despite that too few people do much of it with any real consistency. Beyond walking to the fridge and back or angrily hammering the keypad on their mobile phone while taking part in some kind of pointless argument on social media. But the health benefits of exercise are incredible, to the point that it really ought to be a prescribed by doctors as a first line of defence against almost all forms of chronic illness. But, the thing is the fitness industry doesn’t seem interested in selling exercise to you for health and longevity. It tells y...

I’m a nutrition coach and it never ceases to amaze me how little people understand energy balance. I have explained this in some previous videos like this one (HERE) and this blog (HERE). But I understand why people don't get it. It's not something that you get taught in school, there's a lot of conflicting opinions about energy balance (although the the first law of thermodynamics isn't up for debate) much of which is down to unethical marketing. But not only that, counting Calories accuracy is not easy and most people get wrong for a variety of reasons. So, to help you stop pissing in the...