Globo gyms – a guilty pleasure?

If you read any of my strength training posts, you’ll know that I often sing the praises of specialized strength training gyms – excellent equipment, like minded individuals, positive attitudes, blah, blah, blah. It’s true, all of it. If you are seriously interested in strength-training and you’re lucky enough to have specialized gym in your […]

Exercise – sometimes it’s a lifeline

Ok, everyone knows that regular exercise helps ease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. It’s exceedingly well-documented. For the most part, those of us who exercise regularly don’t need to be told about the very real endorphin rush one receives after physical exertion. It’s not a magic bullet, though, but it is a valuable tool […]

POWERLIFTERSvs. BODYBUILDERS – CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

Bodybuilders are the low hanging fruit of the weightlifting world. So visible, so easily parodied…And the sport is so incredibly weird, at least in it’s current form. To win a bodybuilding competition you must look completely unnatural on the stage – roll-on tan, dangerously dehydrated, the works. Let’s acknowledge the elephant the room, i.e. the […]

Bench prescient

Yesterday I did 6×5 @150kg in bench-press. I was training at the club and nobody else was there. Now, granted, I used a heavy competition bench with really sturdy safety arms, but heavy benching is always a scary proposition. Nothing will make you besmirch your undies faster than that feeling that you’re going to miss […]

How blogging is exactly like strength-training

My two favorite things to do on Saturday morning, after I’ve had my coffee, is to write a few pages and then go to the gym for a few hours. It occurred to me this morning that there are quite a few similarities between the two activities. Let me explain: Hygiene: Powerlifting is an important […]

Gym Fouls – Don’t be that guy

Mirror, mirror, on the wall: OK, I get it that some people are serious about their bodybuilding and I get that you need to check the status of your “canvas” from time time but nonstop checking yourself out in the mirror is well creepy in my book. Hey, Abs guy, kudos on your diet progress but gazing longingly at your abs whilst holding your tank top up in your teeth? Get a room.

I lost 10 years

10 years. I lost 10 years. 10 years in which I completely lost the plot. 10 years that I survived, rather than thrived. I wasn’t depressed or unhappy, but neither was I happy. But I was stressed. Constantly. 10 years when I was so strung out on work stress I couldn’t stop to ask myself […]

The evolution of a Powerlifter.

I happened upon strength training almost by accident. I had been going to the gym for a number of years, nay, decades, more or less consistently. So I went to the gym regularly, but aimlessly, without clear goals. I’d do whatever I felt like doing once I arrived at the gym and the exercise choice […]

Veganism and Strength Sports

What follows are my personal, unscientific, non-triple blind tested observations on the effects of a plant-based diet on training for strength sports. Is it better, is it worse and, if so, why? Is it harder to stick to a vegan diet? What are the non-sports benefits? What is over-rated about a plant-based diet? What are […]

An ode to fringe activities…

OR THE LONELINESS OF THE POWERLIFTING WINE-CHUGGER. OR HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE BY NOT BORING THEM TO TEARS WITH YOUR HOBBY/SPORT/LIFESTYLE CHOICE/DIET Happy new year, everyone. I made an early night of it last night so after a nice dinner with friends I went to bed shortly after midnight CET. As a […]