However, before I go full steam ahead on publishing it, I wanted to prove that home-based workouts can work, especially for beginners and those of a certain age, but also for anyone. So, today’s newsletter is going to cover two main concepts:

1. For all subscribers: a home exercise library that targets the major muscles and requires little-to-no equipment. I’ll also include regressions for those who want it to be easier, and progressions for those who require a bigger challenge.

2. For paid subscribers: a 4-week template to follow to improve your strength, mobility, and fitness.

I hope you find it useful; I’ve dedicated some serious hours to this so far! Let’s crack on. P.S. - You might need to open this newsletter in your browser…it’s going to be fairly long with lots of images and GIFs! If you can’t be bothered to read through the what, why, and how, then you can download the library as a PDF below.

Home Exercise Library

41.9MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

As always, before we begin, the usual disclaimer: Always consult a medical professional before starting a new exercise regimen. Especially true for those with complex medical histories or historical injuries! If you want specific advice, I’m happy to hop on a discovery/coaching call/consultation. Ping me a message.

Before We Begin

• Just a quick reminder that you can subscribe for free or for $5 per month. The paid tier gives you access to exclusives, such as monthly movement tutorials, designed for beginners to exercise. I’ve just bundled together my squat, lunge, and hinge tutorials for $12.99.

• I have also opened up a few more online coaching spaces. These tend to sell out quickly, so message me to enquire, or click here to take a look at my current available gym plans.

• You can get 10% off all supplements available at Awesome Supplements by using the code EZEP. Their new collagen formula is designed to look after joints.

All in all, just click here, and you’ll see pretty much everything going on in my online world!

My Home Exercise Staples

Over the past few weeks, I’ve covered many examples of home-based exercises that can target the major muscles. However, I’ve not had a chance to cover all of them yet. Today, I’m going to split them into groups based on target muscles. It’ll be a detailed but useful read. Let’s kick things off with those large thigh muscles…

Thigh, Glute and Hip Exercises

Exercise: Sit-to-stand

Regression: Terminal Knee Extensions (TKEs), or glute bridges

Progression: Bodyweight/Goblet squats (using books as a weight).

The classic starter squat movement. You find a chair, sit on it, then stand back up again. Not as hard as a bodyweight squat, but still plenty hard enough to sufficiently challenge many of the lower body muscles. If these are too hard on your knees, you can switch to TKEs if you have a resistance band, or glute bridges if you don’t have a band.

Exercise: Seated knee extension (banded)

Regression: Seated knee extension (no band), or march on the spot

Progression: Bodyweight split squat

These exercises are great for the quadriceps muscles at the front of the thigh. However, I appreciate that knees can’t always be as forgiving and tolerant of exercise, so if you find seated knee extensions tricky, you can switch to marching on the spot or a bodyweight version of the movement. If you find them too easy, then you may benefit from split squats, which are similar to lunges, instead.

Exercise: Standing side leg raise (abductions)

Regression: Side stepping

Progression: Add a resistance band around your knees

Now for those major hip and glute muscles. Sideways movements, across the frontal plane, are often overlooked in exercise plans. However, they are super important for reducing fall risk and ensuring equal progression in strength and fitness. Side leg raises are simple enough in theory; just keep your leg straight and lift it as high as you can to the side. However, if this is too hard for you, then simple side stepping may be sufficient for you to benefit. If you’re looking for a greater challenge, then adding a resistance band around your knees will make this movement much harder!

Exercise: Standing hip extension

Regression: Heels-to-bums

Progression: Single-leg deadlift (bodyweight or weighted), or banded extensions

To round off the large muscles in the upper leg, we have some hip or leg extensions. They are similar to the above exercises, except instead of kicking out to the side to engage the muscles in the side of the thigh and glutes, we kick directly behind our torso to target the larger glute muscles, hamstrings, and lower back muscles. If this is too difficult, you can perform heels-to-bums instead. This exercise is exactly what it says on the tin: stand tall and bring your heel towards your bottom. For a more difficult challenge, you can either add a resistance band to your extensions or try a single-leg deadlift, which sounds way scarier, but as you can see in the image below, is just an extension of the range of movement and the option of adding some small additional weight.

Calf and Ankle Exercises

Exercise: Bodyweight single-leg calf raise

Regression: Bodyweight double-leg calf raise

Progression: Deficit calf raise or weighted calf raise

You didn’t think that I would skip the calf raises, did you?! I could never leave these out. So simple but so effective. Simply lift one foot off the floor and push up onto your toes with the remaining foot. Too hard? Use both feet together. Too easy? Hang your heel off a step, or hold something in your hands to increase the range of movement, resistance, or both.

Exercise: Banded dorsiflexion

Regression: Seated toe raises

Progression: Squat toe raises

Another series of movements that are often overlooked. Just as raising your heels can use the muscles in the back of your calf, raising your toes uses those muscles across the front of your shin. If you have an exercise band, you should certainly attempt to perform some banded dorsiflexions (fancy speak for lifting your toes up against resistance). If you don’t have access to a band, then you can either try some seated or standing toe raises, or if you’re really up for a challenge, some toe raises while holding a wall squat!

Chest, Triceps, and Front of Shoulder Exercises

Exercise: Incline push-up

Regression: Wall push-up, kneeling push-up

Progression: Full push-up

If you’ve read my work previously, you’ll know that I am a big fan of push-up movements. I recently wrote about how to build to your first full push-up, and how to scale the movement to suit your current ability level. They’re easy to learn, easy to adapt, and require minimal equipment. In my eyes, an absolute must for most.

Exercise: Banded floor press/chest press

Regression: Use a lighter band

Progression: Dumbbell floor press (or use a book or water bottle)

If you don’t fancy push-ups, you can flip the movement 180 degrees and perform a floor press. You literally lie on your back and push either a band or some water bottles away from yourself. Same muscles, same benefit, but slightly kinder on the wrists.

Exercise: Banded front raise

Regression: Bottle front raise

Progression: Heavier band or bottle front raise

Another simple exercise series, but a more shoulder-dominant variation. Exercise bands and water bottles really are cheap and simple bits of kit for home use. Banded front raises are surprisingly hard work. I led a class last week where banded front raises were the last exercise of the 45-minute segment, and I was shaking big time!

Back, Biceps, and Back of Shoulder Exercises

Now I must be honest here…back and bicep-dominant exercises can be tricky to perform with minimal equipment. If you don’t have access to a band or weights, then a towel may suffice if you twist/wrap it up. It won’t have as much give, but you can use it for isometrics (exercises where you’re pulling but not causing the towel to move; in essence, just holding the contraction for 15-30 seconds at a time instead of for reps).

Exercise: Banded row

Regression: Lighter band

Progression: Stronger band, slower reps, or pausing halfway through each rep.

Simply wrap a band around a post or your feet and pull back with your elbows tucked in. You can hold the band more or less taut to give yourself greater or lesser resistance if needed, or just switch to a different band. Remember, you can also manipulate time under tension or tempo to make the movement harder if needed, too.

Exercise: Resistance band pull-apart

Regression: Shoulder blade squeezes

Progression: Prone IYTWs

Being able to master your shoulder blades is an important skill to learn as we get older. This will help posture if nothing else! A simple band pull-apart is a great way to perform the movement with some resistance, but you can simply get used to pulling the shoulder blades together without any resistance. If you need to take it up a notch, simply try the IYTWs; they’re bodyweight, but much harder than you think! They can also be done in any order…it’ll make sense when you see the image!

Exercise: Bottle bicep curl

Regression: Forearm plank

Progression: Banded bicep curls

A bicep-dominant category wouldn’t be complete without a form of bicep curls! Use bottles or bands to get some form of resistance on this movement. You’ll notice that I’ve put a forearm plank in as a regression. This isn’t a mistake! Squeeze those biceps as you plank; you’ve got some bodyweight going through those muscles as they keep you horizontal with your elbows at 90 degrees. It’s a good workout!

Core Exercises

Exercise: Deadbugs

Regression: Abdominal bracing

Progression: Hollow body holds

Sometimes, core work can be as simple as learning to brace the muscles in your tummy while also being able to breathe normally at the same time. It is a skill! Put your hands on your hips, try to brace, and you should feel the muscles in your tummy, sides, and potentially even your back move and contract. However, if you’re going red in the face and holding your breath, don’t forget to breathe! If this is too basic for you, then deadbugs are a firm favourite of mine - they use the core and hip muscles, which, as you probably already know, are criminally underused and tight in most people. Those still looking for a progression can try hollow body holds for an extra challenge on the lower back and core muscles.

Exercise: Heel taps

Regression: Standing side bends

Progression: Weighted side bends

If you're looking to exercise the obliques down the side of your tummy, then these exercises are a safe bet. Lying on your back with your knees tucked, reaching for your heels with your hands is a great way to work these muscles. If lying down is tricky, simply hold a weight in one hand and bend to that side. If the weight makes it too hard, ditch the weight and just do this with empty hands.

Exercise: Russian twist (feet down)

Regression: Seated torso rotations

Progression: Weighted Russian twist, or feet-up Russian twist

If you’ve got a history of osteoporosis, give this category a miss as the rotating element may not be great for you. In otherwise healthy individuals, I like programming Russian twists as it teaches core control and stability. You can place the feet down if you need extra help, or lift them up for an extra challenge. Add weight or just use bodyweight; there’s a variation for everyone.

The Home Exercise Library

I appreciate that this is a LOT of information. So, as stated at the beginning of the newsletter, I’ve created a nice little reference card that you can download for free. It lists all of the above exercises and splits them into body part/movement pattern in a more visually pleasing way. Tap the button below to get it for free.

Home Exercise Library

41.9MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

How To Turn This Into An Exercise Plan

But what if you want to follow an actual plan? Well, I’ve created a 4-week skeleton plan for you to follow. You must be a paying member, and you can upgrade your membership for as little as $5 below. Let’s delve deeper into this, shall we…

As a reminder, every month, I send my paying subscribers a detailed walkthrough on how to perform the most common (and most commonly performed badly) exercise movement patterns.

Don’t worry, if you subscribe for free, you’ll still get the usual weekly posts as always; this is a bonus for those who pay their $5 per month.

In today’s overview, I shall outline the horizontal press. We shall cover:

• Why it is useful

• Where to start

• How to progress

• Some common issues

• How to fix these issues

As a reminder, so far we have looked at how to lunge, squat, hinge, and overhead press safely. You can gain access to all of these as part of your subscription.

Thanks again for your support!

Purchase as a standalone

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

We’ve got 5 exercises to workout through today. You will ideally need a band or cables for some of the movements, but they can be performed as bodyweight exercises in a bind. The structure is relatively straight-forward today, simply perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps of each exercise!

The Exercises

1. Wall angels

2. Band pull-aparts (increase to 15 reps if needed)

3. Chin tucks

4. Band or cable chops (8-12 reps per side)

5. Band, bodyweight, or DB deadlifts.

Need to Make it Easier?

Stop at 2 sets of each exercise.

Want to Make it Harder?

Add a 4th set to each exercise.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

I’ve kept the circuit structure in play again this week. There are six exercises; simply perform one for the prescribed number of reps, rest for 30-60s, then move to the next exercise in the circuit. Simple but effective!

The Exercises

1. Sumo squats* (x16) - Note the wide feet stance.

2. Wall push-up (x10-16)

3. Standing side leg raises** (x10 per leg)

4. Standing hip extension** (x10 per leg)

5. Single-leg calf raises (x10 per leg)

6. Standing crunches (x10 per side)

7. Rest for 1 minute

8. Repeat 2-3 times

Need to Make it Easier?

Take 4-6 reps off each exercise.

Want to Make it Harder?

Add 4-6 reps per exercise, but stick to 3 rounds maximum for today. OR make the following changes to the exercises above with asterisks (*/**).

* Hold a dumbbell

** Add a resistance band around your ankles

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

Subscribe now

It seems that this has been one of my more popular newsletters of the year, and that information, paired with the fact that my poll yesterday stated the majority of readers wanted a few more exercise tips for seniors, has led me to hastily (but hopefully effectively) delay my newsletter on how to start running/a beginner run and gym plan, in favour of today’s edition.

So, if you find it tricky to get down on the floor, perhaps to play with grandchildren, and then to return to a standing position, this guide will help you get there. Some exercises for the whole body that don’t require heavy weights or floor-based work. Let’s begin!

Like last week, you can download a summary guide by hitting the button below. As always, it is free, so share with all who you feel might benefit!

Access the summary guide

Before We Begin

• Just a quick reminder that you can subscribe for free or for $5 per month. The paid tier gives you access to exclusives, such as monthly movement tutorials, designed for beginners to exercise. I’ve just bundled together my squat, lunge, and hinge tutorials for $12.99 (although it’s half price if you download the summary of today’s newsletter…).

• I have also opened up a few more online coaching spaces. These tend to sell out quickly, so message me to enquire, or click here to take a look at my current available gym plans.

• You can get 10% off all supplements available at Awesome Supplements by using the code EZEP. Their new collagen formula is designed to look after joints.

All in all, just click here, and you’ll see pretty much everything going on in my online world!

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to provide some examples of exercises that you can do at home to improve your ability and confidence in getting down onto the floor and back up again. There may be some movements that you cannot perform. Or perhaps you don’t have access to a resistance band, for example. If this is the case, let me know, and I’ll happily provide some alternatives.

Core Exercises

Your core is so much more important than just having visible abs for vanity’s sake. Your core links your upper and lower body musculature. It protects your lower back. It allows you to safely twist, rotate, bend over, and sit up. It helps to maintain correct posture. A strong core goes a long way toward making everyday activities feel easier. The following exercises will help you to stay strong in your tummy, back, and sides, and make standing up from the floor significantly more efficient.

1. Abdominal Bracing - 8 x 5s holds.

Can be done sitting or lying. Brace the core, as if preparing to cough. However, don’t hold your breath! You should be able to breathe throughout this bracing. Hold for 5s, then rest for 5s.

2. Standing side bends - 2 x 8 reps per side.

Stand tall, then lean to one side, sliding your hand down the outside of your thigh. Be mindful not to bend forward or backward.

Lower Body Exercises

Naturally, your large leg muscles are the powerhouses behind the standing movement from the floor. Your thigh muscles (hamstrings, quads, adductors) and your glutes have the potential to be incredibly strong. Let’s work on all of them.

1. Squat pulses - 2 x 8-10 reps

Don’t worry about your squat depth here (i.e., how much knee bend you can achieve). Just squat as low as you comfortably can, and stand back up again.

2. Standing hip extension - 2 x 8-10 reps per side

Great for the muscles at the back of your legs and into the lower back. Keep the leg straight if possible. Reach the straight leg as far back and up as you comfortably can.

3. Standing hip abduction - 2 x 8-10 reps per side.

Similar concept to the previous exercise. Keep the legs straight and this time push out to the side. You should feel a tightness in the side of your leg or hip.

Upper Body Exercises

Your upper body is needed as much as any other body part during the standing phase of getting up from the floor. You need strong, robust shoulder and chest muscles in particular. This is how I would recommend strengthening them.

1. Wall angels - 2 x 8-10 reps

Stand with your back against a wall. Bring your arms up as if saying, “I surrender!". Straighten all the way above your head, keeping the arms touching the wall. Then return down until your elbows are at right angles.

2. Mini band external rotation - 2 x 8-10 reps.

If you don’t have a mini-band, then you can do this without and still benefit hugely. Just copy the exercise below but without holding a band. Make sure to keep your elbows pinned into your sides!

How Can I Put This Plan Together?

You don’t need to do this session every day to benefit. If you’re a beginner or over the age of 60, then start with this exact session twice per week. If you’re feeling keen, increase this frequency to 3x per week, but never more.

Every week, you should try to sit or lie on the floor and get back up again. This will be your benchmark and will show you exactly how much progress you’re making. When this time comes, make sure to use cushions, pillows, blankets, or whatever you can find around the house to make it as comfortable as possible.

Remember, if you’ve fallen recently or suffer from severe joint pain, this may not be suitable for you. If in doubt, check with a medical professional before starting a new exercise plan. However, if nothing else, the above exercise plan is a great way to stay in shape without needing a gym or having to get down on the floor.

I’m currently working on an at-home exercise journal. It will guide readers through a 12-week home-based exercise plan, including strength work, low-intensity circuits, mobility, and flows. If you think you’d be interested, then just like, comment, or restack this newsletter using the buttons throughout the page. When it is ready for publishing, I’ll be in touch!

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Exercise Prescription is a Skill

In today’s world, full of AI and trainers looking to make a quick buck, many seem to have lost the art of adapting exercise plans for different populations. What works for a 20-year-old probably won’t for a 70-year-old. What works for that 70-year-old probably won’t work for a 90-year-old. However, a fit 90-year-old may be in better shape than a sedentary 65-year-old, or younger!

Clearly, we can’t cater for every individual case through a newsletter. However, I can provide some rough guides, based on overarching principles of training. And you’ve overwhelmingly asked for further advice on training for seniors, so here we are. I hope you found this newsletter and the free plan download useful.

Remember, if you enjoy my work, you can always upgrade your subscription for $5 per month by using the buttons throughout this page to gain access to exclusives such as my movement tutorials (this is also cheaper than buying them separately or in bundles as a free subscriber).

If you think you still need further help, then ping me a message using the button below. I have recently opened up extra online coaching slots, and I’d be happy to talk through your specific needs on a free call with a view to giving you a more personalised plan.

Thanks for reading, and see you next week. Keep moving! (Remember to download the free quick guide/summary of today’s newsletter below before you leave).

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

This is a simple circuit. You simply perform one exercise for 60s, rest for 20s, then move to the next exercise. After the whole circuit is complete, rest for 2 minutes and then repeat. If you can’t maintain the wall sits or hollow body holds for the full minute then don’t worry! Simply rest for a few seconds and resume when you’re ready.

The Exercises

1. Wall sit

2. Hollow body hold

3. Alternating lunge to knee drive

4. Mountain climbers

5. Single-leg bridge (30s reps on one side, then swap)

6. Rest 2 minutes

7. Repeat 2-3x

Need to Make it Easier?

Cut down to 30/45s per exercise

Want to Make it Harder?

Up the workout to 4-5 rounds or more!

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

Subscribe now

So in today’s newsletter, I’m going to outline some friendlier versions of common exercises. They can be just as effective when done well, so I hope you find them useful.

You can download a summary of this newsletter in PDF form by hitting the button below.

Access the quick guide

Before We Begin

• Just a quick reminder that you can subscribe for free or for $5 per month. The paid tier gives you access to exclusives, such as monthly movement tutorials.

• I have also opened up a few more online coaching spaces. These tend to sell out quickly, so message me to enquire, or click here to take a look at my current available gym plans.

• You can get 10% off all supplements available at Awesome Supplements by using the code EZEP. Their new collagen formula is a favourite of mine.

All in all, just click here, and you’ll see pretty much everything going on in my online world!

Before we begin, you might find it beneficial, if you struggle to perform any of these major movements, to invest in some exercise bands. They will allow you to perform safe alternative exercises from the comfort of your own home and might even save you a hoard of cash by stopping you from paying for a gym membership that you might not get adequate use from.

If you already pay for a gym membership, then don’t leave just yet! You’ll see that many of my suggested alternatives in the next few sections do make use of bands. However, if you have access to the equivalent machines in a gym (for example, a leg extension machine instead of a banded leg extension) then this will absolutely provide great benefit to you. I have always been a huge fan of machine exercises for their safety and the ability to apply progressive overload by just increasing the weight on the machine stack.

If you see an asterisk (*) by any exercise below, then it is because most commercial gyms will possess a machine that performs the same basic movement and will provide a benefit to you as well as/instead of the banded exercise version.

Squat Alternatives

The reason that squats are so commonly prescribed in strength plans is that they use a vast volume of your lower leg musculature. Strong quads, hamstrings, and glutes are commonly linked to lower fall risk and all-cause mortality. However, if you find that you can’t squat without your knees aching, then try some of the alternatives below. I’ll include GIFs for your reference; don’t worry.

1. Terminal knee extensions (TKEs)

2. Wall sit holds

3. Bridge variation

4. Step ups

Lunge Alternatives

Lunges are a personal favourite exercise of mine. You only need to delve into any of my previous newsletters or Free Workout Friday series to see how regularly they appear. However, I appreciate that not everyone can perform a lunge, for various reasons. However, do not fret! There are plenty of alternatives.

1. Seated leg curls*

2. Band crab walks

3. Band deadlift

4. Seated marching

Bending Alternatives

If bending is a problem for you, then don’t worry, there are still plenty of ways to exercise your back, core, shoulders and surrounding muscles. The majority of the following exercises can be performed on cable machines or attachments at pretty much any gym, but can also be performed at home with bands. They can also be performed either standing or sitting - whichever suits best.

1. Banded rows*

2. Banded face pulls*

3. Band Pallof press*

Kneeling Alternatives

Just because you can’t kneel, or find it hard to get up and off the floor, doesn’t mean that you should miss out. Think of the exercises that require you to get onto the floor and then back off the floor, regardless of whether you’re actively kneeling during the exercise itself. Push-ups, bird-dogs, and mat work in general all require the ability to get up and down. And while we should all be trying to improve our ability to do this, you can still use the targeted muscles without being on the floor in the first place.

1. Calf raises

2. Step downs

3. Banded woodchoppers*

4. Standing curls

5. Incline push-ups

Don’t Miss Out

You don’t need to suffer just because you’re not perfectly able to perform standard gym exercises. The above examples are not exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there are tens and tens of alternatives.

You can download a handy PDF summarising today’s newsletter by clicking or tapping the button below. It’s a free download, so don’t worry about cost! As always, you can message me if you have any questions or would like advice for your specific constraints. I’m always happy to help.

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

Each exercise lasts 5 minutes. You get as much work completed as you can within this time, resting as often as for as long as you need. Take a minute’s rest after each exercise.

The Exercises

1. Stair climbing at your own pace (or marching on the spot if not available)

2. Plank (as long as possible, rest, then go again when ready)

3. Alternating side lunges

4. Glute bridges

Need to Make it Easier?

Try 2-3 minutes per exercise.

Want to Make it Harder?

Try to complete it all in one go without rests between exercises.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

Subscribe now

Below, I’ve compiled their responses, alongside links to their publications so that you can read more about them. We have a nice range of professions, from physiotherapists to strength and conditioning coaches, and everything in between, so I hope you find it useful.

Ben Howard BSc, MSc

Myth: “Strength exercises will make you bulky”

As someone who works with many individuals who are new to resistance training, including those over 60 and a high proportion of women, this is a concern for many. The truth is that, unless you are spending 5+ days per week in the gym, religiously tracking your food intake, you won’t have to worry about looking muscular, bulky, or ‘unladylike’. Besides, feeling stronger and improving your health should be the primary motivation for resistance work in the first instance.

Ben writes weekly newsletters on all things exercise, including weekly workout inspiration and making the science of physical activity easy to understand.

I’ve also opened up a handful of online/remote coaching slots, starting at $80 per month. Ping me a message if you’re interested.

Read more from Ben

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Steven Bubel MS, CSCS

Myth: “Once You’re Over 40, You Should Stop Training Heavy”

Somewhere around 40, apparently, we’re supposed to put down the heavy weights and start training like everything might break.

I don’t buy it.

Yes, aging changes things. Recovery may take longer. Old injuries can become less forgiving. Tendons, joints and connective tissue may not tolerate sudden changes in training as well as they once did.

But none of that means heavy training suddenly becomes inappropriate.

In fact, maintaining strength and power becomes increasingly important as we age. And if you want to remain strong, you still need to give your body a reason to stay strong. Research continues to show that older adults can make meaningful gains from progressive resistance training, including heavy resistance training.

The mistake is confusing training hard with training recklessly.

At 45, 55 or 65, you probably shouldn’t train exactly the way you did at 25. But the difference should be in how intelligently you manage the dose: exercise selection, volume, frequency, recovery, injury history and how quickly you increase the workload.

Age isn’t a reason to remove intensity. It’s a reason to become more precise with it.

The goal isn’t to make training easier and easier as you get older.

It’s to keep enough capacity that life, and whatever sport you still want to play, doesn’t have to become easier either.

Steven helps athletes over 40 stay strong, capable, and competitive by applying science and training theory to the realities of aging. He writes about strength, conditioning, durability, recovery, and longevity at Athlete for Life on Substack:

Read more from Steven

Alykhan from The Abundance Journal

Myth: “If you’re fit, then you’re healthy.”

The most dangerous health myth I see is that being “fit” automatically equates to being healthy.

You might not hear people say this explicitly, but it’s pervasive in society, especially among younger people. Just look at your social media feeds and you’ll see way more emphasis on diets and workouts than basic diagnostics.

The scary truth is you can be lean and athletic, and still have high blood pressure, ApoB, or blood sugar. These issues don’t announce themselves with symptoms. They just compound silently in the background.

Here’s a rule I live by: All healthy people are fit, but not all fit people are healthy.

The fix isn’t complicated. It’s boring, cheap, and wildly underused: treat basic diagnostics like hygiene.

My baseline protocol:

- Blood work: at least once a year (ideally twice or more)

- Blood pressure: monitor routinely (weekly is a great start)

- Make it automatic: same mindset as brushing your teeth or going to the gym

These days, there are many affordable direct to consumer lab testing services like Superpower.com that allow you to order bloodwork without a doctor. For blood pressure, use a free grocery-store kiosk like Higi, or buy a home cuff for under $30 on Amazon and leave it somewhere you’ll actually use it.

Remember this: Fitness is visible. Health is invisible.

And it’s never too early to start monitoring your health. If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you’re not “too young” to think about your blood pressure and heart health. But you are early enough to catch problems while they’re still easy to fix.

Alykhan is an author and creator of the Abundance Journal Substack where he writes about health, fitness, and longevity, among other topics, from a practical and holistic lens.

Read more from Alykhan

Jordan Jones from Strong to the Bone

Myth: “Heavy resistance training is bad for your bones.”

Heavy resistance training has had a negative reputation in older populations, seeing it as potentially dangerous or more likely to cause injury. The truth is it’s crucial to fight against bone density loss and muscle atrophy as we age. 

The body is an energy-saving machine. If it stops getting signals that we need bone and muscle, then it stops looking after those areas, leading to bone resorption exceeding bone formation. Heavy resistance work has been shown to improve bone density at the spine and the hip. This was shown brilliantly by the LIFTMOR trial which was an 8-month guided resistance program.

Resistance training additionally improves muscle size and function (Ben will be able to discuss this at great depth). 

Falls are a scary thought for many people as they age, and rightfully so, they can be dangerous and are the leading cause of osteoporotic fractures. But the way to treat falls isn’t by avoiding day-to-day activity. That is a dangerous tactic as people often get caught in a fear-avoidance cycle: doing less makes you weaker, which leads to doing less. Instead, the solution is active management through exercise. The greater your muscle power and exercise levels are then the less likely you are to fall.

Jordan delivers practical strategies for building and maintaining bone strength through movement, nutrition, and smart supplementation — at every age.

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Nick Smoot - Fitness Coach

Myth: “Diet Soda Will Kill You”

The FDA, EFSA, and WHO have all reviewed sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin, and cleared them as safe. The Acceptable Daily Intake sits roughly 100 times below the level that caused no adverse effects in animal studies. For a 150lb person, that means drinking around 20 cans a day before you'd even approach the limit. I'd add that the animal data itself is skewed too. Rats in these studies get dosed at the equivalent of thousands of cans daily, for life, which tells you little about normal human intake.

Regular soda is about 140 calories a can with none of the fullness you’d get from food. Two cans a day adds 1,960 calories a week, more than half the 3,500-calorie deficit needed to lose a pound of fat. Swap to diet and you close most of that gap without changing a single meal or adding a single cardio session.

I’m not calling diet soda healthy, but for people who already drink soda, the diet version is a low-effort win. Lean people rarely drink their calories, and fat loss sticks when the process stays simple. Stop avoiding easy, effective changes because of fear you picked up online.

Nick helps people get strong, fit and mentally sharp. You can read more by hitting the button below.

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Abby Heffern, Marathon and Ultra Coach from Wild Dog Running

Myth: “I’m tired of hearing that running three days a week isn’t enough to finish a marathon, or that running needs to be your whole life and personality in order to finish one.”

If you have the time to run more and make it your whole life, amazing! But you don’t have to.

You can absolutely finish a marathon on three days a week of running, as long as you’re doing that consistently for at least six months leading up to the race.

I’ve run marathons and ultras during the busiest years of my career when I only had time to run three days a week, and I’ve coached runners to do the same. 

So the circulating idea that you need to overhaul your whole life to finish a marathon - that you won’t finish if you can only commit to running three days a week - isn’t just untrue. I think it’s genuinely harmful.

Because when we make marathon training sound like something that requires running five or six days a week, putting aside your work and your family, and making running a part-time job…people who don’t have that kind of time or don’t want to do that assume the marathon isn’t for them.

But everyone deserves to know the feeling of finishing a marathon for the first time. And everyone is capable. 

I’m super passionate about showing people that the half marathon, marathon, or ultra they’ve been thinking about is more possible than they realize.

You can check out my publication to learn more:

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Anne, RD (Registered Dietitian) & Avery, NBC-HWC (Health Coach) from NooS

Myth: One of our least favorite myths is “trends”!

Most of the headlines that come across your feed are in bold, attention-grabbing letters: “Coffee is bad!” “Rethink eating bananas!” “Stay away from vegetables with seeds!” “Zone 2 training is the best!” With wellness being “in” right now, there seems to be a regenerating list of things to keep track of, and the news cycle doesn’t help — cluttering our minds with the latest studies and tips. We’re two health professionals, and if we think it’s exhausting, we can’t imagine what it’s like for you. You likely already know that regular exercise is key for mental and physical health. An intake composed of mostly plants, healthy fats, and lean protein provides nourishment. Keep it simple, and aim for the basics. The rest is just noise, and it might stop you before you even begin. Something profoundly simple is always better than nothing — a walk, real food, or going to bed when you’re tired won’t make headlines, but it will always positively impact your health.

You can read more from the team by hitting the button below.

Read more from Anne and Avery

Are There Any Other Myths You’re Fed Up Of Hearing?

If so, drop a comment below and let us know!

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If you found today’s newsletter useful and would like to be a part of any future collaborations, then ping me a message - I’m hoping for some regular guest pieces and collaborations as we start to look towards 2027!

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

As mentioned before, the concept is simple. I’ve outlined nine exercises below. You just need to pick three (1 lower body, 1 core, 1 upper body), and accumulate 100 reps of each before the day is done. You can take it slow or get it over and done with. All that matters is you manage to complete the challenge.

The Lower Body Exercises

1. Bodyweight overhead squat

2. Sit to stand

3. Reverse lunge

The Core Exercises

4. Standing crunch

5. Standing side bend

6. Suitcase march/March on spot

The Upper Body Exercises

7. Wall push-up

8. Backpack/dumbbell row

9. Standing shoulder press (you can always read my guide on how to do these by tapping here for this month’s exclusive movement tutorial).

The Reps

• 100 (or 50 per side) of each!

Need to Make it Easier?

Go for 50 reps (25 per side) instead.

Want to Make it Harder?

Try to complete it all in one go.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

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As a reminder, every month, I send my paying subscribers a detailed walkthrough on how to perform the most common (and most commonly performed badly) exercise movement patterns.

Don’t worry, if you subscribe for free, you’ll still get the usual weekly posts as always; this is a bonus for those who pay their $5 per month.

In today’s overview, I shall outline the overhead press. We shall cover:

• Why it is useful

• Where to start

• How to progress

• Some common issues

• How to fix these issues

So, if you fancy checking this out, be sure to hit the button below to upgrade your subscription. Alternatively, you can check out this link to pay for the PDF as a standalone purchase while keeping your subscription here free. This is the fourth instalment of this series, which has also taught you how to lunge, squat and hinge safely.

Thanks again for your support!

Since then, I have received dozens of messages asking if I could write a similar article, but for push-ups, so here we are! Maybe you’re looking to graduate from a kneeling push-up to the full thing? Perhaps you want to be able to do one, but you’ve no idea where to start. Let me show you exactly how you can do it.

Why Is A Push-Up Hard For Certain Individuals?

The layman’s opinion on push-ups (or press-ups) is that men tend to find them easy, while women find them harder. This is sort of true. As we discussed last week, the average woman has relatively less muscle tissue in their upper body compared to the average man, making it harder to shift their bodyweight in pull-up and push-up movements. However, untrained men may well find it just as hard to perform a good strict push-up; having muscle and having effective muscles are two separate things.

A typical ‘equalizer’ tends to be that we allow women to perform kneeling push-ups, sometimes even called ‘women’s push-ups’, to allow us to generate useful data for normative values.

For example, many experts tend to agree that these below are the standard targets to aim for. As you can see, women are often allowed to perform kneeling push-ups in these tests. You’ll also notice that women over the age of 30 should be aiming to be able to perform full push-ups. And multiple consecutive reps at that. It is only at the age of 50 and onwards that the target is lowered to just 1 push-up, and even this falls into the ‘needs improvement’ category.

I’m not pointing this out to make you feel bad. If anything, it is the opposite. I want you to understand why a full push-up is the target after 30, but reassure you that this should be hard. The answer is fairly simple: our 30s see us enter the ‘use it or lose it’ stage. You’re better off building the strength to perform at least one full push-up at this age than you are performing multiple kneeling reps. If you can perform multiple full push-ups, regardless of your age, then you’re probably well on your way to being very fit, healthy, independent, and at lower risk of various lifestyle diseases.

How Do I Build Up To A Full Push-Up?

If we think back to last week’s issue on pull-ups, you’ll recall that one of the components that most people needed to address first of all was their isometric strength, i.e., how long they could hang in position for the pull-ups.

Push-ups follow the same template.

1. Get Good At High Planks

Instead of being limited by hang time, push-ups are limited by plank time. Think about it: you’ve got no hope of performing 20 consecutive push-ups if you can’t even hold a high plank position for the time it would take you to perform those push-ups. The first step for most people is to build a tolerance for the high plank.

Take a look at the picture below. Is that person holding a plank, or are they preparing for a push-up? We don’t know, and that’s the point. A high plank is literally the starting point of a push-up. Get into this position: Hands under shoulders, strong, braced core, straight back, and hold for as long as you possibly can.

You should be aiming to plank for at least 30 seconds. Even if not for a push-up-related goal, this is a good target independent of other gym-related or exercise performance. If you can’t do this yet, then don’t worry; just keep trying once per day, and you’ll eventually build up the muscular endurance and tolerance.

2. Become Familiar With The Arrow

OK, so before you even think about push-ups, you need to learn the cues that will keep your shoulders safe and hit the right muscles. Most people will flare their elbows out when performing push-ups, but this is not a great position to be in. It puts excessive strain on the shoulders, resembling a ‘T’ shape from above.

The optimal push-up position is much more akin to an ‘arrow’. In this position, the elbows are tucked in closer to the body, putting them behind the shoulders as opposed to straight out to the sides.

As a bonus, don’t ignore the fingers. Spread them out and dig them into the floor; it helps more than you think!

Now, if you’re thinking about your push-up set-up, there’s a decent chance that you’re thinking about performing, or trying to perform, your first full push-up. However, if you’re not there yet, then don’t worry. Aside from practicing with kneeling push-ups, you can also get used to the negative phase of the movement, just like with pull-ups. That leads me to the next point…

3. Be Positive About Negatives

Unlike pull-ups, push-up negatives are relatively simple to perform. You just get yourself into the starting high plank position, and then lower yourself as slowly as possible, as low as possible. How you get up from here doesn’t matter; you just focus on going down in that full plank position. This builds eccentric strength in the chest and shoulder muscles, accelerating your progress to a full push-up much more quickly than if you just trained kneeling push-ups alone. Even just 1-2 sets of 5 of these, performed up to twice a week, will help.

4. Manipulate Your Hand and Body Elevation

Outside of negatives and kneeling push-ups, you can also try elevated push-ups. These variants allow you to maintain the ‘full push-up’ position, but without the difficulty. Examples include wall push-ups, countertop push-ups, and barbell or TRX push-ups. So long as the hands are above the floor, you’ll notice that the movement is slightly easier. This is a great way to practice the arrow form on both the lowering (negative) and return phases of the push-up.

Interestingly, you can keep this pattern going once you’ve completed your first full push-up. If you raise your feet (a decline push-up), you’ll notice that this increases the relative difficulty of the movement. Eventually, you’ll land on a handstand push-up, which is very hard!

I’ve inserted a simple progression below so that you can try the next hardest variation when you get a chance. You may find that your own experience is slightly different - maybe you’ll find negatives easier than incline push-ups, but the general trend tends to be similar for most.

Regardless of how these feel, you should progress to the next most difficult movement in the list as soon as you comfortably can. If you’re awesome at countertop pushups, then that’s definitely something to be proud of, but no amount of practice will get you through to doing a full push-up unless you progress to an incline push-up.

Generally, I’d say if you can perform 3 sets of 6-12 reps of one form of these, then try to move to the next in sequence and spend some time perfecting this.

Accessory Exercises

Getting good at push-ups isn’t all about bodyweight exercises. You should train with machines and free weights, too. Particular focus should be on the chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles, since these are the primary movers of the push-up exercise. Common examples include:

• Machine chest press

• Dumbbell shoulder press

• Dumbbell bench press

• Plate pullovers

• Tricep dips

I’ve included GIFs of these exercises below so that you can see exactly what I mean. Generally, any ‘pushing’ style of exercise is going to predominantly use your chest, shoulders, and triceps. So, if you’re actively moving a weight away from you, you’re likely to be aiding your development towards a full push-up in some way.

A Template Training Plan

So, what does this all look like for somebody aiming to perform their first push-up?

I’ve tried to summarise it concisely in the image below. Every week, try to aim for all four of the following pillars at least once, maybe even twice.

1. Up to 3 sets of high planks to failure to develop endurance and tolerance.

2. 3 sets of 6-12 reps of incline or kneeling push-up variations. Check the image earlier in the piece if you need further inspiration on the forms of push-ups you can perform. Remember, as soon as you can do 3x6-12 of one of these, you should move to the next hardest in the sequence.

3. 2 sets of 5 reps of negatives. However (!) make sure to really emphasize the slow descent to the floor. It should take 5 seconds, ideally.

4. At least one, but ideally two, of the accessory pushing movements listed above. For each you perform, you should be hitting 3 sets of up to 12 reps and making them hard.

Final Thoughts

The push-up is an exercise most should be aiming to be able to complete at some point in their lives. Perhaps more so than the pull-up we looked at last week. Luckily, we just need a floor to train ourselves, especially in the first instance!

Unfortunately, I can’t confidently give you an accurate timeline of how long it might take you to build up your strength; it will vary massively on an individual basis. However, we know that, generally, 6-12 weeks of consistent strength work is adequate to observe significant strength gains across all ages and sexes.

Follow the guide above, and it should get you a large chunk of the way. Good luck!

And don’t forget, if you found this useful, you can interact by hitting any of the buttons at the top or bottom of the email to like, share, or comment, or just hit the button below to share it directly with friends or family. Good luck and see you next week!

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

Don’t be fooled. Just because today’s workout involves ‘short’ 90 second bouts of 3 different exercises, doesn’t mean it is easy! I’ve deliberately chosen some harder compound movements to engage large muscle groups, and this, combined with the shorter-than-usual rest periods makes it much harder than you might think.

The Exercises

1. Prisoner squat

2. Overhead march (if feeling brave, you can hold a weight(s) above your head here)

3. Shoulder taps

The Reps

• Perform each exercise for 90 seconds.

• Go STRAIGHT into the next exercise.

• Rest for 1 minute after the shoulder taps

• Repeat 3-6x.

Need to Make it Easier?

Drop to 60 seconds per exercise. Try to keep the minimal rest between exercises if possible.

Want to Make it Harder?

Increase to up to 10 rounds.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community that allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

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‘I want to be able to do a pull-up for the first time.’

‘I want to do one full push-up.’

‘I want to bench press my own bodyweight.’

In fact, in my experience, even those who have never used a gym before and start exercising because they’ve been told they should, eventually start looking towards these performance-related targets. I think they provide a fun goal to aim for, which in turn keeps them motivated to keep coming well beyond the point at which their backs have loosened, or their knees are less grumbly.

With that in mind, let me share with you a simple but effective template for performing your first pull-up. It won’t be easy, but you’ll give yourself a good shot at it. I personally believe that a pull-up is such a rewarding feeling. When you first manage to get your chin above that bar, it gives a sense of satisfaction which is superior to that of even a heavy deadlift or bench press, in my book. There’s something about being able to haul your own body about which feels amazing. I hope that this guide sets you on your way to being able to do this.

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What Does A Pull-up Require From You?

The reason a pull-up is hard is, quite simply, because it should be! You’re lifting your entire bodyweight, vertically, using just the muscles in your shoulders, arms, and back. Your biggest muscles — the glutes, quads, and hamstrings — are extra dead weight. They don’t contribute much to the pull-up, but they contribute a fair chunk of your bodyweight.

A Decent Relative Upper Body Strength

I should clarify here that when I say relative, I simply mean that one’s arms are strong for their own bodyweight. After all, that’s the entire challenge of a pull-up. Being a beefcake doesn’t necessarily reward you here; it just means you’ve got more weight to pull.

We should also factor in the fact that women tend to be disproportionately disadvantaged in performing a pull-up because, on average, their relative upper body strength is lower than a man’s, probably because the average woman has not just less muscle in total than the average man, but also because a greater portion of their muscle mass is in their lower body. However, of course, other factors such as training history play a part, too!

The muscles to look out for here include:

• The latissimus dorsi

• The biceps brachii

• The trapezius

• The forearm muscles

• The rhomboids

Good Grip Strength and Endurance

The pull-up itself is just one aspect of the exercise. Many people forget to factor in the difficulty on the forearm muscles. During a pull-up, you’re hanging from a bar. You therefore require not just the strength in the major ‘pulling’ muscles, but also a decent level of strength in your ‘gripping’ muscles — including all muscles in your forearm. If you’re aiming for a set of multiple reps of pull-ups, you’ll notice that your grip endurance also becomes a limiting factor. The more pull-ups you can perform, the longer you have to hang from a bar, feeling the burn in those forearms. You may even reach the point where your arms and back feel fine, but you physically cannot hang for any longer. In short: a pull-up or a dead hang is a good test of your grip strength and endurance.

A Good Technique

You’d think that pulling yourself up would just be as simple as ‘pull with your arms as hard as you can’. Wrong! I have seen seemingly small changes in technique go a heck of a long way, especially in those who are on their quest to perform a first pull-up. A pull-up is a back exercise, first and foremost. And this means that you need to be aware of, and effective at using, your shoulder blades.

These are the following cues that I use to help clients learn to do pull-ups.

1. Before you pull, try to snap the bar in half.

I use the same cue before a deadlift. This action of pretending to snap the bar like a twig forces your pinkie fingers to want to rotate inwards, and activates the big, effective latissimus dorsi muscles.

2. Pretend you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit, then drive your elbows into your back pockets.

This will familiarise you with the initiation of the pull-up through the shoulder blades, and further prioritise the movement of the back muscles, which are larger and better prepared for the big forces involved when trying to pull your own bodyweight up. It reduces the bias away from the shoulder and arm muscles, protecting them, too.

3. Pull the bar down and keep the shoulders down

Have you ever tried any pulling exercise and then felt like your shoulders and neck are shot and stiff the following day? When we think about simply pulling ourselves up toward the bar, or if we overload the weight on a lat pull machine, we tend to shrug our shoulders as we get tense. This overloads the traps and leads to that tell-tale tightness around the neck and top of the shoulders. As a general rule, if you can see or feel that your shoulders are up by your ears when you begin pulling, then they should drop down and stay relaxed.

How to Find Your Current Level

Step 1 - What’s Your Hanging Like?

This is relatively simple. Just find a bar that you could hang from, and give it a go. You can step up to it using a box or ladder if needed. Ideally, set a stopwatch and see how long you can hang for. If you can’t hang at all, then this is the first aspect we need to improve, since you can’t pull yourself up if you can’t hang in the first place! If you can only hang for 10 seconds or so, then we might benefit from pushing this closer to 30 seconds. You don’t want to have to rush your pull-up because you’re worried about your lack of remaining grip.

Step 2 - Can you perform a scapular pull-up?

If you hadn’t already guessed, scapular (shoulder blade) control is key for a pull-up. The next step, after learning to hang, is to turn that hang into a scapular pull-up. You simply hang from the bar, arms straight, and familiarise yourself with the feel of pulling those shoulder blades back and together. If you do this successfully, you’ll (hopefully) notice your chest rise towards the bar despite the fact that your arms are straight. Remember how earlier I mentioned that the pull-up is a back exercise first and foremost? This is the proof.

See how many slow, controlled reps you can perform here. Ideally, 5-10 would be a sensible target, but don’t stress if you’re not there yet.

Step 3 - How Strong Are Your Assisted Pull-ups?

There are two exercises which I like to use alongside a bodyweight pull-up:

• Lat pull machine

• Seated row machine

If you can pull close to your bodyweight on the lat pull and seated row machines, then there’s a decent chance that you’re closer to a bodyweight pull-up than you think. The best protocol here is to choose a relatively light starting weight, perform up to five repetitions, rest for a minute, and then move to the next highest weight on the stack. Keep going until you can only perform 1 repetition. If this weight is getting close to (or sometimes even heavier than) your body weight, then you’re moving in the right direction. However, I must stress that being able to perform a lat pull equal to your own bodyweight is by no means a guarantee that you’re able to do even one pull-up! I know plenty of people who sit in this boat, and the reason tends to be that they simply don’t practice bodyweight pull-ups enough to improve at them.

Step 4 - Can You Perform Negatives?

A negative pull-up refers to the ‘lowering’ phase of a pull-up. In many ways, being able to control the negative is just as important as possessing the strength to pull yourself up from the bottom. You shouldn’t just be flopping down after every rep; it should be a controlled descent. To become familiar with this concept, find the same bar that you used to assess your grip strength, and step up so that you’re starting in the top position. I.e., chin above the bar. From there, try to control your descent slowly. You shouldn’t just sink down as soon as you start. If you can’t do this once, this will require some improvement. Ideally, 5-10 consecutive reps is a great target here, but even just 2-4 could be a good start.

Regressions For Pull-Ups

Did you find some (or all) of the above to be excessively challenging? Don’t fear! There are plenty of exercises to improve your pull-up-specific strength.

Seated Rows and Lat Pulls

The easiest way to start training is to use the machines (if you have access to them) which I outlined in the segment above. If you don’t have access to these machines, then I would recommend dumbbell or kettlebell rows instead (GIFS in the previous segment). I would try to complete 3 sets of each exercise (somewhere between 6-12 reps per set), at least once per week.

Machine/Band Assisted Pull-Ups

If you’re lucky enough to have access to an assisted pull-up machine, then this is a great stroke of fortune. This kit will work with you instead of against you, so that you can familiarise yourself with the pull-up movement under sub-bodyweight loads. You’re also able to see exactly how much assistance you’re getting, making a graded, progressive plan easier to create.

Banded pull-ups are a more-than-ample substitute for those who don’t have access to an assisted pull-up machine. Just like the machine, it’ll pull you up to the top, not only making the ‘pull’ phase more familiar, but also allowing you to safely practice the negative phase. Again, try to perform 3 sets of up to 12 reps, at least once or twice per week.

BONUS: Grip Alterations

Sometimes, all you need is to change your grip.

• A traditional pull-up possesses an overhand grip with the hands roughly shoulder-width apart.

• A neutral grip pull-up requires the palms to face inwards, towards each other.

• A chin-up uses an underhand grip where the palms face behind you.

If you’re struggling with a traditional pull-up, you should find that a neutral grip is slightly easier. If you’re still struggling with the neutral grip, then the chin-up should be easier still. The reason for this is that chin-ups and neutral grip variations are perhaps more likely to favour the biceps muscles, which we tend to train more often through elbow flexion. You can perform any of these accessories with a variety of different grips to vary the stimulus.

You’ll probably find that being able to do your first chin-up precedes your first neutral grip pull-up, which itself precedes your first traditional pull-up.

A Template Training Plan

I won’t overcomplicate this. I actually think that I have already outlined all of the necessary exercises, although there are almost unlimited possibilities and combinations.

My instructions are as follows:

1. Perform one exercise from each category below at least twice per week.

2. For negatives, aim for up to 3 sets of 2-5 reps.

3. For dead hangs, aim for 3 sets of 30- 60 seconds.

4. For the remaining movements, aim for 3 sets of 6-15 reps.

5. Vary your grips across all exercises to become familiar with how the different muscle biases feel.

6. Stick with this for 6-12 weeks.

How to Know When You’re Ready For Your First Pull-Up

As tempting as it will seem, you don’t need to try a proper pull-up every time you get to the gym. Instead, keep consistent with your training plan and only check in every week or two.

You’ll know when you're ready because you’ll find that you can come close to, or be able to, completely do a chin-up (underhand grip) first. Then you’ll notice that the traditional grips become easier, too.

Just keep the faith with the accessory exercises listed above. They all train the components of a pull-up: grip strength, lat strength, arm and shoulder stability, and endurance. I have used these exact protocols to take many clients to their first pull-up. I can’t guarantee a timeline. However, as long as you keep the weights and loads progressive, you’ll get yourself closer than ever before. Give it a go, stick with it, and see how you feel in a few months. Good luck!

Before You Go

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter. I hope you found it useful! If you would like to read more of my work, you can do so by hitting the button below. All subscribers get at least one newsletter per week. Paying subscribers can start from just $5 per month and get exclusive newsletters, including movement tutorials and myth-busters.

Thanks again, and please do share and restack if you enjoyed this. It’s the closest I can get to receiving a 5* review! See you next week.

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

We are going back to basics for today’s workout. I’ve selected three exercises which can be done at home with minimal equipment. The standing crunch targets your tummy muscles, the side bends get your obliques, while the good mornings work your back and hamstring muscles.

The Exercises

1. Standing crunch

2. Side bends (use a bag filled with books to add weight if needed)

3. Good morning

The Reps

• Perform each exercise for 90 seconds (90 seconds per side for the side bends).

• Rest for 30 seconds after each exercise.

• Repeat 3-6x.

Need to Make it Easier?

Drop to 60 seconds per exercise.

Want to Make it Harder?

Remove the rest blocks, or go for 6-10 rounds.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community which allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

Leave a comment

1. Health trend enters the news with limited evidence.

2. Influencer uses AI to discover new trend, then generate scripts and reels on said topic.

3. Topic gains popularity and visibility snowballs as more influencers repeat the same information.

4. Trend becomes performative and common among certain groups despite limited evidence.

Ultimately, this then leads to vague claims on certain rituals and how they may benefit ‘everyone’. We have seen this before - 10,000 daily steps isn’t an evidence-based target and most people don’t need red light therapy or cryotherapy or even saunas or ice plunges. But social media will convince us that these are essential; the missing piece to your health jigsaw. Ultimately, most influencers are looking for a quick buck, easy views, or to portray themselves a certain way, and don’t really care about the evidence base of their claims. If they see an excuse to strut around in their swimsuit, they’ll take it.

There are certain habits which, if you break down the research, aren’t really worth the hype. The ones which should be for the 1% elites, but that we’ve now applied to the remaining 99%. I’ve seen people using breathing training devices for exercise performance, rather than improving their training. Cold plunges after exercise without realising that this will blunt the adaptive responses and that a good sleep routine will be just as beneficial.

So, I’ve compiled a list of my top 5 overrated habits. These are personal to me. If you do perform some of the following habits, don’t take it personally. They’re probably not doing you any harm, they’re just likely not providing as much of a benefit as you think based on our current evidence-base. Let’s take a look.

1. Delaying Coffee Intake for 90 Minutes Each Morning

The Claim:

The stress hormone, cortisol, is already naturally on the rise by the time you wake (more on cortisol later, by the way). Ingesting caffeine as soon as you wake up will build on this and lead to an afternoon caffeine crash. Delaying your caffeine intake will help to avoid this crash.

Ok, so here’s the thing. Yes, your cortisol naturally rises in the morning. Your caffeine intake can also interfere with this process. Caffeine crashes may also occur hours after ingestion because it takes a long time to metabolise caffeine. Nothing there is factually incorrect. However, the lines which join these facts together and lead to the ‘solution’ of ingesting caffeine later, are blurred at best.

There’s currently no evidence to suggest that an optimal caffeine ingestion window exists. How can there be? Individual responses and sensitivity to caffeine are hugely variable.

Caffeine ingestion is likely to lead to a crash. However, this has nothing to do with the timing of your ingestion, but purely exists due to the biochemistry behind caffeine and adenosine, and how this makes you feel tired. Essentially, caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, preventing you from feeling sleepy. When caffeine is metabolised, these receptors become free to accept adenosine again, making you feel tired. Further caffeine intake re-blocks these receptors.

Delaying your caffeine intake probably simply delays your crash to a point in the afternoon where you’re naturally more tired, or it is more acceptable to feel tired.

I would argue that, instead of delaying your morning coffee, most people should simply condense their caffeine ingestion window so that they don’t drink past 2/3pm. If you crash in the afternoon, there’s a decent chance that your sleep duration or quality from the night before needs improvement, and this would have much further-reaching benefits to your health than simply delaying coffee intake in the morning.

2. Mouth Taping

The Claim:

Mouth breathing is a risk factor for sleep apnoea. It is claimed that it also leads to a change in facial structure, posture, increased risk of dental cavities, gum disease and high blood pressure. By taping your mouth shut at night, you can train your body to breathe through your nose, cutting these risks, allowing for breathing of filtered air, and improving your looks.

Some of these claims have decent weight to them. Yes, your nose contains hairs and other features which helps to filter air before it reaches your lungs. However, the act of mouth taping is extreme.

A recent review1 uncovered that 40% of the studies on mouth taping admitted that this practice was (you’d think obviously) a significant risk of asphyxiation and therefore mouth taping was “guided by poor evidence and can even lead to detrimental health effects”.

However, in those with obstructive sleep apnoea, and using a CPAP machine overnight, mouth taping may provide minimal benefit to some sleep outcomes. This doesn’t mean that they developed a chiselled jawline or dropped their blood pressure, though.

Instead of stopping mouth breathing, we should be looking at the reason why some people breathe through their mouth rather than their nose. For example, I have a deviated septum which makes nasal breathing particularly challenging at times. The solution here would be to correct my nose structure, not to tape my mouth shut.

Mouth taping is the equivalent of putting a band-aid over your dog’s anus when it is indoors. It won’t stop your dog from making a mess on the carpet; you need to figure out why this is happening in the first place and treat this.

3. Anything ‘Detox’ Related (Special mention to Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Water)

The Claim:

There are many foods, drinks and supplements which claim to ‘detox’ the body and expel harmful compounds. Others claim to restore the pH balance of the body, to help with weight loss, or to blunt blood sugar responses.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but I’ll try to be concise.

Your liver and kidneys are your detoxification organs; you don’t need anything else to detox your body. Heck, even just one functional kidney does an OK job.

Your pH can’t dramatically change. Your enzymes, proteins, blood, cells and other key organs and organelles function on the basis that your pH stays within a strict limit. So why would you try to change that? You’d die.

The common examples here are lemon water and apple cider vinegar.

Lemon water is flavoured water. It might be slightly more acidic but that doesn’t change anything. Just like regular water, it hydrates (although it may have slightly more favourable electrolyte composition compared to water). It makes little difference whether this is served hot or cold, either. Hot drinks may go through you slightly quicker first thing in the morning and encourage bowel movement, but you’re not speeding up your metabolism, burning more fat, or anything along these lines.

Apple cider vinegar (ACV), as we’ve established, cannot detox or cure colds or other infections. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used vinegar to treat wounds nearly 2500 years ago, but this bears no real similarity to ACV that we see today. It may slightly suppress your appetite, but I personally think any food/drink with that strong a taste would do a similar job. It has also gained popularity as a supplement to blunt the blood glucose spikes after a meal. It might well do this, but remember, blood glucose responses are a normal physiological response and only a problem if you have insulin resistance or diabetes. If you want an easier way to blunt the response, go for a short walk after dinner.

4. Seed Oil Demonisation

The Claim:

Seed oils (canola, sunflower etc) are often blamed as hugely inflammatory, toxic, and a major cause for the obesity crisis. Common arguments include the fact that they’re a relatively new food, should be replaced by tallow, butter or ghee, or that they are manufactured in a dangerous environment.

I should be careful with my wording here. I’m not saying seed oils are neither good nor bad. Foods rarely are. The general reasoning tends to be centred around the high omega 6 concentration in seed oils. It is possible that high omega 6 levels (or rather, a very high omega 6 intake relative to omega 3), could be pro-inflammatory. Chronic inflammation is a key precursor to many lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancers and heart disease. So, the influencer train of thought makes some sense:

• Seed oils = omega 6

• Omega 6 = inflammation

• Inflammation = disease/death

But it just isn’t that simple. In fact, review articles2 have concluded that increasing seed oil intake actually has no significant impact on inflammatory markers. Therefore, the influencer logic of, ‘more seed oils = early death’ tends to stumble at the first hurdle.

In fact, there’s decent, recent evidence to show that plant oils, including seed oils and olive oil, may be significantly healthier than butter and prevent premature death3.

Regarding the concerns surrounding the extraction of the oils from the seeds themselves, I get it. Many oils are processed with hexane extraction, which sounds scary because hexane could be linked to certain health conditions. But many processed foods follow a similar path. I used to train a client who worked for a well-known UK-based bakery, who would tell me of how workers had to leave the room when their mince pies were made due to the toxic nature of some ingredients/processes. In reality, we could probably pick holes in many ultra-processed foods’ journey to the place; seed oils just get the most press.

5. Cortisol Management Strategies/Blaming Cortisol For Everything

The Claim:

Cortisol, the stress hormone, is responsible for belly fat (cortisol belly) and a myriad of disorders including anxiety, high blood pressure and strokes. Cortisol levels should be minimised at all costs.

I told you that we would come back to cortisol! The interesting point here is, again, the science itself isn’t actually wrong, but the interpretation by most online influencers is.

Cortisol is a stress hormone, yes. It is a part of your ‘fight or flight’ response from the sympathetic nervous system. However, high levels of cortisol don’t cause belly fat. It is just that larger people tend to have higher levels of stress hormones (after all, excess fat tissue is a stress on the body). It’s not a causal relationship. In the same way that ice cream sales and shark attacks rise in the summer months, but aren’t related to each other.

Belly fat, central obesity, or ‘stress belly’ is a complicated topic. Many people who blame cortisol for their belly weight gain tend to be of a certain age (hormonal factors), undergoing serious life changes (children, family loss, work changes, sleep changes), or are generally under greater stress. The stress itself isn’t causing weight gain; the other factors (overeating, moving less, sleeping worse) are often to blame as a result of this stress increase.

However, cortisol levels can be an issue (especially if you’ve been on steroid medication for a long time). You’ll know if your cortisol is too high, because you’ll be diagnosed with:

• Cushing’s syndrome

• Pituitary gland disorder

• Adrenal gland disorder

If you’re genuinely concerned that you might have this, see your doctor.

If you want to lower your stress levels, then certain interventions do help. Mindfulness and meditation do work. Exercise, from yoga to Qigong to resistance exercise and cardio all manage cortisol levels, too. But cortisol isn’t the enemy. Outside of the three disorders listed above, it doesn’t cause much, it’s just a marker of your physiological stress.

Have You Noticed a Theme Here?

Many of the issues I have are not with the research. Too many online experts are trying to sell a quick, easy fix. Lifestyle diseases - metabolic dysfunction, high cortisol, poor vascular health, chronic inflammation etc, are a result of long-term health mismanagement. They can’t be fixed solely by delaying your coffee intake, avoiding canola oil, or shotting ACV like an aperitif.

There’s also the error of trying to optimise everything to death. Too many online ‘experts’ are telling others to major in the minors. Until you fix your sleep, diet, exercise routine and are aware of your personal health status through consistent bloodwork, there’s not much benefit to trying any of the above interventions.

What are Your Thoughts?

My intention here is not to be controversial. I’m trying to help the majority of my audience focus on the real dial-moving habits, and, based on a huge body of evidence, the above habits are not really doing much.

If you have any questions or want to add something to this discussion, leave a comment by hitting the button below. Although if you’re going to make a claim, please do back it up with some research so that we can engage in a decent discussion!

As always, thanks for reading, and remember that you can always subscribe for free, or upgrade to paid, to get at least one newsletter per week on all things exercise and health. If you want to share this with friends or family, you can hit the restack and share buttons to spread the word - it is greatly appreciated!

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

This is a little bit different. If you don’t have access to some dice (or singular die to be specific…) then you can use this link to go to a virtual online webpage.

You need to roll the dice 8 times in total.

Roll 1 determines exercise #1

Roll 2 determines the number of reps for exercise #1

Repeat this 4 times so that you have 4 exercises and 4 lots of prescribed reps.

The Exercises

1. Goblet squat

2. DB bent-over row

3. Bodyweight split squat or reverse lunge (reps for each leg)

4. DB shoulder press

5. Bodyweight calf raise (reps for each leg)

6. Bent-over reverse fly

The Reps

1. 5

2. 8

3. 10

4. 12

5. 15

6. 20

Example

Let’s say you roll: 3,4,1,1,5,6,6,2.

That would equate to:

1. Split squat x12 (each leg)

2. Goblet squat x5

3. Calf raise x20 each leg

4. Bent-over reverse fly x8

Once you have your exercises and reps, set a 15-minute timer and get cracking. Try to rest as little as possible within that timeframe.

Need to Make it Easier?

Adjust the time to 10 minutes.

Want to Make it Harder?

Make the weights heavier or go for 20 minutes.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community which allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

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Let’s Start Your Weekend The Right Way

Today’s Challenge:

In a change to recent editions, we will be performing more than three different exercises today. Think of this session as a circuit - each exercise leads directly to the next one until all rounds are complete.

The Structure

1. Russian twist

2. KB lunge

3. High pull

4. Single-arm row

5. Rest up to 2 minutes.

Perform each exercise for 1 minute (or 30s per side where applicable). Don’t take any rest between exercises - you can take up to 2 minutes off after the last exercise in the circuit.

Repeat the circuit up to 5 times in total.

Need to Make it Easier?

Perform fewer circuits but maintain the 60s per exercise limit.

Want to Make it Harder?

Go for up to 10 circuits.

Summary

Don’t forget to let me know how you got on by leaving a comment using the button below. I’m trying to build a community which allows all readers to come together for one exercise session per week. If you enjoyed it, please do share using the button below! See you next week :)

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Luckily, I can provide some insight today, and the good news is that overtraining has some pretty clear signs and signals in the vast majority of cases. If you’re not sure whether you might be pushing it too hard, then look out for the following…

The Slow March to Overtraining

The tricky thing with overtraining is that you don’t just wake up one day and think, “You know what, I think I’ve been going too hard recently”.

Instead, it often manifests as a series of separate signs which are easy to ignore on their own. Sleeping badly could be due to the weather or work stresses. That niggle in your shin - did you whack it at work the other day? Your watch says that your physiological stress is high at the moment…what if you’re coming down with a cold? There’s not one diagnostic which suggests that you’re overtraining. However, I have compiled a list of 6 metrics/self-tests, and I would suggest that if you’re concerned about more than 3 of these, then you may well be pushing things a bit too much. So, if the following sound familiar, maybe it is time to think about your training. As a disclaimer, overtraining isn’t the only possibility or cause of these symptoms, so don’t necessarily jump to this conclusion if you’re worried. Always seek the help of a professional.

1. A >10% Increase in Resting Heart Rate For >5 days

Easier to notice if you’ve got a smartwatch, although regular readers will know that I’m not too fussed about wearable tech, for no other reason than influencers encourage us to rely on these numbers far too much. If you don’t track this via technology, you can always take your own pulse every morning, which literally takes a minute. Failing that, many at-home blood pressure monitors also give a resting heart rate reading. We should be tracking our blood pressure regularly at home regardless (it is the silent killer after all), so this would make sense.

A 10% increase doesn’t sound like much, but it can easily be achieved. If you’ve ever had a night on the beers, you’ll notice a rise in your resting heart rate the next morning, and that’s mostly due to overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and poor sleep. An average resting heart rate should be roughly 70 beats per minute; with this logic, if this rises to 77, you know that something is going wrong.

If you’re reading this, you probably train enough that overtraining is an issue that you’re concerned about. Therefore, I’m going to make an assumption that your resting heart rate might be lower than 70bpm. This gives you slightly less room for error. However, it is still an effective screening tool. Anecdotally, when I completed a marathon off two weeks’ training last year (would not recommend, by the way), my resting heart rate was roughly 4bpm higher than usual for a couple of months. This was probably due to the huge, sudden spike in training load. I was also shattered for weeks after this and had a persistent cough, too, just in case anyone fancies a last-minute marathon!

So, in short, if your resting heart rate is significantly elevated compared to normal, for a significant period of time, something isn’t right. It could be training; it could be illness, but your body is fighting harder than normal for some reason.

2. Muscle Soreness 3 Days After a Session

Muscle soreness is not a badge of honour. Yes, it may be slightly inevitable if you’re training hard or with large volume, or with a heavy weight-bearing focus. However, this doesn’t make it normal. In fact, many people who go to the gym regularly don’t feel any significant muscle soreness. In reality, it tends to be more common in gym beginners, as the body gets used to the increased demands of exercise. The aim of a gym session or any workout should never be to induce soreness. It inhibits future exercise sessions and takes absolutely zero skill to coach.

That being said, some soreness is OK. Sometimes, leg soreness in particular could take 36-48 hours to kick in or peak. Certain movements, such as eccentric-dominant movements (running intervals, sprint training, or any movement with a slow, deliberate stretching under tension), will almost inevitably lead to soreness due to the increased mechanical load. However, it should never last more than 3 days. If you work out on a Monday and are still sore on Thursday morning, then that’s not just a huge inconvenience; it is a potential sign that you’re training too hard or accruing too much training volume. Your body needs time to repair, but it shouldn’t need more than three days.

3. Worsening Sleep

Again, I must stress here that I mean this subjectively first and objectively second. There’s a difference between your watch giving you a worse sleep score and you feeling fine, and you waking up feeling shattered for weeks but your watch not recognising it. If in doubt, go with how you feel. Wearable tech is famously absolutely rubbish at tracking sleep metrics.

This is similar to the second point on muscle soreness. Your body needs time to recover from exercise, and it is this recovery which ultimately stimulates growth and progression. There are a few different points to note:

• Taking longer to fall asleep

• Feeling tired even after sleeping

• Waking earlier and not getting back to sleep

• More interrupted sleep than usual

All are signs of potential overtraining. At the end of the day, only you know what feels normal for you. You can always compare how you feel to wearable tech reports if you wish; it may prove or disprove your theories. Just make sure to take it with a pinch of salt.

4. Worsening Motivation and/or Mood

This point is linked to worse sleep. If you’re feeling more irritable or down, it could be linked to poor sleep and increased recovery demands. Now you might need the help of someone else here - someone who would recognise that your day-by-day behaviour and mood might have shifted. One more reason to find yourself a significant other, eh.

Aside from this, you might be finding it unfamiliarly hard to motivate yourself to exercise. This is your body telling you something. If you’re not enjoying your training, finding it hard to get yourself to the gym, and feeling down or irritable, then it’s fairly likely that your training could do with some adjustments. If this is your particular scenario, I’d recommend taking a couple of weeks off completely, or failing this, trying a completely new form of exercise - maybe go surfing or swimming or climbing…something that’s different, and you don’t have any preconceived expectations of. You’ll hopefully find that this gives you more time to improve your mental space, physically recover, and focus on enjoying your exercise again.

5. You’re Catching Colds Frequently

I’ve written extensive exclusive newsletter articles on the effects of exercise on the immune system, both acutely and chronically. One of the key takeaways is that overtraining can suppress the immune system to the point where infections, specifically viral infections of the upper respiratory tract, become much more frequent. Going back to the marathon example, some sources claim that up to 1 in 3 runners will contract a cold/flu in the weeks after a marathon, as their body struggles to cope with the pathogens in the same efficient manner they could have done before embarking on this hugely strenuous test.

Of course, exercise is just one facet of modern life which affects the immune system, but if you’ve noticed that you’re getting more sick than you typically do, then it may be worth assessing your training load. This is especially true of those performing high volumes of cardiorespiratory training - exercise which raises the heart rate, rather than strength work.

6. A Plateau or Dip in Performance

Nobody can train for weeks on end without eventually needing some form of rest. Professional athletes have an off-season of at least two weeks, depending on the sport, to allow them to recover physically and mentally. We should probably all be following similar advice, and we should certainly be structuring deload weeks into our routines, even if just once every few months. If you’ve been slogging away in the gym for weeks or months at a time and you’ve noticed that your progress has plateaued or even started to regress, then don’t panic. You’re not getting weaker or less fit. In all likelihood, you’re just not quite turning up to your sessions at the same level of preparedness as you were previously. Perhaps you’re not as well-rested physically, or work has left your brain scrambled for a few weeks. Sound familiar?

If this is the case, lowering your gym load for a week or so tends to fix the problem. A simple guide is to cut your sessions in half (half the sets, reps, load, or a mixture of all three), but to continue to perform these exercises. If, after two weeks, you still don’t notice a bounce back, I’d recommend a week of just standard walks and gentle exercise. More often than not, this is the reset your body needs.

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Based on this, It Looks Like I might be overtraining- what do I do?

The good news is there are a variety of strategies that you can implement if you think that you’re either overtraining or under-recovering. But before I get on to these, remember, overtraining is not a badge of honour. This is true for all athletes of any age, experience, sex or sport, but is especially true for women, those in ‘aesthetic’ sports, such as gymnastics or dance, or those with high volumes of training (endurance cyclists, runners, etc). In these populations, there can be a higher risk of REDS (relative energy deficiency in sport), caused by low energy availability (under fuelling). This has huge, dangerous knock-on effects, including: poor bone health and early onset osteoporosis, hormonal issues and loss of a regular menstrual cycle in women, immune system suppression, poor mental health and more. If you think that not taking a week off exercise is worth the risk of halting your ability to have children or worrying about osteoporotic fractures in your 30s, then don’t listen to this advice…

1. Prioritise Sleep

Sounds so obvious, but make sure that you’re getting to bed at a good hour and do everything in your power to give yourself the best chance of sleeping well. I’m a big advocate of the 10-3-2-1 protocol, but also make sure that your bedroom is cool, and if possible, have a warm shower or bath in the hour before bed. Don’t underestimate the benefit of earplugs or eye masks, either. You’d be amazed how quickly you can become used to waking at the sound of neighbours stirring on the other side of the wall.

2. Take a deload week or two

The big one. Cut any aspect of your training in half. Use half the weight, go for half the number of reps, half the number of sets, or even double the rest if you want to be edgy. You could do half the number of sessions, or half the number of exercises per session. All you need to do is cut your workload in half for at least one week, but up to two. It’ll give your body ample time to recover. However, don’t just stop completely…

3. Keep some gentle movement going

If you stop exercising completely for two weeks, you’re going to find it really hard, both mentally and physically, to resume training after a fortnight. Keep the low-intensity work as normal. Walking, or gentle bouts of cycling or other non-weight-bearing exercise are absolutely fine as long as they’re no longer than 30 minutes at a time.

4. Maintain adequate fuelling and hydration

You don’t need to cut down your food intake to account for the fact that you might be taking a deload. Your body needs protein for repair, carbs for fuelling and recovery, and fats for hormonal health. A balanced diet, and ideally one in which you’re probably slightly overconsuming rather than restricting yourself, will do you good. If you have an issue with this thought, then please understand that food is fuel, and it is vital to provide your body with the necessary nutrients for recovery. You may also find that taking some blood samples for testing is useful at this stage (finance-depending). It may highlight shortages in iron, ferritin, B12, or some other nutrient which could be why you feel tired or run-down.

5. Manage any stresses

True luxury is never having to stress. However, as much as more successful people do tend to have less stressing them out, they probably also have better resources in place to deal with their stressors. There’s a mindset element to this, too. We all know someone who is always stressed. You could take them to an all-inclusive on a private island somewhere and they’d find something to worry about. There’s a highly individual element to this, and I can’t give everyone a perfect strategy for stress management. I can, however, suggest some science-backed ideas. Journalling is proven to help get negative thoughts from head to paper and help with sleep. Breathing techniques, such as box breathing, help regulate the nervous system, bringing the ‘rest and digest’ parasympathetic branch back to some level of normality. Spending time in nature is a great free alternative - just 10-15 minutes of sitting on a bench, no music or headphones, can be great for building stress resilience. If you’re worried about stress, try one of these techniques.

6. If in doubt, listen to your body, not to devices

Finally, remember that nobody knows your body better than you do. Your watch might tell you that you slept badly, but if you’re not tired, then is it right? You may have a poor exercise recovery score, but did that stop your ancestors from hunting their next prey or harvesting their crop? Exercise is a privilege - don’t let a piece of technology stop you from getting it done.

Thanks for reading

Thanks as always for taking the time to read. I’m away for a week, so the next deep dive will be in a fortnight. If you’re interested in upgrading your subscription, you’ve just missed my 20% discount offer, but you can still access the archives and gain exclusive guides for just $5 per month.

As always, if you enjoyed this, then make sure to hit any of the buttons at the bottom of the page to like, comment, share or restack. It really is the best way to help me out and allow me to write more of these guides.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Every month, I send my paying subscribers a detailed walkthrough on how to perform the most common (and most commonly performed badly) exercise movement patterns.

Don’t worry, if you subscribe for free, you’ll still get the usual weekly posts as always; this is a bonus for those who pay their $5 per month.

In today’s overview, I shall outline the lunge. We shall cover:

• Why it is useful

• Where to start

• How to progress

• Some common issues

• How to fix these issues

So, if you fancy checking this out, be sure to hit the button below to upgrade your subscription. Alternatively, you can check out THIS LINK to pay for the PDF as a standalone purchase while keeping your subscription here free. This is the third instalment of this series, which has also taught you how to squat and hinge safely.

Thanks again for your support!