Nick Cheadle

The idea of a ‘gym’ varies significantly from person to person. Gone are the days of the old school, spit'n'sawdust Arnie types dictating what was and was not a gym – today there is something for everybody, no matter what level of experience you have or the goals you aspire to achieve. But with so many different facilities on offer, outside of what geographically makes sense, it can be a daunting thing to sign a potentially lengthy contract to a gym or fitness centre that might not give you what you're looking for.  So, how do you narrow your choices? First, let’s have a think about the types of facilities that might be on offer. Commercial Gyms These are the Fitness First’s & Anytime Fitness’ of the world. These gyms often cater for the majority of more generalised fitness goals – anything relating to body composition (fat loss and muscle gain), cardio & even some fitness classes depending on the location. For the best of both worlds, these sorts of places can often be very useful, and as there are typically a lot of locations, depending on the chain you join, there is some added convenience when travelling, or should you need multiple places to train based on your lifestyle. CrossFit Boxes You likely know somebody that loves CrossFit – probably because they took it upon themselves to tell you how much the love CrossFit – but all jokes aside, these gyms will have limited equipment with an emphasis on one thing. Yup, you guessed it, CrossFit. This is a mix of Olympic lifts an

It’s been a tough time since we all first heard about this thing called Covid. At one stage or another, you’ve probably been presented with a situation that hasn’t allowed you to train the way you might like, and while gyms are allowed to operate right now, should things change in the future or if you're just more comfortable training from home, there are a few simple ways to make sure you're getting the most out of your daily exercise as possible. When it comes to building or maintaining your physique – whether you're training from home or at the gym – there are a few considerations you need to be mindful of.  Is there enough weight to go to failure? The closer we get to genuinely failing when we lift weights, the more mechanical tension we create through our muscles. This is the driving force behind muscle growth – so it’s important we have enough of a load to actually get somewhere near the point of muscular failure. Are you able to maintain stability? The more stable we are, and the less energy we have to exert on bracing, stabilising and balancing, the harder we can work towards creating more mechanical tension in the msucles we want to train. Barbell squats are great – but often it’s your back, your core or your ability to brace that fails far before your legs do. The more stability we can create, the harder the muscles in question can work, because they don’t have to worry about anything else other than ‘pushing’. Can you achieve 'progressive overload'? We need to be a

There’s a good chance you’ve spent a portion of the last 12 months (or more) in lockdown, or at the very least, without consistent access to a gym or proper training equipment. With life beginning to open back up and hoards of people flocking back to the gym, physiotherapists and chiropractors alike are licking their lips at the thought of so many tight, broken and busted bodies that have gone a little too hard, a little too soon. Whether you’re trying to get back into a fitness routine post lockdown or you haven’t been able to train for an extended period for another reason, the following tips will help keep the doctor (and physio) away! Listen to your body and understand stress versus tolerance If you’ve not been training or lifting weights for a while, your relative tolerance level to weight lifting-related stress is going to be low – likely much lower than it was the last time you were training consistently. With this in mind, it probably isn’t wise to jump straight back into the routine you were following previously right away. The body can ultimately handle a lot of stress, provided you take the time to build up your tolerance to that stress. When it comes to getting back into the gym after a lengthy lay-off, start slowly and build from there. Consider choosing only a handful of exercises for each session, and limiting those exercises to 2 relatively challenging sets to begin with. You can always add more with time. Leave your ego at the door You’ve heard this before, n