Should You Weigh Yourself?
This seems like the perfect time to write this, with us all fresh from our festive binges! People are either jumping on those scales desperate to ditch the pounds they’ve gained, or throwing their scales out of the window out of fear of what they might say. My...
Upon Reflection-20 Questions to Review and Reflect
It’s pretty easy at this time of the year to fall into the trap of setting resolutions before taking time to reflect on the year that has passed. How can you be sure you’ll not repeat the things that are holding you back? Here are 20 questions that will...
“I’ll Just Cut Out Gluten”
"I'll just cut out gluten" Continuing with our Top 5 Nutrition Arguments You'll Hear This Christmas, here is another common solution people take to when they want to get in shape. This short post is just to provide you with the facts to make an informed decision about...
” You Can’t Drop Weight by Exercising”
Top 5 Nutrition Arguments You'll Have this Christmas If you or a member of your family want to lose some body fat, exercise is undoubtedly a good idea. Most body fat is carried under the skin as adipose tissue and when we exercise blood flow to adipose...
“If You Can’t Pronounce It, Don’t Eat It”
Top 5 Nutrition Arguments You'll Have this Christmas I think in many cases the people who put this type of argument forward are well natured, and often, they are just looking for a way to simplify the decision making process when it comes to food choices....
“You Shouldn’t Eat So Much Protein”
Top 5 Nutrition Arguments You'll Have this Christmas Is it just me or is Christmas the time of year where we recieve advice about diet and training from nearly everyone? Maybe you have had a friend or family member tell you that you are doing it all wrong? If you have...
40 Motivation Questions to Feed the Fire Within.
December, the time where it’s totally fine to say you want to do one thing yet do the exact opposite. “I need to lose weight” you think to yourself whilst holding a mince pie in one hand and a Gingerbread Latte in the other. “Should all be sweet soon, we just...
Getting Zeds- A Guide to Your Best Nights Sleep
Background. Our body clock or sometimes referred to as our circadian rhythm runs on a delay of approximately 15 minutes. There are 24 hours in one day but 24 hours and 15 minutes in one complete cycle of our daily rhythm of hormone peaks and troughs if...
Caffeine- Buzz or Bust?
Caffeine is one drug that I definitely can appreciate. Specifically an excellent cuppa’ joe on a cloudy Newcastle morning whilst reading a good blog. However, there are mixed views about the effect of regular caffeine intake that we should consider. Here is the need...
Calorie Tracking… Who Should, Who Should Not?
Counting Calories- Who Should, Who Should Not? Its clear that calories play an important role in weight management but does that mean that everybody needs to weigh the food they have eaten daily and enter it to a calorie tracking app? Here’s how...
Trainer focus: The best exercises for new mums
In the second part of our trainer focus series, Robbie reveals the best exercises for new mums looking to get back to full health. It can be really important for new mums to have some personal time in the early stages of motherhood. This can be hard to come by...
Trainer Focus: Can you out train a bad diet?
In the third part of our trainer focus series, Robbie answers a big question: Can you train out a bad diet? Put simply, no. You can’t train out a bad diet. To clarify, when I talk about a bad diet I mean eating too much of the wrong foods and taking in too many...
Trainer focus: Going all out from the off
Welcome to the first in our new series of trainer blogs. Today, Robbie takes us through how to get started on an effective training regime. When anyone embarks on a new training or diet regime, they usually follow a predictable pattern. They start off getting sick of...
Dominate Your Rugby Off Season in 2015
Strength and conditioning is moving forward at a million miles per hour today and the athletes who are in front of the curve are naturally seeing huge improvements in performance. Whilst we all need to freshen up at the end of the season you might want to...
5 Tips to a Bigger Deadlift (Updated)
#1 Perfect the start position This is essential to maximise power output and guard against injury, common mistakes here include; -Hips too high, this puts unnecessary pressure on the lower back and hamstrings, and the deadlift is then limited by the strength of these...
VO2 MAX -Is there any point in Testing?
Here is a post on the gap that exists between genetic maximum fitness tests and athletic performance testing. It’s worth noting here that I am coming at this topic as a coach working with Rugby Players, Crossfit Athletes and a handful of other athletes all of which...
The importance of Strength training (Physical preparation) in Swimming.
Here’s a guest post by our resident Swimming and Triathlon performance coach. Andy is an ex Elite swimmer himself and many of you will know him for his role as Storm’s massage therapist too. Here he goes over some of the reasons why his athletes are winning races,...
3 Tips – Get The Athletic Look
I won’t bore you all with research on why these 3 things work as I’m sure you don’t want to work your way through something that feels like going back to school on your day off. This is just a quick and a dirty on my way to whip (operative speak) women into shape in a...
How to not get dumped for lifting weights
Making time for Muscle Here I am in my “relationship guru” status… a little like Jeremy Kyle or Opra… I don’t think so somehow. If I had a penny for every time I have heard the phrase “I don’t have the time to train” or I don’t have time to eat well” I would be a very...
Do Less, Be Less Stressed and Get More Done.
In his recent book titled “The Organised Mind” Daniel Levitin studies “H.S.P’s” or highly successful people and the practises they have that lead them to be so productive. I want to summarize a few of them here for you as I think they can be helpful tools to create...
Teen Gainz
By Robbie Thompson Most teenage guys want to be bigger and have the massive arms, the chest your t’shirt hangs off and shoulders so wide you have to go through doors sideways! Well the good news is you’re primed to grow you just need to do it right. You grow by...
Are you Deficient?
At the moment there are two main schools of thought when it comes to nutrition in the fitness industry. On the one hand you have those who believe in simply eating whole foods. They focus on eliminating any processed foods and often dairy and gluten. Using this...
Alcohol
By David Ball. Here are some vital tips about how to manage alcohol into your diet. Now don’t get me wrong, regular alcohol consumption will undoubtedly scupper your attempts at improving your health and body composition, so this isn’t a blog telling you it’s ok start...
Resistance to change
How to do the things you want to do (but don’t) Why is it that we can have a burning desire to do something but then prevent our self from doing it? We are of course talking about resistance. I want to say before delving into this one that I am not putting myself...
The Kick Start
Saturday had come and I was finally catching up with my good friend and former partner in crime (not literal crime of course) I could barely wait. I arrived and my pal was sitting down already, he seemed a bit subdued. “Hey Spence, alright?” The...
Training Around the Menstrual Cycle
There is a big buzz surrounding the female menstrual cycle in the press recently following Heather Watson speaking out at the Australian open about how her performance was down to “women’s problems”. There has been a lot of speculation about whether the...
Conditioning 101 Method #4
The last 12 months of my own training has been spent with one sole goal…to improve my energy systems. The biggest lesson I have learned which I would like to pass on to you is YOU HAVE to send a clear message to your body for what changes you want it to make. ...
Gain Muscle & Lose Fat at the Same Time?
When it comes to getting in shape there are various tricks and tips you can use to change somebody's appearance. For example by changing the relative "stiffness" within a muscle or muscle group you can change somebody's posture. I bet if you were to talk to any PT or...
Biological Ageing vs Innactive Ageing
Often when I speak to people in their 40’s and 50’s and I tell them I am a coach they tell me about all the stuff they can no longer do, or pains they now have, but they say; “Nothing I can do about it because of my age” They could… if they chose to… feel SO...
Getting organised
At this time of the week it’s often time to refocus and get sorted for the week ahead. I know I am probably preaching to the converted here when it comes to managing your working diary, but what about managing your training and nutrition? The two factors that will...
