Q+A: Maximising strength and endurance.
STORMER Lizzie asks “how can I maximise in my endurance training and maximise strength at the same time?” In this 4 minute video, STORM Fitness MD, former professional Rugby player and athlete Spencer answers Lizzie’s question. To chat to me Spence, or one of the…
Your Bones are Part of Your Metabolism
Your Bones are Part of Your Metabolism Did you know your bones are metabolically active? It’s an under appreciated fact that your skeleton is part of your metabolism, albeit to a far lesser degree than muscle but it still plays a vital role. When we reach 18 years old…
Four Keys to Muscle Growth
Four Keys to Muscle Growth Firstly why? Hypertrophy should feature in everyone’s training at some point, and the reasons why are threefold: 1. Increased muscle mass actually is associated with better health and resilience to illness. 2. Increases tensile strength…
How to Maximise Watt Bike Interval Training
How to Maximise Watt Bike Interval Training Here’s my insights on a method I have developed to set challenging targets for Watt Bike intervals. I want, by sharing this, to ensure your interval sessions are both challenging and that you don’t blow up after one set….
Storm Client Testimonial – Dave
Storm client Dave tells us why he chose Storm and how training with Storm (after having 2 full knee replacements) is improving his health, fitness and wellbeing. To chat to me Spence, or one of the Storm team, please call 0191 7070 555 or email info@storm-fitness.com….
Storm Client Testimonial – Aston
We recently chatted with client Aston about his experience of training with Storm coach Dave Ball. “At 48 I’ve never been fitter…” says Aston. Watch the 2-minute video below. If you’d like to chat about how Storm can help you please get…
5 Steps to Injury Reduction for Young Athletes
5 Steps to Injury Reduction for Young Athletes At Storm over the last 8 years we have grown a reputation for developing young athletes. Some of our athletes go on to earn international honours or progress to senior level sport; but in almost all cases our young…
Strength Training… why again?
Strength Training… why again? Here’s a quick reminder of why including some Strength Training in your week is a good idea: What Strength training will do for you: Increase metabolism, burning more calories whilst resting. It burns body fat. Increases bone strength….
Get Turned On: The role of the nervous system in training
Get Turned On: The role of the nervous system in training Get turned on Every now and then go heavy. When we lift weights an electrical impulse travels from our brain, through our spinal chord, along nerves and to the muscle. The muscle is made up of different types…
5 things surfing taught me about training
5 things surfing taught me about training 1. If you keep paddling, some day you’ll catch a wave This is a simple one; you just have to keep going… Above everything else, persistence is the key! 2. Paddle with the water not against it Not many realise that surfing is…
Can you get stronger in your 40’s and 50’s?
Work With Us Online Can you get stronger in your 40’s and 50’s? Here’s a question I get asked a lot… in my view for most of us the answer is yes! Absolutely! In the first graph are the men’s world records in the snatch (a weightlifting movement) the records are for…
Storm Client Testimonial – Debbie
We recently visited our client Debbie who runs ‘Yoga Therapies‘ with partner Chris out of their new location situated within STACK Newcastle. She gave us a wonderful testimonial on how she finds Storm fitness and why training with Storm has benefited her…
Are Your Best Days Really Behind You?
Are Your Best Days Really Behind You? Recently one of my good friends Michael at Always Wear Red (Newcastle’s rapidly expanding fashion brand) wrote a blog in response to the question “Can people ‘peak’?”… it was 6 words long, it read: “Only if you think you have.”…
Before you make goals
Before you make goals Just before you commit to your action plan for 2019, here are a few thoughts on motivation from me to you: 1. You need a telescope and a microscope A forward thinking dream like vision is important, but equally as important is the attention to…
5 Questions to take inventory of your training
5 Questions to take inventory of your training One of the most important tasks Storm’s coaches do is to review our clients training programs to check they are optimally effective and likely to deliver what our clients want. I would encourage you to do the same, here’s…
Exercise Form
Exercise Form When I first started training people, nearly a decade ago, I ignorantly thought, that in order to teach people how to lift I just needed to learn the positions, learn how to demonstrate the lifts and learn a script of what to say (I did say…
Recoverable Volume
Recoverable Volume There is an amount of training you and I could complete today that would surpass your ability to recover fully from it before your next planned training session. That should be a universal truth we all subscribe to; but to some people that statement…
Storm Client Testimonial – Chris
We recently visited our client Chris who runs ‘Yoga Therapies‘ out of their new location situated within STACK Newcastle. Chris gave a lovely testimonial on why he chose to train with Storm and how Storm changed him personally. See the video below. If…
Storm Client Testimonial – Michael
We visited our friend Michael recently. Owner of clothing brand Always Wear Red. He discusses with us his reasons for training with Storm and how Storm is benefitting his personal life. Who does Michael train with at Storm? Michael trains with Spencer who is…
Knee pain – Why do My Knees Hurt? – An Overview of Knee Pain
Work With Us Online Knee pain – Why do My Knees Hurt? – An Overview of Knee Pain Here’s an overview of some of the many causes of knee pain you can experience. During my previous career as a professional sportsman I unfortunately had to deal with knee pain…
Dan’s Top 10 Muscle Building Snacks
Work With Us Online Dan’s Top 10 Muscle Building Snacks When it comes to gaining weight, it can sometimes be tough to get enough calories on board. So Dan has put together his top 10 muscle building snacks to give some quick go-to options when it comes to…
Resistance Training For Women Over 40
Resistance Training For Women Over 40 Post by: Dan Marriott There are a number of health benefits that females could potentially be missing out on, if resistance training isn’t part of their weekly routine. Even though the mentality is shifting, there is still a high…
Getting Your First Chin Up
Getting Your First Chin Up You walk into the gym and the first thing you see is that person on the chin up bar, knocking out reps like it’s nothing and the first thing that pops into your head is “I’ll never be able to do that”. First off, don’t worry about the person…
The Three Fundamentals of Building Muscle, Part 3: Frequency
The Three Fundamentals of Building Muscle, Part 3: Frequency Training Frequency refers to how often you train a particular muscle group/movement pattern. You may have heard the bodybuilders of the ‘Golden Age’ referring to this as ‘chest day’ or ‘leg day’. Whilst…
The Three Fundamentals of Building Muscle, Part 2: Intensity
The Three Fundamentals of Building Muscle, Part 2: Intensity Intensity refers to the percentage of your 1 rep max on the bar. Before we get any further, no you don’t have to know your 1RM for every lift. Or any lift unless you’re not a competitive power lifter. …
The Epic Holiday Workout Post
The Epic Holiday Workout Post Holidays are of course about unwinding and getting some downtime; that said if you want to stay on top of your physique or in my case eat more food, throwing in the odd workout can help. Equipment can often be in short supply so here is…
Fitness Over 40- Unlocking Strength Potential
Fitness Over 40- Unlocking Strength Potential Often when I speak to people out and about they tell me they would love to lift weights but they are too old to get started. In fact even some of my personal training clients are awaiting the impending day when they start…
Off Season Adaptation
Off Season Adaptation Here’s an article that will turn a little light on in the minds of those of you who are committed to improving your athletic performance. I spoke to an athlete this week who told me “I’m doing everything I can to improve my performance” Now I…
Get on a Mission!
Get on a Mission! The new year came and went. If you are one of the lucky ones you still have your motivation in tact and you are still focussed with your training when the majority of folk have jacked in fitness in favour of Net Flix and ice cream! If you want to get…
Picking the Right Online Personal Trainer for You
Picking the Right Online Personal Trainer for You “And everywhere, infinite options, infinite possibilities” ~ Haruki Murakami With almost infinite options; here are the top points to consider when selecting the person responsible for improving your health and…
What is Online Personal Training?
What is Online Personal Training? Just like every service industry, Personal training is now online and in a big way. Since 2015 the number of searches for online personal training has shot up by nearly 40%! So how does it work and what do we make of it? As is the…
Take on a Challenge and Change Your Perspective
Take on a Challenge and Change Your Perspective Recently I did a charity event for the movember foundation. This year it was supporting awareness for mens mental health. For every pound I raised, I’d pull the big sled loaded with my bodyweight (90kg) a length of the…
Why Unilateral Training May Be Your Missing Link
Why Unilateral Training May Be Your Missing Link Why on earth would you lift less on a unilateral exercise when you could lift more on a bilateral exercise?! Well, there’s a few reasons… But first, what does unilateral even mean? We’re talking about single limb…
How Often Should You Perform Drop-Sets
Work With Us Online How Often Should You Perform Drop-Sets You may well have had this conversation in the gym before, it goes a little something like this: You “excuse me, do you have many sets left on the bench?” Gym Member “just 4 sets, but I’m doing quadruple drop…
Strong To The Core
Strong To The Core You wouldn’t build a house on a weak foundation, right? Simply put, if you’ve got a weak core (foundations), your house (body) isn’t going to last the winter… When it comes to building a strong core, this will help you gauge where you are in terms…
How To Bulletproof Yourself For The Ski Season
How To Bulletproof Yourself For The Ski Season If you were to wind back time 5 years, you would have found me sat on a ski lift in a bright green jacket talking nonsense to 4 year old ski school kids. I took a year out before I went to university and it was one of the…
What Makes A Successful Triathlete
What Makes A Successful Triathlete Rio 2016 is well and truly in full swing and to top it off the Brownlee brothers have only gone and smashed the olympic triathlon once again. Something Alastair said in an interview with BBC got me thinking about what makes a…
The Olympic Athletes that Changed the World
The Olympic Athletes that Changed the World The Power Of the Olympics The Olympic games is once again on the horizon and I’m sure I can’t be the only person in disbelieve that it was indeed four years ago since Farrah and Ennis lit up London. The World has changed….
Speed for Sport- Your Guide to Getting Faster
Speed for Sport- Your Guide to Getting Faster The off season in team sports is a super rare time of the year where you can get some speed coaching and actually get faster! Team sport conditioning has moved forward leaps and bounds in the last few years but there are…
Running Faster-6 Ways to Improve 10K Speed
Running Faster-6 Ways to Improve 10K Speed When I meet endurance runners and hear their running goals of shaving a minute off their 10K times I want to SHAKE them and tell them they can do a lot better than that! Your progression and improvement can be WAY greater…
6 Simple Tips To Stay Focussed
6 Simple Tips To Stay Focussed Here are a few quick tips on how to get more out of training, stay focussed and feel good about doing it. 1. Get things in some kind of order. You may have heard: “A highly varied diet, rich in nutrients is the best way to get healthy,…
Dominate Your Rugby Off Season in 2015
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…
5 Tips to a Bigger Deadlift (Updated)
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…
VO2 MAX -Is there any point in Testing?
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…
The importance of Strength training (Physical preparation) in Swimming.
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…
3 Tips – Get The Athletic Look
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…
Conditioning 101 Method #4
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…
