Category Archive for : ‘Uncategorized’

I make no excuses for writing about Stand Up Paddle Boarding again… but this time I am going to be uncompromising and brutal. I am parking the man of science and gentle informed persuasion, and re-inventing myself as a fundamentalist exercise warrior. My weapons are inflatable, and I am aiming them at everyone who will listen.

Before we all became properly epidemic savvy by necessity, the word epidemic was used a lot within public health media. We were constantly informed that there was an epidemic of this, or an epidemic of

Do you do any strength training to improve your stand up paddle boarding or paddle surfing? This workout requires minimal equipment and takes an evidence based approach to target SUP relevant muscle groups and movements. To download a PDF training handout of this workout click here: SUP Strength

Sometimes one of my clients, or someone I am working with, will ask me for my advice on supplements, or more often a single supplement. First off, they have mistakenly assumed that I have some form of supplementary expertise… and secondly, if I am close to a door, I will make a run for it.

My reticence about engaging in supplement talk comes from my childhood. Back in the late 70’s my mother worked in what was then called a “health food shop”… probably one of the first few in the

Hands up if you have had neck pain whilst out on your road bike… particularly if you are new to cycling, or upping your distances. I call it “Cycling Neck”, but it could also be called “Laptop Neck”. Most of the time folks try and address this with stretches, but it’s not really a range of movement problem, it’s more of a weakness issue. Your neck just doesn’t have the strength endurance to deal with the postural demand. The answer is to strength train your neck and you will be

Over the last 6 months I have been working on bigging up Stand Up Paddle Boarding as a healthy lifestyle choice. I have gone at it from a science and research perspective, conducted my own research project, and written articles and guest blogs. I have had great encouragement from “Stand Up Paddle Magazine UK” and this month they have printed an article by myself. The link to download or view this as a PDF is below:

SUP Health Article

I am writing this in Covid 19 lock down right now… may be

You can’t have enough home work out options right now. With this video blog “Take The Stairs” I take you through a body weight strength workout using just the bottom steps of your stairs. I’ve blended some old classics and and some different twists into it, and given you some sets and reps to work with. Do it with some commitment and it will take you by surprise! If you have some energy left after this why not take on my old classic “The Stick 500” found by clicking HERE

This month I have prepared you a handy info graphic on soleus injury in distance runners. It’s a common injury that plagues many runners at all levels of ability. So with that in mind feel free to copy this image and use it in your own clinic, club, or social media publications and platforms. Or you can download it here

I am going to write down four words in a second, and if they register as familiar to you then you are of a certain age. You will be somebody who taped the Top 40 on a Sunday night, you will have at some stage attempted to reconstitute a “Vesta” dried Chinese meal, and you will only ever describe carpet deodorant as “Shake N Vac”. Here we go:

“Central heating for kids…”

Back in 1976 it was common place to feed your children with a powdered food source that resulted in them

I have completed my research project into the common patterns of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and higher intensity paddle boarding. We all get DOMS. It’s not an injury, or a sign of weakness, or age, or fragility. It is a physiological and structural muscular response to an overload effort that has take that muscle group beyond it’s current threshold capacity. You get more of this sciencey talk in the research write up so be sure to click it. Seriously though DOMS is considered as part of the adaptive response

Throughout my blogs I have often tried to help you declutter your training habits and programme. Essentially strip it back to what works and spend less time faffing. I’m not really bothered about the cost of the foam rollers, trackers, supplements, compression garments and magnetic wristbands. Or the potions, lotions, isotonics and sachets of magic rocket fuel. Nobody is forced into these purchases. But I worry about the faffing. To be more accurate I worry that the athletes I work with, and know, are worrying about all this “stuff”, when