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What is CPD?
Depending on who you speak to, CPD stands for Continual Professional Development, Continued Professional Development or Continuous Professional Development. Whichever description you prefer it doesn’t matter, you get the gist…..it’s continuing with your learning during your chosen career. For personal trainers, this may mean attending CPD courses and or workshops. One…
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Developing Speed
When we think about developing acceleration, or top running speed, additional devices are often included. This may come in the form of weighted vests, sleds, prowlers, parachutes or even using gradients. Whilst it is likely that most interventions will facilitate some improvement in performance, it…
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What’s Tiring Out Your Client?
To get the most from clients it’s imperative that we complete periods of stress and rest – this balance is fundamental in the development of almost all physiological structures and processes. Fatigue is a rather vague term that encompases a variety of definitions from impairment of muscular…
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Connecting The Dots – Power Clean and Vertical Jumps
The vertical jump is an important movement, the fundamentals of which are critical in a variety of sports. Numerous strategies have been employed in literature to examine methods by which it may be improved; this has involved heavy force training (squats), plyometric training (depth jumps)…
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Post Activation Potentiation (PAP) Fundamentals
Post Activation Potentiation (PAP) is a form of training many sport scientists are investing more and more time in. The notion behind it is to perform a compound movement such as the back squat, deadlift, bench press etc., followed by an explosive movement, such as a countermovement jump…
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New Year, New You, New CPD Courses
It’s that time of year when many of our personal training clients may be thinking about their New Year Resolutions. Yes, we are still in December, but some people will already be looking ahead to what they would like to achieve in 2016. This doesn’t…
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Muscle Activity Is Related To Squat Depth
Can we really influence the degree of muscle activation in different muscles of the lower body during varying depth squats? There are a lot of variations in relation to the squat pattern: The foot position can be narrow or wide The feet can be orientated…
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Plateau-Busting Your Client’s Back Squat
We have all had clients in the past that have struggled to get past a particular weight when squatting. In these circumstances it’s often best to take a step backwards before pushing forwards again, not to mention incorporating a few manipulations into the individual’s planning. So…
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Getting The Most Out Of Your Personal Training Clients… Monitor The Intensity
Often when I witness personal training sessions, I see personal trainer’s push clients so far and so hard they look like they’ve been hit by a freight train. This mentality is prevalent in numerous media sources and programs. One only has to watch fat loss reality television…
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Strength Training And Flexibility… Can Both Be Developed Harmoniously?
Strength development can assist in day-to-day life, sporting performance and even health markers. When we consider developing an individual, both strength and flexibility are important components of health, and need to be equally developed. However, does one effect the other? Can strength training and flexibility…