The Calf, let us look at the anatomy first. Firstly 6 Mistakes you should avoid when building big calves Mistake 1: Doing Calf Exercises at The End of Your Leg Workout Much like the rear delts on shoulder day, calves are often neglected—or saved for the last part of a leg workout, when you are tired and barely able to muster up the energy for a couple of half-assed sets. As you probably already know, muscles cannot grow if they receive subpar training. If you really want to

Routine sand program Ideas during Lockdown with and without kit So I posted up some cardio routines yesterday and to follow up on that hers some variations and ideas and routines I have used in the past So lets start with a basic walk/run routine Pick distances either trees, lamp posts or benches and start with simply walking 1 running 1 and so on until you have covered the distance you want to get to (5 k for my client), once you can do that distance comfortably run 2 walk 1

Cardio is it all about running We are in this strange time of lockdown, where gyms are all shut but we are allowed out for 1 hour a day at least to exercise. In this time many people are going out running, this is ok if 1/ you enjoy running or 2/ if you are actually able to run, but what happens if you don’t like running or cant run, maybe because of an injury or other medical/health reason, how do you build your cardio strength then, even if you are able to run, but haven’t

Training partners, the good, the bad and the ugly This is one of those marmite moments, you either love a training partner or hate them. I have in the past had a few, some have been brilliant, and some have almost killed me. I think the one thing I can really be thankful for, was in the beginning I started training with a friend, we didn’t really know much about training but both wanted to get bigger and stronger, I guess it was me that wanted it more, so I did a lot of the r

Suns out Guns out Well I am sure you have all heard the saying “suns out, guns out” well its that time again, t shirts and vest tops for the next few months, so how to build a decent arm? Well most newbies get it massively wrong as they over train the biceps massively, you see it in the gym all the time, a newbie comes into the gym with the intention of looking good in a t shirt and they hit arms from every direction, barbell curls, dumbbell curls, alternation curls, preacher

Top 3 Exercises to Look Great in Shorts This Summer First and foremost, the exercise to really build the legs is a squat, a nice deep squat (rom permitting) is by far the best exercise to build the whole leg. Does it have to be with weight? Not necessarily, but it helps. During this period of lock down many people have little or no access to “proper” weights Barbells and dumbbells, but you can still add weight, maybe by using a backpack stuffed with heavy home items, even a c

GET MOTIVATED, STAY MOTIVATED BE ACCOUNTABLE During this current situation (corona virus outbreak) and facing lockdown people have had to start working from homer, been unable to train at their local gym and generally missed out on their normal lives. Without lock down it is easier to keep focus, you get in the car and drive to work, you finish work and go to the gym, there’s a structure you can follow and the goals you have made are easier to adhere to, but what now, we get

THE DEADLIFT Jon Pal Sigmarsson once said “"There is no reason to be alive if you can't do deadlift." Probably One of the most important exercises in the strength athletes arsenal and definitely my favourite go to exercise both for strength and power gains and also as a rehab exercise particularly if I’m suffering from back pain. It recruits most of the muscles in the body, particularly the posterior chain, but also the arms and chest as well as the shoulder girdle and traps.

GH…. Human Growth Hormone This is something following on from my Blog post on Steroids, that I think can be of use as you age. My story here starts again, when I came back from Portugal, I Opened a gym shortly after my return, I had to put a lot of work into fitting out and decorating the gym and once open set about running the place. I started work at around 5.30am and didn’t finish until 8 or 9pm Monday to Friday and then Saturdays and Sundays too, working somewhere close t

“AFTER THE STORM” Getting back to normal after Covid-19, Steroids, a quick fix? I remember coming back from Portugal in 2010 and going back into a UK gym for the first time in 10 years and being surprised on how many people where obviously on some sort of performance enhancing drug (PED), Before I left there where people obviously using them, but they tended to be the hardened bodybuilder, but coming back it was much wider spread and also in the bigger “Globo” gyms not just t

DIET AND HOW WE ARE BORN TO EAT RIGHT A few years ago whilst I was driving up to Scotland with a friend, he asked me a question and videoed the response, a sort of garbled ramble about cave man diets and my take on how we should really eat and why out digestive system is able to digest meats and harsh vegetables (a cow needs 3 stomachs to digest grass). There’s more to the question really as I started thinking about this a few years before. Two things came about then, there w

The benefit of complexes for fitness and strength What is a complex “A weightlifting complex is a series of barbell movements (derivatives of any aspect of the snatch, clean, or jerk) performed in one large and continuous set” “A complex is the combination of two or more different lifts into a single set. Complexes can be used for technical reasons or for training elements such as speed, explosiveness or strength.” Complex 1 – Deadlift – Bentover row – Hang clean – Thruste

HOW TO GET BY WITH ONLY A BARBELL Hints and tips taken from old school methods to get by without a rack and only a barbell Many of you know working out from home have limited equipment and this is written for those of you with only a barbell to use…….Taking inspiration from the old school methods from the early 1900s. Back then, there was limited equipment and many people only had available a barbell, no bench, no racks etc. So below is a list of exercises you can do just a b

MEMORABLE MILESTONES IN MY FITNESS JOURNEY Wow, where do I start, my fitness journey is long and varied. I really started my fitness journey before I left school, an after school weightlifting class and a gym club near my house, but it really didn’t account to much, though with Bruce Lee films and Arnold Schwarzenegger making it big in Magazines, I used to read a lot of magazines, I started my fitness journey. Once I left school and started work I had the idea I wanted to get

COPING WITH ANXIETY USING EXERCISE DURING THIS LOCKDOWN PERIOD So as some of you may be aware, I had some anxiety issues over 2019, due to some people close to me passing away unexpectedly amongst other things and out of my control. As a bit of a control freak this started off my anxiety issues. Rather than go into denial or taking the medication route I decided to seek some professional help. This for me took roll of seeing a colleague/friend of mine who is a psychologist an

sIMPLE ONE REALLY, WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU WANT TO ASK ME ABOUT FITNESS, training in general, my training, my career in fitness, what i did over in portugal and how we got on over there for 8 years, how i am getting on with isolation and training during corona virus...... anything else you want to ask Post in the comments on here and ill endeavour to answer you questions in the form of blog posts #trainwithpaul #personaltrainerparkroyal #puregym #puregym #personaltrainer #fitne

HiiT Training for MMA Now I am a fan of hiit training to help with weight loss, but its extremely effective to help build your anaerobic threshold, something that is extremely important in MMA. With an MMA fighter I like to use exercises that imitate areas of fight sequence, so positions starting from a grappling/ground position or an exercise starting in guard position on the floor and moving to standing, I also like to add in Plyometrics and proprioceptive movements too as

MY 5 x 5 ROUTINE I had a client come into the gym yesterday that had read my recent post about 1 size fits all workout and my basic 3 x 8 routine. At the bottom I had mentioned my version of 5 x 5 routine, now there are a few different variations of a 5 x 5 and mine has 2 variations 1 a more basic routine and an advanced version with added exercises, the premise of both is the same. So, to my 5 x 5 variation 1. Firstly, this isn’t really a beginners routine as the intensity n

IS THERE A 1 SIZE FITS ALL WORKOUT When I get a new client starting out on their fitness journey and they want to hit the weights, but have never trained with them before then…..Yes, I believe there is a basic workout that will get the best results in the quickest way without confusing them with tricky exercises or awkward routines. They do not know very much about, pace, tempo, intensity and their bodies certainly aren’t used to it. There’s also the need for stabilisation, r

MY STRONGMAN JOURNEY Lets start with where I am now, I am a 57 year old personal trainer still in pretty good shape for any age and excellent shape for someone my age, I still have a 260kg deadlift and can OHP (overhead press) 80kg….I’m also light weight for a strongman sitting at just under 105kg. So back to the beginning. I have always had an interest in weight lifting and building a strong physique (right back when I was 10 or 11. I was lucky enough at school to get involv