Firm Hands

First of all, what is training volume?

Training volume refers to the amount of total weight you have moved/lifted throughout a single workout session.

For example, completing a barbell chest press exercise for 3 sets, with 10 reps on each set, using 60kg on every set will equal to a total volume of 1,800kg lifted.

Monitoring your total lifted volume is a good indicator of measuring your progress with developing strength in trained muscle groups. If, over a course of a few weeks you see your total volume increase on an exercise you've likely managed to build more muscle strength.

For more tips on volume-based training, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected], or drop me a message!

Do you know the saying "The more - the better" ?

That is not necessarily true in the world of training.

Whilst it may make logical sense to associate doing more repetitions of an exercise with equalling more results, it's quite a doomed approach.

Focusing on the correct form, technique, and speed of completing exercises is what will much more likely give you results.

Why do we want to choose correct form over doing more reps:

- Easier to active the muscles you want to focus on

- Reduces the risk of injury through introducing more control within movements

- Allows for a larger range of motion on each movement

The most often found realisation when I ask clients to begin paying attention to the pace of their movements within exercises is a deeper sensation of feeling their muscles work. Enforcuing more control over our movements allows our body to recruit more muscle fibers, in turn making the exericse more effective and beneficial.

For more tips on exercise form, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected], or drop me a message!

Recovery is paramount ot achieving any form of progression within your workout program.

The purpose of completing a workout is to push your body close to it's capacity, whether you're lifitng weights, doing cardio, or a combination of both.

Whatever the case, the magic happens after your workout sessions. Your body adapts to the stress placed upon it, by utilising available nutrients to re-build itself into a slightly stronger version.

A variety of factors will determine how much recovery your body needs to succesfully go through adaptation phases, and ultimately allow you to see results:

- Type of training: hypertrophy / muscle growth training will usually require a day's rest between training the same muscle groups. Low/Medium intensity cardiovascular training could be repeated every day with correct nutriton, sleep and cooldown routines.

- Your personal/professional life: factors such as your stress levels, amount of sleep, type of work, activity levels in and outside of work/gym, or simply your time availability will affect your ability to recover.

- Your physiology: as with anything, everyone can respond slightly differently to the same routine. You may find the recommended reocvery periods are too short/too long for you to maintain in the long run, with a trial and error method needed to establish what's best for you.

It's important to do a self-check every few weeks and cosnider the above factors to ensure you stay on track towards achieving your fitness goals, espeically if you find yourself in a stagnation / regression period.

For more tips on recovery, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected], or drop me a message!

Home Page - Firm Hands Fitness services delivered in London, W13. Qualified Personal Trainer & Boxercise Coach with over 5 years' experience, delivering mobile 1-1 / Group sessions right to your home!

Training at home can be a big challenge to some of us.

As anyone who's tried staying active indoors throughout the last 3 lockdowns is aware, there are plenty of distractions to keep as away from staying fit! In my case, my 3 cats did their absolute best to keep my attention on them instead of the kettlebells!

Whilst it can be challenging, there's a few ways we can make it manageable, or even preferred to work out from home. Sure, you won't have access to all the fancy-pants gym equipment your local gym has, but there is no travel time/finding parking, waiting for kit, finding that one locker which actually locks - I'm sure you can think of plenty other small annoyances.

A few top tipsto stay consistent with your home workouts, and achieve progression:

- Invest in kit: 1-2 kettlebells, a workout mat, and a few resistance bands will cost you less than a few months' worth of a standard gym membership.

- Focus on volume: you're unlikely to be able to do your 1 rep max, however that won't stop you from increasing strength and endurance via volume-based training.

- "Secure" your space: prepare your kit and training area a day before, it's harder to make an excuse if the training area is right in front of you!

- Plan your sessions: put your training session days and times in your work diary at least a week in advance so there's no excuse to skip them.

You may find that in the long run, training from home may in fact be easier to get done and maintain consistent. At the least, it can be a great alternative on those super-busy days where communiting to a gym is out of question.

For more tips on staying fit through home workouts with minimal kit investment, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected], or drop me a message!

You'll often find most people following a super simple warm up strategy - a few minutes on a cardio machine here and there and we're done!

Whilst there is nothing wrong with using an easy way to raise your heart rate to begin with, there's a lot more we can do with the first 5-10 minutes of our warm up.

An easy way to make warm ups more fun is to include a skill-based activity, such as:

- shadow boxing
- shadow kicks

You can split your 5-10 minute format into 5-10, 60 second rounds, practicing individual movements or combinations. This will have the same effect of getting you warm, whilst giving the opportunity to practice a skill. You'll notice how much more focus you'll be placing into the warm up compared to simply using a cardio machine.

For more tips on making your warm ups more engaging, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected], or drop me a message!

Home Page - Firm Hands Fitness services delivered in London, W13. Qualified Personal Trainer & Boxercise Coach with over 5 years' experience, delivering mobile 1-1 / Group sessions right to your home!

Understanding how your muscles function is fundamental to achieving maximum muscle hypertrophy and strength.

It's super easy to lose focus during our workouts and just letting our repetitions "fly by" without paying attention to fully contracting the muscles we're working on.

A few good tips to ensure your muscles are doing their job:

- Include a few activation exercises within your warm ups using resistance bands or bodyweight
- Start your main exercises warm up set with a few more reps and smaller weight before using your "Work Weight"
- Focus on how fast you move during repetitions (exercise tempo), try slowing down the reps to feel more muscle fibres engaging

For more tips on muscle activation, or info on making your workouts more effective, feel free to get in touch on 07594104976 / [email protected] or drop me a message.

Home Page - Firm Hands Fitness services delivered in London, W13. Qualified Personal Trainer & Boxercise Coach with over 5 years' experience, delivering mobile 1-1 / Group sessions right to your home!

Hey there!

I have 3 personal training slots available for next week that I would like to gift to people who would otherwise be too nervous or uncertain to start their health and fitness journey. I want nothing in return for these slots, I have the time and would love to use it to help people rather than scrolling on Facebook.

Either comment on this post or send me a message and we'll get the session booked in.