Increase Strength
How and why: the dumbbell clean
The dumbbell clean is a full-body exercise that works muscles from across the body in a multi-phased, intense movement. It makes up part of the dumbbell clean and press, which includes an additional phase at the end. There are many parts to the...
What do diamond push-ups do?
Diamond push-ups are a progression of the traditional push-up, meaning they’re a more challenging variation of the original. If you’re looking for a new bodyweight challenge that shifts muscle focus and helps you to develop strength and endurance, this exercise is a...
7 great home exercises for the upper body
The upper body is hard to hit without weights. It can seem as though there’s a limited supply of home-friendly exercises that challenge you enough to make some fitness progress. We often end up doing the same ones over and over again. This list is...
Why your core is so important in keeping you healthy
When we think of core workouts, a couple of things come to mind. Sit-ups. Planks. A floor-based ab workout. A visibly toned tummy. It's easy to reduce core workouts to these simple things. And whilst they're rightly associated, there's so much...
How many reps should you do of each exercise?
In the gym or at home, we often have to craft our own fitness routines that match what we're looking for that day. Whether we're using heavy barbells, light dumbbells, or maybe just our own body weight, each exercise we do presents us with a...
The 6 best exercises to build bigger shoulders
Growing bigger shoulders is a common training aim in the gym. Broad shoulders are an aesthetic that lots of people want to achieve. Whether it’s to look more confident, stronger, or to help make the waist appear slimmer, the shoulder muscles are...
How to strengthen your core so that you can lift more
When it comes to exercise, the core comes up a lot. ‘Engage the core’ is the instruction shouted at you in exercise classes, and by PTs on the gym floor. But it’s not just about getting yourself a flat and toned tummy. The core is essentially your support system in...
When to use the free weights vs. the resistance machines
The brilliant thing about the gym is all that equipment there. There’s nothing quite like a gym floor packed with kit to do any workout we could possibly think of. Reality is, there’s so much choice that it’s hard to know where to spend time and...
The best grip strengtheners to help you lift heavier
Grip strength is as simple as it sounds. How hard you can grip something in your hand. What’s less obvious is why we need grip strength and how we can improve it. It’s hard to imagine that we also need to work on the muscles in our hands and...
