​In this week’s short blog I’ll share 5 tips to maintain your strength and muscle from home.
 
As many of us don’t have access to the gym right now, I’ve prepared these strategies to help you maintain your strength and muscle over the coming weeks. Who knows, we might even get stronger or fitter in the process. We must use this time as an opportunity, don’t worry that you might not be able to do your favourite barbells lifts. These tips will help you potentially avoid injury, avoid losing your hard-earned muscle and strength and might develop a bit of athleticism and functional strength in the process.

​The standing dumbbell press is a fairly simple exercise but unless you have good stability in your core and range overhead then it is an easy one to do wrong. Make sure you are able to keep a strong and neutral spine while lifting overhead, avoiding any leaning back or compensations for poor overhead mobility. If you are able to keep your core stable throughout then the standing dumbbell overhead press is great addition to your routine for overhead strength and to building muscle in the shoulders and triceps.

The Dumbbell press from the low split position is a progression of the half kneeling dumbbell press. You have 1 less point of contact as the back knee is now just off the ground making it harder to stabilise. Once you are comfortable with the half kneeling variation, you are ready to take on the low split to make it harder. It will force you to work harder to stabilise and keep tension through the core. It is also very useful as a foundational exercise for working on the split jerk and improving stability in the catch. Like the Half Kneeling DB Press, the DB press from Low Split is great for setting you up to do the overhead press well. It will highlight any compensation in the lower back to make up for poor overhead range. 

I’m delighted to share with you that I’ve been selected by Origym to be honoured in their Best Personal Trainer in Glasgow Awards.
 
They asked me to answer a couple of questions in order to help aspiring personal trainers which I’ve shared for you below.

Everyone knows what a pressup is and most likely there has been a time in your life where you could bash them out or where working towards one. They can be pretty effective up to a point when you are starting strength training and there are a few ways that you can both make them easier or harder depending on your current ability.

The hanging leg raise is great for working the abs in a way that transfers to many sporting and performance-based activities. They are required to hold a strong isometric contraction which is vital for transferring force during the prior mentioned activities. The legs create the resistance and having them straight out makes things tonnes more difficult. Remember to keep good control, especially eccentrically on the way down to get the most out of these. Make sure you have mastered the hanging knee raise before moving onto these.

​The hanging knee raise is a great exercise for not only working the abs and bracing but integrating the active hang and pullup strength. You better have a decent level of upper body strength as you will be required to hang from a pullup bar just to be able to do this exercise. If you can hang, you should be able to do some good work through your core but your strength will dictate how controlled and how many you can do. 

The Good Morning is a hip hinge movement and is very similar to the Romanian Deadlift in terms of execution. The only difference is where the weight is loaded and thus how it challenges the muscles involved. A well-executed good morning relies on a good hinge pattern. It can be inherently risking due to the forward lean and placement of the weight on the back so it is important to take this into consideration before planning it within your routine. 

The Romanian deadlift is a great exercise to develop the hips and posterior chain. It is one of the foundational hip hinge movements and should be mastered to form the basis of any power development exercises. The Romanian deadlift can be a tricky one to pick up but it is always a good place to start for those newer to any form of deadlifting and always provides a useful tool for developing muscle and strength in the glutes, hamstrings and lower back.