We all know that the best way to enhance movement is with exercises in a standing position. From improving stability, strength, and even sporting skills of speed and power the best exercises are all performed standing up. But what if you are unable to complete these exercises due to an injury or weakness? This is where kneeling exercises can provide amazing benefits for they can simplify a movement enough to remove the need for strength and coordination, but not so much that the need for stability is lost. In some cases, the stability demand is greater with kneeling positions and can provide significant benefits to the core. Kneeling exercises are very under-rated and more useful than many people realise. This article we will explain how these unique exercises work and what our best exercises to use are.

Strength training can mean different things to many people. The way a weight lifter looks at strength training is completely different to how a football player looks at strength training or someone in a Pilates class. There are many different ‘strength types and having a great understanding what these different strength methods are and more importantly what type is most suitable to your goal is critical in achieving the results you are looking for. Most people use a typical 3 sets of 10 reps approach which really is a body-building type program to build muscle size more than muscle strength. To improve strength to its absolute potential you must work with a much higher intensity using what is known as a maximal strength program. There are many questions surrounding this approach with the first one being is this good for everyone to do and is it too risky? There is also several other important questions needing answers such as what exercises should you use? How many sets and reps should you use? Do you need a weight belt and wrist straps? And how many times per week is best? To answer all these questions and more I asked our trainer Nathan Fejes to give us his thoughts as he regularly uses this type of training himself and often lifts weights of 150kg with deadlifts and squats and 45kg with Turkish get ups!

If there is one thing that frustrates me more than anything it is seeing people remain in pain from following a plan that is based on poor information and doomed to fail. I regularly see clients who on the first visit tell me the things they have been doing to help their problem in the belief it was the right thing to do. Some had made this decision themselves, whereas others were given advice from someone else, or found a video on You Tube. Back pain is by far the most common injury with statistics showing 85% of the population will suffer with this at some point in their life and it does not discriminate who it affects. As it can greatly impact inactive people, fit people, young kids, sporting athletes, and older adults. Most of the strategies people adopt thinking it is helping are merely treating the symptoms and based on information that is never going to work and in some cases make it much worse! Most of these methods neglect the reason WHY the pain is there in the first place which leads to gradual progression of the problem and eventually more severe pain. This article I am going to discuss what are common myths relating to back pain and what you can do to avoid making these mistakes and get rid of your pain for good.