What’s the best way to measure strength?
I’m asked this question: what’s the best way to measure strength quite a lot and a more specifically what’s the best strength testing position? Given that these recent posts are focussed on dynamometry, I’ll focus on the specific question of strength testing positions in this post. Clearly any answer here would relate to the muscle […]
3 Ways To Improve the Accuracy Of Your Strength Tests
Just because you have a number, it doesn’t mean anything. The market is now flooded with dynamometers and devices to acquire data, which is great. However, most people don’t understand how accurate or inaccurate their measures are, and thus this renders them useless in guiding decision-making. So let’s look at measurement error and 3 ways […]
Should I Take Creatine?
This is a common question, particularly from those who work with clients who visit the gym regularly, as well as the inquisitive rehab professionals looking to exploit nutritional strategies to advance rehabilitation. This is a big topic and one I’ll come back to but for now let’s constrain it to get some sensible take-homes. So, […]
What Is Muscle EMG & How To Use It
Have you ever used EMG? Do you know what it is? Maybe you’re looking to improve your EMG signal quality? I’m frequently asked about EMG, despite it being one of the lesser-used techniques in rehab, and I love this as it’s a passion of mine. So let me take you through this first post on […]
Supramaximal Training, is it real?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed recently the description of muscle contractions or training methods as being supramaximal (or supra-maximal)? I certainly have within the context of rehabilitation and conditioning. But what does this mean, can it be achieved and if so, is it useful? So let’s discuss supramaximal training, is it real? What Does […]
Hypertrophy or Strength First?
Hi there. Welcome to I think to post 76 in this S&C for therapists series. In this post I want to talk about priority of rehabilitation. Something that comes up a lot in my conversations and teachings is the question whether we should focus on hypertrophy or strength first in our rehabilitation efforts. Hypertrophy, Strength […]
Reversibility of Muscle Power Training
Welcome to the third in this mini series on muscle power as we build up to the release of the Making Sense of Muscle Power online course in a few weeks’ time. We’ve discussed the training of muscle power and how power performance changes across the lifespan, but we’re yet to consider detraining. I’m often […]
5 Reasons To Use Velocity-Based Training
Hello and welcome to this second post in the series focussing on explosive force production. Last time we looked at muscle power for successful ageing. Here we’re focussing on a specific training technique and some reasons behind it. So here we go, 5 reasons to use velocity-based training. What is velocity-based training? First of all, […]
Muscle Power for Successful Ageing
Hi and welcome to this first in a series of posts on muscle power. Here we’re going to consider muscle power for successful ageing – is muscle power important for older populations? I talk a lot about strength (you may have noticed), but power, or the ability to express force quickly may be just as […]
Stretch Training Is A Waste Of Time
Okay, so last time we covered the effects of acute stretching on strength and performance and we learnt that strength and power might be impaired with stretch durations 60s/>. Now, let’s look at the longer term effects. Quite a provocative title: Stretch training is a waste of time, I know. But perhaps it could be; […]