James Knoll Fitness

Just start. You’ll be garbage and then you’ll get better. If you want to skip the side salad and get straight to the meat and potatoes DM me for coaching. I’m good at my job 😊

Muscle, strength, endurance, power. You can have it all!

Like said the “interference effect” is irrelevant for 99% of people who train. There’s something freeing about accepting that you’re not a specialised high level athlete and never will be. You’re free to explore fitness in all its various components, even if you have lofty goals in one area. It’s 2022…we’ve seen how many people can manage concurrent training goals (it’s a lot). If you want to be crazy strong and have ridiculous endurance then go for it ☺️

I don’t want to gain too much muscle, I just want to be ✨toned✨

The culture that surrounds the word toned is extremely limiting for achieving the physique a lot of people want. Super low load high rep work miles away from any kind stimulating reps and minimal food. Not ideal for gaining muscle. If people just went for it and tried to gain too much muscle I think they’d actually land bang on their goal of a “toned” physique. Countless people around the globe try to gain too much muscle every year and yes they can build muscular bodies, but no one is looking monstrous by accident especially if you’re 100% organic with no added ingredients (even if you have some extra chemicals, it’s still a very intentional and all consuming lifestyle to achieve that outcome).

Suffering is inevitable. Ever met someone that avoids any kind of suffering? They end up creating more suffering for themselves trying to avoid it. I’ve done it. Might as well suffer meaningfully forwards towards something satisfying. This isn’t a post telling you to harden up, but to simply rethink your attitude towards discomfort. It’s valuable, it teaches us lessons and is an unavoidable part of change. If you’re comfortable with suffering, obstacles won’t deter you from achieving your goals. There’s a time for comfort and discomfort, learning to be honest with yourself about how much you need of each is a worthwhile pursuit, even if you never hit the target. [disclaimer] I’m addressing the general physical pain required to improve strength, fitness and body composition. Although injury, disease and psychological stress are unavoidable aspects of existing this post cannot dive into the depths of those topics, nor am I willing to.

It’s that time of year when all the regular fitness enjoyers stick their noses up at the resolutioners. Honestly if people want to aim for something them let them. Some will make it, some won’t but more might stick around if they feel encouraged walking into a gym. I love training just for the sake of training, I’ll do it for the rest of my life but not everyone feels that way especially when they’re inexperienced. Give them time.

Just some things to marinate on for 2022, there’s a few big issues to tackle here. Online coaching is just online programming if I can’t see you moving, let me see what’s going on and I don’t have to keep making assumptions in your programming (my assumptions are good, but knowing exactly what to sprinkle in next is better). There needs to be an Australian RDL Intensity Review Board. Maybe and the guys at would be keen? But I seriously see dogs that deadlift 200+ hitting 60 kg RDLs because they can “feel it more” 🤷🏽‍♂️ Brah you can feel it with an empty bar, that doesn’t mean it’s going to challenge your hams, glutes and lower back at all. And finally going hard out and then burning out. Yeh you can change your body in a short period of time but the methods used to get quick changes are never sustainable. Truly great results happen over a long period of time, and you won’t be around to see them if your system has a time limit. Think in years not weeks or months. Don’t get me wrong urgency is great but you need to walk the line between urgent and sustainable.

I was once a scrawny young lad searching for answers too. Googs sent me in a loop chasing “ground breaking” supplements and “secret chest workouts the pros don’t want you to know about”. There is so much information and being new to fitness you have no idea how to sort through it all. I learned way more by carefully seeking out mentors that had already sifted through all the bu****it for me. They often have mentors too, so you’re likely to pick up some Grandmentors as well. Find a good mentor or coach and you’ll level up pretty quick.

Oh by the way for that last question there, it varies from person to person and yes you should be working on your personality.

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Tag someone that thinks they’re a navy seal.

Just a quick reminder, you can work your ass off training and still be a fun person. was the man that first inspired me to go down the concurrent training path. The thing I appreciate about Ross is his training is so extreme but his attitude is so jovial, even when enduring a great deal of pain. Literally everyone that achieves an admirable physical feat works hard and endures pain…it’s very common. Chill out.

*Physique update* not really, I’m just happy with my body. My training revolves around being stronger and fitter but I like how I look too.

I feel hesitant about posting these, I keep telling myself people will either think I’m a narcissist gym do**he or critique my body because it’s not up to competition standards. But that’s probably just me assuming the worst. I like myself a decent healthy amount and I’m not a bodybuilder so I shouldn’t be held up to bodybuilding standards. Just a nice middle ground.

What ratio of pushing to pulling movements is best for shoulder health? 1:1? 1:2? It doesn’t actually matter as much as we have been led to believe. Way too much emphasis is placed on the ratio itself rather than what’s actually going on at the scapula during these movements. Heaps of folks just apply the blanket rule of scapula retraction and depression for literally EVERYTHING. Pushing or pulling is irrelevant, as far as the scapula is concerned it’s the same. Elevation, protraction and upward rotation all exist and aren’t movements to be feared. You’re probably already doing plenty of movements than can be slightly tweaked to tick the movement variability box and free your scaps!

Have some non fitness related hobbies…it’ll be heaps good for you. Just on my weekly creatine run.