Functional Strength Training

15/10/2026

The single leg squat is such an amazing exercise but like anything, if you perform poor technique what was once great for you, now will become a big problem.

And when it comes to the single leg squat, and in particular with knee pain rehabilitation programs the use of the bench single leg squat is something you must avoid.

The reason is that the body position adopted in this exercise is so vertical it places all of the body weight into the knee, for there is very little hip flexion. This means the quads work overtime to create a braking feeling.

Surely strengthening quads is a good thing! Yes strengthening the quads is great, but at the expense of timing and hip mechanics needed in movement is NOT a good thing.

Teaching the body how to move like this, and strengthening the quads without the help from the hamstrings and glutes where they would be positioned optimally to engage only leads to more faulty timing and eventually another injury.

This body position is exactly what you see when people tear ACL's on a landing from a jump. They land too upright and all their weight goes into the knee, with this position not advantageous to the hamstrings to prevent the femur flexing over the top of the tibia.

The single leg squat is such an amazing exercise and you will see s...

14/10/2026

There is no doubting the health of your immune system is critical to you living a quality life.

Some things may be out of your control or you have little influence over but there are many things you do have influence over, and by placing a stronger focus in these areas you can give your body the best possible chance to build resilience and strength to withstand infections and even overcome illness, injury, and even disease.

Many of these strategies are quite easy to do and cost very little in time and money and are invaluable to your overall health.

Your diet and other lifestyle factors are foundational to immune function. Nutrition may be the most vital component for a healthy immune system

14/10/2026

Here is another core comparison.

The front squat is one of the most challenging exercises to do and any flaw in your technique exposes huge problems.

It is one of the most difficult exercises to breathe in if you complete this with big loads as the demand on your body to stabilize the spine is so immense. I thought the activation may have been a bit higher for this exercise than it was. The ab wheel exercise rated as one of the highest for external and internal oblique activation and this was not a surprise as you can really feel these muscles being torn apart when you do this exercise.

As per the earlier examples I used last week with the deadlift and the plank this once again shows the weakness in use of the lumbar erectors as all of the anterior core muscles are taken to their limit with little activation required from their posterior counterparts. While the front squat rates much lower on peak activation for abdominal control I would still rate it as a better core exercise for its ability to recruit all of the core.

Where I might favour using the rollout is with people who have extension related back pain such as SIJ dysfunction and they need to learn how to control the pelvic tilt. The squat is often too difficult and even painful so I would need to use the rollout first.

Read this article to see more

https://noregretspt.com.au/what-improves-core-strength-the-best-functional-integrated-movement-or-isolation-abdominal-exercise/

14/10/2026

When someone says they have arthritic joint pain you need to be sure what type of arthritis they are referring to as they are not the same.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition of the joints, which over time become painfully inflamed. If you have joint degeneration without pain, the condition is known as osteoarthrosis. Whereas arthritis associated with auto-immune conditions is much different

With both conditions there is deterioration of the joint ‘cartilage’ – a smooth substance that covers bone endings, allowing bones to glide over each other with minimal friction. Cartilage also cushions force as it is transmitted through the joints and when you have used it up, there is no way to create more!

Even though the pain the people with osteoarthritis were feeling was almost identical to what auto-immune conditions feel but the cause of this pain was much different. Also the role of synovial fluid is much different

Synovial fluid is the liquid that fills the empty space within your joints, providing lubrication and support.

With auto-immune conditions the body tends to send excessive amounts of synovial fluid to the joint causing it to swell and become inflamed.

With osteoarthritis it is the exact opposite as there is a decrease in synovial fluid causing the joint to have this feeling of bones rubbing together as seen in the picture below.

Read this article to see more

https://noregretspt.com.au/joint-inflammation-and-chronic-pain-what-you-should-focus-on-instead-of-pain-relief/

13/10/2026

This is a quick look at how to improve your strength after an injury to the shoulder with overhead movements and avoid re-injury. This video also relates to many beginners and those looking to progress to challenging exercises that target the upper traps and deltoids.

There is no doubting that the overhead exercises are the most difficult and also the riskiest exercises to do for the shoulder. There are so many moving parts and the fact that the shoulder is so vulnerable it is easy to see how you can do some serious harm.

Finding exercises that give you the biggest benefit with the least risk is the goal. In the video I only briefly look at a handful of exercises and leave out many of the rehabilitation type exercises assuming you just finished those.

This is a quick look at how to improve your strength after an injur...

13/10/2026

This is one of those tricky questions for the answer is not the same for every person. It all depends on the person as to what may be most suitable.

I used to think that people cooked their food too often and were destroying the enzymes making their meal less nutrient dense and believed that raw foods were the better choice.

However, while there is a loss to some nutrients when cooked, there is also a gain in some other nutrients and more importantly it can be much easier on the digestive system to eat cooked food.

In this article, I will take a look at the pros and cons of eating raw versus cooked to help you determine what works best for you.

While there is a loss to some nutrients when cooked, it can be much easier on the digestive system to eat cooked foods

13/10/2026

There are so many things I have learned over the past 20 years as a trainer and many of the best lessons were from mistakes I made. There are so many things I firmly believed in for years only to completely reverse my thinking years later.

One of the best lessons was with regards to squeezing the glutes hard with strength exercises and even clenching the glutes constantly (also known gripping), which is something I did myself for many years believing I was doing a good thing. As a result I regularly suffered with all types of injuries all caused from my own training, or constant habits that I was not aware of that had become subconscious pain creators.

In the article in the link below I take a look at what is a very common problem to many keen gym person and sporting athletes and how over doing something good can lead to causing problems with how you move.

https://noregretspt.com.au/how-constantly-gripping-your-glutes-and-abs-ruins-your-stability/

12/10/2026

I have never liked the traditional leg extension machine and countless research has shown this to be a terrible way to improve quadriceps strength. The shearing forces placed upon the knee joint is counter-productive to what it is meant to achieve.

However, this version is much different. Instead of trying to annihilate the quadriceps with load it is more concerned with targeting the glutes by applying a lateral resistance with rubber tubing. There is still some quadriceps strength involved but it is minimal in comparison to the demands on the hip.

By using rubber tubing to pull the tibia into external rotation forces the body to react and pull the tibia inwards, which as I explained earlier will increase the VMO activation level.

I have never liked the traditional leg extension machine and countl...

12/10/2026

The biggest mistake many cyclists make is that they are ignorant to the many postural problems and muscle imbalance that their sport can cause.

As the sport is so repetitive and places the body in a poor postural position it has the potential to create long term postural problems that lead to injury and pain. These can easily be avoided by adopting a corrective plan, and the good news is it will actually help you to ride much faster!

Just spending endless hours on the road in the hope that you will get faster is not a well thought out plan. Other sports know of the benefits of strength training and cycling is no different. Even if you are just an amateur and just like to ride with your friends you still need to do some form of strength work or risk developing problems down the track.

Which could eventually lead to no more cycling!

Cycling, like many other endurance events is very repetitive so it can create enormous amount of stress on joints and connective tissue

12/10/2026

I have mostly avoided making videos that claim you need to lift a certain load with various exercises as there are so many variables to consider that can make these targets irrelevant or even risky.

I have always believed it better to compare yourself to yourself and try to better than you were yesterday, last week, last month or last year. As long as you are trying to improve that is what matters.

Having said that I thought for this video I would look at some of the most problematic exercises or skills that I see each week with people I train with in the age group of 50-60.

I myself am 52 years old this year so I fit this category too and there can be a massive difference between people who train and those who don't. Even the people who train but avoid certain exercises there can be a huge difference.

In this video I explain why there are certain skills you must be trying to hold onto now for if you lose it, it is very difficult to get back.

This is another video I have created due to a subscriber suggestion...