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SBF Coaching That Gets You Fit, Lean & Strong. Guaranteed.

And I have my own private studio, nestled in the heart of Northwood High Street where I transform the lives of out-of-shape parents who want to be able to spend quality time with their kids without th

14/10/2026

Got a bit of knee pain today? Done your back in a bit? Cool. Doesn’t mean you can’t train.

S**t happens. Most of the time it’s not a case of “I’ve got pain, so I can’t train.” It’s about working around it and thinking on your feet. Skipping the gym altogether usually leaves you feeling worse, not better.

This is what I do with clients when squats or lunges are feeling a bit grim but they still wanna do them

First up, foam roller on the quads. It takes the edge off that tight, gunky feeling around the front of the knee and gets you moving a bit easier. Then a few stretches to loosen up the hips.

Then I go straight into the hamstrings. ISO holds and hamstring curls, before any squatting at all. Why? Your hamstrings cross the back of the knee and the hip, so they play a big part in keeping the knee stable and supporting the lower back. Get them working first and you get blood into the area, the knee feels warmer and more “switched on”, and ISO holds in particular are brilliant for calming down achy joints. You’re loading the muscle without much movement, so it’s low risk but still doing a job

After that, some cable reverse squats to groove the pattern with a bit of support, and then the main lifts go at the end. Split squats with a band round the knee, that sort of thing. Squatting with a foam roller on your back on the wall. By then everything’s warm, primed and ready, and the movement just feels smoother.

I’ve been coaching for nearly 17 years and done well over 20,000 sessions, and I see it every week. When clients do this stuff first, the knee-dominant work feels so much better. Less achy, less gunky, and they actually enjoy the session.

Obviously some people have things going on that need a proper look, and that’s a different conversation. But for most people, this works. So instead of writing the session off, try this. Crack on with it.

07/09/2026

I think it’s safe to assume you have one side stronger than the other

When people come in for assessments there’s usually an imbalance somewhere. Split squats are easier on one side than the other and no matter what youve done in the past that one side still lags

Traditionally people will tell you to train the weaker side first with a weight you can lift for your number of reps then do the stronger side second. Matching the first

I’ve always found this pretty dumb because the stronger side doesn’t ever get the required stimulus to get stronger and over time it gets dragged down to the strength of the weaker side

Instead. Go with the stronger side first on these unilateral movements. Then match those reps with the weaker side. You’ll realise you probably won’t hit the required reps but that’s ok. We’re going to do a rest pause set to match those numbers. Here’s what it looks like with a single arm overhead press

Stronger side you get 10 reps with a 15kg
Weaker side you get 6 reps. Rest 15-20s and you get another 3 reps. Rest 15-20s and you finish the last rep

The goal is to rest no more than 15-20s between reps until you hit the matching number of reps

This works so well because you’re pushing both sides. The stronger side still has to work hard and the other side is working like crazy to hit the target. You can do this for a number of different exercises like lunges, split squats, rows, presses, side planks etc

Give this a go if you have a lagging body part. I’ve been doing this for years and it’s worked great for equaling the strength on both sides of my clients 🙏

02/08/2026

If you wake up one day with a tight trap and a sore neck and you’re aiming to train, head to the gym then try this

It’s similar to how you use a foam roller for other parts of your body but the weight and the size of the barbell means it really targets that hard to reach place

Set up a rack just lower than shoulder height and position yourself underneath the barbell, feet square

Drive into the barbell, holding it down with the other side and roll the barbell over the sore area, with deep inhales and exhales

After 15-20 rolls of the barbell over your shoulder you can then start to lift your arms in front and then to the side, like a lateral raise - still aiming to focus on the breathing. 5-10 raises per position should do it. Exhale on the way down

You can also move your head in different positions, left to right or side to side to also dig into those nitty gritty places

It’s a temporary fix, but it certainly helps in the moment. I’ve been doing this for 15+ years as a way to help people still train when they come in with a stiff neck and traps. It works for them and I’m sure it’ll work for you

I generally find upper body movements like presses and rows are doable without issue after about 2-3 mins of this

Give it a go and hope it helps next time you wake up with a stiff neck and traps

02/07/2026

Here’s my client Deena doing a B stance Squat with a 16kg kettlebell

When we first started around 3-4 months ago we were using a 5kg plate to learn how to squat properly and really learn the movement mechanics. Fast forward a couple of months and we’re holding a 16kg whilst working an even harder squat variation. With each one she’s hitting awesome depth to, which is important

Every woman I train wants to get stronger but often wonder how they can progress beyond a goblet squat. Some clients don’t have heavy enough weights, don’t want to use a barbell or simply can’t get into position with a massive dumbbell. This exercise eliminates all of those issues

Deena plays a lot of paddle, and so we include a lot of unilateral movements like this, saying that it’s also good for all of us too

The goal for this one is to keep most of your weight on the front leg, driving off through the full foot and. I like saying an 80/20 split. 80% of your weight on the front leg, and 20% on the back leg

I find unilateral movements like these easier on the back as well, if you suffer from low back pain

You’ll also see Deena hold the kettlebell upside down which is actually really useful if you don’t have the strongest grip. Keeping it upside down allows us to pull the kettlebell close to our chest and is just way easier to hold if you have small hands

If you’re looking for a small tweak to your lower body work, try adding these in

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Katharine House, R/0 32 High Street
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HA61BN

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