Natural Gains

Making the pullover just that 🤏🏽 bit better

For an impressive wide back, pullover’s of some kind should be in your routine.

Dorian Yates style under grips are my fave but this is the best best option

By adding an anchor in you are able to plant yourself more firmly and generate more force taking your heavier sets further

Credit for this one goes to big Phil from stag in krakow. What a session that was

Happy gaining

The Fasting Series - Eat the correct foods to avoid ruining the health benefits of your fast.

You need to prioritise getting your protein in. You can benefit massively from the reduction in insulin sensitivity, and gut health improvements during a fasted period by not taking in fried foods and ultra processed foods upon breaking your fast.

Prioritise opening your fast with electrolytes, plenty of water, 1-3 dates, and then immediately move into high protein dishes. Your typical meats like chicken, beef, eggs, fish are the best options here

Make sure you utilise the discipline of the fast to make informed sensible choices for the improvement of your health

The Fasting Series - Training Times

For optimal strength and muscle maintenance you’ll want to be training after you break fast around 90mins or so after Iftar, this will be by far the best opportunity for you to lift at your best

If your main concern this month is fat loss, before breaking fast is also an option - but be aware you will be at your most fragile as you are deep jnto the fast here, dehydration and fatigue will be at its highest so keep the training lighter in intensity and the bpm low.

The other two training windows really are dependant on your lifestyle and other commitments.

Just before sehri/suhoor is an option, but like I said in the video, sleep deprivation is not what we are after here so limit this unless your on a night shift or can sleep during the day

Training throughout the day in a fasted state is another option and quite often used by many especially with work and other commitments being present. Again just make sure you’re sensible with your work rate here.

The Fasting Series - Training Intensity

During this month of Ramadan I would highly suggest you train at 1-2 reps in reserve across the board, overall intensity should drop to around 60-70%

If you are training in a fasted state I would also suggest not letting your heart rate increase excessively

Thjs is a month to maintain muscle & strength and prioritise recovery

The Fasting Series

Training volume, if you are going to train during Ramadan I would suggest you drop your sets down to around 60% to maintain your muscle mass & strength without putting yourself at risk of injury

During this time I will be personally taking 14 days off lifting to let my body heal completely. This will also give me time to finally focus on stretching, mobility and recovery.

Since I started lifting at 18 I’ve not taken more than 2 days off ever so this will be quite a welcome rest, but also a hard challenge for me mentally to step away from the gym for such a long period of time

I’m recommending to all of my clients that this time is about maintenance of muscle, fat loss, healing and recovery. Try not to push things too hard when food and water is limited to protect yourself from unnecessary injury

If you are adhering to intermittent fasting you can still train at maximum intensity given that you have adequate hydration and electrolytes present in your system

I would suggest making sure you time your training window as close to breakfast as possible to give your body the fuel it needs to recover as soon as possible

Over the next 30 days I’ll be discussing the topic of Ramadan, fasting, restrictions around eating windows and how these implications affect your health and fitness

Touching on the first topic today of mindset. The ability to say no and have a disciplined eating windows is often beneficial to overall calorie intake, blood glucose levels and the body’s ability to repair when in a state of fasting.

Feel free to ask any questions as the series continues as I will be trying to answer and dive into as many subjects relating to fasting as possible

150KG x 8 - Barbell touch & go deadlift

Weighing in at an all time low of 72.5kg this is well over double her bodyweight for reps. This is a lifetime PB for

Unbelievable performance, we are pushing things as hard as possible before Ramadan, in which we will have a month to maintain and heal before chasing down our final goals for this summer

NG Gym tour

Genuinely, if I lived locally this would be my go to gym. As you can see here from this walk through with & the gym is professional, clean, luxury and a pleasure to train at

Would highly recommend coming here if you’re local to Ascot.

Rating this a solid 9/10, with scope to be one of the best in the area once the mechanics on some of the machines are precision 🫱🏽‍🫲🏾

How to perform the banded pull up

Tip 1 : experience with band strength and height to suit your strength level, ideally the tension has you failing at the 6-15 rep range

Tip 2 : have a suitable step/ bench to make starting the movement safe and easy

Tip 3 : play around with hand placement until you find the one which suits your biomechanics best

Tip 4 : don’t cheat the movement or bounce, logbook progression is best tracked when your utilising full range of motion reps & you can keep the variables the same

Hope this video helps, any questions feel free to comment below and I’ll answer them for you

Two pieces of advice to elevate your 2026

🛌 sleep. 7-8hrs per day, work backwards and make this a non negotiable. I promise you having a sleep routine and good sleep hygiene will transform your mood AND health

📱- calm down with the phone usage. Have sets times for productivity and entertainment. Procrastination is killing your ability to break away from the average massages.

This is advice I utilise myself and for athletes rolling into the new year after the festive break.

Discipline is what will get you to your goal in 2026.

Utilise new years motivation to solidify long lasting habits.