Nakul Kumar, PhD

And consistency is what guarantees the chronic application of that stimulus, so as to elicit long-term adaptations.

Now if you need help structuring your training, check out the Un-Trainable programmes.

Un-Trainable Foundations [3-days split]: for beginner-intermediate gym goers who are looking to introduce more stuctured training into their routine.

Un-Trainable Perform [5-day split]: for intermediate-advanced gym goers who are looking to develop the physical qualities driving health and performance.

Pick the programme that's best suited to you.

We'll help you adapt the base programme, taking into account your current schedule, capabilities, preferences and the equipment that you have access to, so as to facilitate consistency.

You can use the link in bio to start your 7-day free trial 🔗

The two weeks I look forward to the most..

Five things to remember..

1. We're in the gym to develop various physical qualities (e.g., strength, RFD, power output), and exercises (compound and isolation) are just tools to do so.

Exercise selection will always come down to individual context e.g., goals, capabilities and preferences.

2. You can use both machines and/or free-weights (Haugen et al., 2023; Heidel et al., 2022).

One isn't more 'functional' than the other.

3. Similar increases in muscle size can be elicited across a spectrum of loads and rep ranges, as long as you're working at a close enough proximity to failure (Carvalho et al., 2022; Lopez et al., 2021).

Increases in strength can also be elicited across a range of loading conditions (Schoenfeld et al., 2021), but are greater in magnitude when using heavier external load ( i.e., > 8RM; Carvalho et al., 2022; Lopez et al., 2021).

4. Low frequency (e.g., 2 per week) would mean higher training volume per session, with longer and potentially more fatiguing sessions, but less days where you have to get to the gym.

When equated for volume, higher frequencies allow for relatively shorter sessions and might elicit comparatively lower levels of within-session fatigue. This could allow for more load and/or better quality of work per session, and potentially greater gains. Higher frequencies might also be better from a skill acquisition standpoint.

Ultimately, the best training frequency will be specific to your context and should allow for consistency.

5. While there is a place for slow lifting tempos in certain contexts (e.g., learning a new movement or rehab), slow eccentric and/or concentric tempos are not superior for strength and/or hypertrophy (Azevedo et al., 2022; Behm et al., 2024; Dermott et al., 2022; Enes et al., 2025; Hermes et al., 2023; Wilk et al., 2021).

In fact, the intent to move fast or explosively is suggested to result in relatively greater improvements in strength, RFD and power output.

Recent literature also makes a case for the utilisation of accelerated eccentrics (Handford et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2025).

But if you want to utilise slow lifting tempos because that's when you feel more in control, go ahead.

Thank you to the Hales for having me! ❤️☀️

Young Athlete - Youth S&C Workshop

If you're an S&C coach or PE teacher working with children recreationally or within a school/competitive sporting environment, this is for you!

Dr Ben Pullen, founder of will be in India in October 2026, and we'll be running a Youth S&C workshop for coaches on the 31st of Oct (Saturday), in Bangalore.

We'll cover topics related to growth and maturation, training responses and overuse injuries, along with a large practical element around creating a coaching environment to keep children engaged while developing various physical qualities and athletic motor skill competencies.

More details coming soon!!

The notion that a coach needs to look a certain way to motivate clients to train, or that it's a reflection of the quality of service they provide, is beyond daft.

And this idea that you have to 'look like someone for whom fitness is a way of life' and/or basically 'inspire' someone to get fit and healthy based on what you look like is a whole other can of worms, particularly in terms of relationship to exercise and body image issues.

But back to motivation, let's start with what it is. In the simplest terms, to be motivated is to be 'moved' or driven to do something towards a goal (Ryan and Deci, 2000).

And it's true, as a coach you do need to foster an environment that can promote an individuals' self-motivation (Ahlberg et al., 2007; Mallet, 2005), but lo and behold, it has nothing to do with how a coach looks.

The self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985) suggests that the regulation of an individual's motivational behaviour (which can range from amotivation, through extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation) is determined by innate basic psychological needs of

• Autonomy: the need to regulate their own actions.

It can be as simple as giving them options for exercises with reasoning/rationale, enabling them to make informed decisions. Or even the use of autoregulation (RIR/RPE) which allows the individual to take ownership and choose what loads to work with.

• Competence: the need to be effective in their actions.

An individual's belief in his/her abilities to successfully complete a task(self-efficacy) enables individuals to demonstrate and reinforce their competence.

One of the most effective ways to establish self-efficacy is mastery of experiences i.e., seeing that one can succeed, fuels the confidence that one can continue to succeed.

This can be facilitated by suitable selection and scaling of tasks, to make them sufficiently challenging and yet not impossible for the individual to successfully complete.

• Relatedness: the need to search and develop connections and interpersonal relations.

Facilitated by conveyance of genuine respect, support, interest and caring, and acknowledgement of the individual's feelings and perspectives.

The menstrual cycle and 'cycle-syncing' is one of the most commonly brought up points, when trying to pitch this idea of women needing a different approach to strength training compared to men.

But there is no evidence to support this claim of cycle-syncing i.e., women needing to change their training based on the hormonal fluctuations during the phases of the menstrual cycle.

In fact, there is no evidence to suggest that women need a different approach to training compared to men, period.

Now of course there are some inherent physiological differences, but the principles of training and the physiological signals e.g., mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle protein synthesis, do not change (Dreyer et al., 2010; Refalo et al., 2025; West et al., 2012).

Women and men seem to exhibit similar relative adaptive responses to resistance training (Grgic et al., 2020; Hawley et al., 2023; Jones et al., 2021; Refalo et al., 2025; Roberts et al., 2020).

These training-related responses are also evident in older adults, with women and men again exhibiting similar relative adaptations (Grgic et al., 2020; Hawley et al., 2023; Jones et al., 2021).

We're in the gym to develop the general physiological qualities that underpin human Performance, Health & Fitness.

Individual context will dictate overall prescription and if any added nuance is needed or which qualities (if any) maybe need a little more focus than the others.

The most potent tools for recovery  💪🏽

PMID: 31288293, 35659079, 36930212

Thanks to the birthday boy for taking the time to model for this post.