It’s no secret that stress is something very real in today’s society. Not only that, but it is usually held at chronically high levels. Whether it be bills, your job, family or another matter, we’ve all felt stressed at some point. There might be some of you wondering, how do I know if I am stressed and what does it do to my body? How is stress related to my physique goals?

In recent years, it has become fairly common for athletes involved in bodybuilding to use the healing peptides BPC-157 and TB-500 to improve their recovery from injuries such as tendonitis and/or muscle tears. These peptides can have significant positive effects on tissue repair, and although many people may use these, most don’t actually know or understand the mechanisms behind how they work.

The fact that creatine can increase training performance, aid recovery and help us in our endeavour to continually add muscle mass is widely accepted and extensively supported by research and evidence. However, it wasn’t until one of my clients asked me “how does creatine work?” that I actually realised that many of us might not know but are curious about the physiology of creatine. Therefore, my aim with this article is to provide a simplified explanation of this process.

Maximum recoverable volume (MRV) and Minimum effective volume (MEV) were relatively new terms for me a couple years ago: although they were concepts I had a basic understanding of, I had never really looked at them in depth. And now, whenever I use those terms with new clients, I am often met with a blank expression. Therefore, the purpose of this article is discussed maximum recoverable volume, minimum effective volume, and how (and why!) you can work this out for your own individual needs

Do you have a burning desire to have big glutes, jacked quads or massive shoulders? You may have thought that to do so, then it would make sense to work the area more, so it gets bigger, right? You might even think that if you aren’t sore the next day then the workout must have been poor?

A deload is simply a break from training or training with reduced volume over a short period of time, such as a week. The aim of a deload is to help reduce fatigue caused from weight training with a high intensity and let your CNS regroup.

This is a really common question, one that I get asked daily by clients. This is because when myself and the team write programs for our clients, in the denoted “rest period” tab I always state that you should rest as required between sets. You might be wondering why I may prescribe this, so let me explain.

Have you ever seen myself or anyone else wear ‘ridiculous’ looking glasses in the evening? Have you always wondered why on earth we would do this, if it’s not to look cool? These glasses are known as blue light blockers. For those of you who’ve never heard of blue light, here’s a brief explanation of what it is and how it works:

Have you ever considered the effect that stress is having on your progress? Did you know that a body in a state of stress is less efficient at burning fat or adding muscle mass? It’s no secret that we live in a society where stress is elevated throughout the day. This can be down to work pressure, bills, family, and day-to-day living. Unfortunately, we’ve come to accept this as the norm – almost to the point where, despite stress levels being high, your average person does very little to try and manage that stress. In fact, most new clients I take on board have no stress management tools in place at all!

Do you train on different days per week and find that your performance during sessions is sometimes poor? Are you strategically having rest days before or after certain sessions Unfortunately, not everyone will have the luxury of training at the same time, or the flexibility of assigning specific workouts to a given day due to work/child commitments. However, for those who can, having set days off can massively improve their progress and physique.

Do you find yourself constantly tired? Does your performance during workouts suffer because of a lack of energy at times. Without a shadow of a doubt, two of the most common things that are overlooked in developing a physique are sleep duration and the quality of that sleep; and this only happens because sleep isn’t “cool”.

Are you constantly tired because you go to bed late? Are you training so much in the gym that you’re always sore when going into your sessions? Tiredness and constant muscle soreness are both indicators of poor recovery – importantly, what many fail to realise is that recovery is absolutely critical to achieving your physique goals.

Are you experiencing frequent cycles or perhaps you have lost your cycle completely (Amenorrhea)? If so, then go speak to your doctor if you haven’t already. ⁣Over the years of working with hundreds of women, I have noticed trends. Specifically, I have observed that the relationship between stress and the menstrual cycle is a delicate one: if stress is high, then cycles can become irregular, frequent or in some cases, cease.