This person is the single most counter-productive figure in the fitness industry. It could be a coach who claims to cater to entrepreneurs, a specific gender or men over 40. There are biological differences between men and women that need accounting for while training and eating. But does an entrepreneur really need a different exercis...

There is a profound truth in this. How a bathroom is maintained reflects a great deal about the business. One of my greatest regrets is the fact that our restroom cannot accommodate a nice shower area, changing area or expand in any way. Limitations of our space. A pressure pump, toilet seats, new taps can't fix the space constraint. T...

The Japanese consumer culture never ceases to amaze me. I love Sori Yanagi cutlery. Japanese stainless steel cutlery has a subtle matte polish and the edges are soft. It speaks to a certain craftsmanship and thought behind the making of the die used to make the vessel. The pour from the a Sori Yanagi bowl is precise and directed. Same ...

Motivation Watching folks doing things you’ll never do or better yet hope to do. Watching them do those things makes you try or try harder. If you need to watch this everyday or even every week, it might help to revisit why you really want to train or why your training choices or environment is not motivation enough. Explainers Content...

Our online service is turning five years old in a couple of weeks. We sat on the fence for the longest time when it came to online coaching. Call it inertia. Or just a reluctance to figure out how to coach online. Covid forced us to get our crap together and coach online. Or the gym would die. And it saved us. And then some. I try to t...

Squatting is one of those almost everyone needs to be doing. And there are zillion ways to squat: * Single or double leg * Jumps, isos, eccentrics or the whole rep * Weight vest, kettlebell, barbell, trapbar, tbell, tribell, Center mass bell or chains * Ladder, landmine, belt, hack, pendulum or swing * Supported or freestanding That’s ...

I have no background in design and my drawing teacher in 3rd grade asked me to quit after one lesson. I never tried again :D But to take our ideas and make it into reality I need lots of help. Enter Hari who owns and runs one of the best laser cutting and press brake workshops in town. He is very patient too. He takes my ideas and make...

How well are you applying what you think you know or the content you’ve been exposed to that you. Over the last decade, here are concepts that are recognised as commonplace and a necessity for quality of life: 1. Compound lifts 2. Resistance training 3. Calorie awareness 4. Protein intake 5. Sleep hygiene 6. Training to improve your VO...

Here’s an area that was in need of improvement so we attacked it. The padding we use on our ladder squat machine. The padding on our benches, split squat stands. All needed an upgrade. It’s really hard to get foam right. There’s 100’s of compounds out there. And companies rarely talk about what they use. It’s proprietary this or patent...

The fact that world protein day falls on my daughters birthday made me chuckle. So much cake, so few eggs and dairy on the day to celebrate protein intake. Here’s my favourite quote about protein: I tell my grad students that we can put a man on the moon, but we still can’t come to a consensus of how much protein to give him here on ea...

The hardest game to play is to remind oneself that staying lean, packing on muscle and having good body composition matters. Now for some folks a combination of traits, habits and preferences helps with maintaining good body composition and a number on the weighing scale that coincides with healthy joints and the ability to move well. ...

I first heard this idea of succor and comfort from beliefs being expounded upon by Lee Kuan Yew. I misheard it as sucker comfort. We believe in silly things simply because it helps us make sense of things as they are. Everyone has these beliefs. Be it for health, wealth, work, personal relations, accidents, good luck, misfortune or any...

This might apply to other spheres too. Say website design, restaurants, cars, bikes. Why do people like a service ? I used to think it’s pragmatic programming, picking the right exercises,sticking to the science and being punctual. But with every passing year, I am beginning to think body language, personality and how you communicate t...

Your BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the calories you require in a day sans any activity. It’s a starting point for the calories you need to survive in a day. Eating less than this is not advisable in the long haul since it is bad for your health. The calorie requirement is more contingent on how much body fat you are carrying rather and...

We have 2 coaches handle groups of 10-20 people. Multiple times a day for an hour each time. A common question: How do we create an individualised program for each and every client? We don’t. We have goals for every client. 12-16 quality sets of squatting. 12-14 quality sets of pushing. 12-14 quality sets of pulling. 12 sets glute ham/...

The more moral constraints, health restrictions or calorie restriction you require (let’s face it, most of us do), the more you need to rely on processed foods to get all the nutrients you need without eating too much or spending too much. When I say processing, it’s not Cheetos, Lotus Biscoff and flavoured milk Sensible processing cou...

The single most complicated thing that I am uncertain any study can fully capture is the client or patients attitude to pain, movement and general demeanour. And how this affects pain, rehabilitation and training outcomes. Many a inept plan have been salvaged by a cheery, optimistic client with a terrific attitude. And let’s hypothetic...

There is this really silly idea and it is quite popular: Indians have a higher tolerance and better immunity against water-borne diseases and pollution because we are dosed against it in the cesspools of pollution and filth we call cities. But this embarrassing, self-bestowed badge of honour is a double edged sword. If you keep exposin...

One could make a good case for certain pieces of gym equipment being worthy of applause as works of art or industrial design. But you rarely hear of gym equipment as being in the league of a well appreciated or admired bag, car, bike or wallet. But a few pieces readily stand out in my mind: The Watsons Dumbbells Kabuki’s transformer ba...

Inflammation is real. The best way to visualise it is as one of the many steps the body uses to let different organs and systems communicate with each other. So let’s establish that there is good and necessary inflammation that is a necessity to fight infections, heal tissue, digest food and constantly deal with the stream of pathogens...

I’ve always struggled to articulate why I feel like I don’t operate in the same industry as Cult, Golds Gym,24/7, Anytime Fitness or any other gym that offers memberships to use their space and maybe seek out a coach. I’ve tried to articulate why coaching and community are how we are different. Even our distinct outdoor setting and equ...

A young lifter tragically died. She died when a barbell rolled over her neck as she fell. This killed her as it broke her neck and severed her spine. She slipped while walking into a rack position after unracking a loaded barbell. The pins on the squat rack were spaced too far apart. She did not have a reasonable position to unrack fro...

Before a client signs up, everything they hear about what it is like to train with you, the experience, the results and of course how competent you are at your job. When they sign up, they need to understand why you are worth their time and premium. This calls for a great deal of clarity on the coaches end. Mainly that they are no buyi...

We made a rig to do push ups, pull ups and isometric work. We want to run a class without compromising on exercise selection. What does that mean? The strength level of the average trainee at our gym is highly variable. You have folks who have never done a single push up in their lives working towards one. You also have people who are ...

I’ve said this before and it bears repeating. Burning calories is least useful way to measure why any activity is useful. By extension why muscle is worth working towards is not measured by calories muscle spends while resting. But by a measure of how useful is the adaptation. Muscles contract and produce force. That’s the simple reaso...

We underestimate the power of a transaction to shape our store shelves and menu cards. Except the foodpharmers alarmist take on everything. Companies really will sell you anything. So long as it is legal in the bare minimum sense of the word. If you demand it. Demand really shapes supply. Look at the number of companies selling the sam...

You don't matter That says it all. How we feel about public spaces. How we feel about the personal safety about our loved ones and ourselves. And how little say or control we have over those things. If you have a rundown road, broken streetlight, clogged storm drain and no sewer line. The only way to get any public amenities or attenti...

The push up and pull up rig is versatile. And it is intricate too. Here’s the team it took to make it happen: 4 welders in one workshop 2 lathe workers 1 CNC workshop 1 scrapyard 2 steel suppliers 1 supplier of nuts and bolts 1 supplier of stainless steel components And here are all the different sizes of parts used: 60mm by 51 mm pipe...

“We don’t want to make a book that looks like it was made in 1935, we want to make a book the way they made the book in 1935,” Coudal says. “That’s a real distinction. we’re not trying to be retro; we’re trying to reproduce previous techniques because we like the results these techniques came up with.” Jim Coudal The fact that we make ...

How many people were part of the study? If the study is based on other studies, how big were the groups studied in those. Was the information collected reliable? Often studies need people to reliably recall how much they ate, what foods they ate and when they ate. Is the study saying X causes Y. Or that we noticed that whenever X is th...