I want to tell you a secret! You don’t have to BARBELL Squat… Whilst the squat is a brilliant exercise, performing a full range squat is a complex and technical skill. To hit full depth you need sufficient strength, mobility, and coordination which takes time to develop. Plus, factoring in your own anatomy, goal and […]
Introduction Hands up if you have a client who struggles with their squat depth. All of you would have both of your hands up high! Do your clients need an ass to grass flawless squats? No, most likely not. But being able to help add a range of motion to a squat can be necessary […]
Have you ever hit a strength plateau and just feel forever stuck on an exercise? if so, whilst it’s not desirable, it’s normal to experience performance plateaus at times. Thankfully, savvy program design can help you become unstuck! However, elite coaching and programming can prevent any true plateau from occurring at all. So, today I […]
If you’re hungry to build your ultimate physique, then growing your Lateral Deltoids could be the key! So, should you just do a million Standing DB Lateral Raises to grow your shoulders? Not necessarily… Let’s explore why. Now, the classic Standing DB Lateral Raise is a good exercise and will indeed train your Lateral (or […]
Welcome back to our monster 3-part series on manipulating steps for fat loss! Part 1 focused on why we should manipulate steps when dieting, whilst part 2 focused on when to manipulate steps. Today, we’re going to focus on putting everything together and how to manipulate steps when dieting. This sounds easy enough but from […]
Hello again and let’s dive back into our monster 3-part series on manipulating steps for fat loss! Part 1 focused on why we should manipulate steps when dieting, but today we are going to focus on when to manipulate steps. This sounds simple enough, but when you look closely, you’ll realise you’ve got a few […]
If you want to lose body fat, we should always aim for 10,000 steps per day, right? Wrong! Now, I know 10,000 steps is commonly viewed as a magical number that we all must aim for, and we should always aim for this target too. Yet, when it comes to steps what you may need […]
A massive component that people often don’t think about before or during their personal training certification process is where they will actually work when they are officially a PT. This is a mistake! We always want to be actively looking ahead to some degree when we are working towards a goal. Yes! Get certified, but […]
Plateaus in training are inevitable, sadly. Though, with strategy we can aim to minimise their lengths. At Carroll Performance we are huge fans of utilising periodisation through the manipulation of rep ranges, total sets, rest periods and also training goals such as hypertrophy phases and also neurological / strength phases. A strategy which we have […]
Training with a full range of motion is a method widely accepted these days. But, what does it mean to truly train with a full range of motion? Can a true full range of motion for a muscle be achieved on all exercises? Questions like these are something I look at all the time with […]
Introduction Squats! There is not a more staple exercise than squats when it comes to program design for myself and Glen. At Carroll Performance, we love squats. What makes the squat so enjoyable to program, is that it’s an effective exercise to train the lower body and it is an extremely versatile movement. When people […]
We recently shared why you should warmup in a prior blog post and clarified exactly what the objective should be. In this article, Glen Carroll will dive deeper into the warmup and explore how to warmup before training, plus what you as a coach / trainer should be focusing on with your clients. Start with […]
Do you want to achieve the best results possible with your clients? Well, we hope so if you’re here reading this. This exact conversation is exactly why we created Carroll Performance! Do you want to know the simple reason why so many coaches out there struggle to make a name for themselves through results? Because […]
Most people know that warming up before training can be important and helpful. Yet it’s less common to truly know why we should warmup in the first place, plus how we should truly warmup too. Our co-founder Glen Carroll breaks down the warmup into two separate blog posts. Part 1 here covers why we should […]
If you want to design superior quality training programs and achieve consistently superior results, you must respect and abide by a few key training principles. We covered 3 of those principles in the previous blog by Glen Carroll and here we’ll cover 3 more, so let’s get to it! #1 – VARIATION Training variation is […]
If you want to design superior quality training programs and achieve consistently superior results, you must respect and abide by a few key training principles. We’ll cover 3 of those principles in this blog by Glen Carroll and 3 more in the next blog, so stay tuned! These principles are essential to understand, and they […]
Your training split will be an integral component of your program design. The training split can be used intelligently to allow a client to perform at a very high level. Likewise, training splits can be poorly utilised which can impact recovery after sessions and performance in future sessions. All in all, basics win out. The […]
When you hear “drop set” what do you think? Most likely you would first think about the classic style of drop set. This involves you performing a standard working set until intra set fatigue onset forces you to end the working set. Yet with a drop set you are able to extend the set and […]
Understanding ‘resistance profiles’ is a key component of comprehending program design. Program design is not just sets and reps, but also exercise selection. Why do we choose and program specific exercises? Is it good enough just to choose an exercise that trains a certain muscle? What if we are choosing numerous exercises for the same […]
When designing training programs, we can strategically vary the nature of the training session by simply altering how we prescribe our sets. This can have key ramifications in our program design and impact both the feel and outcomes of the training session itself. The most common and classic mode of set prescription is to prescribe […]
Many people want to become a Personal Trainer (PT) and the idea sounds very attractive at first! Being a PT can allow you to hang out in the gym all day, talk about the things you love, help others, and potentially be your own boss and set your own hours. This all sounds great! Yet […]
When it comes to Program Design for fat loss, there are many ways we can approach it! Think about when you’re at the gym or talking to someone from the general population. When it comes to fat loss program design, they’ll say something along the lines of: “Do high reps when you want fat loss […]
If your goal is to create superior training programs and achieve greater results, then I have a key piece of advice for you. You want to think harder about one key factor which is commonly overlooked or not even thought about at all. So, what is it? Synergy! Synergy is defined as “the combined power […]
The fitness industry is ever-evolving. Having entered into this career in 2007, I have seen the industry change rapidly while also witnessing many coaches come and go. The turnover rate of personal trainers is honestly mind blowing!. Up to 90% of personal trainers quit within their first few years. Yes, I said 90%. I want […]
Squats are my favourite exercise to program for clients! There are many variations and different tempos we can use, and the squat is an exercise we can train quite frequently. I have been fortunate to train many great lifters over the years, and a big highlight has been the big squat numbers they have achieved. […]
It’s really common to have muscle groups which are less developed than others. Unfortunately, it’s often the muscles we most want to grow the most that are the areas we struggle with. I guess we really can’t have it all hey? The amount of times I am messaged by women, something along the lines of […]
One of the most time efficient ways to train is through the use of supersets. Most people struggle to have enough time in the gym – I think we can all relate to that feeling! It is hard to get the amount of work you want in the 45-60 minutes you have for a session. […]
