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The Bang Personal Training Blog
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Celebrate with us – and on lightness of Movement
Last week, I talked about calm as an essential nutrient.
Start here
Show Up, Be Kind, Do the Work
Finding the right gym environment
ReadHow long does progress take?
Ballpark timelines for skill, strength, and structural change, and why the process matters more than the clock.
ReadOn Not Sucking as a Business
Have you ever looked at someone’s obvious pyramid scheme or hype-based hustle and thought, “Ah, making money could be so much easier – if only I were more…
ReadEverything else
Calm is the essential nutrient
Frantic, agitated energy works for some. It never worked for Geoff, so he built a space that prioritizes calm action instead.
ReadGIGSGO test sessions, opening party, and other new stuff
The move, renos, and painting are done. New 30-minute GIGSGO sessions launch September 4th, and the grand reopening party is September 13th.
ReadThe link between strength and longevity
A study followed 5,500 women for nine years and skipped self-reporting. Higher grip strength meant lower mortality, even without meeting aerobic guidelines.
ReadEnding Protein Confusion
How much protein is actually enough, and why the protein-in-everything trend misses the point.
ReadYour strength isn't shaped like a circle
Most of us can't fit our talents into a spotlight. It's more of a Venn diagram than a circle, and only you can find the centre.
ReadTotally Spacing Out
The move to 91 Walnut Avenue is done. Racks, plates, chaos and all.
ReadFull Send
After 18 years on Queen West, the move to King West is official. As of next Wednesday, a wonderful new location next to Stanley Park.
ReadSome things that work really well
The doing is the fixing. Five things that have worked reliably for people over the years, from food rules to Kurt Vonnegut's uncle Alex.
ReadIs Intensity King?
A quick update:
ReadA Very Big Announcement
Call me Ishmael.
ReadHouses for your strong feet
A continuum from extrinsic to intrinsic support, a shoe guide, and when it's time to ask for clinical help instead.
ReadStrong-ass feet
From never thinking about feet at all to four drills you can practice at home, from someone who just got fitted for orthotics.
ReadEnhanced This!
The Enhanced Games landed with a dull thud. A case for why the basics still take you 85 to 90 percent of the way there.
ReadThe Habit of Feeling Good
Feeling good has more to do with consistency of action than hitting some kind of mental slot machine combo.
ReadA Foundational Belief
Your unique combination of strengths isn't a spotlight. It's a Venn diagram, and the middle bit only shows up in how you move.
ReadHow to add
Michael Pollan's rule is good advice. But who decides how much is too much? A case for thinking like your own mitochondria.
ReadOn Not Sucking as a Business
Have you ever looked at someone’s obvious pyramid scheme or hype-based hustle and thought, “Ah, making money could be so much easier – if only I were more…
ReadWhat to do with uncomfortable situations
A half-asleep shoulder ache and a question worth asking about any pain: what is the shape of this tension?
ReadSitting in the nutrient vat
I used to think that humans should spend our lives in a vat of nutrients. Or at least try to. This idea of being surrounded by nutrient-dense resources…
ReadFeet Squared
As Quentin Tarantino likes to say, let’s focus on the feet.
ReadHow long does progress take?
Ballpark timelines for skill, strength, and structural change, and why the process matters more than the clock.
ReadHow (Not) to Break a Hip
A couple of years back, my uncle hit the ground butt-first. He didn’t slip on ice or crack in two like an oak hit by lightning. No, he went out gloriously…
ReadUn-embodying Stress
It’s all in your head… and the rest of you
ReadShow Up, Be Kind, Do the Work
Finding the right gym environment
ReadFitness News
In fitness news… There’s some new research on HIIT training that confirms what we already know about strength training – that muscle “memory” is a real…
ReadHow to Think About Core Training
Ask most people how to train your core and you’ll either get a laundry list of exercises or hear a line like, “I train my core through heavy squats and…
ReadNew Research on Exercise and Mortality
New research stuff: a big study spanning over 110K healthy people looked at the physical activity practices and mortality over the course of decades.
ReadExercise VS Sport
Exercise isn’t a sport. Well, it certainly doesn’t have to be. There’s certainly a whole world of people competing to be the fittest. Sometimes, this…
ReadEvolutionary Champagne
When I’m feeling particularly stressed – or fatigued by an unending series of of unprecedented events – I have to remind myself about how the fact that…
ReadA physical second half
We put together some of our best personal training advice for you. Ready? Let's go:
ReadIron and the Soul by Henry Rollins
I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.
ReadStaying in your lane: politics and small business
Bang Personal Training has evolved over the years. So has my thinking around what staying in our particular lane means.
ReadHigh-protein diets and you
Let’s dive right in. Protein intake alone does not seem to be effective for increasing strength or muscle size. This is a real bummer for anyone depending…
ReadWhy is exercise good for our mental health?
Exercise can elevate mood. Sometimes in just two or three minutes. The research confirms this – and that exercise is an effective treatment for symptoms…
ReadIt's complicated: sex differences and exercise
One of the most persistent beliefs in human performance is that women lag way behind men when it comes to gaining muscle. But are these hard biological…
ReadThoughts on GLP-1s (like Ozempic)
Ok, onto the drugs!
ReadPacing Yourself: Part II
You know the saying about overestimating what you can do in a year and underestimating what you can do in 10? Here’s something similar: you adapt well to…
ReadTwo Types of Toughness
Back when I was a teenager, before the term “short king” existed, I was just plain short. And skinny. So, when I was with friends, I was typically the…
ReadUn-serious questions
There are a lot of conversations that don’t need to happen — where we would be best-served by going in a different direction. For example, bike lanes: do…
ReadThe Art of Decoupling
Movement, as a skill, is largely about coordination and integration. This goes beyond anatomy and into timing and feel. Great athletes have exceptional…
ReadNew Blood Pressure Standard Just Dropped
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that healthcare is a big part of the Canadian identity. However, our numbers on blood pressure-related heart attacks…
ReadWhen life gives you "limins"
“Liminal” is one of those words that I didn’t learn until I was an adult, like eudaimonia, and dongle. Once liminal was in my craw, though, it stuck. It’s…
ReadUpstream, Downstream
John Snow, a cholera outbreak, and why moving upstream beats willpower every time.
ReadHe Shoots, He Scores
I’m not much a sports guy but, as a Canadian, it’s tough not to be delighted with the results of last night’s hockey game. It’s not so much about the win…
ReadLost and Found Highways
In a talk on creativity and consciousness, the director David Lynch (rest in peace and weirdness), said that “If you have a golf ball-sized consciousness…
ReadYou are an Island... But You're Also the Water
The conversation was so riveting that I had to struggle not to stare. I caught myself and fiddled with my earbuds. I did my best to appear to be doing……
ReadApples to Apples
Three square meals a day vs. intermittent fasting? Which one wins? The answer is going to be really obvious, so let me drag this out for a moment.
ReadA Tip From Performance Pyschology
What’s the first thing you have control over in the day? Whatever that is, that’s where your day begins.
ReadHot Nutrition Action
When it comes to nutrition, what are the things you’re doing best? Here are some categories:
ReadEat When You’re Hungry; Sleep When You’re Tired
In his journals from the 60s (we’ve got a copy in our mini-library), Thich Nhat Hanh imagines enlightenment in simple terms: "I eat when I'm hungry; I…
ReadDefining Optimism
I’ve been experimenting with some new wording around the meaning of optimism that I want to share with you. Try this one on and walk it around the room:
ReadFit Enough for What?
This past week, I witnessed two very different conversations about fitness. One was in real life, one was online. I’ll let you guess which one was which.
ReadV02 Max and Min
Last night, I delivered a talk on healthspan to some tech folks — but not before someone got onstage and spoke breathlessly about immortality in our…
ReadThe Value of Small Things
WHAT GOOD DO SMALL THINGS!?
ReadHome Body
How do you think about movement when you’re back at home and in full relaxation mode? That might not seem like a reasonable question to someone swirled up…
ReadHow to Untangle a Bad Habit
Whenever I start getting into habit design, one of the first questions that comes up is how to break a bad habit. I usually don’t get into it. That’s…
ReadCircles of Nutrition
Before talking about nutrition strategies, it’s useful to ask where they’re supposed to take us. Traditionally, this becomes a conversation about health…
ReadA Yellow Flag for Intermittent Fasting
I don’t know about you but I like hearing stuff that I already agree with. Movies and books written for my worldview? Yes please! A hot take that confirms…
ReadDecoding Zone 2 Cardio
“Healthspan” has entered the common vernacular and I think that’s a good thing. The term has been around for a while but Peter Attia has really…
ReadIt's Not About the Math
Almost a decade ago, I was sitting in a lecture theatre in Virginia. The audience was filled with hyper-educated collegiate strength coaches. In the…
Read9 Tips for Your Next Decade of Training
I had originally titled this as Tips for Training Over 40 but most of this is just good advice for anyone who wants to play the long game of health and…
ReadMindful or Present: What's the Difference?
Mindfulness can be applied to anything where you’re focusing on the task at hand. To eat mindfully, for example, might include thinking about the farmers…
ReadIs this a Go-Through, Go-Around, or Go-Over problem?
At Bang, we have systems for dealing with constraints—but that doesn’t just mean physical ones. After all, pain and injury can be emotional too. It sucks…
ReadThe Truly Hard Stuff
Humans have no real defense for a great story. So, when we begin to explore exercise in any serious way, we have to tread carefully. The allure of fitness…
ReadLeave Something in the Tank
If you want to enjoy continuous progress in your exercise practice, there’s a high-level skill that you need to master. It’s not as granular as technique…
ReadLong-haul Strategies
Did you know that, in Japan, they have vending machines that dispense street justice? I kid, of course. Those were banned in the 80s. However, the impulse…
ReadHow Do We Get Smarter?
Author and investor, Adam Robinson has a lot to say about intelligent thinking but we arrive there via learning not to be stupid [editor’s note: my son…
ReadAll That is Not You
For me, there’s no higher praise than someone bringing their mom in to see me. This happened yesterday and it made my day. A former client and his mom…
ReadNavigating Influence
Let’s examine the continuum of bullshit around influencer-led nutrition media by breaking things down into three categories:
ReadBro Science vs. Science, Bro
Exercise physiology is a young science. A baby! Some of the nuts and bolts understanding we have about how muscles work—stuff that seems absolutely…
ReadLiver King
It’s been a great week for both fitness and schadenfreude. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the Liver King but you’re about to. Brian Johnson lives in…
ReadHow investing applies to working out
Have you ever read The Psychology of Money? It’s much ballyhooed, so I picked it up recently and was surprised at how many of its lessons apply to health…
ReadA Lack of Shade
We inherit structures. Governments and policies. Cities and technologies. Little 18-month-old you didn’t look around and ask, “Are we really legislating…
ReadA Gift for Sisyphus
When do you choose to do very hard things?
ReadCan Movement Be Meditation?
I wish that I could tell you that I was a great meditator. The practice of regulating attention is a real challenge to me. Meditation would be great BUT……
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