The main benefits to dynamic stretching are;

1. Warming up muscles. 
You should already be warm, because your warm up (normally cardio based) should be before your dynamic stretches. The purpose of the dynamic stretches is not only to further warm up your body, but more specifically, warm up the muscles and joints you are planning to use in your main workout. Whether you are playing football, preparing for chest day or doing a circuit, warming up those muscles (usually by mimicking movements you will be doing but body weight), prepares your muscles and therefore prevents injury.

2. Improving range of motion (ROM).
ROM is very important when it comes to training, no matter what type of training you are doing. ROM is also important for everyday life and prevents arthritis and other bone/joint related diseases because you are using the full potential of your joints. By staying active, your body will not forget about them and keep the cells within and around them 'well oiled'. Dynamic stretching helps improve this ROM by increasing mobility in joints and flexibility in muscles.

3. Helping your performance. 
This increase in ROM and flexibility achieved through dynamic stretches, allows the body to perform better by increasing muscle engagement for each exercise and you know what this means... all types of gains (flexibility, strength, power and therefore, aesthetic as well).

I know what you are thinking, 'Why haven't I been stretching dynamically before my workout?'

My response to this is don't worry, now you know and now you can use dynamic stretches to better your workouts.

In order for you to start incorporating dynamic stretches into your workouts, I will list my favourite dynamic stretches;

1. Head rolls - For the traps and neck.
2. Arm circles - For the shoulders, chest and back.
3. Kneeling thread through - For the shoulders and back. 
4. Walking lunges - For the legs and glutes.
5. Frankenstein stretch - For the legs and glutes.
6. Alternate side lunges - For the adductors. 
7. Squat to calf raise - For the legs, glutes and calves.
8. Butt kicks - For the legs. 
9. Side leans - For the back and abs.
10. Cat cow stretch - For the back. 
11. Lateral leg swings - For the adductors.
12. Arm swings - For the back, chest and biceps. 
13. Resistance band circles - For the shoulders, back, chest and arms. 
14. Downward dog to cobra stretch - For the whole body.
15. Spinal rotation - For the torso and spine.
16. Alternating tricep stretch - For the triceps.
17. Inchworms - For the whole body.
18. Dynamic pigeon - For the hips and glutes.
19. Leg crossovers - for the spine and lower back.
20. Step back and reach - For the lower back and abs.

Let me know in the comments if I missed any of your favourites out!

Now onto some of my key points on dynamic stretching;

- Only body weight when doing dynamic stretching and as always, keep the breathing controlled and consistent, just like in your main workout.

- Remember, just like static stretching, the further you get in the reps, the further you should get into your range of motion. DO NOT go into your maximum range of motion in the first rep, as it can be too much for that muscle and in the worst case, can cause an injury.

- Just like you ROM, you should slowly increase your speed as you go through the reps.

- I recommend 10-12 reps (more if you are feeling particularly tight in a certain muscle/joint) of each stretch and just 1 set is enough.

- Avoid bouncing (by bouncing you do not get to reap the full benefits of improved ROM). The movements should be fluid and in some cases mirror your intended exercise.

And don't worry, for all of you who want to know how you can increase your gains even more through static stretching (and you can) I  have already covered that in my 'The importance of static stretching' blog post, if you haven't already had a read, check it out for some great information and some of my favourite static stretches.

Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments and please share to your friends and family!

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In this blog post I will be covering common postural problems causes and solutions but let me start off by going into a bit more detail about the spine and core.

​Our spine is a collection of many bones stacked up with cartilage in between, The 'S' shaped spine was no accident, it has curves for a reason. They allow our body to maintain balance and move in many different directions, while distributing weight evenly. However, the spine does have help with this stabilization and that's when the core comes in.

The core, often mistaken as another name for our abdominals, is the collection of muscles surrounding the spine. Core muscles include rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, Gluteal muscles, multifidus, pelvic floor muscles, erector spinae, internal and external oblique and many more. In simple terms, the core are the muscles in our trunk area.

Before we look analyse different postural problems, lets take go into how to tell wether you have a postural problem. 

The best way to tell if your posture is good, is to stand with your back against a wall and take a picture or get someone else to. When you look at this picture you should be able to see whether you body is inline (Head should be against the wall when body is for example). P.S. It always helps to get a second opinion, whether that is from a friend or a google search away (trustworthy websites only). 

Now, lets look into some common postural problems;

1. Lumbar lordosis 
​As mentioned before, our core strength plays a very important role in posture. If your core muscles are 'stretched' in a certain area, other areas will overcompensate and this leads to common postural habits. For example, lumbar lordosis is often caused by lack of abdominal activation (or can cause this - but lets save that for another day). The lack of activation in the abdominals often leads to the lower back overcompensating which leads to what we call lumbar (curvature of spine in the lower back region) lordosis (excessive inward curvature of the spine). 
This can cause a range of different problems, from lower back issues (spinal/musculature) and sciatica - irritation of the sciatic nerve (nerve that runs through the glutes down the leg to the foot).

Lack of activation can be caused by many things and the main thing is habit. Habits play a great role in our lives especially when it comes to posture. So being conscious of our habits everyday
from when we are standing to sitting or to picking stuff up is very important.

So how do we fix this?

I very much support the idea that posture is all about habit, however, there are of course exercises and stretches to help fix postural problems, especially long term postural problems, as they are harder to fix purely with habitual changes. As lumbar lordosis normally comes with anterior tilt of the pelvis, one great routine to do is tilts of the pelvis. Going from an extreme anterior tilt of the pelvis to an extreme posterior tilt of the pelvis. This movement will help you better find your neutral pelvic position and will lead to an easier postural transisition.

A second thing I recommend doing is strengthening the core muscles, and no, this doesn't mean doing 200 crunches a day. As I mentioned before, the core isn't just the abdominals, although they are important, Strengthening the core means everything from the abdominals to the pelvic floor. 

How do we strengthen all of these muscles? 

Below i'm going to list some great exercises to cover different areas of the trunk;

1. Pavlov press (great for training the trunk through anti rotation)
2. Superman on stability ball 
3. Hollow hold 
4. Planks

All the exercises above not only strengthen individual muscles of the trunk but also train the trunk as one, because training the muscles to work together, which is what they should be doing in day to day life is as important. 

A third thing I recommend doing is stretching the surrounding muscles. I am a big advocate for stretching everyday, you might know this is you have read my 'The importance of static stretching' blog post and if you haven't I will put the link HERE for you to go and have a read :)

Muscles like the glutes and the quads can pull on the pelvis and cause the anterior tilt, so stretching it can help reverse the tilt and definitely treat the symptoms at the same time. 

Below I will list some great stretches;

1. Standing quad stretch 
2. Seated hamstring stretch 1, 2 & 3
3. Pigeon stretch (Glutes)                                                                                                                       
4. Pretzel stretch (Glutes)                                                                                                                           
5. Calve stretch                                                                                                                                           
​6. Open legs adductor stretch.

Remember, you should be performing developmental stretches (30 second hold +) in order to increase he flexibility of the muscle. Again, this is all covered in my previous blog post. 

The aim is to perform all 3 of these routines minimum 4 times a week (do not all have to be the same day). Start of with a few reps/rounds and build it up. Remember consistency is key, very cliche but very important rule that I stick by. After a few months and probably even a few weeks, you will notice a difference.
                                                                                                                                                                      2. Thoracic kyphosis 
Thoracic kyphosis, commonly known as a 'hunchback' can be caused by many things. One main cause of thoracic kyphosis is the imbalance of muscles. Tight pectoral muscles and under trained, lengthened trapezius and rhomboid muscles (mid to upper back muscles) can cause the body to go into a hunched position. Now the cause of this imbalance can be many things including, the job role, A desk job can mean hunched over a computer, constantly typing and staring at a screen, which can lead to many problems for the body. Another cause could be imbalance in your training regime, too many chest days and not enough back days? Too much anterior deltoid and not enough posterior deltoid? 

So how do we fix this? 

Firstly, stretching the chest: to name a few parallel arm chest stretch (pec minor and major), TRX chest stretch and partner assisted chest stretch.

Secondly, strengthen the back*: to name a few great back exercises: lat pull down, rows on bench, superman, TRX row, bat wing. For more information on how to strengthen check out my blog post 'Important muscles that are often neglected'.

Finally, stretching at work: to name a few, shoulder circles, overhead reaches, behind the back chest stretch, torso twist, touch your toes for your hamstrings, head rolls for your neck, ear to shoulder for the traps. I am going to create a separate blog post and Instagram/Facebook post with more great stretches and pictures/videos to go with it. (I will provide the link when its up).

*One point i would like to make is that the strengthening part of the exercise won't play that big a part in the correction, its more the form of the exercises you are performing. this is because you are actively keeping your back straight and shoulders back (or should be). 

3. Rounded shoulders
Rounded shoulders is similar and often mistaken for thoracic kyphosis. It is not rare to see both of these postural problems together as the regions they affect are close and so one can easily affect the other. Due to tight anterior deltoids and pec minor and lengthened rear deltoids the shoulders round over, causing a curved look. Similar to thoracic kyphosis it is often caused by being in a seated position for much of the day, as well as bad posture itself. 

How do we fix this?

Firstly, we could stretch the chest muscles: Standing chest stretch, wall pec minor stretch, wall pec major stretch and PNF chest stretch are my favourite stretches for the chest. You want to aim to stretch the chest minimum once a day. Basically, the more often you stretch, the better and quicker you will see results. Again, make sure you hold them stretches for 30+ secs to develop the muscles flexibility (which is what we need to do).

Secondly, we could strengthen the posterior deltiods with exercises like prone flys (can be performed on or off a bench, with dumbbells or cable), face pulls, banded pulls or flapping (the latter two for those who have no access to weights). I would recommend performing these exercises minimum twice a week and 3-5 sets with 15-20 reps. If you are a beginner start off low for everything and build it up as you go along. In regards to what weight to use, it will depend on you. The muscles that are used for these exercises are not large muscles anyway, so you won't be using a heavy weight, but again, if you are unsure, start off light (1 or 2 kg is what I mean by light) and build it up. If you have any questions please leave a comment below.

Finally, I have touched up on habit being a major part of posture and rounded shoulders could be made worse with lack of effort and so it can be made better with conscious effort.

4. Forward neck 
Forward neck sometimes called forward head posture is yet another postural problem often caused by technology, but this time it can include being on your phone (text neck) or the computer. Again it can come hand in hand with thoracic kyphosis or rounded shoulders as mentioned before. This postural problem, although it doesn't seem bad when not an extreme version can be seen as the worst one and can cause many other problems if left untreated including neck pain, headaches and nerve impingement. This is because the average head weights about 10-11 pounds (4.5-5 kg) and that is a lot of pressure on the neck that is not properly supported by the spine, trunk and legs ETC. 

Please see the image to the left for 'forward neck posture test'!

How do we fix this?

My main solution for this is habit and a great way to support this is by performing 'chin tucks'. This will help you find your neutral neck position. 

Another solution is stretching the upper traps and the neck (neck flexion and suboccipital release). Try these out and let me know what you think, I find that even people without forward neck find these stretches very relieving. 

For both of these solutions, once a day is my minimum recommendation. The more the better, but start off with once so its sustainable and consistent and build it up as you go along.

Please be aware that any supports you use, whether recommended by a doctor or not is SHORT TERM and should not be used long term as it can lead to you relying on the product and can cause further problems. This includes, mouth guards for clenches such as myself, orthotic insoles for those with flat feet or any new expensive strappy product designed to keep your body in the right position. Remember that your body is strong and resilient and you can train it (to an extent of course). We are creatures of habit, so our habits make up our life. 

That's all or now, any questions please leave a comment of your thoughts and questions, and feel free to share. Thank you for reading. For now, any questions please leave a comment of your thoughts and questions, and feel free to share. Thank you for reading. 

 1. Rhomboids 

The rhomboid muscles are located in the middle of your upper back and are deep to the trapezius muscles. There are two rhomboid muscles, rhomboid major and rhomboid minor.

These muscles, although very small compared to other upper back muscles, play a very important job in your posture. Their function is to retract the shoulder blade. If these muscles are strong, they will prevent thoracic kyphosis that comes along with this technology obsessed world... but that is another discussion entirely.

A great exercise for your rhomboids is the bat wing:

Laying on your stomach on a bench, arms extended with selected dumbbells, bring the dumbbells up to your chest so your elbows come up and from the side look like bat wings, then slowly lower and repeat for your desired reps.

A great static stretch for the rhomboids (because we all know how important stretching is after my blog post 'The importance of static stretching') is the double elbow grip rhomboid stretch. 

How to perform:

•  Grab opposite elbows with your hands, so your arms are in a box position. 
•  Pull your elbows forward, feeling your shoulder blades pull apart and a stretch in the upper back (rhomboids), hold for desired time.

2. Lower back

While we are on the subject of the back, lets discuss the lower back as this is anther muscle that is often neglected.

So what do our lower back muscles consist of? The 3 main muscles are:

1. Erector spinae.
2. Quadratus lumborum (QL)
3. External and interal oblique.

Our lower back is very important as its a core muscle and core muscles help keep your body stable and posture correct. Its function is to bend, rotate and extend the waist.

A great exercise for the lower back is the superman. There are a few different ways of performing this exercise, one is by laying on the floor, just body weight, playing around with how long you hold it for, another is doing it on a stability ball, this will target the core as well as the lower back, again body weight and changing it up with lengths of holds and reps. Again you can use this exercise in your back day, in a circuit and even can include it in a home workout because you don't need equipment for it.

A great static stretch for the lower back is the seated ear to knee stretch (pictured):

• Sitting down with one leg straight and one crossed, pointing your ear towards your knee on the straight leg (not actually aiming to get your ear to your knee, just as close to parallel).
• Bring you arm (same side as the bent knee) over your head, in a curled position.
• Your other arm (on the side of the straight leg can be used to stabilize yourself while holding this stretch).
• Feel a stretch in the lower back (same side as the bent leg), hold for desired time and repeat on the other side.

3. Glute medius

The glute medius muscles are located at the top part of your bum on the outer regions, it is the second biggest glute muscle and helps with abduction of the hip. A lot of the time the glute medius is weak and this can cause other issues in the body such as knee problems and muscle tightness.

A great exercise for the glute medius is side lying clam, this can be performed with a resistance band (placed above the knees) or body weight. Lying on your side, knees slightly bent and with legs and feet together. Open up your legs until you feel your upper body moving to help, once open you will notice the clam like shape of your legs. Then reverse this. Try and keep the movement slow and controlled.

A great static stretch for the glute medius is the pigeon:

• Sitting down on a mat .
• Bring one knee forward up to the edge of the mat.
• Stretch the other leg back behind you.
• Align the foot of the bent leg with your knee (they should be perpendicular to the leg stretched behind you)
• Lean forward if you can.

4. Tibialis anterior

The tibilais anterior is located in front of the shinbone, its function is upward flexion of the feet, extension of the toes and inversion of the ankle.

A great exercise for the tibialis anterior can be performed using the resistance band:

One end of the resistance band tied to a sturdy object close to the floor and the other end around one of your feet, close to your toes. Sit facing the object, but far enough that the band is in tension, with your toes pointing forward. flex your ankle to stretch the band more and then return to the starting position. Repeat for desired reps and swap feet.

A great static stretch is the standing anterior tibialis shin stretch.

• Standing up, with both knees slightly bent.
• One of your feet fully on the ground and the top of the other foot touching the floor, (this will be the leg you are stretching).
• Put the stretching leg forward and feel the stretch from the foot through to you shin, hold for desired length and repeat on other foot

5. Rear deltoid

The rear deltoid refers to the rear-head of the three-headed deltoid muscle. its function is to move the shoulder into horizontal abduction. The reason why this muscle is on my list is because again it is a muscle that helps to maintain correct posture (key theme in my post), by helping reduce the 'rounded shoulder' look in particular. By strengthening the rear deltoids you pull your shoulders back, meaning you will look less hunched over. This is important as in my experience this is one of the causes for a hunched over posture which can lead to further issues such as shoulder injuries due to posture being off balance.

A great exercise for the rear deltoids is reverse dumbbell flyes. You can do this exercise using a range of different resistance and equipment, like the cable, on a bench and more. A great static stretch for the rear deltiods is the posterior shoulder stretch. 

So there is the list of my 5 muscles I think are most often left out of workouts. Let me know in the comments if you think I have left any muscles out or if you agree with the 5 I have chosen and feel free to share. 





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First of all let me begin with why you shouldn't be using a waist trainer.

Everyone has a natural waist shape for a reason. You have organs inside your body that are holding the required space needed to operate efficiently. So by wearing a waist trainer and forcing your waist smaller, you are essentially messing with you organs. Long term effects include unhealthy movement of organs, which can lead to a number of different problems. Therefore, you cannot change the shape of your waist in a healthy way.

Please note that if you do carry a little extra weight, especially in the mid section, then this may not be your natural waist shape. If you lose some fat (healthy amount for your body) and tone up then you will notice your shape change. It is therefore best to try a become a little more active and maybe make your meals a little healthier rather than wasting your money on a waist trainer.

If you do need help with training or food please have a look at what I offer or contact me for advice. 

Its important that I cover the reason why people on social media, even those who have a lot of knowledge and experience in the fitness industry, promote waist trainers... because of MONEY! These people with tonnes of followers get paid to promote products and this includes waist trainers and skinny teas (which also do not work)!

Anyway now lets move on to the main topic, how to make your waist 'appear' smaller. The answer is very simple, make you lats, teres major and minor bigger! 

How to make your lats bigger:
(These are my favourite lat exercises).

1. Lat pull down.

2. Pull ups. (can be normal, machine/band assisted or negatives)

3. Wide grip pull ups. (can be normal, machine/band assisted or negatives)

4. Close front grip lat pull down.

5.Single arm lat pull down.

6. Straight arm pull down.

Please note that by 'make your lats bigger' it doesn't mean bulky or 'man-like', you can build bigger lats and still look like a lady or just toned.

Its important to train every part of your body no matter what your goal, you need to keep it balanced - I will go more into this in another post.

Please feel free to print, give them a go, share and comment your thoughts.

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Let me start by saying everyone's body is different and this is why our bodies react differently to exercises. This is partly due to things like body composition, muscle type, muscle mass ETC. This is a good thing to keep in mind when you come across any fitness related issue.

Here are two of my favourite glute activation exercises: 

Glute maximus activation exercise: Prone leg lifts.

Teaching points:

1. Lying face down on a bench, with you legs and bum off of the bench, (so only your upper body is on the bench).
2. Hold the bench with your hands to keep yourself stable, legs straight and feet slightly below the bench. 
3. Lift your legs up in the air until at the max height, keeping your legs straight. (The max height is different for everyone, to know what yours is, lift you legs up as high as you can and when you feel the pressure move from your glutes to your lower back you know you have gone too far. The max height is just below this shift in tension. so you feel all the tension in your glutes throughout the whole exercise).
4. When you are at your max height hold for a few seconds and squeeze your glutes as much as you can. 
5. Slowly lower your legs down to the starting position (feet slightly below the bench), keeping the legs straight, and repeat 12+ times.

Please note that it is important to do this before the exercises you are doing to work the glutes, no matter whether its compound (squats) or isolated (donkey kicks).

There is also a variation of this exercise where your legs are slightly bent, this is in order to incorporate the hamstrings. however,because we are aiming to only activate the glutes we keep out legs straight.​

Glute medius activation exercise: Side steps with resistance band.

​Teaching points:

1. Place the resistance band around your feet. Place you feet far enough apart that you feel the band is in tension.
2. With you back straight, knees slightly bent and shoulders back, step sideways with one foot and follow with the other foot, keeping tension in the band the whole time. Remembering to control the movement of both legs steps. 
3. Do 12x steps, then repeat in the other direction 12x steps. Continue (with rest) until you do 3 sets.

Please note that it is important to do this before the exercises you are doing to work the glutes, no matter whether its compound (squats) or isolated (donkey kicks).

Both of these activation exercises are a great way to activate all 3 of the glute muscles.

Feel free to print this out, give them a go, share and comment your thoughts, I would love to know what you think.

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Benefits of static stretching:

1. Decreased delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Don't get me wrong, most gym goers love a bit of DOMS, makes them feel like they have pushed themselves like never before. However,  Have you ever been so tight you cannot perform everyday tasks the day or 2 days after a workout, I have, and let me tell you, not only is it not ideal for your home and work life, but you are potentially affecting the next workout you do, because certain muscles are not ready to assist other muscles and also, you can look pretty silly, walking around so slow to prevent your knee buckling after leg day. 

2. Injury prevention. Stretching the muscles means limits the possibility that joints and ligaments are under stress when they shouldn't be or under more stress than they should be, whether it be during a lift or during everyday activities. Therefore, injuries are prevented by keep the muscles happy and loose. The loose muscles also mean less cramping, another plus.

3. Improves flexibility, This also equates to improved range of motion. Improved range of motion and flexibility leads to better performance when training and therefore, leads to all the gains, strength, power and aesthetics. 

4. Stress relief. Static stretching, whether it be after a workout or not, can feel so good during and after. It gives us time to relax, focus on our bodies and get rid of all the tension that builds up during our technology filled day.

There is no reason not to stretch really, let me know in the comments below any advantages I missed out or important disadvantages to static stretching that I should acknowledge. 
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Here are some of my key points on static stretching:

- There are 2 different types of static stretching:
1. Maintenance stretching: Stretching that aims to return the muscle back to its normal length, maintaining current flexibility. - Hold from 10-15 seconds.
2. Developmental stretching: Stretching that pushes the joint to wider ranges of movement by stretching the muscle past the stretch reflex*. - Hold from 30-60 seconds or more. (You should increase the depth of the stretch slowly over the seconds).

-These 2 types of static stretching can be either active or passive.
Active stretching: Using only your muscles to stretch.
Passive stretching: Using another object to stretch. E.g stairs, door frame, wall ETC.

​-Static stretching is only for post workout, using it as a warm up can increase the risk of injury. For pre workout dynamic stretches are the best. Check out 'the importance of dynamic stretching' for more information.

-Getting in and out of the stretch is as important as the stretch itself.

-Correct posture should be maintained as much as possible during the stretch (straight back, abs engaged and head inline).

Here are 20 of my favourite static stretches:
(Feel free to print the list, try them out and share!)

1. Pigeon stretch - for the hips and glutes.
2. Pretzel stretch - for the glutes and piriformis.
3. One arm doorway stretch - for the pec minor and shoulders.
4. Wall or curb stretch - for the calves.
5. Standing quad stretch - for the quadriceps.
6. Deep squat lat stretch - for the back.
7. Butterfly stretch - for the inner thigh (short adductors).
8. Standing adductor stretch - for the inner thigh (long adductors).
9. Cat-cow stretch - for the lower back.
10. 3D hamstring stretch - for ALL the hamstrings.
11. Standing oblique stretch - for the side of the trunk.
12. Rectus abdominis stretch - for the abs.
13. Standing tricep stretch - for the triceps.
14. Wall bicep stretch - for the biceps.
15. Kneeling forearm stretch - for the forearms.
16. Posterior shoulder stretch - for the back of the shoulders.
17. Standing chest stretch - for the chest.
18. Kneeling Hip flexor stretch - for the front of the hips.
19. Standing shin stretch - for the tibialis anterior.
20. Child pose - good as the last stretch to relax all the muscles.

Dynamic stretching, as well as, static stretching, is very important in anyone's workout. For some more information and examples on dynamic stretching check out my blog post 'The importance of dynamic stretching'.

Its also great to stretch using a foam roller. I will being doing a post on foam rolling soon to show the best way to foam roll.

I hoped this helped and you enjoyed reading it. Please share with your friends and comment your thoughts. 

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