David @ DHPT

This is an important question to ask yourself before you start a training program, or even part way through one as your thoughts around the subject may have changed.  What 'fit' means to me will undoubtedly be different from what it means to you.  To me, it means being able to keep up with my son, having the energy to pursue active hobbies, and being able to move heavy stuff as well. But what does it mean to you?  It might mean being able to run a 5k race for charity.  Or just to be able to do 10 full push-ups without stopping.  It might start out being to lose some weight but then morph into getting really strong once you are happy with your weight. The reasoning behind the answer to this question is just as important as the actual answer as this will be the driver which will push you to achieve the goal.  While the answer may not be important, it is still vital that you ask the question before beginning any training program.  Not only tha...

Life is busy, and it seems that it just keeps getting busier.  This can make focussing on eating healthy meals seem like a lot of hard work.  But there are things you can do to make it all a little easier on yourself. One thing we do in our house is visit the farmer's market each Sunday.  For one thing, this greatly reduces our fruit and vegetable cost.  It also helps us buy produce that is in season, rather than paying high prices at a supermarket for goods that are imported or out of season.   Having a regular trip planned like this means that there is nothing to think about - on Sunday, it is market day.  So we just get our produce bags and head out.  We usually buy the same items each week as we tend to cook a lot of the same meals which helps as well.   My wife and I also have a shared shopping list App on our phones which allows both of us to add items that we need to get, which makes our supermarket trips efficient also....

Gaining strength is a common reason why people join a gym.  Writing a good strength workout is not as simple as it might first seem. There are many different ways to split up a strength workout.  Each has its benefits and its drawbacks.  Each can work well for specific goals, but you need to know these costs/benefits before choosing a split.  Before we get into the main part of this blog post, let me say this, If you find a split that works for you and you are getting results then go nuts, you can't argue with results!  But for myself and my clients, I prefer to write full-body workouts where they are appropriate. You can split a program into body parts (often called the bodybuilder split) such as chest and shoulders on one day, legs on another day (never skip leg day!), and back and biceps on another day.  You can have a push day and a pull day (e.g. squats and bench press on a push day, deadlifts and cable rows on a pull day).  You c...

Too often we look at only one measurement when it comes to our fitness goals.  When looking to lose fat for instance, we take weight and only look at the scales to judge our progress.  But there are a lot more measurements that we can look at.  For most people fat loss is a huge goal so I thought that I would focus on this, if you'd like another goal discussed, send me a message through my website and I can write a separate post about your preferred goal. For those who can't afford the cost/time of getting expensive scans to judge fat loss, there are some basic measures you can observe to see how you're tracking towards your goal.  Firstly there are the scales as mentioned above.  Scales are great at showing us a trend, but on their own they're a poor judge of fat loss - they vary with water loss, water retention, time of day, whether we've used the toilet, and more.  So if you can only use the scales, then make sure it's at the same time of the day eac...

Exercise is great at any time of day, but for me, I like to get my training done early when I can.  There are a lot of pluses to getting it in early, here are just a few. Getting your workout in at the start of the day means that you are more likely to get it done.  At the start of the day, for most people, your day is fairly open in terms of time commitment.  Sure you may have work or study, but those are always around.  Towards the end of the day things tend to crop up that may derail your plan to hit the gym.  After work drinks invites, sick children who need to be picked up and looked after, having to work late to make a deadline, feeling sick yourself, feeling exhausted from your day at work or school, the list goes on and on.  Getting your training session in before your day really starts is a great way to ensure that you get it done. Another reason to get a workout done early is the feeling of accomplishment that you start the day with.  It...

The answer to the above question is anything. Really.  I really, really dislike running. But to be a little more helpful, here are a few of the ways I get my heart rate up when I am not resistance training. Boxing/Kickboxing: Boxing is an amazing workout.  Kickboxing is awesome too.  They both provide great cardio benefits and will challenge you mentally too.  You don't have to get in the ring to get the benefits either.  Working a heavy bag is great if you don't have anyone to train with (once you learn how to strike safely of course so you don't injure yourself).  If you have a training partner who can hold focus mitts that's great too.  Even shadowboxing can be a good workout for beginners and it is a great warm-up once you have got some experience working the different strikes and your footwork.  My advice would be to join a class or hire a trainer who can work with you and teach you how to strike safely.   Station...

Today's blog post is a quick one about why it's important to stay strong as you get older. As we age, we start to lose a couple of things that are pretty darn important to us when it comes to avoiding injury.  One thing that starts to go is bone density, and another is our muscular strength and power. Luckily both of these thing can be worked on through strength training.  Strength training, be it using bodyweight, resistance bands or free weights/machine weights has been shown to improve both muscle strength/power and bone density. Why is this important you ask? Well the better our bone density, the less chance we have of breaking a bone if we fall.  And the better our muscular strength/power is, the better chance we have of preventing a fall should we stumble in the first place. Think about it, when you trip over a uneven pavement, you tend to throw your foot forward in an effort to catch yourself.  This is fine if you have leg muscles that are ...

I have a four year old son who is a constant ball of energy and adventure.  It's been awesome to see him grow up and develop in his motor skills and physical abilities as he gets older. Currently his favourite activity is jumping.  Mainly jumping between pieces of furniture or off anything that is high enough to be exciting.  Sometimes as a parent this terrifies me - what if he breaks something? But at the same time I understand he is testing his own limitations and capabilities.  Something we all used to do as children. To him this is both play and learning, but he only understands it as having fun.  How high can I jump? how fast can I ride my bike? Can I do a cartwheel? These are all things we have done, and for the most part as adults we stop doing. Some of us still get out on bikes and ride trails for fun, or rock climb, or kayak, or do gymnastics classes, but the number of adults who partake in these activities are few and far between. I follow ...

So in February this year I suffered a complete rupture of my Achilles Tendon while doing some sparring with some friends.  This was one of the most painful injuries and frustrating rehabilitation protocols I have had to go through (and I've been through a few!).  But it came with a silver lining. In my first Krav Maga training session back after being cleared by my hospital physio, I took a step back and pop, it ruptured again.  While the re-injury was very frustrating - in fact it is possibly the most upset over an injury I have ever been - having been through it once before has taught me a few things. The first thing I learned was that I am able to ask for what I want in terms of a cast, in some aspects at least.  When you rupture your Achilles Tendon you are put in what is known as an equinous cast.  This basically sets your cast in a position with your toes pointing down to bring the two ends of the tendon as close as possible. While I could not...

It's been a while since I have written a post about my Achilles tendon rupture rehab so I thought I would bash out a few quick words on where things are at in my recovery. For the last month or so I have been able to walk around in normal shoes again, which for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of rupturing their Achilles is quite a milestone!  Having your toes pointed at the floor for 3 months or so has definitely been a bit of a pain, its amazing how a simple change in the way you hold your foot can cause a whole lot of other issues. As a result of the normal shoes, my back, hip and knee pain have vanished almost instantly - a pretty clear sign that they were having to compensate for the change in my gait pattern.  Really just confirming what I already thought was the case.  But good to know that it wasn't anything more serious. Something that I hadn't really thought too much about (but should have really) was the loss in my balance, especially the loss...

It took me a while to finally accept it but this week I went and contacted a personal trainer to help me out with some motivation and to write me a program to suit my goals. This may seem strange to some of you out there - a personal trainer who needs a personal trainer.  I can understand, as a trainer my job is to motivate and train others, so shouldn't I be able to do the same for myself?  I thought so too, but I was wrong...somewhat. For years I was carrying more weight than is optimal for a person my age.  This was something that as a personal trainer I hated in myself - I felt hypocritical telling others how to improve their health and fitness while struggling with my own.  There came a turning point however that changed my habits for the better. I got diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. You have no idea how much that (1) shocked me, and (2) gave me a kick up the butt to get some changes made in my life.  I have dropped a lot of weight since that phone...

Injuries are pretty frustrating.  I can tell you from vast experience.  I have even been referred to by friends in the past as "Mr Glass" which gives you an idea of the number of mishaps I have had in my recent past.  But as well as being frustrating, they have also been learning experiences for me.   Here are a few things I have learnt along the road to recovery.  You can't make a better investment than a good physiotherapist The first thing that I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt is that you can't make a better investment (post-injury) than a good physiotherapist.  Once the damage has been done and the doctor has made their diagnosis, seek out a good physio.   Physios can make sure that you get a proper rehabilitation plan that will get you up and about much sooner than just waiting for it to heal on its own.  Sure, there may be some pain in the sessions but a little discomfort now can prevent a lot of issues later. ...

Note: This article contains affiliate links With the cricket World Cup moving into the knockout stages and the Black Caps performing well there has been a lot of talk in the press and by the commentators about choking. As well as choking there have been many comments about players being “pumped up” for a big game or having a look of calm focus prior to a big innings.  The big question Can you get too fired up before a big match? The answer is yes, but it also depends on the individual player. What is too fired up for one person may be just the right level of focus for another. Technically, how fired up an athlete gets is known in the sports psychology world as arousal. The optimum level of arousal has been studied fairly heavily over the years in the hopes of finding the “sweet spot” where players are in the optimal zone for high performance. In a nutshell, it has been found that the level differs for different people. This means that athletes must find where they ...

The offseason for many sports people is just that – time off. It is time to hang the boots (or shoes, or skates) up for the summer and take time to relax and unwind. Unless you are a professional athlete who trains year round, you will at some point have time off from training. This article is aimed at the non-professional yet serious athlete who wants to make some offseason improvements. I am also aiming this at team sport athletes, however, there will be take away points for most athletes no matter what the code so if you want to get a little better…read on. Take a fortnight off The first thing I tell my athletes once the season is over is to take 2 weeks or so and just do nothing. If they must do something, it should be absolutely nothing to do with the sport which they play. In my case, in terms of my sports coaching, this is football (or soccer for those that way inclined). The reason for this is that it gives them a mental break from the sport. This is important. If you ta...

In most team sports, speed kills…the opposition that is. I can’t think of one team field based sport where speed is not a game changer. If one team is fundamentally faster than another they already have a huge advantage. Many coaches of sporting teams want to develop faster athletes (myself included). There are some however who are not sure how to go about doing this.  As such, I thought I would shed some light on the issue and do my best to help anyone who would like to get the jump on the opposition (either athlete or coach). Of course, if you just like reading my writing then I’m OK with that too.  What is speed? Speed can be split into two broad categories – first, there is top speed (maximal velocity for those sports science geeks out there). This is essentially how fast you can run when in full flight, think Usain Bolt at about the 60-metre mark in a 100-metre race. This is important for track athletes but less so for team sport athletes. It's nice t...