BennyFit Strength and Power

26/06/2025

Heavy lifting is a skill.

This week on the left.

Last week on the right.

Same weight.

To optimally gain strength, you have to lift fewer reps for heavier weight at some point.

There are multiple ways to get to this point, all of which work. But initially I like to build people from high reps and low weight, to low reps and high weight over multiple weeks/macrocycles.

Test where they’re at, then repeat. You can probably do that multiple times (over the course of a year or two) and still progress well as a newer lifter, before getting a bit more nuanced with your programming.

But, when you’re at those heavy weights at few reps, spend time adjusting, as I said, it’s a skill in itself.

26/04/2025

Nothing beats a heart raising sandbag session outdoors 💪

23/04/2025

Look who it is! 💪

We’ve won again! Thanks to all who voted 🤩

Dynamo Gym has been named The Argus's gym of the year for the second successive year.

07/04/2025

If you are aiming to reduce fat, you need to reduce your overall calorie intake. Here are a couple simple, but effective tips.

1. Fill up on fruit and veg
2. Eat lots of protein

This meal has just over 400 calories, with 39g of protein. There’s ~140g of broccoli. It’s a very good example of what I mean.

Hardly any calories come from the broccoli. It has vitamins, minerals and fibre which all contribute to you feeling fuller for longer.

The protein helps you retain/gain muscle. It also keeps you fuller for longer.

The fat also slows down gastric emptying, furthering the whole keeping-you-fuller-for-longer thing (see a pattern with me highlighting the satiety of this meal and why? This will help steer you to reducing your calories, as you won’t be quite as hungry despite eating fewer calories than usual, which is an absolute prerequisite for fat loss).

Carbohydrates will provide much needed energy for your resistance training which will help you retain/gain muscle.

If this is your goal, then look at your meals and make sure you have plenty of protein and fruit/veg accompanying them.

22/11/2024

Percentage based training takes out the uncertainty of how strong or weak are you feeling that day. This is because you have predetermined percentages to hit, typically on big compound lifts. There are pros and cons to this approach, as with all approaches.

The pros are you go in, and you aim to hit those numbers no matter how tired or s**t you feel.

The cons are you go in, and you aim to hit those numbers no matter how tired or s**t you feel.

At the same time, you should still be smart about your training and there is still self-regulatory autonomy to be practiced. So this means you don’t blindly go in and just hit those numbers. The key word I used in both those paragraphs was ‘aim’. So do decrease the load if you’re not feeling so good for it. This also means if you’re feeling really good, you can come off programme a bit. But, ideally you follow the numbers as they usually lead you up to a point where you are ‘peaking’ in your performance in the desired lifts.

Those that don’t push themselves often enough are directed with this method to push themselves more.

Those that need to hit the brakes a little bit are forced to decrease effort and potentially recover better.

Both groups of individuals are possibly not enabling themselves to progress as optimally in their big compound lifts without this percentage based method.