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How I Set My Strength Goals for 2024

Long-term followers of my Youtube channel will know I set some pretty bold strength goals at the beginning of 2024.

I created these videos to share my excitement for the year to come, and to talk about my training. Like many personal trainers, I love to talk about the nitty-gritty of goalsetting, training programme design, and good workouts. If that sounds interesting to you, you should subscribe here for updates, and subscribe to my Youtube channel as well.

But back to the topic of strength goals. Goalsetting is a huge factor in planning your fitness journey, and requires a great deal of consideration. It can be all too easy to set goals without any paying any mind to the actions or habits required, or to convince yourself that goals are out of your reach.

black and white photo of me with a kettlebell at the top of a swing exercise

I love hearing about my clients’ goals. I always emphasise that there needs to be a strong connection between your goals and your values. If you don’t have that connection, then your strength goals are just numbers on a piece of paper. This is another reason why I recorded myself talking about my strength goals for 2024; I wanted to demonstrate the process of setting goals. This included rating each goal on its level of significance, and discussing why these goals appealed to me. Another crucial part is deciding how I will work towards these goals.

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How to Get Your First Pushup, Pullup or Dip

Getting your first pushup, pullup, or dip can be a demanding but rewarding journey. It’s always one of the most popular topics on social media for personal trainers. The reason for this is simple – it’s a really common goal that lots of people want to achieve!

Like most coaches, I’ve made plenty of posts online demonstrating how to do negative pullups, assisted pushups, and dip variations to get your first reps at these challenging exercises. However, I wanted to go one step further.

A close up of a woman's hands on the floor as she performs a pushup
By Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash

The Strength Training Approach to Getting Your First Pushup, Pullup or Dip

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you’re looking to master a bodyweight exercise that you cannot currently do, then you need to approach it as a strength training exercise. People often assume that bodyweight training occupies its own space within training, and that it’s beholden to its own special rules.

This is not the case!

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5 Power Exercises for People Who Can’t Do the Olympic Lifts

Some of the most popular power exercises are the Olympic lifts and their derivatives. Unfortunately, there are a number of skill and mobility requirements that may not suit you, especially if you are already working on improving your sports performance.

Your training time may be limited, in which case getting a quick return on your efforts is essential. Alternatively, you may have old injuries or equipment/facility limitations that preclude you from learning the Olympic lifts.

In these cases, there are a variety of exercise types that can help you build explosive power.

Side view of me at the bottom of a front squat. The barbell is resting on my shoulders, and my elbows are lifted to keep the weight still.

The Olympic lifts are unique exercises with a particular set of demands; I’ve spoken about this before. Olympic lifts enable you to produce high forces against high external load, whilst also changing position rapidly, accessing extreme joint ranges, and “catching” weight. I am a strong believer in performing some form of Olympic lift if you have the time to learn.

The movements explored here do not tick all these boxes and are not exact replacements. However, a combination of the exercises shown here might provide some similar benefits.

A picture of me in a blue tshirt lifting a barbell above my head. The barbell has red plates on.
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4 Thoughts on Strength Training and Longevity

In recent years, strength training and longevity has become an incredibly popular topic. As a 35-year old personal trainer, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t on my mind. I’m reaching a stage of my life where training becomes an investment for the future, and I have to take my longevity seriously.

By Jesper Aggergaard

Longevity in training refers to our ability to offset mortality risks as we age, ostensibly allowing us to live longer. I would also argue that the current usage of the term goes further. When people talk about using strength training and longevity, they’re often also talking about improving quality of life at older ages. Our ability to retain our movement capabilities, perform tasks, and avoid injuries are a huge appeal of the longevity training movement. These are the pillars of a healthier later life.

Unfortunately, as with many fitness topics, the concept of longevity has been co-opted to promote any number of “life hacks,” snake oil supplements, and training regimes. The fear of old age and ill health is a strong motivator that can be harnessed to manipulate people into making bad decisions. That’s why I want to simplify the topic and discuss how we can use strength training to improve longevity.

a woman is standing in a gym holding a barbell. She is folding over at the hips to perform a Romanian deadlift
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4 Core Training Myths That Need to Die

In the world of fitness, nothing is more pervasive than a core training myth. The obsession with six-pack abs, the fear of back pain, and the desire for greater sport performance all drive us to hunt for the perfect core training exercise, programme, or overarching strategy.

The pursuit of core training greatness can cause us to eagerly adopt whatever core training myths we see online. Some of these are well-intentioned, but simply go too far in their application. Others misinterpret the findings of scientific studies. Some of these myths are perpetuated just to follow trends on social media. No matter their origin, the end result is the same: unsatisfactory results for you, and limiting beliefs about your capabilities.

A woman laying prone on the floor of a studio gym, lifting her chest from the floor in a "cobra" pose

With this in mind, I’ll discuss some stubborn core training myths and explain where they miss the mark. This should steer you towards a better method of core training, no matter what your end goal is.

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The Best Tips For Better Squats and Deadlifts

When you’re getting started in strength training, a good goal is to improve your squats and deadlifts.

Getting started with your big lifts is more straightforward than people make out, but mastering them takes time.

Some of these tips take a closer look at the technique used in training, whereas other tips are more focussed on exercise selection and programme design.

Man standing inside a hex bar preparing to deadlift

More Content to Improve Your Squats and Deadlifts

I’ve written a huge number of guides for squatting and deadlifting in this blog. You can find many of them in the “Strength Training” category on this site.

For this post, I want to focus on some of the video content I’ve made. This allows you to get some quick visual tips for improving squats and deadlifts instead of reading. I’ve been working hard on my video content lately, so please consider subscribing!

Image of me bending over a bar preparing to perform a clean
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3 Crucial Ingredients for Your First Pressup

Your first pressup is an important fitness milestone. It’s one of the keys to mastering your bodyweight and building upper body strength. It’s one of the most common goals my clients have, and I’ve helped a number of people build their pressup strength. You can learn more about their successes with my testimonials.

A close up of a woman's hands on the floor as she performs a pushup
By Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash

I’ve helped a large number of people build up to their first pressup. Thanks to this, I have developed a check list of prerequisites for building pressup strength. This isn’t as simple as “get strong at pushing”, although that is certainly a large part of the equation that we can tackle in various ways. There are other components that often get neglected, which we’ll cover below. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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4 Skills You Need to Master Before Learning Olympic Weightlifting

The accessibility of Olympic weightlifting has surged in recent years, partly due to the increased awareness of Crossfit and strength and conditioning. In addition, the increased popularity of strength training and resistance training in general has contributed to the appeal of learning Olympic weightlifting.

Side view of me at the bottom of a front squat. The barbell is resting on my shoulders, and my elbows are lifted to keep the weight still.

The Olympic lifts (the Snatch, and the Clean and Jerk) are difficult exercises that take years to conquer. These lifts require you to hoist a barbell as high as possible, and then pull yourself under the bar as quickly as possible. Learning the Olympic lifts will challenge your skill, mobility, speed, and strength.

Due to the scope of this challenge, the rewards are huge. You’ll gain strength, explosive power, confidence, and mobility. The Olympic lifts are often used to help develop athleticism in athletes, and they can also be great for teaching gym skills to children.

Skills you need for Learning Olympic Weightlifting

While most people gravitate towards learning the Snatch and Clean and Jerk after some other form of resistance training, you can start your fitness journey with the Olympic lifts if you want. Whether you’re a gym beginner or a seasoned lifter, here are 4 skills you need to master before you begin your Olympic lifting journey.

Don’t be put off if you don’t have these skills yet! You can always start with Olympic weightlifting derivatives while you work on these skills (check back for more information on those soon).

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3 Reasons You Need to Graduate From Group Fitness Classes

Group fitness classes have always been a staple in commercial fitness centres, and in recent years they have only gained popularity. The rise of boutique group exercise studios has been meteoric, and many of my clients came to me having tried group fitness classes in the past.

Group workouts may be popular, however they are far from perfect in what they offer. I would go so far as to say that most people who enjoy group exercise classes will eventually need to move on to other types of exercise.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to spend this whole post bashing group workout classes. They can be fun, encouraging, and can provide some direction when you’re unsure what to do at the gym. I’ve taught a variety of group workouts over 14 years in the fitness industry, and I can see the value they offer.

That being said, it can be discouraging, boring, or even risky to find yourself in a class that isn’t suited to you. Your workout class may not deliver enough of the stimulus you need, or it could not be paying off in terms of it’s risk:reward ratio.

Gyms usually want to promote their classes, instead of prescribing them. They want to promote the idea that the class is good for everyone, instead of educating people on what else they could be doing. This can make it hard to know when it’s time to ditch the classes and move on to something that’s tailor-made for you.

A woman wearing a pink tshirt and black boxing gloves punches at something out of shot. She is smiling.
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Need to Improve Your Workout Motivation? Just Watch Inception.

When I was in my teens and early twenties, my life would consist of working out, playing computer games, and watching films. It may seem surprising, but I got a lot of my workout motivation from my sources of entertainment. In most of the entertainment I watched, the characters were strong, fit, and capable. Action films inspired me to take up kickboxing, which led me to pursue strength training as a means to improve my performance.

By contrast, Inception may seem like an odd film to draw workout motivation from. While it is action-packed, the film doesn’t handle action with such physicality as a Schwarzenegger film, for example. And yet, Inception taught me one very important lesson about workout motivation. To be specific, it taught me a great deal about motivating my clients to work out.

A top-down view of an Olympic barbell, with a hand gripping the bar

Why Did Inception Make Me Think about Working Out?

Inception is a story about ideas. In the film, thieves infiltrate people’s dreams to implant ideas that make characters behave in ways that they normally wouldn’t. The main example of this is an idea that is planted in a man’s subconscious that drives him to destroy the multi-billion-dollar company he was due to inherit from his father. The thieves plant this idea while the man is dreaming. This process is called inception.

An image of someone lying on their side in bed, with light shining through the window
By Lux Graves on Unsplash

If inception is successful, the target wakes from their dream, having wholly adopted the idea, which can go on to define their actions and their character. Do you see what this has to do with workout motivation yet?

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