Strength For Health

13/11/2025

This looks like a ridiculous image, doesn't it? Surely this can't be true? Yet it is.

According to the World Health Organisation, red meat is classified as carcinogenic. The data they use to make that claim lumps pizza, sausage rolls & steak in the same category & concludes 'red meat' is the problem.

I'll not even go into how poorly they gathered the data or how correlation does not equal causation...

Complete & utter junk science.

13/11/2025

There are two main forms of carbohydrate that the human body can use: glucose and fructose.

Blood sugar is glucose. All of the things we think of as complex carbohydrates or starches are chemically converted to glucose in your digestive systems. The glucose is then absorbed into your blood and circulated around your body to be made available to your organs for use as fuel. If you are not involved in vigorous activity (think, running) or recovering after a long period of vigorous activity then most of that glucose will end up being converted into fat and stored in fat cells. While this is going on your body is unable to access its fat stores because your insulin is high.

The primary job of insulin is to remove glucose from the blood by moving it into other tissues, including fat cells. But while insulin is high, fat is unable to leave the fat cells and, over time, you will gain weight. If your insulin is high you will find it nearly impossible to lose weight and the only way to keep your insulin low is to minimise the quantity of glucose your body ingests.

Fructose is sweet and is found in sugar, honey and fruit. Sugar and honey are a carbohydrate called sucrose which is a combination of glucose and fructose. This gets chemically split into the two sugars in your gut. Your body can't use fructose directly for energy so when it is absorbed into your blood stream it is transported to your liver and converted into fat. If your glucose is low (as it would be if you were only eating a piece of fruit or drinking fruit juice with no added sugar) then your insulin will be low and you will be able to use this fat for energy. If your insulin is high (because you have also consumed glucose) then this fat will need to be stored in fat cells. Unfortunately for many people (including those who are overweight), they don't have sufficient fat cells available so this fat (and fats made from glucose) end up being stored in the liver (leading to fatty liver disease) or around the internal organs (visceral fat), both of which are bad for your health.

(Your body converts alcohol to fat the same way as it does fructose. Which is one of the reasons heavy drinkers can gain a lot of weight.)

The bottom line is this: while your body requires a small amount of glucose to be in your blood at all times (only 4 grammes - about the size of a teaspoon) it generally does not need to eat anything containing glucose. And your body has no requirement to eat fructose (or alcohol) at all. Too much glucose, fructose or alcohol are not good for the human body. Your body's idea of 'too much' will probably change over the years and may be very different from the person next to you.

20/10/2025

Anyone who has been around me for more than five minutes knows that I love bicycles and cycling. When I am not extolling the benefits of strength training I am talking about the delights of riding a bike. I am so keen on cycling that I have ended up running a local cycling club, Ride63 www.ridesixtythree.net for those who are interested. (Note to self: do not join any more committees if you don’t want to end up running them in a few years’ time!)

So it might surprise you that I don’t generally recommend cycling as a form of exercise for health. (Though I might specifically recommend it to some clients who might not be able to walk or run.)

Cycling can offer enormous health and fitness benefits but if you are looking for the best return on your investment then walking and running provide much more than cycling generally will (in terms of time and effort resulting in health and fitness improvements). The graphic below (please see the link at the end of the article) illustrates that: take a look at the efficiency of a human being on foot vs. on a bicycle and understand that the more efficient a movement is, the less effective it becomes in terms of fitness. The very efficiency of cycling that makes it such a great form of transport can be its downfall when it comes to improving (or even maintaining) fitness.

When I am looking at forms of movement for fitness and health benefits I consider the safety, efficiency and effectiveness on various systems in the human body (I am not going to discuss safety here). For my clients I want activities that get their bodies moving (i.e. joints rotating, flexing and extending, muscles contracting, lymphatic and venous fluids being returned to the trunk), impact loads acting on the skeleton, increased and sustained demands on the cardiovascular system (e.g. heart and breathing rates increased and increased capillarisation) and metabolic effects (increased mitochondria, improved processing of lactate, etc.). Time spent on your feet walking and running deliver all of these, limited only by how fast and far you go and if you incorporate steep hills or not. Dancing (done vigorously enough) can be excellent in these regards as well. Cycling (and swimming) can deliver most of these but don’t deliver impact forces to the skeleton. (For some people, that might just be what the doctor ordered but most of us benefit from experiencing these forces.)

I don’t ride a bike for fitness, though I do reap considerable fitness benefits from doing so. It is something I do purely for the fun and joy that it brings and that is incredibly good for my mental health, even if I wasn’t getting any physical benefits as well. For me, riding a bike is more about recreation and escape from my everyday than it is about getting or staying fit. Strength training, walking and running are what I do to keep fit (though here again, walking is more about movement and enjoyment rather than cardiovascular fitness). Essentially, I keep fit in order to be able to ride my bike because the fitter I am the longer and farther I can ride and the more enjoyment I get from riding.

Cyclists can be amongst the fittest of athletes but only if they are willing to push themselves hard and not allow the efficiency of the machine to give them an easy ride. I do push myself hard therefore I get a lot of cardiovascular exercise but it is relatively easy to cruise along on a bicycle, especially if one avoids anything that looks like a hill, and exert much less effort than you would if you were to walk, never mind run, over the same route. This is doubly so if you use an e-bike. I took one for a spin a few weeks ago and rode up one of my local climbs. On my ‘analogue’ bike it usually takes me about 18 minutes of maximum sustainable effort (with a heart rate of 160-170bpm) while on the e-bike (I was deliberately not pushing the pace but I did not use the maximum electrical assist either) my heart rate barely topped 110bpm, which is less effort than I might show during a brisk walk along a flat path and considerably less effort than I typically exert riding down hills (at high speed) on my usual bikes. During a short run a couple of days ago I sustained an average heart rate of 150bpm over 15 minutes while during nearly two hours of riding the e-bike I barely went over 110bpm even for a few seconds. You can clearly see that the cardiovascular benefit of a short run is considerably more than riding an e-bike up a fairly tough hill.

So if you are going to cycle for the fitness benefits please make sure you put some considerable effort in. Buy a device to track and measure your heart rate so that you know just how much effort you are putting into the activity. Get familiar with your maximum heart rate (Zone 5), your maximal sustainable heart rate (Zone 3 to 4 – your lactate threshold, for those in the know) and your Zone 2 heart rates (for me that is 183bpm, 165-170bpm and 110-144bpm). Aim to spend most of your time in Zone 2 but at least some time pushing into Zone 4 (Zone 5 is something you can only manage for a few seconds – maybe minutes – at a time because it is so hard work).

If you want to take this further, monitor your efforts while walking and you will see that the cardiovascular benefits of walking do exist but are considerably less than you’d get from running and hard cycling. (Unless I am climbing a particularly steep hill I can rarely raise my heart rate into Zone 2 while walking, but that is an indication of my generally high level of fitness.) That said, I am less bothered about getting your heart rate up than I am about getting you stronger and moving regularly. Strength training and walking are just about all you need to do and everybody – top level cyclists included – should do both for the benefit of their health. Running adds considerable benefits but can be thought of as the cherry on the cake.

There is, of course, a lot more context and nuance to add to my recommendations here. So much so that I probably need to write that book I keep thinking about! So in the meantime, Get Strong, Stay Strong and Happy Cycling!

For Scientific American’s 180th birthday, they have updated a classic graphic comparing different forms of animal locomotion, first published in 1973. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-human-on-a-bicycle-is-among-the-most-efficient-forms-of-travel-in-the/

14/10/2025

If you've got joint pain to the point of considering surgery, you may well need surgery but maybe you don't. Maybe you just need to get stronger.

07/10/2025

We tend to lose muscle as we get older not because we get older but because we don't use our muscles enough. This process can start just as soon as our teenage bodies stop growing. But we can still grow new muscle well into our 70s, if we train hard enough.

We tend to get fatter as we get older because we eat more of the wrong things & move less, not because our metabolisms slow down. (Eating the wrong things matters far more than moving more. People can easily gain fat while training to run marathons because of eating the wrong things.)

Metabolism doesn't slow down until we are into our 60s (& even then, only a little bit), but as we get older, those of us prone to insulin resistance become more insulin resistant which increases that rate at which we store fat.

06/10/2025

There are times I really detest science journalism. Either the headline OR the data (showing a U-shaped graph) is correct: they cannot both be true (though both could be wrong).

On skimming through the article I was less unimpressed than I was by the headline. What multiple studies have shown is that alcohol is generally toxic to the human being but at very low intakes it is hard to measure the effects.

I'm not about to give up all alcohol on the basis of this headline but I am reminded that we don't benefit from drinking too much or too often.

29/09/2025

Twelve weeks, three months, ¼ of a year; that’s the time you’ve got available if you want to start getting fitter and stronger this year. And that is a huge amount of time in which to make a positive impact on your life.

It is still September so I’m not going to mention the dreaded ‘C’ word, but now that summer is officially over we tend to start thinking about putting off things (like new exercise programmes) until the New Year. But if you start training now you will be – if not transformed – a better version of yourself long before then. Now is the perfect time to get started in the gym.

I focus on getting ordinary people stronger in order to live their lives better. Very few of my clients play sport or enjoy exercising all that much but all recognise the benefits that strength training brings them after a few short weeks of training with me. But I am an athlete (a very mediocre one, maybe, but still an athlete) and I am delighted to work with people who are looking to improve their performance as well look after their health. All of my current clients train once a week and that has proved to be enough to make great improvements in their lives so please don’t assume that you need to find a huge amount of time to dedicate to your fitness.

If you are looking for private, one to one training to get you stronger then Strength for Health offers strength coaching and health and fitness advice in a private gym facility (with no audience, mirrors, measurements, scales or progress photos) in the heart of Beith. I have a few training times left Monday to Thursday afternoons and I am soon going to be opening up a couple of times on Thursday evenings (though they will only run until late March).

If you are interested in find out more about the benefits of strength training then please contact me via Messenger or WhatsApp on 07961 199746 and we can arrange for you to come and have a no-obligation chat with me.

24/09/2025

The "periodic table of vitamins" explained simply

We all know vitamins and minerals matter, but keeping track of which ones do what can feel like chemistry class. Here’s an attempt at the plain-English version:

1️⃣ Vitamins = Activators
They turn enzymes and reactions on, making energy, neurotransmitters, and hormones possible.
💡 Example: B12 and folate drive methylation, critical for DNA repair and brain function.

2️⃣ Minerals = Spark Plugs
Minerals act like cofactors that help enzymes run.
💡 Example: Magnesium is needed in more than 300 reactions, from ATP production to muscle relaxation.

3️⃣ Antioxidants = Shields
They neutralize free radicals that damage cells.
💡 Example: Vitamin C recycles Vitamin E, while CoQ10 protects mitochondria.

4️⃣ It’s a Network, Not Solo Players
These nutrients recycle and regenerate each other. One deficiency can drag the whole system down.
💡 Example: Without selenium, glutathione can’t work; without B2, folate can’t activate.

5️⃣ Food Sources Matter Most
Vitamins and minerals don’t float alone. They come packaged with synergistic compounds in real food.
💡 Example: Eggs give you choline + B12 + selenium, a combination you’ll never get from an isolated pill.

Think of your nutrients like a periodic table. Each one has a role, but together they form the chemistry of life. Focus on variety in whole foods, not just single “hero” supplements.

16/09/2025

Are you part of the 88 or part of the 12?

Only 12% of adult Americans enjoy optimal metabolic health, per https://t.co/MDGhaug6K3

If you're part of the 88, PLEASE learn more.

PLEASE look for an effective intervention to restore your health.

It IS possible.

You ARE worth it.

20/08/2025

This is a very useful resource to help people understand how many common foods affect blood sugar & therefore health.

Dr Unwin is an NHS GP (not some out-there, weird, social media influencer type) who listened to his patients & learned from them about the successes they were having in relation to diabetes through dietary changes when he could not fix them with medication. He then went on to perform clinical research to understand what was happening to them & then published the results. His information now forms part of the NICE guidelines for diabetes treatment but is still not widely understood or adopted by GPs in the UK.

The graphics that you can obtain from the link here can be really useful when it comes helping you make good choices about the food you eat. Any nutritional advice I offer is in line with it as well.

Some fruits spike your blood sugar more than others, and the difference might surprise you.

This visual from Dr. David Unwin helps us see how sugary different fruits really are. Each teaspoon = 4g of sugar.

Per 120g serving:
🍇 Grapes = 4.0 teaspoons of sugar
🍑 Nectarine = 1.5 teaspoons
🍉 Watermelon = 1.8 teaspoons

Even though all fruits contain natural sugars, some have a much gentler effect on your blood sugar, helping you avoid spikes and crashes.

Swapping higher-impact fruits like grapes for lower-impact ones like nectarines can support better energy and blood sugar control.

💬 Comment ‘Sugar’ to get the full infographic and original research.

19/08/2025

I've been promising myself a window sign for months and have finally got around to getting one. It took me two attempts as I initially ordered the wrong thing from Vista Print. But all my clients will tell you that progress and success come from repeated attempts and failures!

I am not taking on any new clients until 15th September but if anyone wants to have a chat with me with a view to starting training in a few weeks' time, I would be delighted to hear from you.

I want to acknowledge the creative genius, Michael Rowley, who designed my logo for me back in 2020. I've never seen it this size before and I am blown away by how good it looks. https://creativeki.com/logos

28/07/2025

"Should I train while I'm ill?"

It is a question that my clients often ask me & my answer is always, 'it depends'.

The easy answer is that I don't want anyone to come to train in my gym if they are ill because of the risk of passing it on to me & others but the fact is that we are often infectious before we start feeling unwell. Hindsight is very often the thing that tells us we shouldn't have gone to the gym, into the office or to visit great aunty Maggie. Life happens! And while it is a good idea to try to limit the spread of infection we just can't eliminate it & live any kind of normal life. And we have all had too many experiences in recent years of what abnormal life looks! Let's not go there again...

So, the most important thing to consider is whether training while your are ill is good for you or not. And that requires you to weigh up the costs & benefits of training or not training & to pay attention to your body & adjust your plan if you do decide to train. And that's what I've had to do over this past weekend.

I started to feel like I had a cold coming on Wednesday evening; just the first ni**le of a cough. On Thursday I knew I had a cold & even though I felt ok, I opted out of my evening cycling club ride in the hopes that I'd feel better on Friday & Saturday (because I had bigger rides planned on those days). Friday came & I didn't feel too good so did no exercise at all (though I did go out to Asda & lunch, so I wasn't suffering from full-blown man flu!). I felt ok enough to ride 35 miles on Saturday but it was a much shorter & less challenging ride than I really wanted to be doing, even though it felt much harder than it ought to.

Sunday I felt pretty grotty again, though I did manage a decent walk for an hour.

And today I was in the gym doing my scheduled weekly strength session. Or that was the plan anyway. I got stuff done but it felt harder than usual so I backed off. Initially I thought I might just run through my warm-up routine & stop there but I ended up doing one working set instead of my normal two & dropped my working weight down for all of my lifts. Deadlift was my last exercise & warming it up didn't feel great so I settled for doing a single heavy lift (instead of a heavier set of five) & calling it a day. I don't know if I was just being a wimp or whether my back was indeed sending me a warning signal but I chose caution over my programme.

After lifting I went for a short walk which felt fine but was slower than normal. And now, later in the afternoon, I feel moderately wiped out.

Was it a good idea for me to train today? On balance, I think it was but it was also very right not to push too hard. I'm clearly getting over my illness (it really hasn't been that bad) but I have learned to respect that fact that when I'm ill I need time & energy to recover. Training hard takes up that time & energy & prolongs my recovery so it just isn't worth it.

Now, if I was training for a specific competition on a particular day I might just have to push harder in my training but life has taught me that often doesn't work out well, though sometimes you have to take a gamble. But I'm not training for a competition, I'm training for my life & my health & there is no point on pushing myself so hard now that I can't function in the future.

The general rule I apply is that if you have a head cold (sore throat, blocked nose & sneezing) then you are probably ok to train, if you want to. If you have a chest cold (coughing & mucus) then just give yourself a few days off. But if you are running a fever, are achy & shivery and/or have an upset stomach or gut, you need to let yourself rest to recover. Mild headaches can be treated with paracetamol & worked around but anything more than that deserves rest & recuperation.

If you miss a week of training you'll barely notice the effect on your performance. And if you are feeling feeble & can't train to full effect, you are not really getting benefit from the training anyway while it is costing you time & energy. Pushing too hard instead of allowing yourself downtime to recover from illness just runs the risk that what might have taken a week out of your life morphs into a more serious illness (a chest infection, perhaps) that badly affects you for months to come.

But if the idea of doing no training at all (lifting, running, cycling, etc.) is too much to bear, then go for a walk. Walk as much as you want but don't push yourself through fatigue. It just isn't worth it & it really doesn't benefit you at all.

Anyway, it turns out that my mild head cold is actually COVID. Colds actually seem to floor me more than COVID does but I'm not about to mess with an illness that has caused friends, relatives & clients some long-term problems. But all illnesses have the potential to produce long-term problems if you are unlucky enough or manage them badly.

I'm in the business of trying to help people improve & manage their health not about maximising their short-term athletic performance. My clients know I provide hard, demanding training but they also hear me tell them to rest hard too. After illness, injury or surgery, I believe it is important to get back to hard training but it needs to be balanced with rest if you want to achieve task recovery. It is a lesson I keep trying to learn myself! Maybe one day... (Do as I say, not as I do...)