Where do you train your clients?

I currently train most of my clients at LA Gym, a spacious bodybuilding gym in the Old Market Area. I also take clients at private personal training studio GymSet in Clifton Village (extra £5 per session to train here).

Is strength training safe?

Any form of exercise has the potential to result in injury, especially if you do too much too soon, or too much for too long (Jones 2017 and Eckard 2018). That said, strength training is very safe, with low injury rates at 1.0–4.4 injuries per 1000 participation hours (Aasa 2017) compared with other forms of exercise, e.g. running at 7.7–17.8 (Videbaek 2015).

I am a woman. Will strength training make me look bulky?

“Bulky” is subjective, but assuming that you mean “very muscular”, no—not unless you train really hard for a very long time, have elite genetics for building muscle and consistently eat a surplus of calories to fuel muscle growth. Remember that:

  1. What people commonly refer to as “tone” is simply a favourable ratio of lean body mass (muscle) vs. body fat

  2. There are many great benefits to strength training beyond physical appearance, both mental and physiological

  3. Our perception of what women can achieve naturally is skewed by social media’s focus on female athletes who are genetic outliers, on performance enhancing drugs, or both

For a more in depth discussion of this concern, I like to refer clients who express it to this article by Molly Galbraith of Girls Gone Strong.

How long does it take to see results?

This depends on many factors, which include level of training advancement, starting body composition and individual response to strength training. Strength typically increases quite quickly from the get-go thanks to skill acquisition and improved neuromuscular efficiency. Real muscle growth is slower, and it typically takes around 3–6 months to see significant visual changes in beginners. If strength training is combined with a caloric deficit, fat loss can be quite quick, with recommended rates of weight loss between 0.5 and 1% of total bodyweight/week (Helms 2019).

Do you recommend taking supplements?

I typically only suggest protein powder if the individual has trouble meeting their protein requirements through diet alone. Creatine is effective and safe (Hall 2021). We simply do not have enough evidence to make a strong case for anything else.