Australian Strength Coach

24/10/2026

At my Strength System seminar I was assessing this Renee - Nutrition & Strength Coach squat and her movement was excellent.

When she asked for feedback, my first question wasn’t to critique the lift. It was to ask what she is trying to achieve?

Because there isn’t just one way to squat.

Different squat patterns prioritise different outcomes. Some build more quadriceps. Some build more hips. Some allow you to lift heavier loads.

Her squat was already very well rounded, but we made a few small adjustments to highlight different variations.

First we looked at a high bar squat with slightly elevated heels, which is typically used to emphasise the quadriceps. She was initiating the movement strongly with her hips, which isn’t wrong, but if the goal is more quadriceps, that hip initiation takes some load away from them.

So we increased upper back tension to help her brace better and stay more upright.
We then elevated her stance slightly more and brought her stance slightly in. This de emphasised her hips and allowed her to use her quads even more. However, this variation isn’t as strong so we should have reduced the load a little to allow her to familiarise herself with the position.

Then she asked about low bar squatting and lifting heavier loads. The upright position we wanted for the high bar was now the wrong cue for letting her use her hips.

So I had her look slightly down and widened her stance which allowed her torso to tip forward more and bring the hips back into the lift.

None of these adjustments were about fixing a problem. Her squats were already excellent.

They were simply about prioritising different outcomes.

If you want more quads, stay more upright and bend the knees more.
If you want to use more hips and lift heavier loads, allow a bit more forward lean and consider a low bar position.

Small adjustments can shift the emphasis of the squat significantly.

24/10/2026

Do you really need to lift heavy weights to improve bone density?

Firstly, thank you to Dr Vonda Wright | Surgeon Wright for spreading such an important message about bone health and the importance of prevention.

I also want to acknowledge Professor Belinda Beck and her groundbreaking LIFTMOR research.

One of the important questions behind this research was whether women with low bone density, including osteoporosis, could safely perform heavy resistance training above 80% of their one-repetition maximum.

And the findings were incredibly important.

The study demonstrated that appropriately supervised heavy resistance and impact training could be performed safely by these women and significantly improve bone mineral density compared with a low-intensity home exercise program.

This challenged the idea that women with osteoporosis should avoid lifting heavy weights and rely exclusively on gentle exercise.

But there’s another important question.

Just because women CAN lift heavy weights to improve bone density, does that mean they HAVE to? And should they start there?

More recent research has shown that lighter resistance training can also provide meaningful benefits for bone health.

But that doesn’t mean heavy lifting isn’t valuable.

Heavier loads are particularly effective for developing maximal strength, which is another important predictor of long-term health.

My approach has always been to develop the skill of lifting weights progressively.

Even the strongest athletes in the world don’t train exclusively above 80% of their maximum.

We start by learning the movements, building muscle, developing work capacity and gradually increasing the loads as our ability improves.

The message isn’t to avoid lifting heavy. It’s to learn how to lift heavy properly.

And most importantly, resistance training isn’t something we should only be doing when we’re young.

It’s something we should be doing for life.

Strong bones. Strong muscles. A stronger body for life.

22/10/2026

At my seminar over the weekend, I worked with A*z (A*z), who was comfortably bench pressing 140kg.

I noticed he was using a technique that’s very common amongst bodybuilders, placing excessive emphasis on his pecs.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this when the main priority is to build pecs, but when we’re trying to bench press maximal weights, I prefer to distribute the load more evenly across all the pushing muscles - the pecs, delts and triceps.

We made two small but important adjustments.

1. Shoulder position.

A*z was bench pressing with a relatively flat upper back, allowing his shoulders to come forward and his scapulae to protract.

With lighter weights, it’s easier to move the scapulae to where they naturally want to go, but under maximal loads, they’re effectively trapped between the body and the bench.

This becomes a problem if you unrack with your shoulders protracted, because when the bar reaches your chest, the natural position is for your scapulae to be retracted, but the heavy load makes it impossible to move them into that position.

This is important because the bottom of the bench press is where the shoulders and pecs are under the most stress, and poor positioning can increase injury risk.

This is why I teach my lifters to retract and depress their scapulae before unracking and maintain that position throughout the lift.

2. Maintaining tension.

A*z was relaxing the bar onto his chest before trying to re-engage his muscles to press it back up.

Think of a bow and arrow. You draw the bow to create tension, then use that stored energy to fire the arrow.

The same principle applies to the bench press. Maintain tension throughout the descent and use it to help initiate the press.

A*z responded immediately to both adjustments, with noticeable improvements in his technique, comfort and pressing efficiency.

These small technical details become increasingly important when lifting maximal weights, and with A*z’s strength potential, I have no doubt a 200kg+ bench press is within his capabilities!

21/10/2026

Shoulder pain during low bar squats? The solution might be the opposite of what you think.

During my recent seminar in Brisbane, one of the students mentioned that she was experiencing a pinching sensation around her rotator cuff whenever she performed low bar squats.

She believed that her grip was too narrow and was placing excessive strain on her shoulders.

But when I asked her to demonstrate her technique, I immediately noticed the opposite problem. Her grip was actually too wide.

Because her hands were too wide, the barbell was slipping down her back, away from the shelf created by her rear deltoids.

Instead of the weight being supported by her back, she was having to support it with her arms, placing unnecessary strain on the muscles surrounding her shoulders.

My correction was to bring her hands CLOSER together.

The goal in a low bar squat is to create a strong, stable platform for the barbell to rest on, so your back supports the weight rather than your arms.

Here are my three main cues:

1. Grip the bar as close as YOUR shoulder mobility allows (my grip is a lot wider than what you see here but it’s as close as MY mobility allows)
2. Pull your elbows BACK to engage your upper and mid-back muscles and create a shelf with your rear deltoids.
3. Pull your elbows DOWN to engage your lats and secure the barbell against your back.

Once she made these adjustments, the barbell sat securely on her rear deltoids, the unnecessary load was removed from her arms, and her shoulder discomfort disappeared immediately.

The lesson here is that the position where you experience discomfort isn’t necessarily the cause of the problem.

Sometimes the solution is the exact opposite of what you expect.

And remember, pain is not something you should push through. If an exercise causes pain, assess what’s happening and work towards finding a solution.

20/10/2026

This AI post from Fitonomy looks impressive, but the message isn’t accurate.

They’re claiming the brachialis is “underused” and that’s the reason your arms are small.

That’s not how it works.

The brachialis is the workhorse of the elbow flexors.
Every time you bend your arm, it’s working.

Curls, rows, pull-ups, pulldowns, it’s always involved.

So if you’re training any of these exercises, you are training your brachialis.

If anything, the biceps are the ones that are underused.

They cross two joints, shoulder and elbow, which means during compound pulling movements they’re trying to flex the elbow while lengthening at the shoulder.

These are conflicting actions which makes them less active during compound exercises.

On top of that, the biceps attach to the radius, so forearm position matters.

If you’re not supinating, you’re not fully loading the biceps.

Neutral grip and pronated work shifts emphasis away from them.

The brachialis doesn’t have that problem. It’s attached to the other forearm bone, the ulna, and this bone doesn’t move when you pronate or supinate your wrist. These brachialis is always working when you bend your elbow.

So no, your arms aren’t small because you’re “not using your brachialis.”

If your arms are small it’s because you haven’t trained them hard enough for long enough.

19/10/2026

Today’s heavy bench press session.

Top Set / Back down Sets

Video 1 - 200kg x 1
Videos 2, 3 & 4 - 170kg x 3

This is one of my favourite peaking strategies.

When you’re peaking for a maximum lift, you need to expose yourself to the demands of heavy singles. But you also need to accumulate enough volume to continue building strength.

The problem with accumulating volume through heavy singles is that it can become too fatiguing to recover from.

Here, I perform my top single at 200kg, then reduce the load to 85% (170kg) for 3 sets of 3.

Typically, 85% of your 1RM is a weight you could lift for around 5 reps, so I’m leaving approximately 2 reps in reserve (although these sets looked and felt like I had plenty more).

In strength training, we’re using significantly heavier loads than we typically would for hypertrophy training, so not taking every set to failure is an intelligent strategy.

The loads are still heavy enough to develop strength, but by avoiding unnecessary fatigue and grinding out repetitions, we can maintain better technique, accumulate high quality volume and recover more effectively between sessions.

The objective isn’t to make every set as difficult as possible. It’s to get stronger.

Today’s bodyweight sitting at 96kg / 211lbs.

18/10/2026

The sheer audacity of this guy coming into my gym and treating me like this.

I’m sick of it 😤

Kyle Bruce

17/10/2026

Know your rows!

Here is a demonstration of 2 types of one arm dumbbell rows.

Both of them work all the muscles of the back and they are both excellent at exercises, however there are slight differences.

The upper back focussed row spreads the load evenly across all the muscles of the upper back.

The lat focussed row also targets all the muscles of the back back but has a much higher emphasis on the lats.

Both of these exercises are excellent for muscle and strength building and can both be used at different times in your program 💪

17/10/2026