The Weekly Exerciser
A weekly newsletter with actionable tips to make exercise easier.
A minimalist approach to well-rounded fitness
When I was in high school, I was first introduced to the idea of “fitness components”. Essentially, the different qualities underlying what it means to be “fit” - which help determine our ability to do physical tasks. Back then, they were divided into: “Health-related” components: cardiorespiratory (aerobic) fitness, strength, body composition, flexibility; and “Skill/performance-related”components: power, balance, agility, coordination, reaction time. This distinction implied that some...
Do you need to lift heavy for stronger bones?
It’s pretty easy to notice when your fitness or strength is declining. Unfortunately, the same doesn’t apply for your bone health. You can’t actually feel your bones getting weaker. Bone loss can occur gradually over years without many symptoms, and the first indication many people get that their bones have weakened is when they sustain a fracture. And the unfortunate truth is a broken bone at age 70 or 80 can have vastly different consequences to one at 20 or 30. Beyond fractures themselves,...
4 types of exercises I want to do more as I get older
I recently turned 38, and more and more I’m thinking about the things I want to keep doing 10, 20, and 30+ years from now. And what I can do now to help make that possible. When it comes to resistance training (and exercise more generally), my philosophy centres on doing the simple things often. But I also recognise there are certain qualities a basic training approach doesn’t always challenge that well - some of which become increasingly important for healthy ageing. Some of these qualities...
Why exercise is maintenance, not just medicine
The term “exercise is medicine” is often used to help convey why exercise matters for health. That makes sense given an active lifestyle is linked to a lower risk of virtually all chronic health conditions - not to mention being critical for keeping us functioning well to get the most out of our years. But I think the “medicine” metaphor actually misses something important. Because if we treat exercise like a prescription, then we tend to think it’s something we only turn to when things go...
For metabolic health, does cardio or strength matter more?
When we think of the benefits of exercise, we tend to put resistance and aerobic training into different “buckets”: Resistance improves muscle, strength, and maybe bone Aerobic benefits heart health, fitness, and metabolic health There is some truth to this of course. At the extremes, a bodybuilder looks very different to a marathon runner, after all. But is the distinction really that clear - especially for the health benefits we can’t see? A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis...
How I designed my strength program around my life
A couple of weeks ago, a reader asked me a simple question: “Your ideas are interesting… but I’d like to know what you actually do in the gym.” It seemed like a pretty straightforward request. But following on from last week’s newsletter, I think the most useful thing isn’t just what I do, but explaining why my program looks the way it does. Because it’s an example of how I’ve adapted my training around my life - my current goals, priorities, and constraints. Right now, I want my strength...
Another study says train harder. Here’s what it missed
I cringed a little when I first saw it. During the week, the social media posts were flooding in - all with variations of the same message: Exercise intensity trumps volume. And I thought to myself, here we go again… This isn’t the first time new research has led to claims exercise at higher intensities - or training harder - matters most for health benefits. But this message is problematic for a few reasons. Not to mention this conclusion isn’t really what the data from this study shows......
Why I stopped making lifting my priority
I’ve been a “lifter” for the best part of 20 years. It’s something I’ve prioritised it ever since learning the why and the how of resistance training in my first year of university studies. So for a long time, lifting has been firmly baked into my identity. That part hasn't really changed. But lately I realised I’d been neglecting something pretty important… Getting in enough consistent weekly aerobic activity. And the more I digged into some of the newer data on the links between the dose of...
The new science of resistance training (17 years in the making)
It’s 2009, and I’m sitting in a lecture theatre at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. The subject is resistance training, and Dr Tony Shield is walking us through the gold standard evidence for how to prescribe it to get people stronger, more powerful, or to grow muscle. And much of this came from ACSM’s 2009 Progression Models for Resistance Training. Since way back then (when I was a 21-year old 3rd-year undergrad student), this has been the best summary of the “how to” with...
The exercises I stopped doing after 20 years of lifting
I’ve been lifting weights now for almost two decades. And in that time, my routine has changed quite a bit. But one of the biggest shifts has been quite recent, and it probably too me far longer to get here than it should have. The truth is, for years I pushed through exercises I didn’t really enjoy, picked up niggles I didn’t need, and missed sessions I could have shown up for. All because I believed certain exercises were non-negotiable. I’m talking exercises like squats, deadlifts, and...
A weekly newsletter with actionable tips to make exercise easier.