Sport, work and family can leave limited time for the gym. I look at how Masters athletes can build or maintain strength, how training needs change through the season, and when one gym session a week can be enough.

Running happens one leg at a time, so should runners do all their strength training on one leg? It sounds logical, but it overlooks what we're actually trying to achieve in the gym. For Masters athletes, the choice between single-leg and double-leg exercises should come down to the training effect we're after, not simply copying the movements of running.

Louise ran her fastest 100 metres at 60, after years of training and a serious Achilles injury. She also went from struggling to finish seasons to competing regularly through demanding ones. Her results didn’t improve in a straight line. Before deciding your own training isn’t working, here’s why it pays to look beyond the latest race.

Sit-ups mainly train repeated trunk flexion. Useful in some situations, but only a small part of what the core has to do in sport. For Masters athletes, the bigger challenge is creating, controlling and resisting movement while helping transfer force efficiently through the body.

As Masters swimmers get older, gym training often becomes lighter, slower and more cautious. But strength and explosive power are also becoming harder to retain. So are lighter weights really the answer? We look at what S&C is actually meant to do for a swimmer, and why heavy, light and fast training all have a role.

Why does sprinting sometimes feel so much harder as we get older? This article looks at the neural and physical changes that affect speed, why ageing is only part of the story, and how Masters athletes can keep training strength, power and speed without simply doing more.

Sprint acceleration changes as we get older, but understanding what changes gives us a better idea of what to train. We look at research into Masters sprint acceleration and what it tells us about strength, power, force application and the role of both S&C and track training.

How much training is enough after 50? For Masters athletes, the answer is rarely a weekly number. We look at training load, recovery, strength, endurance, speed and the demands of the athlete’s actual goals to ask a better question: is each part of the week producing a useful adaptation?

Has training become easier as I’ve got older—or simply more precise? This article explores why effective Masters training is not about removing challenge, but about applying the right stimulus while managing fatigue, recovery and injury risk more carefully.

After 35 years of coaching Masters athletes across multiple sports, I've become less interested in finding the perfect exercise and far more interested in understanding what an athlete actually needs. Eighteen years coaching the same athlete reinforced that lesson. The exercises changed. The thinking behind the program barely did.

Why increasing strength doesn't always translate into faster sprint times, and why power, coordination and stiffness often become more important as athletes mature.

Generic training programs often appear fantastic - espcially in the age of AI. But generic progams are based on averages and assumptions - they certainly do not reflect the diverse individuals who are Masters athletes.

Your calves are responsible for absorbing force, producing force, and helping the body move efficiently. Every stride, jump, acceleration, and change of direction relies heavily on the lower leg. If the calves are weak or poorly conditioned, the rest of the body often pays the price.

The goblet squat looks simple but is one of the most valuable strength exercises for athletes. Holding a weight at the chest naturally encourages good posture and exposes flaws like knee collapse or poor trunk control. It builds squat mechanics, core stability, and mobility simultaneously. For runners, swimmers, and field athletes, it bridges bodyweight and barbell work. Control, depth, and alignment matter more than load, making it a powerful assessment and development tool.

Both Personal Trainers and Strength & Conditioning coaches play important roles within the fitness industry. The key difference lies in the outcome they are targeting

Masters sprinters don’t slow down because of age — they slow down when training stops matching their needs. From strength and consistency to smart programming and recovery, small decisions drive long-term speed. These are the six most common reasons performance stalls — and how to avoid them.

Squat depth isn’t about right or wrong — it’s about purpose. Deep squats build strength, resilience, and joint capacity, especially important for runners over 30. Quarter squats develop power and speed by training the body at running-specific joint angles. The best programs use both, sequencing them intelligently to support performance now and durability long term.

Great throws start from the ground up. For Masters athletes especially, developing strong, explosive legs is one of the highest-leverage ways to boost performance, stay resilient, and keep training enjoyable.

The push press is how it bridges strength and speed. By using the legs to initiate movement, then transferring that force through the core into the arms, the lift mimics the way athletes generate power in almost every sport—whether sprinting, jumping, or throwing. This makes it an exceptional tool for improving rate of force development.

True sport-specific training means improving the underlying physical qualities that transfer to performance — things like strength, power, rate of force development, mobility, stability, and energy system efficiency - not copying the movement of your sport