Move with Monty

Not the cleanest reps, but I’ll take them 😅

I first started trying these about four years ago, and I just couldn’t make sense of them.

People kept telling me I needed to swing forwards at the bottom to get around the bar, but it never really clicked.

I left them for a while, came back to them, and still couldn’t quite get it.

I’d manage one here and there, but it never felt smooth or repeatable.

Then I tried them again recently, and something had changed.

They’re still not pretty.

I’m still using a fairly big swing.

But now they make sense.

Today I managed four in a row.

Not bad 👍

The clapping ones were just for fun haha! The muscle ups have been the elusive ones for me.

Getting back into training?

Don’t worry about doing everything.

Just cover the big rocks first 👍

Quads → Squat
Hamstrings → Romanian Deadlift
Glutes → Hip Thrust
Chest → Press Up
Shoulders → Shoulder Press
Lats → Lat Pulldown
Spinal Erectors → Back Extension
Biceps → Bicep Curl
Triceps → Tricep Pushdown
Abs → Plank

You don’t need 50 exercises.

You just need enough to get moving again.

Build confidence first.

The rest can come later.

💪 Technique Clinic tonight

Struggling with a movement? Bring it in and I’ll coach you through it or help you find a variation that suits your body.

Perfect for injuries, balance issues, or exercises you just can’t seem to feel properly.

£5 drop-in. Ask as many questions as you like.

Everyone can find five minutes.

The problem is that most people think five minutes isn’t worth it.

But five minutes is enough to start.

Enough to build a habit.

Enough to build a bit of strength, fitness, flexibility, or momentum.

What matters isn’t what you do once.

It’s what you do regularly.

We’d all love to train for an hour every day.

But life doesn’t always work like that.

Work gets busy.
Things need doing.
Time disappears.

I’m guilty of this too.

Between coaching clients and building an app, some weeks I only manage a couple of short workouts.

The important thing is that you don’t give up.

If you haven’t exercised for a few weeks, that’s okay.

Just do something.

Think long term.

Start seeing yourself as someone who exercises.

Because the more you act like that person, even in small ways, the easier it becomes to keep going.

Action and identity are linked.

And sometimes five minutes is all it takes to keep that momentum moving forward 👍

As inhabitants of our own body, we’re usually more concerned with how something feels than how it looks.

That’s one of the reasons chasing one “perfect” technique isn’t always the answer.

Sometimes a small change in position can completely change the feeling of an exercise.

In this case, I was looking for a feeling of shoulder stiffness and stability.

A slight variation to a lateral raise helped me find that.

What’s interesting to me is how changing one part of the body can affect the position, movement, and feeling somewhere else.

My background is in biomechanics, so understanding how muscles shorten, how tension moves through the body, and how different positions change an exercise is something I find fascinating.

It’s also something that helps my clients.

Sometimes a small adjustment is all it takes to make a movement feel better, feel stronger, or feel more natural for their body 👍

It’s not just calories in, calories out.

Calories in, calories out does matter.
It helps control overall body fat percentage and can impact muscle mass too.

But that’s not the only thing that can make us look and feel a bit rounder.

Bloating is another big factor.

If you feel bloated and look bloated, you’re probably going to think you’re carrying more fat than you actually are.

And if you only focus on calories, without paying attention to how different foods affect you, you might be eating things that contribute to bloating.

That can give you an unfair picture of where you’re actually at with fat loss or muscle gain.

Common things that can contribute to bloating:

• Pastries and baked goods
• Oily or greasy foods
• Takeaways
• Very salty meals
• Fizzy drinks
• Large amounts of caffeine, for some people
• Alcohol
• Artificial sweeteners
• Large meals
• Eating too quickly

Honourable mention: stress.

The simplest thing to do is a process of elimination.

Take out one or two things at a time for a week or two.

See if it changes that bloated feeling.

You might notice your stomach feels flatter, your waistline feels a little slimmer, and you feel like you’re making progress again.

It’s a small adjustment, but if you’re missing this, you might be giving yourself a harder time than you deserve 👍

Exercises don’t always feel equal on both sides of the body.

That’s normal.

Sometimes, a good way to help is to use a low-threshold drill first.

Something lighter and easier that helps you find the feeling you’re looking for and load the muscle you’re trying to target.

Then you can take that into a heavier exercise, ideally one that uses a similar movement.

You’re basically taking the memory of that feeling, and the position of your body, and trying to carry it into the loaded movement.

That helps build the connection first.

Then you load it up to build strength and muscle 👍

This week I tried .uk 👍

I’m generally pretty busy. Most days I’m doing 6–8 PT sessions, and when I’m not coaching, I’m working on the app.

So anything that makes food easier is a win.

The other reason this works for me is that I’m not exactly known for my cooking skills 😅

Good food, easy to use, and definitely better than whatever sauce I’d attempt to make myself.

Thanks for sending these over, Batch 😊

The best time of day to work out is different for everyone.

Mornings can suit cardio well, especially if you’re fasted, just make sure you’re hydrated. Evenings tend to be when we’re strongest, thanks to our body clock and being more awake and warm.

That said, consistency matters more than timing. I’ve always trained around midday because it fit my life, and that’s what made it stick.

The best time to exercise is the time you can actually repeat. If you want help figuring out what works in your day, give me a shout.