Q&A
What is your favourite exercise?
At the moment it's the Swiss Army knife of all exercises - 2-hands-anyhow.
The job is to get two kettlebells off the floor and overhead - in any way. I can snatch one kettlebell, squat after the other and get up. I can clean&press, hinge and press again.
2-hands-anyhow combines almost every movement pattern in one exercise. I love the thought of that - because I hate to limit myself ;)
What is the best and worst fitness related purchase you have ever made?
The best: The kettlebell. A (wo)man's best friend.
Training with a kettlebell is minimalistic and allows you to recruit a huge amount of muscle in a short time frame. The thing I love about kettlebell training is the "what the heck" effect. One single exercise (especially the ballistic ones like swing and snatch, but also the grinds like getups and 2-hands-anyhow) can give you whole body functional strength, power, resilience and metabolic conditioning.
The worst: Hip Thruster.
700 GBP for a very heavy piece of machinery in which you can do one thing, hip thrusters (with bands, though).
What was I thinking... It's the opposite of kettlebells (which means micromanagement).
Seriously, I've used it 3 times in 6 years. Maybe I should start deadlifting it instead.
What fad or trend do you hope comes back?
Old school strength training and bodybuilding of the 70'ies and 80'ies.
The quality of every single rep... the patience... the skill of strategic progression - all are virtues worthy reinforcing in modern day training. stead.