Below is a guest blog post from our fantastic trainer Holly, sharing her top 10 workout songs of 2012.

Plyometrics are explosive exercises designed to increase speed and power. Plyometrics were initially made famous by the Soviet Olympians in the 1970s, and since then, has been a core element in the strength programs of elite athletes worldwide. But plyometric exercises aren't just for the elite. There are benefits for both the amateur athlete and recreational exerciser.

Ratatouille is a healthy Mediterranean dish that is great both hot or cold, so perfect for all year round. I made this dish last night for dinner, and served it with grilled chicken. YUM!

In my previous post I outlined the benefits of strength training for runners, along with the key requirements for a training program. In this post I will share with you a base strength program that I have put together.

Targeted strength training can improve a runner's performance. However, there are many avid runners out there who don't do any strength training at all, or if they do, they follow a modified body building type program, which isn't going to help their running performance.

This coming Sunday I will be competing in yet another powerlifting competition. So with this in mind, I thought it would be an ideal time to finish the third and final instalment of my deconstructions of the powerlifting lifts. I have previously written about the squat and the bench press, and now here are my insights on the deadlift.

After recently experiencing the wonder of pomegranate tea, and seeing a good friend of mine eating the real thing in a salad, I thought I would try this exotic fruit myself.

I recently competed in my first ever Australian Raw Powerlifting Championships. I'd been looking forward to this competition since competing in the final competition of 2011, the Matti Tikka Challenge. I took a few weeks off training over Christmas and started the new year with the goal of getting my deadlift back to 100kg for the Australian Championships.

It's almost time for me to compete at the Australian Powerlifting Championships. It's now under two weeks away. I've been training hard and hopefully in  a few weeks I will have a positive post about how I went. In the meantime, I thought I would share with you my second instalment of my powerlifting series. In the first post I went over the technique of the squat. Today I will break down the correct way to perform a bench press.

I have recently become a great fan of quinoa, a pseudo grain that unlike other grains, such as wheat and rice, it is high in protein and is considered a complete protein as it contains all nine essential amino acids. In addition to protein, quinoa features a range of other health-building nutrients, including fibre,  phosphorus, magnesium and iron.