Author: Kevin Don
Kevin Don
Kevin Don is an internationally experienced fitness coach and educator. He has trained and worked with Olympians and World Champions in over ten sports. He’s taught more than 250 seminars on how to implement strength training into both sport-specific and general population scenarios and is often a source for online and print articles on functional fitness. He authored the coaches certification course in strength for the prestigious OPEX Fitness based in Scottsdale, Arizona and contributed to the Professional Youth Coaches Certification.
This past week, I received an email from an avid listener asking me how to stop muscle cramps. As a curveball, she gets migraines, so she avoids sweeteners, fermented foods, and bananas and doesn’t take sugar, so she can’t have sports drinks. Did I have any advice about “natural” electrolytes? We can’t talk about how to stop muscle cramps unless we know what they are and what causes them. What causes muscle cramps? According to the dictionary, a cramp is a sudden, involuntary, spasmodic contraction of a muscle or a group of muscles. I don’t think anyone who has had…
Taking a Week Off from Working Out Is taking a week off from working out detrimental? Today, I want to talk to you about a “deload week” and whether or not you need one. Deloading is a term that you may have heard of. It’s literally what it says on the tin: it’s a planned period of time where you rest and take a break from training. It usually lasts a week. I see lots of people following programs with built-in deloads or taking them because our favorite athlete does and I mean, if the pros do it, so must…
Today, I am going to talk about the debate about squat variants. When it comes to the best squat exercise, some people say low bar is best and other say high bar. But what’s the difference and, more importantly, is one of these better than the other? Which squat variant is best? We have already discussed on the show the benefits of strength training to aging bodies (literally all of our bodies). No other training intervention can mitigate the effects of sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) or osteopenia (loss of bone mineral density). Now, in terms of absolute strength movements,…
If you are a regular listener of the Get-Fit Guy podcast, you will know that I love a good anecdote. So, I’ll kick this off with a little story from my life this week. As you know, I do a whole bunch of different training, including karate, judo, boxing, and gymnastics. Now, this past week, the weather here was really cold, and the gymnastic facility I go to had no heating. During my tumbling training, I felt fine, but later that evening, I had really painful knees. Bilaterally, under both kneecaps. I have actually had surgery here before, on the…
If you are a frequent listener of the Get-Fit Guy podcast, you know I am big on being unbiased and objective. If you are new, maybe here because of a New Year’s resolution, welcome to the home of objectivity. Cold Showers vs Hot Showers For a while now, it’s been a bit of a craze to plunge yourself into a frozen river like a maniac, to wake up in the morning to a cold shower, or to fill an old chest freezer with ice cubes for an alternative afternoon session with friends. There have been a myriad of posts about…
Strong legs are pretty important, aren’t they? Certainly, when we consider that humans are upright bipeds. The legs support and locomote. They propel us forwards, backwards, push us sideways and allow us to stand in a queue. They handily bend in the middle, allowing us to sit down to rest and perform critical bodily functions, such as evacuation. As we age, like every part of us, our legs are subject to entropic processes and undergo losses of muscle mass and bone mineral density. In my own family, my father has gotten to the age that he starts to lose his…
This week I received an email from one of my listeners and since this is actually a fairly common question, I thought it would be a great opportunity to address it on the show. The email reads as follows: “Yes, I know diet is the main thing, but I’m looking for some fun new exercises that will help my love handles and belly. I already do all of the regular things, but I need to mix it up. Any thoughts on the efficacy of weighted hula hoops (or anything else that’s different and helps those areas?” Ok, so there are…
We would like to introduce you to Kevin Don, the new host of Get-Fit Guy! On the latest episode of the Get-Fit Guy podcast, Kevin tells us what being fit means to him and what we can expect from his time hosting and sharing fitness tips with us. The following is an article version of the Get-Fit Guy episode of the same name, edited for content and reading clarity. Listen to the full episode with the player above. My Health & Fitness Background If you listen to the podcast, you’ll probably notice my accent. I am indeed from Scotland, although I…