The Rehab Space

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17/08/2026

You can’t make your Achilles injury-proof

But you can make sure it’s better prepared for what you’re asking it to do

When it comes to Achilles and calf training, we tend to focus on one thing:

Calf raises

Can you do 20?
25?
30?

Useful? Yes

But that tells us very little about what your calf is actually capable of

When I’m profiling the calf, I’m interested in three things:

1️⃣ FORCE
How much force can you actually produce?

2️⃣ SPEED
How quickly can you produce that force?

Because running, sprinting and changing direction don’t give you 3 seconds to slowly build tension.

3️⃣ CAPACITY
Can you repeatedly produce force when fatigue starts to build?

This last one is particularly important

Someone might produce a great first effort...

But what happens on rep 5?

Rep 8?

Rep 10?

Does force stay relatively stable?

Or does it fall off a cliff?

That’s why simply being able to do “25 calf raises” doesn’t give me the whole picture

And none of these tests allow us to predict exactly who will rupture their Achilles

That’s not the point

The point is to stop guessing

Profile what the calf can currently do

Find the gaps

Build those qualities

Then prepare the athlete for the speed, force and repeated contacts their sport actually demands

You can’t guarantee an Achilles won’t rupture

But you can build a better-prepared calf-Achilles complex

Don’t predict

PROFILE → PREPARE → PERFORM

Tom didn’t need more milesHe needed a body that could tolerate themThat meant understanding what was actually limiting h...
14/08/2026

Tom didn’t need more miles

He needed a body that could tolerate them

That meant understanding what was actually limiting him before writing a single programme

Over the next few posts I’m going to take you behind the scenes of exactly how we prepared Tom for Swansea 70.3

Not just the finish line

The assessment

The testing

The coaching

The setbacks

The breakthroughs

Because the finish line is only one chapter of the story

Part 2 drops soon

Everyone wants the secret to “injury prevention.”The problem?There isn’t oneYou can stretch every day
You can foam roll ...
10/08/2026

Everyone wants the secret to “injury prevention.”

The problem?

There isn’t one

You can stretch every day
You can foam roll religiously
You can warm up perfectly
..and still get injured

Because injuries aren’t usually caused by one thing

They’re often the result of asking your body to do more than it’s currently prepared for

That’s why I don’t chase “injury-proof.”

I help people become harder to injure

✅ Build strength
✅ Increase tissue capacity
✅ Prepare for the demands of your sport
✅ Progress gradually instead of guessing

Will that guarantee you never get injured?

No

Will it stack the odds in your favour and give you a better chance of staying healthy and bouncing back faster if something does go wrong?

Absolutely

Stop chasing injury prevention

Start building a body that’s prepared for the things you actually want to do

👇🏼 What’s one thing you’ve always been told prevents injuries?

If you’re wobbling before your legs are tired, is it really a strength exercise? Before the Bulgarian split squat fan cl...
07/08/2026

If you’re wobbling before your legs are tired, is it really a strength exercise?

Before the Bulgarian split squat fan club comes for me again... 😂

I’m not saying they’re a bad exercise

I’m questioning whether they’re always the best exercise for the outcome we’re chasing

For runners, one of the main reasons we strength train is to improve our ability to produce and tolerate force

So here’s the question...

If you’re wobbling around trying to stay balanced before your quads and glutes are genuinely challenged, what’s actually limiting the exercise?

Your strength?

Or your balance?

There’s nothing wrong with challenging stability

But we don’t need every exercise to train every quality at once

Sometimes I’d rather give an athlete some support, remove unnecessary instability and let them actually LOAD the movement

More stability

More external load

More opportunity to produce force

Because making an exercise more difficult doesn’t automatically make it more effective

The goal isn’t to make the exercise harder

It’s to make the target tissue work harder

Exercise selection should always come back to the adaptation we’re trying to create

And if maximal force is the goal?

There are often better tools available

Save this one for your next strength session

And send it to your mate who refuses to remove Bulgarian split squats from every programme 👀

04/08/2026

160kg step-ups… there’s a reason 👀

This is a GB sprint cyclist shifting some serious weight

And it’s a great example of the point I was making in my recent post about Bulgarian split squats being overrated

It’s not that BSS are a bad exercise

It’s that sometimes stability becomes the limiting factor before force production does

For an athlete whose sport demands huge levels of force, we want strength exercises that actually allow them to EXPRESS that force

A stable set-up

Heavy loading

High force output

Less balance becoming the limiting factor

The step-up gives us that opportunity

Does that mean you need to start throwing 160kg on the bar tomorrow?

Absolutely not 😂

And does it mean BSS are useless?

Also no

Exercise selection should be dictated by the adaptation you want, not by which exercise everyone else is doing

For this athlete, the goal is pretty clear:

Get strong. Produce force. Transfer it to the bike 🚴💨

Unpopular opinion...Bulgarian split squats are one of the most overrated exercises for runnersBefore the comments start....
03/08/2026

Unpopular opinion...

Bulgarian split squats are one of the most overrated exercises for runners

Before the comments start...

I’m not saying they’re a bad exercise

They’re just not the automatic choice that social media has made them out to be

The biggest issue?

For many runners, balance becomes the limiting factor before the working leg does

If your wobbling foot gives up before your quads, glutes or calves have been challenged...

Are you really training strength?

As rehab professionals and coaches, our job isn’t to choose the hardest-looking exercise

It’s to choose the exercise that develops the quality we’re trying to improve

For runners, that’s often:

✅ More force production

✅ Greater tendon capacity

✅ Better rate of force development

Not better balancing skills

Bulgarian split squats absolutely have a place

I use them

I coach them

I just don’t think they deserve the pedestal they’ve been put on

What do you think?

👇🏼 Are Bulgarian split squats overrated for runners, or are they still one of your go-to exercises?

One of the biggest mistakes I see injured runners make...They stop completelyThen, as soon as the pain settles, they jum...
28/07/2026

One of the biggest mistakes I see injured runners make...

They stop completely

Then, as soon as the pain settles, they jump straight back into the same training they were doing before

And they’re surprised when the injury returns

The problem usually isn’t running

The problem is the jump in load

Your body doesn’t know it’s been two weeks

It doesn’t care that you’ve got a race coming up

It only knows what you’re asking it to tolerate today

That’s why I very rarely tell clients to stop training altogether

Instead, we adapt

We might reduce your running

We might replace one run with the bike

We might increase your strength work

We keep building the qualities your body needs while respecting what it can currently tolerate

Because the goal isn’t simply getting back to one pain-free run

The goal is building a body that can handle weeks and months of consistent training without breaking down again

Good rehab isn’t about stopping

It’s about adapting

What’s your biggest challenge right now?

17/07/2026

There’s a big difference between testing your knee and gambling on it… but what do I know

Rest can calm your knee downIt rarely prepares it for your next runMost runners don’t need another week offThey need str...
10/07/2026

Rest can calm your knee down

It rarely prepares it for your next run

Most runners don’t need another week off

They need stronger quads, better tendon capacity and a plan that progressively builds them back to running

Stop chasing short-term relief

Build a knee that can actually tolerate the miles

Treat the cause, not just the symptoms

Save this for the runner who keeps getting the same knee pain

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