Functional Strength - Nielsen Fitness Personal Training

Mastering Your Basic Deadlift in 5 Easy Steps

Mastering your basic deadlift is one of the most effective strength skills you can include in a muscle building workout plan. Deadlifts recruit multiple muscle groups at once (including your glutes, hamstrings, core, back, and even your grip), making them a true full-body movement. Beyond aesthetics, deadlifts help improve posture, support daily functional movements, and build real, usable strength. “You […]

Functional Strength Injury Prevention

Knee Pain During Squats: How To Honestly Fix It

Nagging knee pain during squats is a common issue. Though workouts should never feel painful or dangerous, squats remain a foundational movement in most effective training plans. This is because squatting is essential to daily life. When you pick up something heavy or stand up from a seat, you’re often performing a squat. It’s important to investigate why any pain […]

Aging Functional Strength Injury Prevention

Strong Hips After 60: Cultivate Strength for a More Vibrant, Pain-Free Life

Strong hips after 60 is key to maintaining independence, confidence, and overall quality of life. Your hips are the literal and functional center of your body. They connect your upper and lower halves, stabilize your movements, and play a key role in everything from walking and climbing stairs to getting up from a chair or maintaining balance. That said, hip […]

Core Strength Functional Strength Healthy Living

Why Spinal Stability Is Important for Pain-Free Living

As a team of experienced in-home and virtual personal trainers, we’ve worked with hundreds of clients, from desk workers to competitive athletes, and one thing remains constant: spinal stability is the foundation of everything. Whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, improved posture, or simply living without back pain, your spine is at the centre of it all. Unfortunately, […]

Fitness Functional Strength

Why We Love Functional Fitness

With new studios and styles popping up every day, the search to find the right workout can feel overwhelming. While there is no universal answer, our team of in-home and virtual personal trainers does favour one category: functional training that works the body as a unit. When it comes to structured exercise, this style is the best way to optimize […]

Functional Strength Healthy Living Stretching

Everything You Need To Know About the Psoas

Most people are familiar with a few key muscles, like the abdominals, glutes, and biceps, but one less talked about muscle that plays a highly important role in movement in the psoas. At Nielsen Fitness, our in-home and virtual personal trainers believe that the more you understand your body, the better you can take care of it. Read on to […]

Balance Fitness Tips Functional Strength

Directional Training: What Is It and Why Is It Useful?

When it comes to adding challenge to workouts, there are many different variables for in-home and virtual personal trainers to adjust: load, speed, structure, and balance, to name a few. However, one of our personal favourites is the less popular (yet still highly beneficial) variable of direction. At Nielsen Fitness, we use dynamic, directional adjustments to ensure our clients are […]

Exercise Fitness Tips Functional Strength

How to Squat Without Squatting: Our Favourite Safe Alternatives

You may have read our recent blog post on the necessity of the squat. It’s a “foundational movement pattern humans learn at a very young age. The muscles you use in a squat help you power through your daily tasks. Adding squats to your workout can help decrease your risk of injury and keep you moving easily throughout the day” […]

Exercise Functional Strength Healthy Living

How Hard is Too Hard? How to Exercise Safely

One of the most frustrating misconceptions within the fitness industry is the belief that a workout should feel extremely challenging, verging on painful. While (correctly programmed and implemented) high intensity training has its benefits, exercise should never hurt or feel unsafe. So how do you know if you’re pushing too hard, or simply afraid of feeling the burn? Read on […]

Fitness Tips Functional Strength Injury Prevention

How to Squat: Our Top Tips

At Nielsen Fitness, we prioritize functional fitness that will make a tangible difference in our clients’ quality of life. Whether we’re reviewing a staple skill or coaching a trainee through a new, challenging movement, our team members always explain the practical benefits of each exercise. One perfect example of a move that translates directly into everyday life is the squat […]