Knowing your zone is step one. But knowing it doesn't change anything on its own. In Part 2, Emma breaks down how to find your optimal arousal zone, train in it on purpose, and build a pre-performance routine that holds up when it actually matters on the platform.

Life has seasons, some weeks training feels effortless, others it's the last thing you want to do. But when stress piles up, training doesn't have to be another task on the list. It can be the thing that helps you regulate, reconnect, and reset.

Some days the bar feels like an extension of your body. Other days the warm-up weight feels like a max attempt. Here's how to tell the difference, adjust without derailing your training, and why showing up at 60% still beats not showing up at all.

Nobody I coach has ever said "I've got heaps of time to train, coach." They've got full-time jobs, families, and about a million and one things happening on any given Tuesday and they still want to get stronger and compete. Here's why coaching them looks nothing like coaching from a textbook.

Your hands are shaking, your mind goes blank, and suddenly you can't remember how to do the lift you've done a hundred times. Sound familiar? In the first of this series, Accredited Mental Health Social Worker Emma breaks down what performance anxiety actually is, why it shows up, and why the goal was never to get rid of it.

I train 6-8 hours a week in Muay Thai, drill technique consistently, and feel completely comfortable, until it comes to actually sparring someone. Turns out the story I told myself about being 'too competitive' for interclub day was really just perfectionism in disguise. Here's what showing up anyway taught me about the athletes I coach every week at MWBC.

When I started weightlifting, I had no idea what I was doing with my nutrition. I was training hard, showing up consistently, but I was under-fuelled and under-recovered so consistently that my coach eventually got sick of watching it. That one hour with a sports nutritionist changed the way I understood my body and my training forever.

Everyone remembers their best sessions. Almost nobody learns from their worst ones, except as something to forget. That's a mistake. Here's why a session that falls apart might be doing more for your lifting than the one where everything went right.

Your coaches have spent years on the gym floor. Over that time, certain patterns keep showing up, beliefs held by hard-working lifters who are quietly getting in their own way. Here are 5 of the most common, and what to focus on instead.

Everyone talks about individualised programming but very few people are honest about what it actually means. The truth is, you cannot truly individualise a program after one hour with an athlete. Real individualisation is a process, not a starting point, and it's built through time, attention and a willingness to keep learning about the person in front of you.

Two years in the making, this published research dives into how elite strength-sport athletes and coaches navigate training and performance throughout the menstrual cycle and the findings might surprise you.

We're often told that progress is a numbers game: do more, lift more, repeat more. But if the movement itself is off, more reps don't fix it, they just make it permanent. Here's why quality beats volume in skill work, and what actually drives technique forward.

I used to think 3 squat sessions a week was the minimum for any serious weightlifter. I was wrong. For most lifters, the ones with full-time jobs, real time constraints, and a long list of goals, 2 days a week is enough to make real, consistent progress. The trick is knowing when to add a third, and when squatting more is actually costing you progress.

Eight days in Samoa coaching Ash and several of Australia's best at the Oceania, Commonwealth and Universal Cup. Here's what Caity took home from one of the most hectic sessions she's navigated as a coach, from solo coaching pressure, to opening weight strategy, to the difference between coaches who are there for the win and coaches who are there for the athlete.

If maxing out is the fun part, why does it feel like your coach is always trying to hold you back? Short answer: maxing out isn't training. Building to a heavy single every week isn't the same as training to improve, and if that's all you're doing, you're not actually getting better. Here's what's really going on, and how to start training in a way that keeps the PBs coming for years, not just months.

You track your HR, your load, your macros, but what about one of the most consistent physiological processes you experience every month? Tracking your menstrual cycle isn't about restructuring your training around it. It's about creating awareness so you can train smarter, communicate better with your coach, and become a more responsive athlete. Here are 3 reasons why it's worth paying attention to.

"I'm not strong enough yet." "My technique needs work." "Maybe next year." If that sounds like you, here's the truth: you're probably already strong enough, and your movement is almost certainly good enough. You're ready, you just don't feel ready. And those are two very different things.

Two lifters can have the same technical issue and need completely different solutions.

That’s where most coaching falls short.

This blog explores how I approach teaching weightlifting through feel, how I adapt to the person in front of me, and why building confidence is just as important as fixing positions.

In the world of weightlifting, distance shouldn't stand in the way of quality coaching. At MWBC, we've designed our remote coaching program specifically for athletes who crave personalised guidance but are unable to train with us in Melbourne. Whether you've been following our content or are just discovering us, our approach is rooted in understanding each athlete as an individual.

Our onboarding process dives deep into your training history, movement patterns, and goals, ensuring that the program you receive is tailored just for you. With weekly video reviews, ongoing feedback, and access to our vibrant athlete community, remote coaching at MWBC bridges the gap between in-person and online training.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your training or are looking for a coaching relationship that goes beyond generic programs, MWBC’s remote coaching might just be the perfect fit.

So, you've just got eyes on your new training program, and your coach has prescribed this thing called RPE. What does it mean? RPE stands for Rating of Perceived Exertion, a way of adjusting load based on how hard a set actually feels, rather than forcing yourself to lift a pre-determined weight no matter what. Because you are not a robot, and the weight you should lift changes depending on a lot more than just what's written on paper.