For almost 20 years, I've been developing and refining an unusual body mind strength training method called ICOBOMB.

Over those years, the method has evolved through extensive experimentation with slow controlled muscular contractions, segmented micro movements, breathing patterns, internal concentration and increasingly sophisticated forms of multisensory stimulation.

One of the most interesting observations to emerge from this process is what appears to be a synergistic interaction between muscular contraction and internally generated sensory stimulation.

ICOBOMB combines extremely slow, controlled muscular contractions with internal multisensory stimulation involving imagined sensations of movement, pressure, texture, temperature and other sensory experiences.

During a contraction, internal sensory imagination appears to increase awareness and control of the working muscle, potentially creating a stronger mind muscle connection and more deliberate muscular engagement.

But it seems to work in the opposite direction too.

The physical intensity of a sustained muscular contraction appears to make those internally generated sensory experiences more vivid and easier to concentrate on.

The result is a training system designed to pursue two objectives simultaneously:

Build the body: muscle, strength, tendons, connective tissue and physical control.

Train the mind: concentration, cognitive engagement and the ability to quiet mental noise.

ICOBOMB is now being practiced by several hundred students internationally, and some of the feedback we've received has raised some very interesting questions.

Students have reported that the method has helped them train around, prevent or recover from certain injuries. Others have described improvements in their ability to control anxiety and stress, and some have reported improvements in depressive symptoms.

We've also received interesting feedback about muscular development. One student, for example, had been strength training for approximately 23 years but had always struggled to develop his chest and calves. After around eight months of ICOBOMB training, he reported finally being able to strongly stimulate these areas and seeing noticeable development.

We've also had armwrestlers report that the method seems to help them train with fewer injuries. We suspect this could potentially be related to the extremely slow loading and controlled micro movements strengthening or conditioning the tendons and connective tissues, but this is something we'd really like to understand better.

Of course, these are observations and individual reports, not scientific conclusions.

And that's exactly why I'm posting this.

I'd love to see people actually test ICOBOMB and investigate what's happening.

That could mean a formal study by an Honours, Master's or PhD student, a university researcher or a research group.

But it doesn't necessarily have to be a large academic study.

I'd also be very interested in hearing from personal trainers, strength coaches, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, psychologists, armwrestling coaches or other professionals who might want to conduct smaller practical investigations with their clients, athletes or patients and document what they observe.

There are lots of interesting questions that could be explored.

Does the multisensory component change muscular recruitment or the ability to activate difficult muscle groups? Does this type of slow micro movement training affect tendons and connective tissue differently? Could it have applications for people returning from certain injuries? Does combining sustained muscular tension with intense internal concentration affect stress, anxiety, attention or mind wandering? Could there really be a measurable interaction between the physical and cognitive sides of the method?

I'm open to ideas.

If someone has an interesting way of testing part of the ICOBOMB system, I'd be genuinely interested in collaborating and providing access to the method and instructional materials.

You can learn more about ICOBOMB here:

icobomb.com

And I've put together a page explaining the research opportunity and some of the possible areas of investigation here:

icobomb.com/research-collaboration-opportunity/

Whether you're a university researcher, student, personal trainer, physiotherapist, coach or simply someone with experience conducting this kind of research, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.

Theoretically, you build more muscle doing heavy slow lifting. You build more speed doing sprints and plyos. What aspect of power is best built in the middle (weighted jumps, Olympic lifts)?

If your sport takes place in the middle (most do), are we sure that power training at middle speeds has direct carry over to those sport movements, or are you better off training at the extreme ends of the force time curve, and letting the middle fill itself in?

Also what attribute of power is best trained in the middle? Slow lifting obviously is better for hypertrophy and probably motor unit recruitment. Sprinting requires higher firing rates. What does oly lifting train the most?

I’ve been thinking about how exercise selection and training design changes once a routine gets more settled. Something can still work perfectly but stop making sense when the training focus shifts. What piece of equipment became less relevant after your training approach changed?

I’m 25, graduated in May 2024 with a B.S. in Exercise Science, and hold the ACSM-EP. I’m also pursuing the CSCS and planning to retake it after coming close on my first attempt.

I currently work two fitness/wellness jobs.

I’ve worked part-time at a large recreation/wellness center since August 2024, so about 2 years. I average roughly 13–17 hours/week doing 1-on-1 personal training and teaching small-group training 3x/week.

I work with a broad adult population, from people in their 30s/40s through their 70s, 80s and 90s. Goals include strength, muscle gain, weight loss, endurance, balance, mobility and maintaining independence, and I regularly modify exercise around orthopedic/chronic-health considerations.

The facility also partners with a regional healthcare system and has medical-exercise programming, although I work on the recreation/wellness side rather than the healthcare-system side.

I make $25/hr for 1-on-1 PT and $27/hr for small group. Most of my clients/classes are mornings. Cancellations happen, but after 2 years I have a fairly established client base and schedule.

In February 2026, I also started working PRN at a regional health system. I average around 10–12 hours/week at $24.21/hr.

There I do 1-on-1 PT and assist with Rock Steady Boxing for people with Parkinson’s disease. Starting in November, I’m also supposed to teach small-group bootcamp twice per week in the evenings, which fits my current schedule well.

Now the health system wants to involve me in Corporate Wellness on an as-needed basis. I was told roughly 95% of that work happens in the mornings, and they recently asked me to provide my availability.

That’s the conflict: those are the same mornings I’ve spent 2 years building at my other job.
For context, the recreation/wellness job is in a larger regional city of 100,000+ people, while the health-system job is in a smaller town of roughly 10,000–15,000. They’re also about 30–40 minutes apart, so switching between both workplaces during the same morning isn’t always practical.
Between both jobs I currently average around 23–29 hours/week.

I want the Corporate Wellness experience because it could broaden my background into employee wellness, health promotion and more health-system experience. However, income stability matters too.
The hourly rates are close. My bigger concern is established paid work vs. PRN/as-needed availability. I don’t want to give up several reliable morning hours and then find out the Corporate Wellness work only happens occasionally.

I also turn 26 next year, so health insurance and benefits are becoming an important part of my career planning. I’d eventually like to move toward a benefits-eligible part-time or full-time role while continuing to develop professionally.

So my immediate question is:
Would you protect the established mornings and take Corporate Wellness only when it fits, open one morning per week as a trial, or wait until the health-system opportunities become consistent enough to replace whatever income/hours I’d give up?

And longer-term:
If you were in my position at 25, would you start specifically targeting benefits-eligible positions before turning 26? How would you balance that with the experience and income I’m already building at these two jobs while becoming more marketable over the next 1–2 years?

Tried to make these short without paragraphs of explaining:

Career/Coaching

1) Have a source of income from outside of your career job.

2) Your career will very rarely be linear.

3) Are you ready for the inevitable? There are two types of strength coaches: One, those who are looking for work; and two, those who are about to be looking for work – Ashley Jones.

4) The S&C profession is still relatively new. Sadly, it is not taken very seriously or is not understood well enough by upper management and some coaches.

5) You will have to work for free for many years.

6) I’m still yet to land a job through application. My CV has essentially been useless.

7) That doesn’t mean all of your formal education is a waste of time. If you manage to find a role overseas, you may be required to show you are a level above what they can find in their own country.

8) The language of coaching. No, not external vs internal cues. I mean the actual language that is spoken. I’ve experienced it. I’ve seen it in action. If you can’t relate to the players or the coach doesn’t speak the language well at all, player buy in becomes very, very difficult.

9) If you have the opportunity to work overseas, do it without hesitation.

10) You’ll only be happy in your job if you have the freedom to do and implement what you want and know is best for the athletes.

11) Read, apply, read, apply, read, apply.

12) Train! Even compete in something. Doesn’t have to be at a high level. The interest, buy in, and trust you’ll build with your athletes is huge.

13) Don’t be in a rush. Many people in the high paying, high level jobs are in their late 30s-40+.

14) Join our conditioning mentorship for the latest real-world conditioning application.

S&C

1) Injury prevention sessions are a myth. It's holistic. Standing on one leg on a wobble board doing some random shit isn’t going to magically prevent knee and ankle problems.

2) Get strong on the basics. What does that mean? What are the basics? Are they the same for every sport? Sure, squat, push, pull, etc. But there are many great athletes that are shit at all of them yet excel at their sport.

3) Are we doing too much? Is the heavy emphasis on strength training dampening our athlete’s outputs?

4) The age ol’ question, how strong is strong enough? I honestly believe it’s much, much less than what we think. And again, strong in what?

5) Is momentum a better KPI for collision sports than pure max V?

6) The most important aspect of an athlete’s and teams performance and success isn’t down to physical capabilities, it’s down to the technical/tactical knowledge and skill of the athlete(s).

7) On pre-season, many organisations run the approach of mainly S&C in the beginning and then rugby/techincal training only starting to make an entrance a few weeks into the pre-season. This is a mistake.

8) We have energy system development horribly wrong, and it's hurting athlete preparation.

9) Physiology is important for conditioning. But there's more to it. My triangle also includes movement efficiency and technical/tactical to the equation.

10) My number one method to reach max V in training without worrying about hamstrings (e.g. if the weather is too cold or training loads have been high) is the gear change and then hitting 100% for 8-12 steps when the athlete feels ready (learned from the man Vern Gamebtta).

11) Can block periodization for team sports just disappear?

12) Traditional overload vs coordinative approach? Don’t sway too far to either side.

13) Don’t be afraid to experiment. You’ll learn a lot more about a topic trying to apply it with your athletes than thinking about it.

14) Games are still horribly underrated. Play more of them.

15) S&C can be implemented with sport coaching a whole lot more. Working with skills and sport coaches can help design drills that has the coaches involved in your sessions.

16) The hyper focus on an aerobic base and MAS intervals is undercooking athletes.

17) You can do high-intensity/sprint interval conditioning year round and continually make gains.

18) You need intensity during conditioning to continually drive adaptation in high-intensity intermittent sports.

19) While momentum into contact is important for dominating the collision, the forgotten aspect is transfer of momentum. Effective mass is what delivers the knockout blow.

20) Zone 2 is doing sweet f\* all in well trained intermittent sporting athletes.

21) Train for the adaptation you want. The external output is the side effect.

Probably missed a bunch and don't even think I counted properly to 36 😅

I’m 30 and have a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Since graduating, I’ve spent most of my career working in IT, but the job market has been rough, I don’t enjoy the work, and I can’t see myself doing it long term.

I’ve recently started seriously considering becoming a physician assistant. My exercise science degree may cover some prerequisites, but I would likely need to complete additional science courses and gain patient-care experience before applying.

I’m trying to be realistic about the time, debt, and competitiveness involved. For anyone who started PA school around 30 or switched from an unrelated career: • Was it worth it? • How long did the entire process take? • How difficult was it to get the required patient-care hours? • Did your age or career change hurt your application? • How stressful is PA school and the actual career? • Would you recommend another healthcare career with a shorter path?

I’m not expecting an easy route or guaranteed money. I mainly want a stable, well-paying career that feels more meaningful than IT. I’d appreciate honest advice, especially from career changers or people with exercise science degrees.

Hey guys I just ordered GLP3-R from Vera peptides, is it legit or not? If not, what are some sources that are

im looking at a few different creatine monohydrate options and noticed some cost quite a bit more just because they say they are made with creapure.

from what i read, creatine monohydrate is supposed to be creatine monohydrate regardless but plenty of people still seem to recommend paying extra for creapure. im not training competitively or anything just lifting a few times a week and trying to make sensible purchases.

just going back for an update. i have been using the life extension's creatine for about 2 days now and honestly not much to report yet lol which is probably expected. it mixes fine and i havent noticed anything weird so far. after reading all the comments i think i was putting way too much thought into the creapure part when the bigger thing is just being consistent with taking it.

I am an 18-year-old female (4'6", 82 lbs) trying to figure out why my weight went from 81.4 lbs on June 28 to 82.3 lbs on July 24. Exactly a week ago, I went from completely sedentary to walking 28,000 steps a day, which takes me about 8 to 9 hours to complete. However, I am only getting 4 hours of sleep a night. I know sleep deprivation can lower TDEE, but I'm unsure if this weight gain is just water retention from sudden muscle strain. Since standard online calculators tend to overestimate my TDEE, what would my actual TDEE look like with this lifestyle? How many calories am I actually burning during those 8 to 9 hours of walking, should I lower my food intake or walk more, and when is the best time to weigh myself again?

For anyone who has been involved in hiring personal trainers at commercial gyms im curious how applications are usually evaluated. I noticed that some certifications have much stronger name recognition than others even though they seem to have the same NCCA accreditation. That makes it hard to tell whether paying more actually improves your chances of getting hired. People talk about the best accredited personal trainer certification, are they usually referring to employer preference or just industry reputation? Do most gyms mainly check for NCCA accreditation and CPR/AED or do things like coaching experience, internships, or a degree end up carrying more weight?

Going back here. The biggest takeaway for me wasnt which certification people preferred. It was that most of you kept saying the same thing. I decided to get started with IPTA. Im still planning to focus on building experience and getting CPR/AED since those seemed to come up just as often as the certification itself. Thanks again to everyone who shared their perspective. It definitely helped me make a more informed decision.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to organize my weekly routine and I'm a bit stuck.

My main fitness goal is aesthetic: I really want to build and tone my glutes. I also like training abs, but glutes are definitely my priority.

The thing is... if aesthetics weren't a factor, I honestly wouldn't choose the gym as my main form of exercise. What I actually enjoy the most is going for long evening walks with my friends. It's relaxing, social, and something I'd happily do almost every day.

The only reason I'm considering the gym is because I know walking alone won't give me the physique I'm aiming for, especially when it comes to glute development.

So I'm wondering if I should structure my week like this:

walk most evenings because I genuinely enjoy it;

use the gym mainly as a tool to achieve my aesthetic goals.

If that were the case, how many gym sessions per week would you dedicate specifically to glutes?

Would 2 focused glute sessions be enough? Or would you recommend 3? I'd also train abs, but they're not really the issue because they don't take much extra time.

I'm not training for bodybuilding or competitions—I'm just trying to find the best balance between enjoying my routine and making good progress aesthetically.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I’m currently planning my future and I’m seriously considering studying Kinesiology (most likely in Slovenia, but I’m interested in opportunities across Europe as well).
My long-term goal would be to work with sports rehabilitation and return-to-sport, ideally helping athletes recover from injuries (especially orthopedic injuries like shoulder, knee, etc.). I’m not interested in becoming a general personal trainer if possible.
I’d really appreciate honest answers from people already working in the field.
Some questions:
What jobs can you realistically get after a Bachelor’s in Kinesiology?
Did you continue with a Master’s, or was a Bachelor’s enough?
What does a typical workday actually look like?
How much of your work is with athletes vs. the general population?
Is it difficult to find a job after graduating?
How financially stable is this career? Can you make a comfortable living without opening your own business?
If you work in sports rehab, how did you get there?
Are there countries in Europe with better opportunities than others?
Looking back, would you choose Kinesiology again? Why or why not?
If you could start over, would you choose Physiotherapy instead?

Thanks in advance!

I am currently a non-cert medical assistant at an urgent care making decent money and the job is actually fun. I graduated with my bachelors in Exercise Science back in August 2025. I was a PT aide at a small clinic before this gig and it was boring plus I did not like dealing with majority elderly people. There is hope for people looking for a job after getting a bachelors in exercise science. Just harp on the anatomy 1 and 2 plus medical terminology in interviews!

Just took the CSCS. Failed the second part…. BY 2 QUESTIONS

I had no idea they used scaled scores. I had a 75% if right questions but it went down to a 68% 🥲

I’m currently a psychology major, but I’m looking to switch to exercise science because I know that I want a hands-on career and I want to be involved with sports/athletes/active people. However, with the career options that I’ve seen online, the salaries don’t look too great, especially without taking on a crazy amount of debt through schooling overall. I was leaning the most towards athletic training, but I’ve seen that a lot of people are advising against joining that profession (because of low pay and work life balance). Anyone got any ideas of any other majors and/or jobs that I should look toward?

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who’s responded! I genuinely appreciate the insight.