Pete Williams_FMA

Pete Williams_FMA I am a Functional Medicine Practitioner and Medical Scientist. With a focus on healthy ageing and cognitive health.

25/08/2026

So, this is, as you can see here, I’m in a half lunge position, but I am on my tiptoes because I am working my soleuses, those big strappy calf muscles that are just below my gastrocnemius. It’s a great exercise because number one, it’s hard work on the lower legs, on the hips, you’ve got that isometric balance that you’ve got to hold, but also it’s really good for a lateral challenge on the balance. If you watch the video, whether or not you see it or not, but the outside of my calf, particularly the perineal groups, are working super hard to just try and keep me in position. And so it’s always a challenge on balance. And again, it really depends, you don’t have to, you can just use your hands, you don’t have to use a weight, but if you use a weight, then obviously the challenge becomes more and more difficult. I was using a 4 kilo medicine ball. So really only about 10lbs. But again, when you move that medicine ball through a wide arc, it becomes much more of a physical load on the body. Again, I like to do 2 sets either side, 10 reps, and I get that really good workout, pretty much sort of lower legs, thighs, hips, and then, of course, we’re getting a lot from a point of view of core stability and mobilisation through the trunk as well. And that’s exercise of the day.

22/08/2026

I call this a squat to stretch. It’s really great for improving squat position. It’s really good for warming knees up, especially people who have dodgy knees and I am one of them. Just a bit of disclaimer on that. If your knees are sore and you’re doing this exercise, then don’t try it any deeper or don’t try it at all. But I really like this because if you have bad knees it really helps to get you warmed up before a session. I use this with my patients, it allows them to get in a deeper position. And for some reason, with regards to when we push out into the hamstrings and we come back into the squat, we can get in a much deeper position. So you are getting this deep squat workout as well. I like to do 3 sets, 4 repetitions. I like to hold the hamstrings in the stretch and push onto them for about 3 to 5 seconds every time I push into them. And then obviously the deeper I get with the squat, getting my bum down, they’re higher. try and get that chest over time. And it becomes this lovely flowing sequence. So again, give it a go. And any problems, let me know.

20/08/2026

Yes you heard right, Functional Medicine Bitesized is back after a little break and I’m very excited to let you know that for our latest episode I interviewed Elena Panzeri from
We of course had a deep dive into the fascinating world of the gut microbiome and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this talk. Go to the link in the bio for this and all other episodes of Functional Medicine Bitesized.

06/08/2026

Powerpenia, a new marker of ageing. What is it? It is that age related loss of skeletal muscle power, or the ability to exert force quickly. And why do we get it? Well, it’s simply driven by the ageing process, a disease process, but most importantly, in most of us, we’re just not physically active enough. And a lot of the activity that we do just isn’t forceful or quick enough. So if you’ve watched my Instagram over the years, I am always trying to give you an indication that some of your training needs to be done quickly. It doesn’t have to be huge amounts of stuff in the gym. It can be something that can be done at home, like hop, skips, and jumps. Why is this so important? Well, recent papers have actually shown that for age and s*x matched, you can have a mortality rate of nearly 7 times higher from the worst to best power. So incredibly significant from a point of view of mortality risk. So there you go. You heard it here first. Powerpenia is going to be big. Hopefully a defining biomarker of healthy ageing.

03/08/2026

Could you get up four stairs as fast as you could?
It sounds simple, but this might be one of the most important measures of healthy ageing.
The 4-Step Stair Climb Power Test takes less than 10 seconds and requires nothing more than four stairs and a stopwatch.
Here’s how:
✅ Stand at the bottom of the stairs.
✅ On “Go”, climb the four steps as quickly and as safely as possible.
✅ Stop the timer when both feet reach the fourth step.
So why is this so important?
As we age, we don’t just lose muscle—we lose power.
Power is your ability to generate force quickly. It depends on how rapidly your brain can recruit your muscles, especially your fast-twitch (Type II) fibres. These are the fibres that help you catch yourself if you trip, step over an obstacle, or stop yourself from falling.
Research consistently shows that muscle power is a better predictor of falls, frailty and loss of independence than strength alone.
That’s why I like using this test with my mum. It gives us an objective way to monitor how she’s ageing. If power begins to decline, we can intervene early with the right exercises to help maintain independence and reduce future fall risk.
Remember...
You don’t stop moving because you get older. You get older because you stop moving quickly.
Give the test a try (safely!), record your time, and repeat it every few months. It’s a simple way to keep track of one of the most important aspects of healthy ageing.
Have you tried a power test before? Let me know your time in the comments.
Safety: Only perform this test if you can climb stairs safely. Use a handrail if needed, have someone nearby if you’re at risk of falling, and stop immediately if you experience pain, dizziness, chest discomfort, or feel unsteady. If you’re unsure whether this test is appropriate for you, consult your healthcare professional first.

29/07/2026

One of the best decisions we made as a family was move my mum from a stick and walking very slowly with her head down because she was panicking about falling. And of course, my mum’s fault has fallen pretty frequently to grabbing go the stroller. The stroller has done many things that has helped her from a point of view of quality of life. She looks up rather than looking down at the floor. So now her walking becomes a little bit more community-based. She gets to see more than she did before, and she’s definitely less worried about falling. So that’s one of the key things that we’ve been able to do. Biochemically, bio mechanically, we’ve changed the way she walk, but importantly, she really pushes on with the stroller now, and why is that so important? It means that we can get her at a quicker pace, which means she goes to more places, but importantly, we get that circulation moving around. And as someone who’s 87. This is super important. So, again, don’t ever see whether it’s with your parents or someone else that a stroller is a bad decision. We actually think that we’ve helped Mum from a point of view of cardiovascular risk, from a point of view of neurological risk. She enjoys a walks a bit more, she gets out more, she gets fitter, because she feels safer with the stroller.

27/07/2026

So this is a classic 12, 9, 6 drill, and what we’re doing is replicating, obviously, the numbers on the clock, and we’ve got grandma here, and she’s going to do 12, 9, and six. She’s going to do a few repetitions on one side and then she’s going to move to the other. As you can see in the picture, she’s having to use her arms out wide to create more balance because her brain’s just not capable of doing it yet with her arms down by her side, but that’s obviously something that we all work towards. Now, of course, with all of this, the disclaimer comes in because there’s always a risk that there is an increased risk of falling. And of course, that’s why we do these exercises. We are trying to, trying to find a way that we can mitigate real life in a safe situation as possible. There’s no real repetition ranges on this, but I mean, I will try and run these with grandma, maybe once or twice a day, and we’ll probably spend 2 or 3 minutes on it. But again, it’s a really lovely drill for her from a point of view of trying to stabilise through her hips and legs, get her brain working to understand where she is in space. And of course, all of this is going to help her reduce her risk of falls.

26/07/2026

So this is the fall forward drill, and again, just 1st thing is the disclaimer. If you are going to do this drill, you’ve got to have someone who number one, is strong enough just in case your mum or your grandma does actually fall when she does this result. So again, be careful with it. again, it’s important to put the disclaimer in. But in a sense, what we’re trying to do is get grandma to get up onto her tiptoes and actually just physically fall forward because we are simply trying to replicate some degree of aspect of what would happen if she tripped up. And again, so what we’re doing there is just getting the brain and the muscles and the communication between both of them, sort of a bit of time to understand what it feels like with a little bit more acceleration. The reason why that, of course, that is so important is simply because falls are super explosive. So if you only ever train slowly, your brain is just simply not going to be ready for a fall. So in a sense, what we’re doing is doing a modified fall practice. And again, repetition ranges probably on this one I tend to do for reps, maybe we’ll do 2 sets.

24/07/2026

As you can see, I’ve got my mom down for a couple of weeks and as I’ve explained one of the main reasons I started Instagram is because actually, I want to apply a lot of this strength and conditioning aspect to my mum. Let’s keep it going at 87. there are lots and lots of nuances and good science, demonstrations and applications that you’re going to get from what I’m doing with mum. But what I need you to do, really, is just hang on towards the end of each post because as I say, there’s so much explanation in each one and I think you’re going to miss some really good stuff. So this post really is about making sure you listen to the posts to the end because there’ll be lots and lots of stuff that we talk about that I think is going to be really helpful for you.

23/07/2026

So, in a sense, this is the soleus squat. It is an exercise that predominates the soleus muscle, which is this broad strappy muscle on the back of the calf. It really has some interesting features as a muscle. It’s super strong, one of the strongest muscles in the body because it’s got to walk you around all the time. So it’s very fatigue resistant. But also, it seems to create this really sort of almost sort of pump. And that’s super important because what it’s doing is that it’s allowing your body to pump and blood flow back it up and into the body. And that’s super important as we age because our vascular system is never as good, our veins break down, and the valves in them aren’t as good as they should be. And so you’ll start to see, as you get older, many people collect fluid at the bottom of their ankles, or they start to have more significant problems as my mum does, unfortunately, at 87, there’s an arterial issue there. So with the soleus again, what we need to do is that we can hold onto anything as you do, but sit back and bend your legs forward and keep them bent whilst you lift your heels off the floor. And really the repetition rate is up to you. I like to take my mum until she feels a burning sensation in the calves and that generally happens at around about 15 repetitions. So we will do 3 to 4 sets of 15 repetitions and we will do them by daily. So not every single day. It’s a great exercise because it also helps cardiovascular system, and that’s good, not just from cardiovascular disease, but brain health as well, getting a nice bit of blood flow. And also it’s brilliant for fall reduction.

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