Blog entries in Exercises

We've added two new bodyweight exercises to the directory this week - burpees, and the bodyweight squat. Both exercises are highly functional, require no equipment and very little space to perform.

• Burpees are an intense full-body exercise and a great conditioning choice that will help burn away any excess Christmas weight. Read our burpee guide to learn how to integrate them into your routine, or for some advanced ideas if you're already competent.
• The squat is a fundamental movement that will strengthen and tone the lower body. You should be skilled with the bodyweight exercise before trying weighted variations. Read more about the fundamentals of the squat in our guide.

We've recently added the following new exercises into the directory -

• The Pull-up - one of the best upper-body exercises of all time.
• Clean and Jerk - a technically advanced barbell exercise to work the entire body.
• Running - lose weight, build stamina, and improve health with a good run.

This will be our last post on Fitstream for 2010 so we wanted to wish everyone the very best for the New Year and to thank you for all your support as we established the site.

We've got big plans in 2011 and will continue to build on Fitstream to create a great functional fitness resource, so keep watching this space.

Kind regards,

We've added two new sections to the Fitstream Exercise Directory and a few more exercises into the mix. 

You'll now find a Plyometrics section to build explosive power or improve your vertical jump, and a Suspension Training area for suspended bodyweight exercises that develop strength, agility and balance skills. 

Here are the exercises we've added to kick things off:

• The plyometric box jump
• Suspended chest press
• Suspended crunch
• Suspended single leg squat

Over the last week we've added a selection of new exercises to the Fitstream exercise database and a new section called flexibility, stretching, and mobility exercises.

In this area we'll be posting movements to help you both prepare for and recover from your training, and ensure that you remain agile and mobile. 

These exercises will keep you in great condition and help to improve soft-tissue quality. We've just added - 

• Thoracic Spine Extension - Improve posture and avoid rounded shoulders by maintaining thoracic mobility using a foam roller. 
• Quad roll - Alleviate muscular tension in the quads by rolling the muscle out with a foam roller. 
• Hamstring foam roll - Loosen tight hamstring and work out trigger points with the hamstring roll. 

We've also added the staple bench press movement to the weight training exercises to build functional upper body strength which includes a quick guide on using resistance bands to introduce progressive resistance to the exercise.

Dips are a solid bodyweight choice exercise of ours and we've just added a video demonstrating the dip exercise to the directory.

The video is of a standard bodyweight dip which then goes on to feature resistance bands being used not only for dip assistance but also to add increased resistance. Resistance bands are perfect for adding increased intensity to the fundamental dip exercise or to simply give you just enough help to do dips at all!

The video finishes off with a weighted dip using the Fitstream Weighted Vest for those that are too strong for body weight dips alone and need the extra challenge. 

You can see the video on our dip exercise page.

We've added our next entry to the weight training exercises - the Barbell Squat.

The squat is a fundamental movement and a great exercise for developing fitness, building muscle and improving sports performance. Primarily targetting the quads and lower body muscles the barbell squat is a great basic weight training exercise.

We're building up the Fitstream Exercise Directory and have just added the first of our weight training exercises.

It seemed fitting to start with what we think is the king of all weight training exercises - the Deadlift. The deadlift works all the major muscles groups and is a weight training essential exercise if you want to put on muscle and strengthen your core body and back. 

We're slowly developing our exercise library and soon we'll be introducing videos and weighted club training exercises. 

We've now added the simple yet effective Plank exercise into Fitstream. 

The plank is an incredibly effective exercise for the core body and requires nothing other than your own body weight and grit and determination to perform. 

This isometric exercise promotes good posture and protects against back injuries whilst developing the abs evenly, targeting not only the six pack muscles but surrounding core muscles such as the obliques and intercostals. 

If you perform a two-minute plank, your abs are contracting hard the entire duration of the exercise as opposed to crunch-based ab exercises. This will build muscle density without adding bulk. 

We've now added dips into our bodyweight exercise database.

Dips are one of our favourite exercises and a true example of the benefits of the bodyweight workout. It's a great strength builder and works the triceps, chest, shoulders and core stablising muscles in one move.