• When you’re finished with the weights, re-rack them... this signals that you’re finished with the kit, but more importantly (unless you’re squatting with your mother) no one wants to clean up after you
• Squatting with your mother is wierd
• Don't interrupt others when they're in the middle of a set
• Don't do your exercises right in front of the weight rack
• For the love of god - wipe your bodily fluids from the equipment after you've used it
• The squat rack is for squatting
• There's just no need to overtly thrust your naked ass around the locker room
• If you need a spotter, ask for one, it's not polite to injure yourself
• Don't stare at people - it's awkward
• The gym is not a call centre - take them outside

If any of these are a problem for you then consider starting a home gym and you can do whatever you want!

Do you have any rules to add? Send suggestions to admin@fitstream.com and help create better gyms!

This article is a guide to rep schemes and considers commonly used approaches, making recommendations based on your fitness objectives.

Target reps

How many repetitions should I do?

Your target number of reps during an exercise should be based on your training goals. General guidelines are included below -

Approaches to reps and sets

There are two primary approaches to rep and sets -

• Volume schemes - higher number of sets, usually not maximal
• Intensiveness schemes - lower number of sets and maximal

Rep patterns

For REPS

Execute as many reps as possible until failure (unable to continue with good form).

e.g. Perform as many push-ups as possible in one set.  

For time

Complete the prescribed workout or movements as fast as possible.

e.g. Perform 100 push-ups, 50 pull-ups and 50 dips, for time.

1-to-10

Perform 1 rep for the first set of exercise(s), 2 reps for the next set and repeat until you reach 10 reps in the set.

e.g. Push-up, pull-up, dip 1-to-10 would be - 1 x push-up, 1 x pull-up, 1 x dip, 2 x push-up, 2 x pull-up, 2 x dip, 3 x push-up...

10-to-1

Perform 10 reps for the first set of exercise(s), 9 reps for the next set and continue dropping repetitions until you reach 1 reps in the set.

e.g: Push-up, pull-up, dip 10-to-1 would be - 10 x push-up, 10 x pull-up, 10 x dip, 9 x push-up, 9 x pull-up, 9 x dip, 9 x push-up...

50-40-30-20-10

Perform 5 sets of each exercise in the group / single exercise. First set is 50 reps, second set is 40, then repeat through 30, 20 and 10 reps for the final set.

e.g Push-up, sit-ups 50-40-30-20-10 would be - 50 x push-up, 50 x sit-up, 40 x push-up, 40 x sit-up...

21-15-9

Complete 3 sets of each exercise in the group / single exercise. First set is 21 reps, second set is 15, and third set is 9 repetitions.

e.g. Push-up, sit-ups 21-15-09 would be - 21 x push-up, 21 x sit-up, 15 x push-up, 15 x sit-up...

Tabata

Dictates 20 seconds of highly intense exercise (at 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 rounds).

Notes: The Tabata scheme is a popular approach to training due to measurably improved aerobic and anaerobic capacity vs steady state training.

For Rounds (AMRAP)

AMRAP - As Many Rounds / Reps as possible. The AMRAP scheme is a timed set and athletes are challenged to complete as many rounds of exercises as possible.

e.g. Pull-ups, Dips AMRAP in 20 mins would involve as many successive sets of pull-ups followed by dips as possible in the 20 minute period.

Example Rep Schemes

Climbing Rep Scheme

The climbing rep method can be used with an rep / set combination (e.g. 3 sets x 8 reps, 10 sets x 2 reps). The scheme starts your sets with a light weight and sees you increases the weight each set.

• If you hit your target weight for the final set, increase the set weights by 5-10 lbs the next week.
• If you get to a set a feel that’s the heaviest you can go, simply finish the remaining sets at that weight.
• If you fail a set drop back down to the last successful set and finishing the remaining sets at that weight.

Density Training Scheme

Density training focuses on the total amount of work you do for a fixed amount of time.

For weight training this scheme prescribes many sets of low reps. It’s a hybrid approach to reps in which the aim is to hit the high volume work but still at high intensity. This way you still get the benefits of focused high volume training (high rep sets) without sacrificing form. Density training does this by keeping rest intervals between sets very short.

Density Scheme Structure and Timings

Generally, you perform one set every minute e.g. if it takes 20 seconds to complete a set, you get 40 seconds rest until the next set. This may change to 90 / 120 seconds depending on the reps or rep max percentage used.

Density Scheme Reps Structure 

Take the number of reps you can do in one set for an exercise at a given weight and double that number. Divide this up into sets of equal reps.

For bodyweight exercises - when you have completed a workout at a given number of reps, simply increase the number of reps per set. For example, if your target pull-up reps is 100 in 10 sets and you achieve 10 reps per set, in the next workout go for ten sets of 11 reps.

German Volume Training

The GVT scheme is 10 sets of 10 reps on an exercise with 1 minute rest between sets. You use the same weight on all 10 sets and if you complete all 100 reps you increase the weight the following week.

Useful rep scheme resources

• Fitstream one rep max calculator

This article is a guide to achieve just that. We’ve all been in the situation of running through the motions with half-hearted workouts and limited progress. Putting these simple rules in place will ensure that you’re training efficiently and effectively.

The two are often confused, but being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing the things in the right manner.

The symptoms of poor fitness training

• Lack of motivation and no longer knowing why you're training
• Slow progress and plateaued gains
• Easily distracted when working out
• Bored of training and making excuses not to go

Get started

We now have a wealth of information at our fingertips. With fitness in particular, there are thousands of voices, forums, websites, Facebook Pages, and YouTube Channels. It’s easy to get wrapped up in it all or just downright confused, with training suffering as a result. Paralysis by analysis can waste valuable time!

We actively encourage research, planning and learning, but not at the expense of getting started. Try things out, learn by experience in the gym and by research outside of it. You can’t wait for the perfect time to do something. That time will never come. So start now.

Set small, realistic goals

Aimless, freestyle fitness training is an approach that works for some (usually those that are highly motivated and experienced) but for many, it only leads to poor results, a lack of focus, and confusion. If you fall in the latter camp, you need goals.

Having lofty goals is great but unless you break them down into small, realistic goals the whole objective can be a bit overwhelming, which can lead to procrastination. Momentum helps fuel motivation. Achieving a subgoal and moving onto the next will build momentum.

Write down your goals and sub-goals, focus on each step at a time and nothing else. This will keep you focused and motivation high. 

Mix your training up

Limited progress and getting bored during workouts are common complaints, and symptoms that your routine has become too stagnant. This is why it’s important to change your training regularly to keep your body on it’s toes by introducing new movements and skills.

Not only will this approach overcome plateaus and renew your interest but it will help to avoid injury from overtraining the same exercise over-and-over.

Remember that fitness is about more than just strength and endurance - try to train all ten of the fitness skills. Just look at the success of the CrossFit model which is built on ‘constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement’.

Create a positive mindset

As with most things in life, how you approach your fitness training will determine your success. Believe in yourself and study those that have achieved what you want. When you want something bad enough, you make it happen.

If you aren’t enjoying your workouts, it’s difficult to stay positive about them. Try creating a routine that you actually want to do. Fitness training isn’t bound to the barbell and treadmill. Try climbing, kayaking, ultimate frisbee, trail running, trampolining or mountain biking. There’s a world of activities that can make your workouts fun.

Train often enough

How often you workout is a critical factor to your progress. Too little, and you won’t meet goals and are likely to lose interest. Too much and you won’t be able to sustain the pace and you’ll just burn out.

Listen to the experts, follow a plan that's designed for your goals and listen to your body. 

Stop making excuses

Excuses are friends of those that don’t want their goals bad enough, designed to protect the ego from their failures.

Take the most popular excuse - “I don’t have enough time to workout’. Choose to spend the time you have differently. Cut down on the facebooking, tv watching and game playing, and squeeze in a few hours of physical training each week. It’s worth the investment, and if you don’t make your health a priority now, in all likelihood you’ll be forced to make it a priority later (possibly when it’s too late).

There are people in better shape than you who work longer hours, earn less money, are older and are not as physically gifted as you are. Take responsibility for your goals. Research, learn, experiment and repeat. Discard what’s not working, and relentlessly pursue what is.

Avoid interruption

Interruption is the enemy of productivity and progress. Set some time aside for a concentrated workout and keep it focused and intense. Taking calls, updating statuses, reading emails should be avoided. 

Train intelligently

When it comes to working out, there’s the exercises that you could do, the exercises that you want to do, and the exercises that you have to do.

The exercises that you have to do is where you should begin. Figure out what you should be doing in order to achieve your goal. For example, if you’re 70 lbs overweight and looking to get lean, it’s pointless dragging yourself to the gym and doing swiss ball crunches for half your workout. You’d be better served with high intensity interval training.

There’s also many ways to skin a cat, and some are better than others. For example, if you want to be able to perform unassisted bodyweight pull-ups, there’s an efficient pull-up progression path that will get you there quicker than other routes might.

Determine what you should be doing and focus your energy on that.

Focus on the basics

A lot of people focus on the next big thing. They jump on to the next fitness craze and follow the latest trends. The human body hasn’t changed much in thousands of years, so try to focus on substance rather than fashion.

Following these tips and asking these questions will focus your routine and ensure progress to your goals.

Based on core principles and simple rules, it’s perfect for beginners who want to lose weight without getting bogged down in science and jargon.

So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that what we’re talking about is exercise and diet, but before tackling these two topics it’s important that you approach your weight loss goal in the right way...

Fat Burning Mind Set

You didn’t get fat overnight. The journey is a marathon, not a sprint, so you should acknowledge that what you’re doing is deciding to be healthier and more active.

The process won’t be pleasant at first as it’s a change from what you’re used to. You will struggle both mentally and physically, but as you get leaner and fitter, it will gets easier and many people learn to enjoy their healthier approach to life.

Being realistic helps avoid disappointment and aids with motivation. Set your fat loss goals to something achievable (1-2 lbs per week as a general guide) and hit them, consistently. If this sounds low remember that there’s a limit to the amount of fat that can be burned before you’re losing muscle mass too!

Here are some other pointers or myths to know about before we get into the fat loss approach...

• Your genes determine your capacity for storing fat, and where it’s likely to be stored.
• You can’t ‘target’ certain areas for fat loss. This is called ‘spot reduction’ and you should forget you ever heard about it.
• The volume of body fat you start with will determine your rate of weight loss and as your body fat percentage decreases, the rate of fat loss will decline.
• Genetics will determine the shape of your muscles when fully developed.

Exercising for Fat Loss

The guiding principle of calorie expenditure is that -

• The greater your activity level, the more calories you burn.

An exercise routine is a great way to manage your activity levels in a structured, focused and intelligent manner. The most important two factors of your training are:

• Consistency / frequency - training often enough to make continuous improvements and burn the required calories in the appropriate timeframe.
• Intensity - to determine the amount of calories burned and the extent of your physical progress.

How to Exercise when you're Overweight

How you should exercise can be a controversial topic. The important thing is that you don’t dwell so much on the how, when and where... and ensure that you simply get started and learn on the job!

If you’re just starting out, choose a training plan from a professional and test it out for a couple of months, or until you have enough experience to tailor it to your needs. The key here is not to find the “golden routine”, as there is no such thing, but to find a handful of training methods that you respond well to and feel you can commit to. In time you will learn how and when to cycle through them to enhance their impact on your body and overall health. It’s as simple as that.

There isn’t really a true consensus on the best method of exercise, and it varies from person to person but if fat loss is your aim we’ve included some pointers below -

If you’re very out of shape, starting to exercise is likely to be both mentally and physically challenging as your body is not use to the stress. However, the discomfort is short lived as the body fights through years of neglect and it gets much easier and more enjoyable as you gain in fitness.

If you’re carrying a lot of excess weight it can be best to start with some lower impact training such as walking, biking or swimming to kick-start your training and help lose those initial pounds before progressing to jogging and weight training.

Whilst exercise plays a critical role in fitness and weight loss, it’s less than half the story. To put it into perspective, consider that running for a single mile will burn a little over 100 calories, and the average chocolate bar will have around 220 calories.

Which leads us on to the next, and most important approach to weight loss - your food. As it’s famously known - you can’t out train a bad diet.

Dieting for Fat Loss

Diet is the most important factor in weight loss. Make healthier food choices, create a calorie deficit and you will burn fat stores.

Calorie Tracking

Starting to calorie track is one of the easiest ways to understand your daily intake.

It may feel like an inconvenience at first but if you’re overweight, you have a calorie debt that you haven’t repaid and are likely to be making poor food choices. Tracking food consumption will make you more aware of what you’re taking in, any deficiencies and calorie input. Over time, as you gain experience and become more in tune with your body, you’ll understand how to adapt your diet and eat healthier.

There’s a selection of comprehensive, free calorie tracking applications that make this easy for you. Check out MyFitnessPal or FitDay for excellent examples.

If you’ve decided to calorie track, you obviously need to understand how many calories you should be consuming in order to lose weight. This brings us to...

Calculating Target Calorie Deficit

To calculate your target calorie deficit in order to stimulate weight loss you must first find your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), that is the number of calories you need each day just to maintain your present weight, with your current activity level.

There are two main approaches you can use:

• Manually tracking your diet and weight with detailed records of food intake for the more diligent folk amongst us. This will gauge an accurate value that’s specific to you.

or by using an...

• Automated calorie estimation tool, based on scientific formulas for a best guess estimate, but this is likely to have a greater margin of error.

In actual fact you may find that you lose more than your target fat amount with your deficit calculation, as fat stores also cause your body to retain water weight too, which will be lost as the fat is burned.

Weight Loss Summary

• Losing weight is not rocket science. Generally, if you eat less and move more, you will lose weight.
• One of the key factors to successful weight loss is having the correct mind set. It’s going to take time and dedication to shift excess fat and will require a lifestyle change.
• Calorie tracking and calculating your TDEE is a useful way to understand your food consumption and on how to adapt it to better suit your goals and activity levels. 

Gymnastics itself is one of the oldest Olympic sports, practiced by the ancient Greeks and first introduced to the Olympics in 1896. The exercises require almost incredible strength and flexibility but also call upon other primary physical skills such as coordination, agility and balance.

There are two main gymnastics events that involved the rings - the still rings and flying rings, as described below.

The sport of gymnastics is now split into three disciplines; artistic, rhythmic and trampoline with the still rings event belonging to men’s artistic gymnastics (across six total events comprising: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar).

Women’s artistic gymnastics competes on four events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise and excludes still rings (and the high bar and parallel bars) due to the intense upper-body strength required.

The flying rings event is no longer practiced at a competition level.

Still rings

The Still Rings is a gymnastics event featured in the Olympic Games that commands almost superhuman strength and sees some of the most highly disciplined athletes in the world take centre stage to demonstrate amazing levels of body control.

The gymnastics rings themselves are suspended 5.75 metres above the floor, on a strap connected to a wire cable bound to a metal frame. This setup gives enough room to freely hang, swing and dismount.

During a performance, athletes grip the rings and strive to keep them still and prevent swinging throughout, whilst demonstrating a routine exhibiting balance, strength, and power.

Still rings routines

Generally, a Still Rings routine is composed of swing, strength and hold elements with requirements such as a swing to held handstand, at least one static strength hold and an aerial dismount to round things off.

One of the most renowned strength ring exercises is the Iron Cross, with arms suspended straight out to the sides, supporting body weight and held for 2+ seconds. An international level rings routine should contain at least one element from all groups.

• Kip and swing elements (including to L-sit)
• Swings to handstand
• Swings to strength hold elements (not including L-sit)
• Strength elements and hold elements
• Dismounts

Olympic ring dimensions

The rings used for the Olympic sport are defined by FIG in the Apparatus Norms article, as below:

• Inner diameter of the rings: 18 cm (7.1 in) ± 0.1 cm (0.039 in)
• Total diameter of the rings: 23.6 cm (thickness 28 mm)
• Distance from attachment point to lower inner side of the rings: 300 cm (9.8 ft) ± 0.1 cm (0.039 in)
• Distance between the rings: 50 cm (1.6 ft) ± 0.5 cm (0.20 in)

Gymnastics scoring

The modern Olympic Games format has uniform grading structures with points system (refined in 2006 by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG)) introducing two separate scores for Artistic gymnastics. An A Score (or D Score) for difficulty, based upon the top 8 high scoring routines and the B Score (or E Score), for execution, relating to how well the skills are performed. Points are deducted from a starting score of 10.00 based on performance and the final score is calculated by taking deductions from the B Score and adding the result to the A Score.

With still rings specifically, gymnasts are deducted points for having bent arms during strength moves, using the straps for support or balance, and for excessive swinging during the routine.

Flying rings

Flying rings was a gymnastics event similar to the still rings except the athlete would swing on the rings whilst performing gymnastic movements. It’s an event that many find reminiscent of the popular circus acts.

It’s unclear if flying rings was an actual event in the Olympics, although they were featured in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) competitions in the US until the early 1960s. The dangerous nature of flying ring training is often cited as a primary cause of the sport waning in popularity for professional contents.

The equipment used for flying rings was slightly different to that of still rings in which the apparatus would be suspended from a greater height (an extra 3 feet) to allow for large arcs of movement. The rings themselves also tended to be larger and heavier than traditional modern still rings.

Whilst not featured at competition level the flying rings have been a main attraction at Santa Monica Muscle Beach in California for decades. Performers can be seen exhibiting great skill with daring dismounts from large heights, travelling at speed.

Olympic ring gymnasts

The physiques of ring gymnastics are as equally impressive as the skills put on display, with high levels of muscular definition and classically proportioned bodies.

Shown below is a list of the latest Olympic gold medalists for still rings in gymnastics and a video of current Olympic champion Chen Yibing, from China in action.

As you can see, ring routines are so swift and precise so as to appear almost effortless, but these are truly elite athletes that possess incredible fitness skills that blends raw strength with both grace and elegance.

Influences of Olympic ring training

The use of rings has spread from competitive gymnastics into gyms and homes around the world for strength and fitness pursuits.

Offering hundreds of possible exercises, specially designed fitness rings are being used by competent recreational trainers for building immense upper-body strength and definition.

Users aren’t just picking up something heavy, but supporting their entire bodyweight with the arms and manipulating it through various positions and transitions that require a huge amount of strength, balance and control.

Popular exercises include pull-ups, muscle-ups, push-ups, front levers, back levers and more which offer a lifetime of progression exercises and physical goals.

For more information checkout our ring training articles and ring exercises.

References

1. "Apparatus Norms" (PDF) URL: http://figdocs.lx2.sportcentric.com/external/serve.php?document=1540 Date: 08.July.2012
2. "WAG Code of Points 2009-2012" (PDF) URL: http://figdocs.lx2.sportcentric.com/external/serve.php?document=1258 Date: 06.July.2012
3. Artistic Gymnastics History at fig-gymnastics.com
4. List of Olympic medalists in gymnastics (men) at Wikipedia.org

Resistance training using bands

Resistance bands are a popular means of adding resistance to exercises as a form of strength training.

Due to the the effects of physics (see lever), various movements require more force input at different points along the path of motion. This is why a full range handstand push-up (shoulders to platform), is far more difficult than a partial range handstand push-up (HSPU).

In addition to this, an elastic band will apply more force the further it is stretched (see Hooke's Law).

A combination of these two effects gives us accommodating resistance (AR) during fitness training, as recommended by Louis Simmons, Charles Poliquin and many other excellent coaches.

We will illustrate two examples of fitness training in which bands are used as a resistance tool to enhance performance - 

• Weight training with bands
• Martial arts training with bands

Weight training with resistance bands

As a specific example of how bands are useful equipment for weight training - the observation of high intensity squats reveals that the entirety of the lift is relatively easy (hence the fast movement, save for the sticking point (typically when one bone is exactly horizontal, however in this case, just above due to the momentum given by the bounce)). Therefore, the remainder of the movement is not as difficult as it could be, negating possible strength / hypertrophy gains throughout the range of motion (ROM).

The solution? Throw some resistance bands or chains over your bar or shoulders for any exercise that is more difficult at the bottom of the movement than the top.

This includes popular exercises such as;

• squats,
• deadlifts,
• bench presses,
• push presses,
• push-ups,
• bicep curls,
• external rotations,
• dips,
• glute-ham raise (GHR’s) and many more.

There are also considerable gains in speed achieved through Accomodating Resistance, as the deceleration at the top of a movement is due to the increased force acting on the muscles, and not simply due to lower force output by the muscles themselves.

Martial arts training using resistance bands

Martial arts training also has much to benefit from the use of resistance bands.

Using Accommodating Resistance teaches athletes to accelerate throughout a movement (Jones et al. The Effects of Compensatory Acceleration on Upper Body Strength and Power. J. Strength and Cond. Res. 10(4): 287, 1996.), therefore strikes should become faster and harder if strength and conditioning is done with some AR.

Here are three specific examples of resistance bands used during martial arts training - 

1. Striking drills can be performed with lighter bands fastened behind the athlete’s shoulders.
2. Habitual wide stance can be easily untaught by strapping the feet together (of course, not whilst kicking, though the results may be comic).
3. Excessive distance between sparring partners is a common issue that is easily countered by fastening the pair together by the waist with a large band; round times may require adjusting, depending on fitness of the athletes and sadism of the coach. Also special consideration should be given to appropriately matching sparring partners, due to the increased rate of exchange.

Assistance training with resistance bands

Resistance bands can be a useful bodyweight assistance tool when try to develop the requisite strength for more advanced movements.

In particular, certain calisthenics exercises can be difficult to learn, with seemingly impossible jumps in strength required between progression exercises.

The image below, illustrates the use of resistance bands in order to develop strength for a Front Lever hold on gymnastics rings. 

Essentially, the bands are anchored to a stable point and used to support some of your bodyweight to make exercises more achievable and overcome sticking points. 

Here are two example bodyweight exercises that are often used with resistance bands - 

Assisted pull-ups using bands

Pull-ups are often developed with the assistance of bands for beginners as the band supports some of the bodyweight ensuring a lighter load. 

However it's worth noting that the Accommodating Resistance principle isn't as effective for pull-ups training as it is for weight training as the most assistance offered by a band during a pull-up is in the lowered phase (when the band is stretched to it's furthest point) and pull-ups get progressively more difficult at the top of the exercise (which is where the most assistance is required). 

This is true of any exercise that is more difficult at the top (e.g. rows) of the movement resulting in the most mechanically easy part of the movement receiving the greatest assistance, and the most mechanically difficult part of the ROM is given the least assistance.

If you find yourself unable to achieve pull-ups, additional methods to band assistance are Poliquins method, and/or chin-up shrugs (hanging scapula depressions).

Planche training with bands

The planche is a difficult body weight hold that requires dedicated training and it's not uncommon for progress to stagnate when developing the planche.

Logic assumes that the anterior deltoid is not strong enough, however focusing on this aspect of the planche typically results in injury, and continued stagnation of planche development. Thankfully, resistance bands are terrific tools for external rotations, which will typically help you go some way to recovering from a shoulder injury; however they will also allow you to bypass the real issue. (Credit to Ido Portal for both strategies presented).

Scapula depression and protraction are both essential for long term planche progress, and to avoid injury (the reason is that any other placement of the scapula impinges muscle fibres, both making them useless as contractile units, and causing serious damage), however after the scapula position is lost it is often possible to hold out a planche variation (or attempt to) for a second or so longer, thus teaching bad habits and risking injury to the anterior deltoid.

In order to effectively drill this correct planche position, place your ankles into a band fastened above you, and lean forward into a band assisted planche, hold for time, and repeat for reps.

The magic of this drill is that depressing and protracting the scapula stretches the band sufficiently to have it pull harder on the feet, thus making the position much easier to hold (even more so than correct positioning does without a band), thereby drilling correct position and allowing progress to take place.

Rehabilitation and stretching with resistance bands

Isometric stretching using bands

Isometric stretching (as covered in brilliant detail by Thomas Kurz in his book stretching scientifically), is tricky to implement with most traditional gym equipment.

You will get significant mileage out of a pair of rings and if you're lucky enough to have access to a Swedish ladder, you will have to be extremely lucky to find anyone who can show you its uses.

A rubber band however, allows an array of resistance for various stretches simply by anchoring ends of limbs to surroundings, allowing you to get creative and manipulate your bodyweight with greater ease. 

Article author: Nicholas Lyddon

Why you should be doing pull-ups

Pull-ups are a staple exercise that should be part of everyone's fitness training. The exercise coordinates multiple upper-body muscle groups to work in unison, contracting powerfully to raise your body up to the bar.

It's a true functional exercise and a fundamental favourite for developing lean muscle mass.

Great. I'm sold. How can I add pull-ups into my home fitness training?

Pull-up bar options

If you haven't a full body weight training rig at your disposal you have a few options for performing pull-ups at home - 

• Doorway mounted pull-up bar
• Wall / ceiling mounted pull-up bar
• Gymnastics rings
• Free standing pull-up bar

In this article we're focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the freestanding pull-up bar, but we'll give a quick look at the other options first - 

Doorway mounted pull-up bar

Advantages: 

• Cheap
• Portable
• Quick to install

Disadvantages:

• May require permanent fixings
• Can cause damage to the door
• Can be a pain finding a bar that's suitable for your doorway
• Limited in exercises that you can perform, such as the muscle-up
• You need to do your pull-ups in a doorway. 

Mounted pull-up bars

If you're after a set of gymnastics rings. We sell them here (just sayin').

Screw these options. I'm just interested in the freestanding pull-up bar.

OK, here we go... 

Considering the free standing pull-up bar

There can be great differences in quality and performance of freestanding pull-up rigs between manufacturers, so hopefully this guide will give you some pointers on what to look out for... 

Firstly, it's not as cut-and-dry as "advantages" and "disadvantages" when it comes to the free standing bars due to the varied range of designs available, but we'll summarise the stereotypical design first and follow this with other buying considerations...

Advantages of the free-standing pull-up bar

• It's easily portable 
• May be collapsible for easy storage when not in use (great for home gyms)
• Able to perform a variety of exercises with no limitations (other than ceiling height!) e.g. wide grip pull-ups, front lever, muscle-ups...
• Some bars can offer dip exercises attachments, or alternative pull-up grips
• Can be height adjustable to suit your needs.

Disadvantages of the free-standing pull-up bar

• There's more of it, so it's typically more expensive than the other bars mentioned above.
• Less sturdy and more wobble than a fixed bar

Pull-up bar buying guide 

The key factors about a freestanding bar design is the portability and storage benefits. Want to perform pull-ups in the garden? Move it outside. Want the bar in a different room? Shift it across... and when you're done with it collapse it down and hide it under the bed. 

This is ideal for: 

• Home gyms with limited space
• Personal trainers
• Folk that don't have the luxury of space for permanent fixtures, exposed rafters for rings, or have shitty DIY skills. 

The free standing bars really can't be beaten when it comes to flexibility. They offer pull-ups, on your terms.

If however, portability and storage isn't a huge concern and you'll be training in the same place, unconcerned with a permanent install, then a fixed bar really is hard to beat. These pull-up bars can be wall or ceiling mounted and are a rock solid platform for your pull-up training. 

The major drawback of free standing bars is their stability. Generally, unless you're buying a seriously heavy duty bar, the freestanding version is almost always going to be less sturdy than the fixed bar option. Even more so if it's a collapsible design.

Therein lies the trade-off that you need to strike a balance with - the more heavy duty the design, the less wobble you get, more money you part with, and less portable system you have...

Robert Flaherty

Total fitness

Total fitness or General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is the pursuit of complete, well-rounded physical competency. This involves varied and diverse training, designed to develop abilities across the ten widely recognised general physical skills, listed below:

Training for total fitness is an anti-specialisation goal; that is, you're not developing a narrow set of skills for a specific activity, or sport, such as training for speed and power to improve football performance. Instead you're looking to build capabilities across the entire range of recognised fitness skills and avoid an imbalance in physical ability.  

Why train for General Physical Preparedness?

The aim is to be physically prepared to take on anything life throws at you. You may not be as quick as a dedicated sprinter, or stronger than a professional weight lifter, but you would posses skills that make you more capable across an entire range of physical demands or circumstances, adapting to new situations or sports with greater ease.

GPP training and avoiding ability imbalances can make you less prone to injury and potential burn outs, as well as keeping training more varied and interesting.

There are many areas of life that are particularly well suited to GPP, particularly the unpredictable and less regimented areas e.g. survival and combat situations and many forms of sports.

Defining the fitness skills 

• Cardiovascular / respiratory endurance - gathering, processing, and delivering oxygen.
• Stamina - processing, delivering, storing, and utilising energy.
• Strength - application of force by muscle(s).
• Flexibility - maximising the range of motion at a given joint.
• Power - application of maximum force in minimum time by muscles.
• Speed - minimising the time cycle of a repeated movement.
• Coordination - combination of several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
• Agility - minimising transition time from one movement pattern to another.
• Balance - controlling the placement of the bodies centre of gravity in relation to its support base.
• Accuracy - controlling movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

Training for total fitness

The ten physical abilities are not elements to be trained separately and in isolation. They are skills that must be trained in unison and flow together flawlessly.

Strive for total fitness through;

• consistent training,
• incorporating a wide variety of high-intensity functional movements.
• Approach your workouts and choice of exercises in an almost random nature. 

This form of training will see you develop broad fitness skills and improve your ability to maintain elevated levels of activity for longer periods, as well as more quickly returning to a normal state after exertion.

Build your workouts and activities across multiple forms of varied training, such as -

• Cardiovascular training
• Interval training
• Gymnastics skills and bodyweight movements - Pull-ups, dips, climbs, push-ups
• Olympic weight lifting - Deadlift, bench press, snatch...

If you're looking for a defined training method, CrossFit is the most widely recognised GPP strength and conditioning program today. CrossFit is quickly becoming a global phenomenon and prescribes "constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement" (1).

References:

1. URL: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf Date: 09.Sept.2010

Requirements and objectives

The pull-up bar should be - 

• Suitable for a variety of common strength exercises without compromising on form or technique.
• Strong and sturdy enough for at least one person to train safely and with intensity. 
• Suitable for outdoor use.

The sturdy design and outside setting of this bodyweight gym will give you the perfect venue for some freestyle bar work and more than enough room for muscle-ups, bar handstands or hanging gymnastics rings.

Equipment doesn't come much more basic than bodyweight bars, but you can build incredible strength and definition and perform hundreds of exercises that will challenge you for years to come.

Tools and materials needed

Here's are the materials you'll need to build one pull-up bar -

...and the tools required -

Building the pull-up bar

Learn how to make an fixed position, outdoor pull-up bar (as pictured above) using the instructions below. This will provide you with one seriously sturdy pull-up bar which will support your bodyweight training for years to come -

Building parallel bars

Parallel bars are another great addition to your outdoor bodyweight gym. The parallels can be used primarily for dipping exercises, which is another stable bodyweight exercise everyone should consider adding to their routine. They also allow you to practice making the fluid transition from one bar to another which is a mean development in strength and agility skills. 

To build parallel bars you simply use the same process as that detailed above with shorter posts (those pictured are 5 ft high posts above ground, with 2.5 ft below ground) and two sets of bars in parallel, around shoulder width apart. Make sure that the bars are fixed at the same height using a spirit level.

Training on the bars

The training possibilities are almost limitless with these fitness bars. Start with some of the basic bodyweight movements and as you get more advanced you can begin to string together exercises for some freestyle bar work. 

Forget what you know about strength training until you've tried bodyweight bar training. It's simply unparalleled for building raw strength and a lean, chiselled physique.

Beginners bar training

Here are some of the basic moves you should start with - 

Advanced bar training

If you've mastered the basics and looking for some extra challenges you can try rigging gymnastics rings to the bar to increase the difficulty of exercises by introducing the instability of the free-moving rings.

You can also raise the intensity of your training incrementally using a adjustable weighted vest which builds serious strength and sees fast progress in your fitness levels.

Check out Fitstream Athletes Lee Wade Turner and Jay 'KillinGravity' in the video below showing just what you can do on the bars with a bit of dedication - 

 Build this bodyweight gym at your own risk. Incorrect installation or improper training can result in serious injury!

This article was created with the help of Anton Guidera, who built his own bar gym at the William Knibb Centre in Kettering and continues to help raise the profile of bar training in the UK.

Additional pull-up bar resources

Check out this alternative approach to building your own outdoor pull-up bar sent to us by FitnessFAQs:

Pull-up bar specifications

• 2.03 solid stainless steel bar (34-35mm)
• 2 x 3.7M (100mm x 100mm x 4mm) Galvanised posts
• 2 Galvanised Post caps
• 0.6m3 concrete mix (25MPA X 14mm Stones)

Hole dimensions

• 500mm x 500mm x 1.2m deep
• Distance between posts (inside) 1.7m
• Distance from ground to bar is 2.5m (Plenty of room for legs to hang even if >6" tall)

Any suggestions?

If you have your own design or any suggestions you'd like to contribute to our bodyweight station please let us know and we'll share it with the group. You can contact us at admin@fitstream.com.

Your body has around 650 muscles, even though most people only care about a handful. Our bodies are an integrated unit, a vessel that works seamlessly and largely unconsciously for co-ordinated movement.

Simply walking across the room will involve 200 or so muscles, and there are few words that can do justice to the magnificence of co-ordinated muscles in motion.

This article considers the basics of human muscle, how to build a strong, lean body and is summed up with muscle building tips. Our focus is on achieving this without it being at the expense of agility, power or strength.

Muscle Science

Knowing the basics of muscle mechanics can help give you that extra edge and insight into what's going on under the skin when you're training.

Your skeletal muscles are made up of two main types of fibre; Type-I, also known as 'slow-twitch' and Type-II, or 'fast-twitch'. Type-I muscle fibres are used mainly for endurance activities whereas Type-II begin to work when an activity uses more than 25% of your maximum strength.

An exercise doesn't have to be 'fast' or 'slow' to use a certain type of muscle fibre. For example, a personal-record squat is going to use as much fast-twitch fibre as possible even though the movement isn't necessarily fast.

There are two basic principles of physiology to get your head around:

• All or nothing - a muscle fibre either fires or it doesn't, there's no middle ground. So, even with a warm-up stretch, a small percentage of your muscle fibres are working as hard as they possibly can whereas other fibres remain completely inactive.
• Size matters - the smallest muscle fibres fire first and if the movement requires it, the Type-II fast-twitch fibres will be called into action. The closer you are to the limits of your strength the more fast-twitch fibres get involved. 

So what do these rules mean to you and your training?

Simply training with light weights for extended sets and exhausting the muscle doesn't mean that you're training all the muscle fibres. The size principle means that the fast-twitch fibres are only used when your strength levels are really pushed. Meaning that for someone who is trying to build muscle you must lift heavy, close to all-out-effort.

Muscle and Genetics

The quantity of your muscle fibres is set at birth, but the quality of those fibres is up to you.

There's no escaping genetics and we're all bound by our genetic potential, but we owe it to ourselves to strive to reach this potential. Our genetics determine the following:

• Our maximum number of muscle fibres
• Our percentage of fast and slow-twitch fibres
• The shape of our muscles when fully developed

Training to Build Muscle

Here we outline how you should structure your training in order to build functional muscle and burn fat.

To maximise the development of lean, functional muscle you should incorporate brief, high-intensity, heavy lifting sessions into your training regime. Select big Olympic lifts like the deadlift, clean, snatch, and squat for an athletic physique that not only looks great but possesses strength, speed and power.

Choosing the right exercises is essential. Olympic lifts are multi-joint, complex movements challenging the body as an integrated unit and enhance athletic performance.

• Aim for 1-3 intense weightlifting sessions per week for 10-60 minutes at a time.

Muscles and Cardio

Prolonged medium-to-high intensity cardiovascular training will develop endurance levels and your ability to run marathons but will compromise muscle-mass, speed and power.

To maintain and actually build muscle through your 'cardio' training it's far better to workout using short, intense training sessions. Anaerobic conditioning via sprints or interval training is an excellent choice for burning fat without negatively affecting other areas of your fitness.

Muscle Building Tips

We've summarised the tips noted throughout this guide below for your reference:

We aim to simplify fitness to core components, strip away the unnecessary and clarify this often over-complicated and contradictory topic.

Defining Fitness

We'll start with the unhelpfully vague text book definition - "Fitness", defined as "Good health or physical condition, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition."

For the purposes of this article - how we define a person's fitness is based on well-rounded physical competency across the ten recognised fitness domains, as opposed to a narrow focus in one or two areas, such as strength or speed for example. The Fitstream approach is more akin to CrossFit philosophy with it's broad, non-specliased focus. As they put it - "Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist" (2). 

The ten fitness domains are -

Aim to build a routine that helps develop skills in all of the core physical competencies above.

Fitstream Fitness

The Fitstream fitness philosophy is designed to help everyday people build an effective fitness programme into their lives. We focus efforts on -

• Creating a balanced fitness programme for modern life, that compliments rather than dominates.
• Promoting total fitness across all ten fitness domains. 
• Training that supports health and functional ability, improving everyday performance (aesthetics being a secondary by-product of effective training).
• The pursuit and application of informed, efficient nutrition and exercise principles.
• Objective-oriented, results-driven fitness plans.

We believe that fitness should be simplified but shouldn't be misleadingly portrayed as easy. That you must work at it, and keep working at it and not to let clever marketing campaigns tell us otherwise as there are no shortcuts or miracle pills, and no equipment with a plug is going to give you the body of your dreams.  

The Fitstream approach to fitness is about embracing and ingraining it as a way of life, and not shoehorning a tired, ineffective routine into an already hectic schedule. A routine that many see as a necessary evil, although much of staying fit and healthy is about mind-set and it's essential that you enjoy your training.

At Fitstream we tell things straight, encourage training methods and equipment that really work and help promote fitness as serious play time but at the same time creating a fitness routine driven by objectives and strategy in order to achieve goals.

Fitness today

The world is facing a health crisis.

Part of changing things for the better is recognising where we are today and understanding how and why this came about...

The health mess

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions across the globe, with more than 1 billion adults overweight and at least 300 million clinically obese (1).

This is having serious social and psychological effects, breeding type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other chronic diseases which are affecting all ages and socioeconomic groups.

In other words - we're fat, lazy, have a poor quality of life and dying earlier than we should. Someone wheel me to the fridge.

How did we get so unfit?

Society is now accustomed to immediacy and convenience. We're the digital generation, with the three second attention span and our cushy lifestyles and expectation of instant gratification is making us lazy.

We've increased our consumption of more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats. Combined with reduced physical activity and it's created a global health crisis.

Before our time, people did things - if you needed to be somewhere, you walked, if you needed shelter, you built it. We worked with our hands and we'd run, crawl, swim and build on a daily basis. Fitness was born out of necessity and everyday living.

This is how our bodies evolved, and now, whilst the game's the same, the playing field has changed. We no longer hunt our food, it's handed to us and that's not a lion at our heels, it's the rent man, and hill-sprints don't pay the bills.

Today - fitness is created out of sheer will and commitment. We must motivate ourselves to get in shape as survival (at least our immediate survival) is usually not dependent on it. For some it can be an inner drive to express themselves physically, to look better, or for the thrill of competition, and for others, more about prolonging life, the quality of life, or growing old with your family and being able to run alongside your grandchildren.

Read our guide on motivation for fitness to help keep you committed.

Gym's today

...aren't working and turn fitness into a mundane, monotonous chore. 

Their business models are based on membership volume, people rarely turning up and not cancelling the subscription. Even if you do turn up, the gym's themselves are typically filled with ineffective machines that do half the work and fixed-path movements.

It's good to see that the tide is slowly turning and there's a growth in popularity of the CrossFit style, garage gyms. Gyms that are tearing up the rule book and going back to basics with primitive equipment and good old grit!

Read our article on the perfect gym for more of our musings on the ideal training setup. 

Solving the health crisis

People need to take control and responsibility for their lives, acknowledge the need for change and take steps to improve their lifestyles. Effective education on the fundamentals of exercise and nutrition is essential. 

The world needs to spend more time on their fitness...

Why keep fit?

Most people know the main benefits of exercising but here's a recap of the fundamentals - 

We could go on...  

Essentially, nature is unforgiving and it's a use it or lose it rulebook. With the right training and movements your body responds, improves and strengthens, and with a lack of stimulus it declines. "Adapt and overcome" - it’s the body’s motto. 

No matter your age or physical condition there's no better time than the present to start training and it's never too late to build fit. 

How to get fit

Whilst the benefits of exercise can be a powerful motivating factor, the best way to get fit is to find the kind of training that you simply enjoy doing. Fitness doesn't have to mean sterile, machine-laden gyms and plates full of broccoli. In fact, it's better if it doesn't...

There are two main components to building and maintaining a good level of health and fitness - Nutrition and Exercise. 

Here are our core principles to getting fit, healthy and looking great, targeted at everyday people.

First up, nutrition...

Nutrition

Nutrition has a critical role in your fitness and will either enhance or diminish the results from your physical training. Get it wrong and you're not only limiting the effect of your work but flirting with diabetes, cancer, obesity and other diseases...

Here we present a hard and fast guide to effective nutrition.

Nutrition rules - 

• You can't beat genetics. This will determine your body shape and aspects like your ability to gain muscle or fat...
• Whilst genetics sets the scene, body composition essentially comes down to calorie intake and physical activity.
• Around 80% of body composition is determined by diet. 

Whether for general health or athletic performance you should build your diet around three core factors - 

• Controlling blood glucose (insulin production)
• Ensuring proper macronutrient proportion (levels of protein, carbohydrate, fat...)
• Caloric restriction (appropriate intake of calories for body type and activity level)

Nutrition guidelines -

• Limit processed carbohydrate intake to help support weight loss (and control insulin production) 
• 50 - 100 grams / day for accelerated fat loss. 
• 100 - 150 grams / day for simple weight maintenance. 
• Those with high activity levels can increase carb intake as needed to replace glycogen stores.
• Consume sufficient protein and fat to fuel and rebuild the body.
• 0.7 - 1 gram of protein per pound of lean muscle mass per day (depending on activity levels).
• Eliminate sugary food and drinks, and any refined or processed foods.

Supplements

If you're just starting out with your training you don't need to worry about supplementation. Get your training started with a clean, wholesome diet, and research supplements when you have the basics nailed down.

Pills and powders are no substitute for a proper diet.

Exercise

Increasing your physical activity is key to building strength, lean-muscle mass and dropping excess fat. 

Fitness routines should always support health and be built around - 

• Consistency
• Intensity
• Variety

Consistent exercise

Consistent, regular exercise is essential. Aim for varied workouts five or six days per week with different combinations and goals each time. 

Intensity of exercise

The intensity of your training is an important factor for challenging the body and provoking a physical change. 

Introduce varying intensities to workouts, such as - 

• "All out" effort: 
• Intense, anaerobic conditioning which is a superior method of burning fat whilst not diminishing power, speed, strength or muscle mass (unlike prolonged cardio). 
• e.g. Sprints / Interval training
• 1 workout every 7 - 10 days
• Brief, intense, heavy lifting: 
• Develops lean muscle and strength, maximising fat loss.
• e.g. Full body functional weightlifting 
• 1 - 3 workouts per week, 10-60 minutes
• Frequent, slow-pace movement: 
• Develops a solid base of fitness, and strengthens the cardiovascular / immune systems
• e.g. Waking, cycling, swimming
• 2 - 5 hours per week at 55 - 75% maximum heart rate

Variety of exercise

It's essential that you introduce variety into your fitness regime. The human body is staggeringly efficient and adapts quickly. Not only does variety help challenge your body across the ten fitness skills, but can keep you interested and committed to training. 

When pursuing total fitness, as opposed to specialised skills, you should avoid uniformed training. For example, frequent medium-to-high intensity cardio training for sustained durations will develop your capacity to run a marathon, but at the expense of muscle mass, speed and power. 

Exercise with creativity, changing workout patterns, mixing up movements and avoiding a stagnant routine at all costs. 

Try incorporating exercises across the following, when training for total fitness:

• Cardio / Metabolic Conditioning
• Focus on moderate - high power, lasting less than several minutes (anaerobic exercise). This will decrease body fat whilst improving athletic performance (without compromising muscle mass or strength like high volume cardio training).
• Training: Interval training 
• Benefits / Skills: Fat loss, muscle mass, power, speed, strength. 
• Gymnastics
• The physical benefits of practicing gymnastics cannot be understated. Master even the very basics of gymnastics and you will develop superior bodily control, a lithe, coordinated frame, solid upper-body and core, and unparalleled strength. 
• Gymnastics training can be frustratingly difficult but is hugely beneficial. 
• Training: Calisthenics (pull-ups, push-ups, dips...), climbing, yoga.
• Benefits / Skills: Strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, agility, accuracy.
• Weightlifting
• Olympic weightlifting  develops strength, speed and power as one, like no other form of training. 
• Note the distinction of performing Olympic lifts that are mulit-joint movements such as the deadlift or squat which develop skills across a broad spectrum as opposed to non-functional exercises such as bicep curls and leg extensions that are designed for bodybuilding rather than conditioning (bodybuilding is focused on aesthetics / muscle size and not on athletic performance). 
• Training: Incorporate major lifts like the deadlift, clean, snatch, squat
• Benefits / Skills: Strength, speed, power, flexibility, coordination, balance, agility, accuracy. 

Playing Sports

Regularly playing and learning new sports is a great way to put your training to the test and sustain fitness. Whilst training is relatively structured, repetitive and predictable, playing sports is your chance to demonstrate your skills in a relatively random and competitive environment, on the pitch, court, field, pool or arena.

Training Safely

Make sure you warm-up adequately before training and introduce stretching routines to prepare your body for safe, effective range of motion for whatever training you're about to undertake. 

Keeping correct, controlled form will help you stay injury free and get better results from your training because it guarantees you're using an appropriate weight with the intended muscles. 

Whilst exercise intensity is important it should never be at the sacrifice of good form. Trying to lift as much weight as you can, any which way you can increases the chances of damaging muscles, tendons and ligaments, or losing control of a weight in an undesirable position, such as above your noodle.

Summary of getting fit 

Eat high-quality, natural food, train consistently, and get enough water and sleep. Avoid repetitive training schedules and build in spontaneity, varying types of exercise at different frequencies, difficulties and intensities.

Not exactly hard is it? Forget secret formulas, magic pills and short cuts. These are marketing tricks by the unscrupulous. Build your routine around honest hard work and perseverance.

Fitness psychology and getting started

Like much in life, your success in health and fitness can be largely determined by your mindset and attitude. 

If you haven't already - the first step is simply starting. Procrastination is the enemy and it's easy to drown in a sea of convoluted fitness articles and conflicting information and never quite make it into the gym. Know the basics and overcome that first hurdle - get out there and start lifting, sprinting and moving your body. You'll learn the rest on the job.

Cultivate a state of mind that there is no other option, that your fitness is as basic a requirement as any other. Your training will have carry over benefits into all other areas of your life and you'll get stronger each day and ultimately become a more capable, not to mention attractive human being. Your body was designed to do this, it's not only character building but intrinsicly fullfilling. 

If you weather the difficulties of being unfit and just starting out with training and build that basic layer of fitness, it all gets much easier and more enjoyable. Many people never have it in them to get over this, don't train often enough and skirt around a fitness routine that never really sees them progressing and always battlling through sporadic workouts. 

Read our article on motivation for fitness for tips on how to sustain interest and structure your training for maximum effect.

When just starting with fitness training -

References:

1. URL: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/ Date: 20.Mar.2010
2. URL: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf Date: 09.Sept.2010

When we talk of the core body, what we’re referring to are the muscles deep within the abs and back, attaching to the spine or pelvis (including the lats, obliques, and transversus abdominis (TVA)). It’s more than just the visible six-pack muscles that seem to be synonymous with core training today.

These are the core body muscles from which movement originates and are the source of our stability. No matter what the training or everyday movement, it’s the core that keeps your body stabilised and balanced.

What is core strength?

We’re going to assume that if you’re reading this, you have a basic understanding of what the term 'Core stability' means. If you’re not 100% sure, then a simple definition is; "The ability to maintain correct spinal alignment, shoulder girdle position, pelvic position whilst moving the limbs".

With good 'Core stability' we are able to maintain a 'neutral spine position' and manipulate the body in a safe and efficient manner.

The benefits of developing core strength

The benefits of having good, strong core stability, for both athletes and non-athletes are vast, with main advantages being: 

• Improved athletic performance
• Reduction in the risk of injury
• Better posture
• Greater performance of everyday activities

The reduction in non-functional movements when walking, running and lifting doesn’t simply reduce the risk of injury, but also helps improve athletic and everyday performance. This increase in performance is down to the core muscles working more efficiently.

Take running for example; With a weak core, the force from a foot strike will mostly be absorbed by the lower limbs and joints potentially causing injury. But with a strong core, the improved body alignment results in better transfer of force up the body, through the pelvic girdle and spine, to the upper limbs.

If you’re more inclined to hit the weight bench than the treadmill, core strength is just as important. Injuries such as lumbago and herniated discs are very common during strength training and are normally caused by lifting heavy objects (however, it can also be the smallest of movements that trigger these injuries). Trainees should be advised to limit rotational movement when in the forward flexed position (bending forward whilst twisting the trunk, as if picking up something from the floor which is to the side of you) if their core is weak. Although sometimes this movement can be unavoidable for athletes and sportsmen / women due to the body positions they find themselves in. Nevertheless, having strong core muscles that will support the spine and alleviate some of the pressure on the vertebral discs, should reduce the chances of injury.

How to improve core strength

So, what are the best things we can do to improve our core stability and strength?

Rather than training muscle groups in isolation, core strength is particularly enhanced by training the body as a whole, integrated unit.

Take the basic sit-up or crunch for example - this exercise predominantly works the Rectus Abdominus muscles, and whilst these muscles can help give you the ‘6 pack’ look, they are very much superficial and don’t contribute to core strength nearly as much as our other stabilising muscles.

To develop core strength we would recommend the tried and tested plank and bridging exercises. The variations of this exercise are endless and they hit all major core stabiliser muscles.

Similarly, anything which makes you less stable will challenge your core. Equipment such as; core boards / wobble boards, Swiss balls / gym balls and Bosu boards. Simple in their design and application, they are very good for improving our core.

Personally, I don’t think you can go too far wrong with working the body unilaterally (working one side of the body independent of the other) to get great core activation. Things such as single leg squats, one arm shoulder press, lateral / frontal raises to name a few. Other personal favourites include, anything with dynamic movement. Ball slams, certain kettlebell and clubbell exercises. The nature of this equipment forces your body to use the core, (The Turkish Get-Up comes to mind!). Cable towers are also a very versatile tool when working our core and woodchops or hanging leg raises are another couple of effective options.

So, in conclusion, if you want less risk of injury and better athletic performance; you should devote some time and attention on improving your core stability and strength.

Author:

Dominic Kindleysides

Weightloss Specialist

www.dkpersonaltraining.co.uk

Robert Collier 

The Latin root of the word 'motivation' means 'to move', and strong motivation is part of the formula for achieving an impressive level of fitness and building a good physique. You will need to develop and maintain an enormous drive and enthusiasm in order to do what's necessary to accomplish these goals...

Here, we help you acquire this drive with quick and effective techniques that explain how to get motivated, stay motivated and achieve your fitness goals.

Visualise where you want to be 

What is it that you want to achieve?

Thinking bigger

Motivating yourself to get fit takes more than visualising the new you, in fact, studies show that simply envisaging your goals may make you feel better about yourself, but won't do much to help you realise those goals (1) (2).

Whilst visualisation can help develop a positive attitude, this is only part of what it takes to be successful. This visualisation is your overall goal, what you want to achieve. Now you need to figure out how you're going to get there...

Create your fitness plan

How are you going to achieve your goals?

Procrastinators are frequently put off starting certain activities because they're overwhelmed by the size of the job in front of them. You might know what you're working towards but if you're not sure how you're going to achieve it then it's likely that you'll not make much progress.

Thinking Smarter

Many people hit the gym two or three times a week, throw some weights around with neither rhyme nor reason and get disillusioned when they're not cover model material when the month's out.

...but you're different. You recognise that you need a plan.

Ambiguity and obscurity are cast aside for clarity and focus and we don't know about you, but we feel better already.

We talk in depth about goal-oriented fitness and fitness planning in another article - how to create a fitness plan.

Monitor progress and adapt your plan

How are you progressing and what should change?

Monitoring progress toward your aims is essential for motivation because it allows you to see that you're improving and moving towards your goal. As progress is incremental rather than immediate it can sometimes pass you by without noticing.

Try documenting everything in a training journal like weight, diet, exercises, reps, sets, distance, mood, energy... Not only will you be able to see progress but you'll be able to make informed judgements on what to change in your training regime and identify areas for improvement. 

See the Fitstream article on maintaining a training journal and download our template for tracking your workouts. 

Share your goals

Sharing fitness goals with friends, family and colleagues increases the likelihood of meeting the goals according to studies (3). 

Not only can your friends provide much-needed help and support but you're also publicly throwing down the gauntlet and the reluctance to share potential failure with others can be a strong motivational strategy.

Make sure people know what it is you are working towards and publicly share your tracking system against targets.

Focus on the benefits of change

It's important to keep a positive state of mind and focus on the benefits of what you want to achieve and not the negative aspects of failure. 

Remind yourself how much better life will be for you and those around you once you achieve your aim, instead of how failure to change will affect you. For example, if trying to lose weight, successful people might focus on how good they'll look at the end of it, rather than on how unhappy they'll be if the continue to put on weight. 

Focusing on the positive outcomes of your fitness training encourages you to look forward to the future, so define at least three benefits and write them down in your journal. 

Be realistic

Mentally, a positive, 'never gunna quit' approach to your help and fitness is essential, but keeping yourself motivated by simply imagining that success is right around the corner can be dangerously demotivating.

Losing weight or building muscle - these kinds of goals require hard work, commitment and perseverance. Fitness pursuits aren't fly-by-night missions. Unrealistic expectations may spike your initial interest enough to don the joggers, but long term it's a motivation killer as you become disillusioned with slow progress. 

It's best to lose the false hope, accept the difficulty of physical change and set about the path with a more realistic approach. 

Reward your progress

To keep yourself motivated with your fitness training you should build in rewards as you meet goals. Rewards don't have to be anything big and shouldn't conflict with the goal itself (like not eating your bodyweight in biscuits for hitting a weight-loss milestone!).

Also, try rewarding postives instead of the negatives. Instead of aiming for weight loss (measuring the negative), reward and measure positives such as how many workouts you've accomplished, or healthy meals you've consumed for the week.

This is a more realistic way to measure improvements, as weight loss can be difficult to reward due to slow, unpredictable progress.  

Attaching rewards to goals gives you something to look forward to and provides a sense of achievement, that helps motivate you for that next big milestone.  

Taking a break

Working towards challenging fitness goals can be a tough and relentless pursuit, so it's important to take a break from training and unwind at times. Not only can overtraining be damaging to your body, but psychologically you risk turning the whole pursuit into a miserable task and will reduce your motivation levels.

Summarising motivation for fitness

Meeting your fitness goals is largely to do with metal attitude, which boils down to motivation. Your motivation level determines your persistence in the face of obstacles when training. Your resolve is put to the test when training, and it's your commitment to goals that will determine if you get out of bed for that run in the morning, or summon the energy for that extra set when weight training.

To help meet your fitness aims and keep you motivated we've defined six key steps; defining what you want to achieve, planning how you're going to do it, recording progress, telling people about it, focusing on the benefits of change and rewarding yourself as you hit goals.

References:

1. L.B. Pham and S. E. Taylor (1999). ‘From Thought to Action: Effects of Process- Versus Outcome-Based Mental Simulations on Performance’. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, pages 250-260.
2. G. Oettingen and T A. Wadden (1991). ‘Expectation, Fantasy, and Weight Loss: Is the Impact of Positive Thinking Always Positve?’. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 15, pages 167-75.
3. M. Deutsch and H. B. Gerard (1955). ‘A Study of Normative and Information Social Influences Upon Individual Judgement’. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, pages 629-36.

In this article we explain how to create the perfect plan to achieve your fitness goals.

Whatever the aim, from weight-loss or muscle gain, to building incredible strength or an eye-catching physique; there are quick and effective techniques that can really help. 

We're not talking Gantt charts and process flows here. Just simple planning techniques that bring clarity to what you're working towards and ensure that you're going about it in the right way.

Why plan?

...because you understand that random, ill-applied training is a waste of time. You can't train aimlessly, without intelligent intent and expect to drop two dress sizes or pack on five pounds of muscle mass. Without a plan you appear to have a mountain to climb, with no real goal to work towards, an action list on how to achieve it, or a gauge of how far you've come.

Most people know how they want to look, or how much they want to lift, but aren't sure about how to get there and have no plan driving them forward.

Creating a plan is quick and painless and brings clarity to your training. You know what you want to achieve, how you're going about it, and what progress you've made so far... and suddenly things seem less daunting.

This is also a great motivational tactic because you have something to work towards and measure.

Our approach to fitness planning is based around four key steps -

Define. Plan. Track. Refine.

Define your goals. Plan how you're going to achieve them. Monitor progress. Refine your training.

Here is the Fitstream four step model that puts you firmly in control of your fitness... 

STEP ONE: Define your overall fitness goal. What is it that you want to achieve?

This is easy - where are you now and where do you want to be?

"The future isn't just a place you'll go; it's a place you will invent. Your ability to shape your future depends on how well u communicate where you want to be when u get there."

Nancy Duarte, "Resonate"

All workouts are prompted by goals. You're not out there sprinting, lifting, climbing, pulling and pushing for the hell of it. You want to accomplish something... so, write down your overall goal be it, performance, aesthetic or health related. It doesn't matter, as long as you define something that's a powerful, motivating aim, that will get you out of bed in the morning and into the gym.

Once you have your overall goal defined you break this down into a series of more specific sub-goals to help create your fitness roadmap. 

Breaking your primary goal down has a positive mental effect by making the task seem less daunting and easier to achieve. This process also allows you to truly acknowledge what you're trying to accomplish and how you'll go about it. 

Ensure your sub-goals are concrete, measurable and time-based rather than vague, woolly or high-level. If weight loss is your goal, state how much weight you want to lose. Know clearly what the goal is, i.e., what exactly your target weight might be and how many pounds that means you have to lose to get there.

It can be a difficult balancing act to come up with goals that are both challenging, yet achievable, but this is a skill that comes with experience. We've included some core targets for fat loss and muscle building below, but please note that these can vary wildly. Use them as a guide if you're unsure about where to start and refine them over time:

• Fat loss - 4-6lbs / month
• Muscle building - 1lb / month

Once you've defined your goals you must work out how you're going to achieve them. You do this by creating a fitness plan - a basic guide to get you on the right track. Following these simple planning techniques will significantly increase your chances of realising your fitness goals.

STEP TWO: Create your fitness plan. How will you achieve your goals?

Your plan outlines how you're going to achieve these goals by assigning activities to objectives. Unless you're experienced you might find it difficult to know how to build your workouts, what exercises to use and all the other aspects of training such as weight, reps, sets, duration, frequency, distance, speed, diet...

Don't try to write your own diet and exercise routine if you're a beginner, and use someone else's plan. Do your research and use tried and tested routines. Give it time to work and after a month or two, refine the training to suit your needs. Remember that no single routine works blindly for everyone and you should monitor your progress. As you become more experienced and your body responds, so you become more intuitive about how to train to achieve what you want.

Below is an example fitness plan:

Now that you know what it is that you want to achieve and how you're going to do it - you're in control, so start training!

STEP THREE: Track progress. How am I progressing?

A sad reality is that most people's fitness training is born from high hopes and expectations and dies in frustration and disappointment. It's important that you maintain a training journal to track your progress and understand what's working for you to make informed judgements on how to adapt your training plan.

See the Fitstream article on keeping a fitness journal where you can download our template fitness tracker.

Add an entry to the journal after each workout and track the results over time.

You can use the notes area to record your overall stats (weight, measurements, mood, sleep, diet) and there's a row for each exercise, cells for your personal best and previous workout best, and areas to record the weight used (if applicable), number of reps and a cumulative total (useful if you have a target number of repetitions across the entire workout).

Success is incremental and arrives slowly, but consistently. It's easy to overlook how you're progressing but keeping a fitness journal puts it in black and white and keeps you informed.

STEP FOUR: Refine your plan. What should I change?

Look at your stats regularly (weekly works for most people) and answer the question - am I on track to meet my goals? If so, that's great! Nothing need change. If not, then you have a wealth of information in your training journal to help you figure out why.

If you find that you're not making much progress towards a goal, it's time to go back and re-evaluate your tactics and approach. 

Maybe the intensity isn't there, or you're not performing the right exercises, or training enough. Drop what's not working for you and add in something new. Question everything and don't be afraid to experiment.

Your body will adapt quickly to the demands placed upon it. Look at your rep ranges, have you outgrown your current plan, do you need more plates adding to that squat, or a weighted vest thrown into the mix for those pull-ups? Keep the challenge in there and intensity high and remain focused on those goals.

Learn from failure

If you've set yourself a difficult goal then it's inevitable that there will be setbacks along the way. The key is not to let failure put you off persisting. The successful differ from others not because they do not experience difficulties, but in their reaction to these problems.

When facing difficulties in your training, investigate what went wrong and see it as a learning opportunity.

Fitness Planning Summary

That's it... four simple steps to planning out your fitness, maintaining motivation and helping ensure progress towards those goals. Define. Plan. Track. Refine. 

Taking the steps outlined in this article helps change "wants" into "goals". "Wants" are aimlessly carried around with you, whereas "Goals" are built on a path of action.

Foam rollers didn't used to be a sexy topic in the world of health and fitness. After all, who can say that they actually enjoy the often neglected warm up and stretching routine?

We all know that stretching is good for us but most people want to get down to their workout and get out, and as a result many of us are simply lacking in flexibility and left prone to injury. Combine this with being hunched over desks much of the day and we also have some pretty poor postural issues that will come back to haunt us in later life. 

However, there's a change happening. No longer are foam rollers the friends of only physio's and rehabber's, but they're now used for their training preparation and recovery properties, as well as their rehabilitative effects.

We now realise that being fit is more than just about lifting heavy weights or getting the heart pumping. Whilst these factors are stimulus for change it's just as important to focus on enabling change - combining a good diet with effective rest and recovery techniques.

Unless you can afford a personal massage therapist then buying a foam roller is a no-brainer. It might not look as good in a skirt but it's cheap, available 24-7 and your body will thank you for it.  

Who should be foam rolling?

Foam rolling benefits everyone regardless of physical activity. 

Not many of us can afford our own massage therapist but if you exercise regularly (particularly weight training) or have poor posture then a quality foam roller is one of the best (and cheapest) investments you can make for your body. Even if you aren't training heavy but spending too much time sitting down, a foam roller will help relieve muscular tension and any tightness in the muscles. 

Many of us suffer from "trigger points", little muscle knots that can cause problems like aches and pains which eventually lead to bigger, acute injuries. Using a foam roller you should be able to feel these trigger points as you roll over the muscle and the applied pressure eases them out, releasing the tension.  

The benefits and uses of a foam roller

A foam roller offers soft-tissue work for the general population - replicating the benefits of human-specialist therapy at a low cost. Using a foam roller is often referred to as "self myofascial release" (essentially self-massage). 

Science aside, most people report that foam rolling just seems to make you more aware of your body and mentally prepared for a workout.

Foam roller exercises and techniques

Exercising with a foam roller is very simple to learn. Essentially, whilst supporting your body, place the target muscle on top of the foam roller and move yourself over it. The pressure applied by your own bodyweight presses out the soft-tissue, releasing tension and stimulating blood flow whilst ironing out any sticking points. 

Foam rolling may hurt slightly and you might feel your back crack or even hear popping sounds, but that's normal. You're simply limbering up what is probably an overly tight body! Make sure you pay particular attention to any areas that feel tight or sore and roll more slowly over those parts until the pain diminishes, before moving on to the next area. 

There are no hard-and-fast rules for foam rolling, but you're generally encouraged to simply roll out until the pain subsides. After exercising with the foam roller you should feel much more limber and loose. 

A foam roller is commonly used along with other soft-tissue therapies such as trigger point therapy (using small dense balls to roll on for more focused application to the tissue). 

Below we show you some sample foam roller exercises, but for a complete list please see the flexibility, stretching and mobility exercise section of the Fitstream Exercise Directory. 

Hamstring Foam Roll

The hamstring muscle group is one of the easiest to workout with a foam roller, and the Hamstring Roll is a great exercise for loosening the hamstrings and working out any tight spots of muscle. 

1. Begin by sitting up, supporting your bodyweight with your hands and the foam roller under your thighs. 
2. Slowly roll back and forth from glute to knee, pausing on any tight spots in the muscle. 
3. Move from side-to-side to work the entire muscle. 

Note: As the hamstrings have a much bigger surface area than muscles like the calves your bodyweight will be distributed and this may not have the same effect. To counter this simply train a leg at a time, supporting one leg on top of another to emphasise one side. This technique can be used with most muscle groups to control the amount of pressure exerted on the muscle by the foam roller. 

For a full guide to this exercise please see the Hamstring Foam Roll in the exercise database. 

Thoracic Spine Extension with Foam Roller

The thoracic spine is one of the five segments of the spinal column, encompassing the shoulder and chest area and can be kept in good shape using a foam roller. It's an important exercise that is used to avoid the common slumped shoulders and rounded back look by improving your thoracic spine mobility.

Neglecting spinal health leads to poor posture which looks unsightly, and will eventually lead to lower back or neck pain and acute injury. 

1. Place foam roller under upper back / thoracic spine. 
2. Keep knees bent, feet flat on the ground and hands behind head with elbows close together. 
3. Lower head to floor and try to wrap yourself around the foam roller, extending the thoracic spine. 
4. Roll, slowly up and down the vertebrae, pausing on any painful parts (do not roll the neck or lower back, focussing solely on the thoracic spine). 

For a full guide to this exercise please see the Thoracic Spine Extension using a Foam Roller in the exercise database.

Foam roller safety

Post-workout / rest and recovery

Foam rollers are not just for warm-up routines before a workout but can be used for recovery from strenuous training and increase blood flow to target muscles.

Rollers can be used for 5-10 minutes on non training days to help speed up recovery time and maintain soft tissue health. 

Check out this foam roller exercise video provided by Eric Cressey for an excellent overview - 

Summary to foam roller training

To summarise the points in this article:

• Roll the entire length of the muscle
• Stop and hold on tender areas until pain subsides, then continue rolling. 
• The more you roll the better, preferably daily, although 2 or 3 sessions per week will see improvements. 
• Remember that foam rolling is an injury preventative measure as well as rehabilitative so you shouldn't reach for it only when things start to hurt.

Buying a foam roller

Foam rollers are relatively cheap but can vary in quality and features.

Ensure that you buy a quality, high-density foam roller that will retain its shape with prolonged use and has a non-slip surface.

Foam rollers come in varying lengths and circumferences and as half, or full rolls.

Visit the Fitstream Store for recommended foam rollers. 

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the professional sport formerly known as cage-fighting. A sport often referred to as the most dangerous of all forms of fighting competition.

Originally, MMA evolved from 'no holds barred' competitions but as the sport grew in popularity more safety rules and professional refereeing followed. MMA banned some of the more brutal moves but allows you to use the your fists, feet, elbows and knees as well as the body holds and throws of wrestling. 

Fight rules differ depending on the organising body but it's generally accepted that the use of a knee or stamp to the head of a grounded opponent, groin striking, and eye gauges are not permitted. MMA fights can be won by K.O. / T.K.O. (when the referee stops the fight), by submission, or on points. 

Core MMA Components

Striking

The techniques involved in striking an opponent with your body. 

Takedowns

The ability to off-balance an opponent and bring them to the ground, typically with the initiator landing a top. Commonly this will take the form of a double or single leg takedown attempt, similar to a rugby tackle.

Sprawling

A defensive technique in response to takedown attempts, sprawling is essentially mastering the ability of staying on your feet. This skill is particularly important given that the fighter who successfully takes down an opponent will be in the dominant fighting position. 

Floor Work

Essentially, ground work involves fighting tactics whilst grounded, be it defensive or attacking movement. Ideally manoeuvring yourself into a dominant position to strike or achieve a submission hold. 

Submission Holds

The use of "holds" to force your opponent to submit due to pain or fear of injury. There are many different types of hold such as choke holds, joint locks, and compression locks. 

MMA Training and Fitness

MMA fighters require bulletproof fitness.

Due to the diverse nature of the sport you'll find some of the most well-rounded, cross-trained athletes around in MMA.

Training for MMA demands focus, dedication and intelligent application as fights require a tremendous amount of skill, heart and determination. Top MMA fighters have mastered multiple forms of martial art in order to compete at the very highest level and represent the very elite combat athlete.

The methods of acheiving this level of fitness are the very definition of functional training. Fighters are always training to better themselves in an area that improves performance in the ring. You will commonly find tyre flipping, sledge-hammer work, gymnastics rings and kettlebell exercises featuring in MMA workouts.

Psychological strength is just as important a factor in MMA as physical strength as fights requires self motivation and extreme mental commitment to overcome pain barriers, endure increasing intensity and maintain the inner strength to face a brutal confrontation and go one-on-one in the ring. 

Check the Fitstream store for links to MMA equipment.  

MMA Workouts and Exercises

Training for fight strength and power

When training for strength and power the aim is for functional muscle and not dead weight or pretty muscles. Functional training will increase your power-to-weight ratio making you a stronger and faster fighter. 

Training for cardio and endurance

It's often said that cardiovascular fitness is 90% of a fight so it's absolutely essential to work on this element of your training.

You need to ensure cardio is focused on developing the necessary stamina to plough through an entire fight and that you're able to comfortable handle the tempo, durations and rest periods of a competitive bout. 

Get outside and run, try hill sprints, skipping, kettlebell swings and medicine ball slams. 

Thinking of Starting CrossFit?

CrossFit requires extreme commitment and dedication - it's certainly not for the feint of heart, weak-willed or weekend workout warriors. 

If your idea of fun is a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 bodyweight squats, finished off with another one-mile run, all against the clock - then you'll fit right in! ...and we tip our hat to you! You are indeed CrossFit material. 

If on the other hand, fitness is important to you - you want to look good, be strong, fit and healthy - but the all-out, blood, sweat and tears approach to training isn't quite your thing, then there's a lot to be said for loosely following the CrossFit principles without the cult following. 

One consideration you should bear in mind is the reason why you're training. CrossFit is very much an anti-specialisation form of workout, with the goal of total fitness across all ten fitness domains (we'll come to those in a moment). If your particular goal is to specialise and compete in one sport then CrossFit wouldn't be for you. 

With CrossFit training you probably won't win a powerlifting competition or come first in a marathon as you'd need a tailored, specialised program to achieve those goals, but you will be a well-rounded physically fit individual, wholly competent and capable. 

This anti-specialisation approach to training is why CrossFit is so accepted by the military and emergency services - what point is there in being huge but not strong, or a great runner with no strength or power? Especially when other people's lives (or even your own) might be on the line.

CrossFit isn't just popular with these services and it's becoming widely accepted by the general public, with CrossFit affiliated gym's springing up all around the world. Seemingly, general physical preparedness is an appealing concept to many. Also, quite simply, CrossFit produces results - you lose weight, become faster, stronger and more agile.

So, if you want to learn more about CrossFit we cover off an intro to this controversial fitness movement...

What is CrossFit?

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program that in their own words prescribes "constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement”.

CrossFit practitioners are taught to be fitter, more physically well-rounded human beings across all these fitness domains and it's producing athletes whose sport is essentially "fitness". As a result of this all-encompassing model CrossFit has become a highly popular strength and conditioning program for the military, emergency services, tactical operations teams, martial artists and any individual or profession demanding complete physical capability. These are people who desire fitness when they don't know at what point their physical skills and ability will be called upon, or indeed in what form. 

The CrossFit Fitness Model

CrossFit work toward their own definition of "fitness" - a definition often contrary to mainstream beliefs. They capture "world-class fitness" beautifully in 100 words - 

CrossFit Training and Exercise

As described, CrossFit training is intense and varied, encouraging participants to explore many ways to physically express themselves and apply their fitness skills. This broad, almost random approach to fitness is somewhat contrary to mainstream training methods of stringent exercise sets, reps, order and control and is more akin to our own views.

CrossFit places an emphasis on gymnastics and bodyweight exercises, training participants in body control, and developing balance and flexibility whilst maximising strength-to-weight ratio. 

Olympic weightlifting also features quite strongly in CrossFit programs, focusing on the core lifts such as deadlifts, squats and presses. Weight training is primarily used to develop explosive power and strength.

The CrossFit training program is designed to be scalable to people of any age or experience with the necessary commitment to apply themselves. Load and intensity of the training is altered accordingly but the CrossFit program remains the same. 

CrossFit Data and the CrossFit Community

CrossFit is an empirical training program grounded in real-life data, supporting the movement with measurements, actual observations and facts. They call this "evidence-based fitness". 

This is a refreshing approach in the fitness industry which is often dominated by marketers or the ill-informed, where bold, vague and unsubstantiated claims are made to make more money. 

CrossFit is built on transparency and competition and drive their participants not through insults and abuse, but partly through the human competitive spirit - brought out simply by attaching a whiteboard to the wall and writing your name. 

See the Fitstream training diary article to read more about the benefits of tracking your training and download our free training log PDFs.

CrossFit Equipment

CrossFit is a "minimalist program" geared up for functional training and movement. It recognises that elite fitness is born out of the most basic of equipment with hard work and dedication, and CrossFit are strong advocates of the garage gym, with much less fitness equipment that that found in your average commercial gym.  

An article in the CrossFit Journal analysed the frequency of equipment used in the CrossFit.com daily workouts for a year and found the following:

The Essential CrossFit equipment you need is an Olympic bar and weight set (preferably bumper plates) and somewhere to perform pull-ups and dips. 

Gymnastics rings are a great option too because they're cheap, durable, hugely challenging and allow you to do ring pull-ups, dips and muscle-ups just about anywhere with one piece of equipment. The freeform movement of the rings makes the exercises much tougher than using fixed apparatus so they're a really efficient form of bodyweight strength training. 

You can buy parallettes (or make your own) as an essential way to start CrossFit bodyweight training and throw in some plyometrics boxes, a Dynamax medicine ball, dumbbells, kettlebells, climbing rope, a Concept II Rower, and a glute-ham developer to equip your gym with enough kit to follow the CrossFit Workout Of the Day very closely. 

See the Fitstream Store for more examples of selected CrossFit Equipment.

CrossFit and Safety

CrossFit training is as fiercely condemned as it is followed in some circles, as people cite the dangers of such intense training methods and the extremely physically taxing demands it places on followers. 

If you're just starting out with CrossFit take note that the workouts would challenge even the world's best athletes and you should scale the workouts accordingly to pitch the training correctly for your fitness level whilst ensuring that you make solid gains.

Approach CrossFit workouts cautiously at first because to throw yourself into the training probably won't end well. Try Reducing the recommended loads, reps, and sets and ramp up as you progress and your body adapts. As you develop a feel for the program you'll become more aware of your own capabilities and how to structure the training effectively, yet safely.

CrossFit - A Summary

CrossFit is an intense physical training program promoting 'fitness'. CrossFit fitness being of totality and extreme breadth that produces non-specialising athletes. 

CrossFit will turn you into one of the fittest versions of you, you could possibly be, being able to perform effectively at many, diverse, randomised physical challenges. A life athlete, if you will.

The CrossFit logic is sound. We applaud the required commitment, well-rounded and empirical training regimes and regardless of the controversial debates and opinions there's one thing that's certain - CrossFit works, it builds elite athletes that are the very definition of "fitness".  

Read the CrossFit website for more information and you'll find the Message Board is a particularly good resource for pointers, technical help or just general encouragement for the CrossFit program.

Home made parallettes

Bodyweight training is difficult but very rewarding and parallettes are the perfect platform on which to kick-start your bodyweight training program.

Parallettes can be used for many exercises such as handstand training, handstand push-ups, dips, planches and abdominal exercises like the L-sit. They're ideal for building a strong, solid and defined core and developing coordination, agility and balance skills. 

As used in CrossFit gym's around the world, this article describes how to make your own parallettes out of plastic PVC piping for a sturdy, versatile bit of kit built on a budget.

Commercial parallettes can be expensive but if DIY isn't really your thing then check out these professional parallettes available to buy online.

Make your own parallettes video 

Here's our quick video guide to making your PVC parallettes to help you on your way. 

What you'll need to make the parallettes

Please note that we used 1.5" pipe but as long as it's strong enough you can use any diameter you're comfortable with.

Making the Parallettes

Cut the pipe

Using the pipe cutter or hacksaw, measure and cut the piping into the base pieces of the parallettes (using tape around the pipe to mark the cut can help ensure you get a straight line). 

Join the pipe

Now you need to piece together the parts (we recommend that you bond with pipe glue for stability) -

This completes one of your parallettes. Go back to step 1 and repeat for the set.

There you have it. Portable, lightweight and durable parallettes without breaking the bank.

Training with your Parallettes

Now you can start some serious bodyweight training and you have one of the most effective tools for developing strength, balance and agility - a set of parallettes. You can use them at the gym, in your home or even outdoors and they're lightweight, portable and strong. 

If you're new to bodyweight training, you'll probably find parallettes incredibly frustrating at first as there are many static holds and movements that require a LOT of strength to perform. Try starting out with exercises like the Tuck Sit, L Sit, Wall Handstands and Handstand Push-ups, but the key thing is to stick with it and keep plugging away.

Parallette training helps develop dense, defined muscles and you will find that with some dedication you'll be able to perform impressive displays of strength, have more control over your entire body and able to work it as a more integrated and consolidated unit. 

It's worth combining your parallette training with a set of gymnastics rings to practice other strength skills like pull-ups, muscle-ups or the iron cross. The rings are even less forgiving than parallettes. Try practising a dip exercise on each and see which is more difficult!

Welcome

Our ideal gym would be the ultimate functional training centre…whitewashed walls, rubber floors and high ceilings set the scene.

A no frills, effortlessly cool environment. It would be filled with old school fitness equipment like barbells, med balls, gym rings, kettlebells and sandbags. This would be a place of performance, power, energy and physical expression - somewhere to escape the sedentary nature of modern life.

The Fitstream Gym.

You’d find no big, expensive machines in a Fitstream gym, just simple tools that offer nowhere to hide, no fixed path of movement, isolation exercises or equipment that does half the work. You would develop a stronger, leaner, fitter physique using fitness equipment that's beautifully primitive, yet brutally effective. This is your primal hideaway and this is primal fitness.

This gym can be many things to many people…or perhaps many things to one person. To some it’s the means to achieve a goal, to track performance, document progress and beat personal bests. To others, it can simply be a way to fulfil a basic human need – to move, but to do so in an environment not stifled by the regimented, ineffective and tedious gyms that are mainstream today.

Today’s gyms aren’t working on many levels and the evidence is all around us. There’s a need for something more and we’re looking to the past for the gyms of the future, because this is one area where technology need not venture. Simplicity is key and we don't need to be clinging to a two tonne piece of engineering to get in shape. Fitstream equipment ensures that you do the work and that you leave with a sense of physical accomplisment hanging over you.

Enjoyed and not endured

The Fitstream gym would make fitness fun again and be home to a group of people looking for something other than treadmills to run through the motions. People who acknowledge that fitness is born out of hard work, commitment and don’t look for the shortcut solution. Getting fit would no longer be boring, or monotonous but freeform, challenging and gripping.

This kind of gym removes adult inhibitions and reverts back to something akin to childhood play. You become functionally fit. Your body can perform, because, quite simply, it’s being used in the way it was intended. It’s running, jumping, lifting, pulling, swinging, squatting and crawling through life.

The Equipment

Part playground. Part torture chamber.

The future of the gym

There is a mainstream fitness revolution happening and perceptions are changing.

For too long the fitness industry has been dominated by fads and gimmicks, ineffective equipment and manipulative sales tactics preying on insecurities, convincing us that we're broken and that they have a cure.

We need gyms that are fun yet effective, that values its members over their bottom lines and cultivates a lifestyle shift where fitness is a way of life and aesthetics are a by-product of our workouts and not the objective.

These gyms bring a sense of belonging and focus on the performance and ability of the human body, whilst satisfying a basic, primal need. As a result - they produce happier, healthier, stronger (and yes... better looking) people.

This gym is the future. This gym is our dream.

You can find a full range of kettlebell exercises with videos, illustrations and instructions in the Fitstream exercise directory.

Kettlebell exercises are efficient - you're not only lifting weights, but swinging them. Movements are explosive yet controlled, and the combination of weight training with cardio exercise is what makes kettlebell training as highly effective as it is.

The kettlebell is a solid ball of steel allowing you to train your entire body, the handle acting as a hinge to the weighted mass.

There are hundreds of possible kettlebell exercises that will help you build true strength, shape and define your physique whilst burning fat. Kettlebells are quite simply the ultimate functional fitness tool.

Beginning kettlebell training, recommended exercises

When just starting out we recommend that you begin by mastering the Kettlebell Swing exercise. It's a dynamic exercise that will teach you how to swing the kettlebell in a safe and controlled manner, primarily working the lower-body and core muscles.

The Kettlebell Swing is an intense exercise that will show you just why kettlebells are so perfect for fitness training, and requires speed, power, strength, and endurance in one simple movement.

To buy kettlebells visit the Fitstream Store.

An adjustable weighted vest is an excellent investment if you're serious about your fitness training and want to develop your strength, speed and stamina, whilst maximising fat loss.

Weighted vests are weight adjustable shirts which can vary from 0.5 pound - 30 pounds by adding or removing the attached weighted plates. They are the perfect choice for any bodyweight training regime to help increase intensity and maximise physical development, promoting gains in lean muscle mass.

The principle of the weighted vest is simple - add additional weight to the body to provide an overload, thereby increasing the calories, strength and effort required to perform your workout.

Weighted vests are particularly helpful for people who play sports like football and rugby, where raw power, stamina and explosive movements are essential.

When starting out with weighted vest training be sure to begin with a small amount of weight and gradually increase as you get stronger. This controlled incremental progression will ensure that you train safely, whilst making steady strength gains.

Benefits of weighted vest training

Weighted vests increase training intensity, maximise physical development and promote fat loss and gains in lean lean muscle-mass.

One of the benefits of a weighted vest is that the weight is evenly distributed, acting almost as a part of the body as it fits snug against the torso. This is excellent for allowing the freedom to perform your workout in increased safety, whilst stimulating strength gains and weight loss.

Weight adjustable vests allow you to use a progressive overload program and ensure that you're continually challenged and making gains towards your goal.

What exercises can you use weighted vests for?

Weighted Running

Running in a weighted vest adds another dimension to your training and improves performance. Essentially, wearing a weight vest whilst running means that you're carrying more weight, the additional load making the run more difficult. As your body responds to the increased resistance and you can match the same pace as before you started wearing the weighted vest, the runs on which you are unweighted will be much faster and easier due to the speed, strength and endurance gains in your fitness. Your body more efficient and requiring less energy to produce the same pace.

Bodyweight exercises with weighted vest

Weighted vest are used for increasing intensity of all manner of bodyweight exercises such as weighted dips, pull-ups, push-ups, squats and box jumps. You should only use a weighted vest when you are already proficient in these exercise, but it's an excellent way to overcome a plateau and develop incredible strength.

Weighted plyometrics

The weight vest lends itself perfectly to plyometrics, in which you try to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, usually with the goal of increasing jump height.

If you're looking to improve vertical jump we would highly recommend that you invest in a high quality adjustable weighted vest as adding a vest into your training can add inches to your jump height.

Try performing a weighted squat jump with a weighted vest. This exercise increases overall strength and explosiveness. Simply stand, squat down, and explode up as high as you can and repeat for desired number of repetitions.

Acceleration training

Acceleration training is moving the body from rest quickly and efficiently. A weighted vest increases the difficulty of acceleration training because of the increase in bodyweight.

Agility and speed training

All agility and speed drills are enhanced with the use of a weighted vest, since it increases body weight and requires additional effort in maintaining speed and reaction changes.

Weighted walking

If fat loss is your goal and you're walking a lot you can increase the calorie cost of the activity by wearing a weight vest. A vest will not interfere with your normal stride (like ankle weights can) or the way you impact the ground, yet increases activity intensity as the load being carried is increased.

Choosing a weighted vest

If you're looking to buy a weighted vest we've included some pointers below to help you decide - 

Weighted vest fit

Weighted vests typically fit over the shoulders and are secured in place across the body using straps, zips or clips. Make sure you buy a vest that allows for small adjustments in fit, so that you can tighten the vest to your requirements.

Weght vests should be secured tightly but not so as to restrict movment or impare breathing!

Adjustable weight

It's best to buy a vest that allows you to adjust the weight used so that you can make micro-adjustments for training intensity / difficulty.

Most weighted vests come with removable weight plates or blocks to allow you to make adjustments quickly and safely during workouts. 

Durability

Many weighted vests go up to 30kg in weight and it's worth investing in a good quality vest as they take some punishment moving one-for-one with your body movements during gruelling workouts. You can end up paying much more in the long run by buying cheaper vests that need to be replaced year-on-year. 

Look for heavy duty vests with good customer reviews and dual fastening mechanisms. 

You can see the Fitstream recommended weighted vests in our Equipment section of the site.

A common reason many people don't meet their fitness goals is because they fail to monitor progress towards their aims.

Maintaning a training journal, log or diary can be essential to achieving high levels of fitness and reaching your goals. 

Exercise journals aren't just for professional weightlifters or powerlifters but everyone can benefit from tracking their progress and documenting current routines and training methods.

Aimless and uncoordinated training is a common culprit of failed fitness routines as we become frustrated with the lack of visible progress and give up too soon. Without meaningful insight into what is and isn't working for you it will be difficult to build a tailored and effective training style.

Our article on fitness planning will help you to understand just how a journal can fit in with your existing training regime and fitness goals.

The elements of fitness

Our bodies and fitness levels are derived from many different interacting elements - training type and chosen exercises, duration of workouts, intensity, frequency of workouts, diet... the list goes on. As these elements change, so do our bodies and it's difficult to recall what you did, when you did it and the effects this had.

A training log will allow you to build a mental picture of progress (or lack of) and allow you to track and adjust your routine accordingly. Not only this, but fitness diary's are motivational - reminding you where you came from and what you've done to get where you are today. 

The benefits of a training journal:

• Record personal bests
• Discover what works for you... and what does not
• See progress clearly
• Track progress against goals
• Review your workouts
• Use your training past to inform your training future

What should I record in my fitness journal?

We believe fitness should be a way of life, but not the purpose in life.

We don't recommend you go logging crazy, meticulously planning workouts and keeping records that would make an accountant jealous. We prefer to keep a high-level training log with weights and a record of exercises and personal bests. This can do wonders not only for your sense of achievement but also turns into a valuable resource from which you can make informed judgements about your fitness routines and lifestyle.

Try recording some of the following:

• Your fitness goals and targets
• Exercises, weight used, reps and sets
• Personal bests
• Measurements: weight, waist etc
• Diet notes

Training Journal Summary

If you're determined to succeed and continuously develop then you'll want to know what you're doing, where you've been and where you want to end up. Keeping a training log is an invaluable resource to helping you achieve this. 

In our experience, the times we didn't keep a training journal our workouts became stagnant, our progress halted and the enthusiasm and drive just wasn't quite the same. Walking into your workout armed with the knowledge of your personal best, or even just the reps from your last workout gives you a great psychological boost and a target to aim for. It pushes you to better yourself and those last few fought our reps make all the difference. 

Download Training Log Templates

Installing and mounting your gymnastic rings for fitness training

Setting up gym rings is dependent on the training environment so it's impossible to cover all the possibilities that will be unique to you. We offer this article as a guide to help with the most common scenarios and explain to anyone interested in starting ring training how it's accessible to them. We've included real world example ring set-ups at the end of the article for your reference. 

Fitness rings

There are now many variations of professional gymnastics rings that have been specifically designed for fitness and are available to buy (See Fitstream Store for ring recommendations). They generally follow a common structure in terms of operation and components:

• Rings: Available in plastic or metal, or wood. 
• Straps / Webbing: Heavy duty webbing, usually Nylon that's used to suspend the rings from a secure anchor point. 
• Buckle: CAM buckle through which you secure the straps and use to height adjust the rings. 

You'll need to read the instructions specific to your manufacturer of gymnastic rings but they usually work as follows:

1. Feed the straps through the gymnastic rings and over the anchor point (see below for example anchors)
2. Press the lever on the CAM buckle and thread the strap through in the direction indicated to secure the rings. 
3. Adjust the amount of strap fed through the buckle to alter the height of the rings from the ground. 

This design brings convenience, flexibility and portability to an age old piece of training equipment and allows the average person to begin ring training in and around their own home. 

Setting up your rings: The anchor point

The most important factor to allow for safe and effective ring training when setting up your gymnastic rings is the anchor point. The anchor point is the object from which you hang the rings. 

You can hang the rings from any stable structure that can safely support your bodyweight and that you're able to attach or thread the rings over. Here are a few ways that people are using their gymnastic rings at home, in the gym or outside:

At home:

• Hanging the rings from garage / basement rafters and beams
• Securely installing eye bolts to the ceiling or beams through which you can thread through the ring straps. 
• Note: if installing eye bolts it's best to screw these horizontally into beams rather than vertically so that the rings aren't pulling down in the direction that they're screwed. 

At the gym:

• Suspending gymnasrics rings from pull-up bars or power cages.

Outside:

• Using whatever you can find! We've seen people using park equipment, goal posts and even trees!

Other things to consider when hanging gymnastics rings

Here are some other pointers to consider when mounting your rings to make sure you get the most from your training:

If your environment meets the above criteria you should be set for one of the most effective bodyweight workouts around, and the rings will help you build phenomenal strength and athletic ability. 

Example gymnastics rings setup

Here we include example gymnastics rings set-ups from our readers. To share your own solution or gymnastics rings tips please email admin@fitstream.com.

Standard garage gym, gymnastics rings setup, by Fitstream

The below photo shows a standard garage with fitness rings suspended from the exposed rafters. It's not in shot but a towel is placed over the rafters to prevent excess chaffing against the straps.  

The garage roof is pitched and the rings are suspended on one of the centre rafters. It's around 14' high in the centre and provides more than enough room for the muscle-up. As the rafters are exposed this is one of the easiest gym ring set-ups as the straps simply loop over a rafter and are secured in place using the buckle. 

As the rings are height adjustable you can simply feed more or less strap through to alter the height and cater for a range of exercises from high-ring pull-ups to low-ring push-ups. 

Custom, removable gymnastics rings setup in living room, by Richard Manderscheid

Richard wanted to install his gymnastics rings in his living room in a removable way but didn't want to compromise on the flexibility of being able to height-adjust the rings. 

His innovative approach is to set the rings up with S-Hooks that are connected to eye-bolts drilled into a beam horizontally. The S-Hooks can be quickly lifted from the bolts to take the rings down and hide from view.

(Richard uses a binder clip screwed to a wooden closet rod to reach up and hook the S-Hooks back to the eye screws).

Using a custom pulley rig Richard has created an easily adjustable, yet safe ring training environment.

He used the following components in his setup, all easily available to buy online (he used his local West Marine since the best pulleys out there seem to be for sailboats) -

• 2 eye screws
• 2 S-hooks, pinched a little for safety
• Good rope from a sailing store
• Plastic cleat (to secure rope to the wall)
• Single pulley (Harken 2650 used)
• Double pulley (Harken 2638 used)
• Strap
• Strap adjusters

Richard is 6'1" tall and the bottom of the beam is 13'4" from the floor and there's plenty of room to safely ring train.

He adds that his ideal solution would be to install the rings in a room with a recess in the roof in which the rings can be hoisted into without the need to take them down.

This is a very flexible solution for anyone looking to install gymnastic rings in a room where the rings cannot be permanently rigged up. 

More information

If you would like to share photos of your gymnastics rings setup, or any tips and advice with other readers please send emails to admin@fitstream.com.

Once you've installed your rings, view our database of ring training exercises to get you started. 

If you're shopping for gymnastics rings see the Fitstream store for ring recommendations and reviews.

Resistance bands have been gaining in popularity as a result of their low cost and the extremely flexible ways that they can feature in your workouts, from weight training, gymnastics ring strength training, bodyweight exercise assistance, to ballistic running drills.

What are resistance bands?

First invented in 1980 by former football coach Dick Hartzell, resistance bands may also be referred to as fitness bands, sports bands or strength bands.

The bands we're referring to are heavy duty resistance bands and not Therabands or the various other forms of elastic fitness product generally marketed at women or for stretching, physical therapy or rehabilitation. These bands are used for intense, serious strength training, powerlifting and general conditioning.

These resistance bands are essentially heavy duty latex elastics formed into a loop that offer various levels of resistance levels based on the thickness of the band. The bands are generally used to make exercises more difficult by adding increasing resistance to exercises as they are stretched, or to make exercises more achievable by supporting part of your bodyweight. The bands offer variable / progressive resistance meaning that the resistance increases throughout the range of motion, with the greatest resistance felt at the top of the lift or stretch. 

How are resistance bands used?

Resistance bands can be used in all manner of creative ways across many different training methods. You're truly limited only by your imagination.

Here are some of the ways we've seen heavy duty bands used:

• General fitness and conditioning
• Weight training, powerlifting, weightlifting
• Speed and agility training
• Plyometrics / Jumping
• Aerobics
• Stretching and flexibility exercises
• Rehabilitation and prehabilitation

Weight training \ powerlifting \ weightlifting with resistance bands

Resistance bands are an effective way of introducing progressive resistance to standard weight training exercises. That is, the further the bands are stretched the more resistance is added to the movement, typically to the parts of the exercise that are easiest to perform. 

Resistance bands can be used in various ways to help with common weight training exercises like the squat, deadlift or bench press by securing the band to an anchor point (like a heavy dumbbell / weight plate / power cage frame) and the other end to either side of your barbell. 

Note: Ensure that you use a heavy dumbbell or weight plate so that they won't raise from the floor during the lift, or thread the bands through additional weight plates to secure. If round dumbbells are used you may need to fix these in position with other plates to prevent them rolling around.

To increase the resistance simply loop the bands round the anchor point a few times before choking. This technique will increase tension throughout the lift and ensure that you develop explosive power, speed, strength and increase acceleration with gains in absolute strength.

Bodyweight exercises using resistance bands (assistance and intensity exercises)

We've selected a few common bodyweight exercises below to illustrate how resistance bands can be used to help develop the necessary strength and coordination to perform the exercises unaided. 

Assisted pull-up with resistance bands

Pull-ups are a very popular and effective exercise but can be very difficult to the beginner due to the upper-body strength demands. 

Whether performing pull-ups on gymnastic rings or a fixed bar, if you aren't quite strong enough for the exercise a resistance band can be used to take some of your bodyweight and make the exercise more achievable. You will quickly develop the required strength to perform pull-ups without the need for the band. 

To use bands for an assisted pull-up simply 'choke' the band around the pull-up bar or rings and loop the opposite end of the band under your shoe or secured under one knee.

Grasp the pull-up bar or rings and perform the pull-up as normal and the bands will partly carry your bodyweight to make the exercise easier. As your pull-up strength increases your need for the band assistance decreases.

To control the amount of assistance simply loop the band around the bar a few times before choking. The shorter the band is, the more bodyweight the band will support. 

Dips exercise with resistance bands (Video)

Dips are another example of a highly effective bodyweight exercise that are difficult for beginners to achieve. 

The video below demonstrates the dip exercise on a fixed dipping platform. During the video you will see resistance bands being used to not only make dips easier but also to increase the difficulty of the exercise by wrapping the band over the shoulders.

Band assisted handstand

The handstand is an impressive exercise that demonstrates agility, coordination, strength and bodily control. Resistance bands can be used to help give you that extra bit stability to allow you to learn the exercise and progress up to a stable handstand hold.

Ballistic running drills with resistance bands

Resistance bands can be used for ballistic running drills to develop explosive power, speed and agility by fixing bands to an anchor point such as a pole or another training partner.

The medium and large resistance bands are recommended for running drills and it's essential that you use at least three bands to ensure that there's a safe operating distance between you and the anchor point!

Link bands using the 'choke' technique described above and secure to your body.

Ring training with resistance bands

Similar to the bodyweight exercises previously discussed, resistance bands can also be used in your ring strength workouts for assistance-based exercises or for adding additional tension and intensity. 

Ring training can be very difficult and resistance bands give you that extra help to build up the requisite strength. Attach the bands to your gymnastics rings using the choke technique described below.

The bands can be used for standard ring exercises such as the ring pull-up, or ring dips and for advanced moves such as the iron cross (pictured below) -

How do I attach resistance bands to an anchor point?

You can suspend bands from any anchor point that is solid with no sharp edges, such as:

• Goal posts
• Weight plates
• Basketball poles
• Exercise equipment (dipping station, power cages, benches, tradmills or Squat racks)
• Pull-up bar
• Gymnastic rings (see photo below)
• Another teammate or training partner
• Pipes
• Playground equipment
• Trees

The choke technique:

Attach resistance bands to an anchor point using the choke technique described below.

1. Loop the band over / through the anchor point. 
2. Take one of the looped ends and feed it through the other.
3. Pull the band tightly to secure in place. 
4. The band is now choked and ready to use. 

• You can use the above technique to link multiple bands together. 
• To add add additional resistance simply loop the band around the anchor point a few times before securing it with the choke technique. This will shorten the band and increase the resistance level.

To buy resistance bands please see the Fitstream Store.

Training shouldn’t be a chore. It doesn’t have to be mundane or monotonous and if it is you're likely to get bored and not make any staggering progress. Your exercise routine should be built around intensity, consistency and diversity. For those that are struggling with their training at the moment it’s the diversity that can make the consistency that little bit easier.

A range of equipment at your fingertips allows for variety in your routine, keeps the body guessing and constantly improving to meet the physical demands placed upon it, and can help overcome training plateaus.

OK, so you’re sold on the benefits of the home gym. You have four walls, a roof and a floor, but what are you going to put in it? Here we've compiled our gym equipment wish list. Starting with the fundamentals – the essential gear, and then move into the kit that gym junkie dreams are made of, building the ideal gym.

Fitness goals

When deciding on equipment you must consider your fitness goals.

At Fitstream, we’re focused on recreational fitness, to be stronger, faster, leaner and generally healthier human beings. We prefer this physique to the bulky frame that traditional bodybuilding promotes.

Different fitness equipment is needed for different fitness goals. In our equipment list we’ve provided everything we can think of so that you can have a huge training arsenal at your disposal. Many of the items aren't expensive, and some can even be home made (see home made gym equipment) and because the tools are so basic they usually last you a lifetime. 

The essential gym equipment - At the very least you'll need an Olympic barbell, Olympic weights, a means of performing pull-ups and dips, and some gymnastic rings. This will be more than enough to kick-off your training routine, but if you have the funds this is our recommended starter package;

7ft Olympic barbell

You need a standard 7 foot long barbell to use with a power rack. Olympic bars are preferred by most, these are the 50mm / 2” in diameter bars and require the Olympic plates as opposed to a standard bar which is around 1” in diameter.

Combined with Olympic weights and you have the means for some serious weight training exercises. See big muscle movements such as deadlift, squat and bench press. 

Olympic weight plates / Bumper plates

You need cast iron Olympic weights, or preferably rubber Bumper plates, and lots of them.

Olympic weight plates have the 2” diameter hole to fit the Olympic bars.

Bumper plates are rubber rather than cast iron, and are a safer choice for you and your floor!

As a relative beginner you probably won’t need more than 150kg to start weight training but make sure that you get 0.5kg plates (fractional plates) so you can add small and safe increments to your lifts as you gain strength.

Weight training bench

A fitness bench is essential.

Buy a decent bench with thick padding that can incline, decline and take leg attachments. A dumbbell bench, without any side prongs so that it can be used in a power rack for real versatility.

A good quality bench will last many years and you won’t regret paying that little bit more. You can feel the difference and it’s important that you have supreme confidence in the equipment when performing exercises like the bench press.

Power rack / Squat stands

A power rack will give you a safe method of self-spotting for fundamental exercises such as the bench press and squat. Most power racks will come with a pull-up / chin-up facility and offer additional add-ons for dip and high/low pulley capabilities.

If you don't have the money or space for a power rack you can buy a pair of squat stands. They will do the same thing but are cheaper and take up less room, but if you opt for this option make sure that you still have the capability of doing pull-up / dip exercises somwhere within your gym.

Olympic dumbbells

In an ideal world we'd have a dumbell rack full of a whole stack of incremental one-piece dumbbells, but in reality these are expensive and take up a lot of space.

Most people have to settle for dumbbell handles, where you can add plates and lock them in place like the barbell.

If you opted for the Olympic barbell it makes sense to also go for the Olympic dumbbells so you can share the weight plates between the two. Dumbbells are a great way of adding variety into your workout especially on bench work.

Gymnastic rings

Gymnastics rings are such a versatile piece of fitness equipment. They're highly portable and durable, and will allow you to perform hundreds of strength exercises such as ring pull-up's, dips and muscle-ups to name but a few.

This simple piece of equipment will allow you to train the entire body and build phenomenal strength.

Read More: Introductory guide to ring training in the Fitstream articles directory.

Buy Gymnastic Rings from our Fitness Equipment Store

When you start to outgrow the essential equipment and you're looking for new additions to your gym to keep you motivted and continue progress consider some of the items listed below.

Kettlebells

Kettlebell training is an efficient way of working out and offers a great blend of weight training and cardiovascular exercise.

Kettlebells allow you to train your entire body in bursts of intense, short duration kettlebell swings and lifts.

Read More: Read our introductory guide to kettlebell training for more information.

Buy Kettlebells from our Fitness Store.

Weighted clubs

Similar to kettlebells - weighted clubs offer a great strength / cardio hybrid workout, but with a focus on upper-body shoulder flexibility and mobility. 

Read more in our guide to club training.

Buy Fitness Clubs from the Fitstream Store

Weighted vest

Using a weighted vest is a great way to add intensity to workouts by increasing bodyweight when training and helps speed-up weight loss, increases muscle mass, and improves cardiovascular conditioning.

Weighted vests are very versatile and can be used to enhance cardio exercises and build endurance with weighted runs, to building incredible strength on traditional bodyweight exercises such as dips or pull-ups.

Read more about weighted vests in our fitness articles directory.

Buy weighted vests in the Fitstream Store.

Bulgarian Bag

The Bulgarian Bag is a large crescent shaped canvas or leather functional training tool, weighted with sand.

Bulgarian Bags allows for various strength training and general physical fitness drills, and offer a great form of fast-paced, fluid training for the entire body through swinging and lifting movement patterns.

Suspension trainer

Using a suspension trainer you can train your entire body by manipulating your own bodyweight in positions that otherwise just wouldn’t be possible.

Suspension trainers allows for some great ab training exercises such as the suspended crunch and the supine pull through, but they're particularly good for taking your training on the road and staying in shape when travelling.

Suspension trainers are portable, lightweight and can be rigged up to any stable structure (including door frames) without the need for permanent fixings, making them excellent pieces of equipment for training on your travels.

Read more about suspension training or buy a suspension trainer from our equipment directory.

Resistance Bands

Heavy duty resistance bands are cheap, flexible and a good addition to any home gym to develop explosive strength and maximise the intensity of your workouts.

Bands can be used for assistance exercises (learning difficult exercises such as the iron cross by carrying some of the bodyweight to make the exercise easier) or alternatively to add intensity to exercises (hooking bands up to the Olympic bar during lifts like the bench press) through progressive resistance. 

Read more about resistance band training in our fitness articles.

Buy resistance bands in our fitness store.

Cardio equipment

Cardio equipment is good for dropping body fat, strengthening the heart and warming up before a workout. We're not huge fans of treadmills, bikes, or ellipticals and prefer to train outside with sprints, or by filpping tires, dragging sleds, working with the prowler, or a skipping rope. 

Remember that you can get your heart pumping on a budget, as a skipping rope or kettlebell comes cheap and you always have the world at your disposal for a run!

Foam Roller

Your fitness training should be balanced with a little rehabilitation and muscle recovery work to iron out all those kinks and keep the muscle tissue in good shape.

Foam rollers are a cheap and effective means of self-massage, stimulating blood flow to target muscles and preparing for those intense workouts. 

Read our guide to using the foam roller for more information.  

OK, now we're getting into the truly niche equipment, equipment from the atypical gym and things start to look at little playground.

Don't let that fool you - there's nothing listed here that can't be used to develop a great physique. Adding some of these pieces of equipments allows for some hard-core training and you can mix things up to keep your body stimulated.

Keep your routine from getting stale and consider some of the kit below to fit in and around your normal routines -

Tyre and sledgehammer

Sledgehammer training is not a new form of conditioning but it's excellent for improving endurance levels and developing core body, grip and forearm strength.

Not only can you use the tyre for hitting with the sledgehammer you can break out into some tyre flips.

Tyre flipping is a typical strongman event and is a great test of total body strength and explosiveness.

Climbing rope \ Rope ladder

Climbing exercises are a great functional bodyweight exercise and really develop superior functional upper-body strength.

You can pick up a set of climbing ladders from DIY stores or there are specially designed versions for fitness.

Alternatively, climbing ropes is a lost art and much more difficult than it appears. It's a true demonstration of upper-body strength to climb a rope and a great addition to any gym!

Plyometric boxes / Plyo boxes

Plyo boxes are great for developing explosive leg power, overall leg strength and agility.

See plyometric exercises in the exercise directory. 

Power wheel

The simple ab wheel has been around for years and is hugely underrated as it offers an excellent core workout.

The power wheel builds on the original ab wheel design with heavy duty construction and has been made to work with both hands and feet making it one of the simplest, yet most effective and versatile core body trainers available.

Buy the power wheel from Monkey Bar Gym.

Crash mats

When you start training with equipment like gymnastic rings and parallettes many people develop a new found appreciation for gymnastics-based training and the bodyweight workout.

A crash mat will allow you to test out some of your more adventurous skills and keep things interesting! Their effective for learning freestanding handstands, breaking falls and rolls.

Weighted Sled

Using a weight sled is a good form of endurance training and is very versatile piece of equipment. Try weighted sled runs or sled pulls to build strength, muscular endurance and as an effective means of fat loss.

Buy weighted sleds from our fitness store.

Specialty Olympic bars

You can get along fine with just your barbell and dumbbells but many people also prefer some speciality Olympic bars for certain exercises. Here are some examples:

• Squat bar 
• Deadlift bar
• E-Z Curl Bar
• Dual revolving handle Olympic bar
• Olympic tricep bar

Parallettes

Parallettes are gymnastics equipment found in pairs that can be used for bodyweight exercises.

It takes time to make progress on parallettes but you can build some serious strength. Try your hand at exercises like L-sits, V-sits, handstand (presses and push-ups), and dips.

Instead of buying parallettes consider making your own parallettes from PVC piping.

The gym extras - here's a list of the things you don't workout with but might just need in your gym.

Gym Chalk

Gym chalk is highly recommended. Lose the weight gloves and use chalk for improved grip on bars or rings.

It may be messy but it's great for grip strength as training with chalk absorbs excess moisture, helping you squeeze out that last rep that you might otherwise not have hit.

Minimise mess by storing chalk in a bucket or chalk bag and dust up between sets.

Weight plate tree & bar holder

A plate tree and bar holder goes a long way to keeping your gym tidy, safe and organised.

If you've bought bumber plates rather than cast iron, make sure that you get a plate holder big enough to accomoate as bumpers are usually bigger in size.

Gym sound system

Music can change a run-of-the-mill workout to an exceptional workout.

Create the perfect fit playlist to get you head in the game and keep you focused and motivated.

TV / entertainment system

Some people like having a TV in their gym. We’re not always a fan of this because it can be too much of a distraction but it probably depends on the type of workout you're having and what you’re watching.

Gym Whiteboard

Great for monitoring progress. We have a huge whiteboard on the wall that we use for tracking a training session, recording reps and weights with exercises and personal bests. Oh, and the odd amusing doodle.

Using a whiteboard whilst training keeps you focused, means you can reflect on performance and make informed judgements on progress and tweaks to your regime. 

Also see Fitstream Training Journal.

Fan / heater

If you have a garage gym you might need a fan for the summer and heater for the winter. Training too hot or cold will affect your workout.

Training log

A training log is an excellent way to track your progress and monitor your development over time. A simple notebook will suffice or download the free Fitstream workout log.

Record anything that's important to you, including entries like routines, weights, sets, reps, bodily measurements, diet and supplements used.

Water bottle

Training is taxing on the body’s water levels so it’s important to stay hydrated throughout.

Ensure you have a bottle to hand during workouts sessions and try to skip the energy drinks! We're big fans of reusable water bottles, like the Sigg, which is virtually indestructable and lasts an age. 

There’s something addictive about collecting gym equipment, acquiring these basic tools that last a lifetime, that represent countless hours of physical conditioning and helped shape your physique into what you have today.

As our bodies develop so should our gyms – build on them over time, introducing new equipment to ensure that no two workouts ever have to be the same.

At the same time, don’t dwell on the equipment too much and remember that it’s a means to an end, you have your goals and some of this kit will help you get there, but it takes more than putting your hands in your pocket to do so.

See the Fitstream Store for recommended functional fitness equipment.

Article tags: gym equipment, home gym equipment, workout equipment, exercise equipment, training equipment

The home gym

Create a world class strength and training facility in your own home.

The home gym is our retreat, where we do our training and sometimes some of our best thinking. A place where problems are left at the door and the ones that come in with us are worked out with iron and effort. It’s where one of the basic human needs is met, physical exertion… to move. It’s what our bodies are designed for and what our nine-to-five’s deny us. Our gym brings us equilibrium - phyiscal fatigue to counter the mental.

The home gym is a primal hideaway, a step away from the incessant stream of youtubing, facebooking, twittering madness. All this in nothing other than a spare room with some of the most basic tools known to man, exercise equipment that has been around for hundreds of years. We couldn’t be without our home gym.

The benefits of the home gym

We’ve never liked traditional gyms and always been more old school in our training methods – kettlebells, gymnastics rings, Olympic weights and clubs – machines and mirrors just aren’t our thing. Here are our benefits to working out at home:

Control

The home gym is about control, you dictate the equipment, the music, and the décor. You can train barefoot and shirtless and there aren’t any queues, monthly fees or members to deal with… this place is yours and you can workout when you want, how you want and as often as you want.

No gym commute

A home gym also means that you get to cut out the gym commute and be able to move from your gym room, to shower, to kitchen, to couch in less time than it would have taken for one of the treadmills to free-up.

You can build elite fitness

You shouldn't listen to anyone that tells you that you need a ‘proper’ gym for a good workout. You can develop elite fitness in your own home with nothing other than a kettlebell for starters. Machines are hugely overrated. Go basic, work hard, eat right and see results.

Cost effective

Home gyms are incredibly cost effective in the long run and for a one year annual gym membership fee you can buy your own equipment that will last a lifetime.

The downsides to the home gym

Gym space

Firstly, you're going to lose your spare room, garage, basement or garden shed! But if you’re reading this article you probably think it’s worth it. Good luck convincing your other half. Be nice.

Money

You’ve also got to finance and kit out the gym, but considering the cost of memberships today and the fact that you can start small and build your gym up over time; we don’t see this as a huge problem for most.

Equipment

Some people cite that only a limited range of equipment is possible in the home gym but we know you can build an inexpensive, world-class training facility in your garage! You don’t need acres of room, because you don’t need dedicated machinery for specific body parts. Your workouts should be about moving your bodies, not machines.

Social

Many people like the social aspect to public gyms. If this is your thing then fair play to you, but don’t expect an overly impressive physique or fitness level.

We go to the gym to train and to the bar for banter. Home training is perfect for a distraction-free focused environment but if this isn’t what you are looking for maybe the public gym is the place for you.

Setting up a home gym

First and foremost – location.

This can be anything from a spare room, loft conversion, a garage gym, basement or even a back yard. This room can be as basic as they come, but try and use somewhere with adequate ventilation. It may be a case of just leaving a window and door open to create a through draught, but if the room doesn’t have any windows you might want to consider a wall or ceiling fan.

No matter what location you choose for your gym you'll want to protect your floor especially if you plan on heavy Olympic barbell training.

You can buy gym flooring if you have the cash but this can be pricey if the area is large. A decent alternative is to use a layer of plywood topped with a heavy floor covering which shouldn't break the budget.

You might also want to think about the amount of weight you’re putting in the room and whether the floor needs strengthening, although this will vary depending on the type of house and what level the gym is on. Consult a builder if you are concerned.

Setting up a home gym doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive and it can be done on a lot less than most people realise. Get the car out of the garage or clean out the spare room, pick up some dumbbells, a barbell, some plates, a pull-up bar and rings, and you have the means to get in the best shape of your life. Once you have the bare essentials you can expand from there, but remember that fitness can be created out of the most basic of equipment.

Read our article on home gym equipment to help choose the basic kit and create the shopping list!

Final thoughts on the home gym

If you have the space the home gym could be a great addition to your life and it has changed the lives of many.

Despite what anyone says - elite fitness is achievable with the most primitive of equipment and in some of the most basic of spaces. You just have to look at CrossFit trainees to see that’s the case.

Example home gyms

Have your own home gym? Share your setup and tips. Send your photos to admin@fitstream.com and we’ll put it on display

Article tags:

building home gym, garage gym, loft gym, spare room gym, home gym design, creating a home gym, working out at home

Weighted club training and fitness

Club training is a unique form of exercise with weighted clubs (or Indian Clubs as they are often known) which effectively blends strength and cardio based exercise making it a highly efficient form of training.

Predating the barbell and dumbbell, the weighted club is once again changing bodies around the world as we rediscover the benefits of old school, "primitive fitness"... and strength training tools don't come much more primitive than the club.

The weighted clubs used for fitness training are essentially solid baseball bats (often available in steel and sometimes wood) with a handle and rounded knob for gripping. The clubs are lifted and swung in various exercise patters that is often compared to kettlebell training. 

The club is an unwieldy tool that takes coordinated muscular effort to lift, control and manipulate. The main benefits of club training are for time efficient fat burning workouts, and that they're excellent for developing shoulder flexibility and strength.

Club swinging is a historic form of exercise that athletes have used to dramatically improve strength, flexibility and endurance. This form of training has been around for hundreds of years but was lost to the commercial gym era and has recently came back to modern gyms around the world due to its effectiveness as a all-round fitness and strength training aid. 

Club training is commonly referred to as ‘Circular Strength’, and owes its resurgence into mainstream fitness to top fitness expert Scott Sonnon who has helped popularize the club workout and patented the Clubbell, pictured below.

Clubs offer the perfect means for incremental progression by changing your grip location on the handle of the club you alter the difficulty of the exercise by the amount of leveraged weight called into play. This is essential for staying injury free and putting you in control of the exercise, whilst making continuous strength gains and avoiding training plateaus.

The further your grip is from the weighted end of the club the greater the weight employed for the exercise. It's a flexible design which means that you aren't confined to the large and sometimes dangerous jumps in plate weight from traditional strength equipment. 

The benefits of club training

Essentially, club training is the ultimate form of shoulder strength training and helps to build tremendous upper-body musculature with an exceptional grip.

Club workouts offer movement in multiple planes and are excellent for balancing out the muscles that are rarely targeted by more traditional training methods. To say that that club offer compound training is an understatement!

In addition to this, many people find club training to be fun and quite addictive. It’s a challenging, yet interesting way to exercise that breaks away from the norm. These natural body movements with weighted clubs can be used to develop your entire body, rotator cuff stability and overall timing and coordination.

Choosing club weight

If you're looking to buy a fitness club, one of the first questions you'll have is on what club weight you'll need. Please see our Clubbell guide to weight selection below broken down by fitness goal.

It is recommend that men in good shape should start with two 6kg clubs and maybe the 8kg club if you are very strong, and 10kg club only if you have a thorough strength training background and are exceptionally strong. For two handed training, male beginners can use one 10kg club and athletic males a 15kg club.

If you are concentrating mainly on joint mobility you may like to start with a set of 2-4kg.

Physically fit women can start with two 4kg weighted clubs. If you're just starting out you can begin with the 2kg clubs and work up from there. For two handed female training try the 6kg for beginners and 10kg if you are athletic.

Please note - These weights may seem light, but try and avoid going too heavy as it's a common mistake for beginners. 6kg may sound light in the context of traditional weight training, but you don't swing the weights around in weight training and the club weight does feel remarkably heavy when you get going.

Club exercises

Clubs can be used for a huge selection of exercises that can target the entire body, developing strength, lean muscle, and promoting weight loss by perfectly blending cardio and weight training.

Here are a couple of club exercises from the directory page, and we'll be building on these in the coming months...

• Club Swing: The most basic of club exercises and a great place to start for the beginner. 
• Front pendulum: A solid conditioning exercise that adds complexity to the standard club swing. 

Please note that it's highly important you adhere to proper form and correct technique when club training and if you're inexperienced it's recommended that you receive guidance from an approved instructor or study a training DVD or book.

When club training;

• Ensure that you have enough space around you to train safely (about six feet in all directions to err on the side of caution). 
• Use a weight you can handle! Read our club weight guide above for pointers and do research to find what is best for you.

History of club training

Club training has a rich history dating back for centuries as indian clubs were used in the late 1800s. The indian clubs were usually made from wood, available in varying sizes and weights. These clubs were swung around in different rhythms and routines. The heavier clubs were used to develop physical strength, while the lighter clubs were used for shoulder flexibility and coordination.

Believed to have been introduced by British soldiers stationed in India in the 1800's the clubs were used to keep the soldiers in top physical condition, challenging their strength agility, balance and flexibility traits. The soldiers reveled in the effectiveness of the Indian Clubs and brought them to Europe where they first became popular in Germany and Czechoslovakia as more and more people integrated them into their physical fitness routines. 

Club training spread around the globe where they were even introduced into school physical education programs and US military training.

The 1914 United States Army Manual of Physical Training stated that:

“The effect of these exercises, when performed with light clubs, is chiefly a neural one, hence they are primary factors in the development of grace and coordination and rhythm. As they tend supple the muscles and articulation of the shoulders and to the upper and fore arms and wrist, they are indicated in cases where there is a tendency toward what is ordinarily known as "muscle bound." (p.113)

Club training actually featured as an Olympic sport in 1904 but gradually waned from mainstream use in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Now the clubs are making a comeback. Club swinging is coming back to the fore of fitness and catching on rapidly as individuals, trainers and gyms discover how enjoyable and effective club training can be.

Club training summary

Club training offers a potent workout that combines strength training with cardio for maximum effectiveness. Training with clubs will help you build strength and definition, whilst burning off excess fat but along with the physical benefits there's just something very satisfying about training with this very raw and primitive tool.

The club swinging exercises offer a form of training that's both graceful, yet brutal and ultimately exhausting. It's refreshing to train so fluidly, with exercises flowing into one another in a medley of coordinated movements.

If you enjoy kettlebell training then you'll most likely enjoy training with clubs.

Club training is impressive to watch and even more fun to perform. It's addictive and effective and is particularly useful for those wishing to build strength and stability in their shoulders and upper body.

  Visit the Fitstream store to see weighted clubs available to buy online.

Introducing the kettlebell

The kettlebell is an ancient training tool that has been around for centuries with origins in Eastern Europe and is still transforming physiques across the globe today.

There isn't anything magical or mystical about the kettlebell - it's simply a back to basics, intense training tool and when used correctly can be an awesome training aid to help you build the body you want and meet your strength and fitness goals.

There's no doubt that kettlebells are one of the most flexible and effective pieces of functional training equipment available and can be put to use whatever your fitness goals; to lose weight, build muscle, or develop strength; the humble kettlebell will help you achieve it.

The benefits of kettlebell training are scientifically proven and they offer a form of exercise suitable for both men and women of all ages and fitness levels.

What is kettlebell training?

Kettlebell training is a unique blend of strength and cardio based exercise with a primitive piece of equipment that looks like a cannonball with a handle attached. They can be used to build strength, endurance, agility and balance and are a great tool for fat loss.

Exercises come in the form of various kettlebell swings and lifts, and it's a very fluid and intense form of training. Due to the hybrid cardio and strength approach to fitness, kettlebells offer a highly effective and time efficient workout and is the perfect choice for the time-starved trainer.

The kettlebell can be lifted like ordinary weights for strength gains, but also swung about for an intense cardio workout, the kettlebell acting like a hinged extension of your body.

There’s something inherently appealing to most about kettlebell training – it’s a primal, raw way to train and for such a basic piece of equipment it is incredibly effective. It can help you build out a well rounded training regime as you combine weight training and cardiovascular exercise into one workout.

The highly efficient kettlebell workouts offer intense exercise in short duration, composed of bursts of explosive total-body movements. You will lift and swing the kettlebell to work joints, muscles, and the cardiovascular system. Exercises like kettlebell swings and snatches force the body to work as one integrated unit and burn away fat.

The benefits of kettlebell training

Kettlebell exercises

Buying a kettlebell opens up hundreds of exercises to train your entire body and meet fitness goals, whether it's weight loss, muscle mass or endurance.

Ballistic exercises like the kettlebell swing will challenge your cardiovascular systems as well as helping to build strength and definition, whereas compound lifts like the kettlebell squat or kettlebell rows or more like your traditional weight training exercises for building muscle and pure strength.

You’ll find example kettlebell exercises below to illustrate the variety of movements and for a full list of kettlebell exercises with videos demonstrations, pictures, tips and guides please see the Fitstream exercise directory.

Please note that when kettlebell training it's important that you adhere to proper form and correct technique. Unless you're an experienced lifter you may want to seek professional guidance or study appropriate training material.

Kettlebell buying guide

To begin kettlebell training all you need is a kettlebell and the space to safely swing it round, and you have the fundamental components for an incredible functional workout to train the entire body.

Buying a kettlebell

If you're looking to buy a kettlebell there are a few things to consider and some questions that you'll want answering; like how many, and which weight kettlebell is right for you?

Choosing Kettlebell weight

Kettlebells typically come in a variety of sizes, ranging from 4kg right up to the monster 64kg. Below is a guide to show which kettlebell weight should be most appropriate for you based on gender and strength levels.

Kettlebells for men

An average man should start training with a 16kg kettlebell. This might not seem very heavy but you'll be surprised at how difficult it actually is. Remember that you won't only be lifting the weight but swinging it!

A 16kg kettlebell should serve you for quite some time and will always be a staple weight to use for warm-ups, high rep sets or particularly challenging exercises, but once you've out-grown it for the more fundamental strength exercises the next weight progression is usually the 24kg kettlebell, followed by the 32kg kettlebell.

Kettlebells for women 

An average woman should start with an 8kg kettlebell and particularly athletic women can begin with a 12kg kettlebell.

Some women work their way up to 16kg and a few stronger women will go heavier still.

Double kettlebell drills

Once you have worked up to the basic set of kettlebells, you can go on to buy matching pairs of each and begin double kettlebell training. Double drills are really effective but recommended when you're fully proficient with single kettlebell training and have the necessary coordination and strength to control the kettlebells fully.

A brief history of the kettlebell and its resurgence

Kettlebell training might seem like a new form of exercising but it actually has a very rich history and is an ancient training tool with origins in Russia. Kettlebells have been used for centuries in Eastern Europe by the military and athletes, and were the training tool of choice for strongmen in the early 1900’s. Russian strongmen were referred to as girevik, or kettlebell man and 'Girya' is Russian for kettlebell.

Physical strength is a trait that has always been admired in Russia, and kettlebells found popularity in social gatherings throughout small towns and villages where men would demonstrate their strength, endurance, and agility with kettlebells.

The photo below was taken of Arthur Saxon in the late 19th century and shows Arthur performing a bent press with an early plate-loading barbell with a kettlebell at his feet.

During the 1900’s kettlebells waned in popularity in the West, overshadowed by the hype and rise of the conventional gym. Whilst in Russia, kettlebell training thrived, eventually becoming a national sport.

Today, kettlebells are finding their rightful place back in mainstream fitness, used by athletes, emergency services professionals, the military, martial artists and all types of men and women pursuing fitness across the world. There are even active campaigns to enter the Kettlebell Sport into the Olympics.

The kettlebell owes this resurgence largely to the efforts of strength and flexibility coach Pavel Tsatsouline and World Champion kettlebell athlete Valery Federenko. Pavel, a native of Minsk, Russia is a kettlebell expert and has authored many books on the subject. He has trained the Soviet Special Forces, US Army, US Marines and US Secret Service amongst other professional institutions.

Kettlebell training is no fad, but it's also not a 'secret weapon' with 'magical' strength properties like many would have you believe.

However, kettlebells are a very basic training tool that can be used to build superb fitness, a defined, lean physique with high endurance and cardio capabilities.

The kettlebell is an excellent choice for time-starved trainees looking for maximum impact and results from their workouts. The mixed cardio-strength training approach makes it a very efficient training tool and there are few pieces of kit available that are so versatile, minimal and cost effective than the kettlebell.

Kettlebell training is being proven in gyms around the world, not only by athletes, but average men and women looking to get fit, lose weight, and build muscle and functional strength as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Contents of Suspension Training FAQ

• What is suspension training?
• What is a suspension trainer?
• Where should I start with Suspension Training?
• How do I setup a suspension trainer?
• What suspension training exercises are available?
• How many suspesnion training exercises are there?
• What muscles are worked when suspension training?
• How is suspension training so effective?
• What are the benefits of suspension training?
• How is suspension training different to ring training?
• Should I buy a suspension trainer or gymnastic rings?
• How does suspension training compare to ring training?
• Is suspension training safe?
• Where can I buy suspension trainers?
• Who will benefit from Suspension Training?
• Is suspension training suitable for beginners or people who are out of shape?
• How is suspension training different from other types of resistance training?
• Is suspension training good for rehabilitation and physical therapy after an injury?

What is suspension training?

Suspension training is a highly effective form of bodyweight exercise using fitness equipment called a suspension trainer.

Using a suspension trainer you perform various movements and functional exercises in a suspended state (with feet or arms on the trainer, lifted from the floor) to leverage your bodyweight as resistance.

You attach a suspension trainer to an anchor point (doors, bars, pull-up rigs, trees etc), grip the handles with your hands or hook your feet into the cradle and have the potential of performing hundreds of exercises for the entire body.

Suspension training builds coordination, muscle strength and helps tone the body. It's an extremely versatile and flexible training choice.

For more information please read our Suspension Training Guide or buy a suspension trainer from the Fitstream store.

What is a suspension trainer?

Suspension trainers are essentially heavy-duty, length adjustable straps with handles, that can be attached to an anchor point and allows you to exercise safely and effectively using your body weight for resistance.

Suspension trainers can typically be attached to a standard household door (without perfmanent fixings), rafters, beams, trees or any overhead stable fixture that you can wrap the trainer around.

The most popular single-strap Suspension Trainer available today is the TRX, pictured in the breakdown image. The TRX Suspension Trainer available to buy from Fitness Anywhere. 

Where should I start with Suspension Training?

To begin suspension training all you need is a suspension trainer and somewhere to anchor it (like a door, beam or tree).

In the Fitstream exercise database you'll find a list of suspension training exercises with instructions and illustrations. Start with 5 to 6 exercises that are suitable to your fitness level and do a single set of each working at 10 - 12 repetitions, concentrating on perfect form.

You can begin with basic exercises like suspended squats, bicep curls and chest presses. If you are a beginner you will be surprised at just how effective these can be!

Once you have mastered the basics you can introduce more advanced exercises like the suspended crunch or supine pull-through or increase the number of exercises and volume of the workout in terms of number of sets and reps. There are literally hundreds of possible exercises suitable for people of all abilities so you will never be short of a challenge.

See the Fitstream exercise directory for more information and examples.

How do I setup a suspension trainer?

Suspension trainer setup is dependent on the type of trainer you buy, but many of them work in a similar way. A good suspension trainer is portable, can be rigged up in seconds and requires no permanent fixtures or fittings to use.

Most trainers typically follow the same design pattern, either by fixing to a standard household door (by passing a door anchor over the door the pulling it shut) or to a beam, bar, or pole of some kind by threading the suspension trainer around the fixture and using the carabineer to secure it in place.

The trainer will typically have a length adjustment system in place to allow you to quickly vary the length of the straps as appropriate to the exercise at the time.

Check the Fitstream Equipment section for our list of available suspension trainers with product reviews. 

What suspension training exercises are available? / How many suspesnion training exercises are there? / What muscles are worked when suspension training

Suspension training offers hundreds of different exercises that can target every muscle group in the body, giving you a total body workout with a 2lb piece of equipment that can be thrown in the bottom of your rucksack.

Also, by varying the angle at which the suspended exercises are performed you can easily control the intensity of the exercise.

Suspension training is particularly effective at training the core body and abs, as the torso is heavily engaged when trying to sustain balance and control the unstable movement. However, you can also use a suspension trainer to effectively target specific muscle groups - the lower body (e.g. one leg squats, hamstring curls) and upper body (Chest press, bicep curl, triceps extension).

If you're looking to develop your core body and abs and are tired of repetitive and monotonous crunches then a Supension Trainer might just be what you are looking for. Look up the Suspended Crunch for one of the best ab exercises available.

Visit the Fitstream exercise directory for suspension training exercises and step-by-step instructions.

How is suspension training so effective?

Suspension training is effective because it's scalable to the fitness level of the individual and offers a challenge to people of all abilities. Each exercise is carried out in an unstable state and the muscles of the body work to keep the movement under control. The independent mobility of the trainer forces your body to stabilise itself and increases muscular recruitment throughout the body to do so.

With the use of a suspension trainer you can put your body in unusual positions that simply wouldn't otherwise be possible, and this requires significant strength to perform resulting in exceptional physical development.

What are the benefits of suspension training?

• Train the entire body and build total body strength
• Unparalleled core conditioning and abdominal workout
• Hundreds of possible suspension training exercises
• Easily scalable for people of all fitness abilities (by changing the length of exercise straps and altering the difficulty of the exercise)
• Simple setup and portable
• Great for travelling. Your workout's never have to stop (light, portable, easy setup)
• Perfect for people with limited room or money
• Safe and natural movements on the joints
• Develop a lean and defined physique
• Fun to do!

How is suspension training different to ring training? / Should I buy a suspension trainer or gymnastic rings? / How does suspension training compare to ring training?

We are a big fans of both suspension training and gymnastics rings training and incorporate both into our exercise regime. Each have their merits and whilst similar in some respects are fundamentally different in others. However, this is a question that many people have asked.

It depends on your goals, but to help you decide we have weighed up some of the pro's and con's of suspension training compared to ring training below:

Generally, we would recommend ring training for the more advanced users as it requires significant strength to perfom, and suspension training for people who want a whole body, portable exercise tool (it really is effective at training the lower body) or need something that will allow them to train on the road.  

For more information please read our suspension training or ring training guide.

Is suspension training safe?

Absolutely. In fact, it is safer than many other forms of training because of the free mobility of the handles on the suspension trainer there is no fixed path of motion when working out. As a result it's extremely kind on the joints and allows them to follow their natural path. Once the trainer is securely setup and the immediate area is free from obstacles you're ready to go.

As with all exercise we recommend that you consult with your physician before undertaking any of the forms of training described.

Where can I buy suspension trainers?

The most popular single-strap suspension trainers are made by Fitness Anywhere who offer a product called the TRX. Developed by a former Navy SEAL that wanted a way to stay in shape whilst on missions it was first created using a few lengths of parachute webbing hand-stitched together.

Today the TRX is a bodyweight-based portable training tool of excellent quality and craftsmanship that builds strength, flexibility, balance and core stability for people of all fitness levels.

Now there are a range of suspension trainers available, from single-strap designs like the TRX, to dual-strap bodyweight trainers like The Human Trainer.

Check the Fitstream Equipment directory for our list of available suspension trainers with reviews, accessories and exercises. 

Who will benefit from Suspension Training? / Is suspension training suitable for beginners or people who are out of shape?

Anyone can benefit from suspension training as you have complete control over the bodyweight resistance level of the exercise just by altering the position of your body or the angle at which the exercise is carried out. This means your training could range from gentle rehabilitation right up to hardcore athletic training and physical development.

Suspension training can also be used to assist a number of exercises that are too difficult for many people to perform unaided.

How is suspension training different from other types of resistance training?

Traditional weight training often only targets one muscle at a time which is contradictory to the normal coordinated muscle effort used to complete most activities.

Focusing on muscles in isolation is more likely to lead to muscular imbalances, as well as overuse injuries. Suspension training allows for the use of multiple planes of motion and works multiple muscles and joints simultaneously.

Is suspension training good for rehabilitation and physical therapy after an injury?

Many physical therapists are currently using suspension trainers to help patients recover from injury. The scalable form of training, ease of adjusting resistance and functionality of using body weight make it a very powerful tool for this type of use.

More Suspension Training Questions?

If there is anything else you would like to know about suspension training and exercise you can contact us at admin@fitstream.com.

To see recommended suspension trainers available to buy see the Fitstream Store.

What is suspension training?

Suspension training is a revolutionary form of bodyweight exercise using fitness equipment called a Suspension Trainer.

Suspension trainers allow you to perform natural movements and exercises to build strength, lose weight and tone up. It's a scalable form of exercise that's suitable for people of all abilities and can be used to develop elite fitness. 
 
Suspension trainers are essentially length adjustable straps which can be temporarily fixed to an anchor point (door / or any other stable object) to allow you to harness your body weight against gravity and carry out exercises in a suspended state. 

As you can see in the image below it takes a lot of strength and coordination to gracefully control your body movements and offers an excellent workout to the core body and abdominals.

Suspension training is a superb form of functional training which maximises strength development, stability, and endurance, and over time will tone and define the body. Combined with cardiovascular exercise and dedicated strength training program it offers a well-rounded complimentary routine. 

The benefits of suspension training:

Suspension training is an excellent choice for anyone that wants to develop definition and tone up, and is perfect for people with limited room or money - as it provides a complete body workout in the form of a 2lb package that can be fixed to a door (without the need for mountings and can be taken down in seconds). 

One of the major benefits we have found is that suspension training is great for incremental developments that make seemingly impossible exercises such as the one legged squat accessible. Pistol squats can be performed easily with a suspension trainer and by altering your body weight over time you can work your way up to performing this impressive exercise equipment free.

As we've described, one of the benefits of suspension training is its ability to workout the entire body, with a huge selection of exercises to choose from. However, it's a particularly effective method of core conditioning and affords some of the best abdominal exercises possible (see the Suspended Crunch!). 

Consistent and dedicated suspension training will help build a functional body that not only looks good but is also capable.

Suspension training exercises

Suspension training offers hundreds of exercises that challenge every part of the human body. You can use a suspension trainer for basic exercises such as biceps curls, triceps extension and chest flys but also for exercises that wouldn't be possible without a trainer like the suspended crunch or supine pull-through.

Here are just a few example suspension training exercises:

Exercise: Suspended Chest Press

Muscle: Chest

Exercise: Suspended Single Leg Squat (Pistol Squat)

Muscle: Quadriceps

Exercise: Suspended crunch

Muscle: Abdominals

For a full list of suspension training exercises please visit the Fitstream exercise directory.

What do you need for suspension training?

To beging suspension training all you really need is a suspension trainer and an anchor point to fix it to, that can safely support your bodyweight.

The anchor point can be a door (using suspension trainer door attachments that come with most mainstream suspension training packages) or beam / pull-up bar. Essentially any stable structure from which you can safely wrap the trainer straps round can be used.

As long as the trainer is securely fastened and you have adequate training space to exercise (around 8' should be sufficient) you're set to go.

A breakdown of a Suspension Trainer:

Below is a breakdown of the popular TRX Suspension Trainer to illustrate the common major components -

Where can I buy a suspension trainer?

Check the Fitstream equipment section of the site for a list of popular suspension trainers available to buy online now.

The most popular single-strap suspension trainers today are made by Fitness Anywhere, who have built a product called the TRX Suspension Trainer.

The TRX was developed by a former US Navy SEAL, who needed a versatile way to stay in shape on missions. The TRX began life as a few lengths of parachute webbing hand-stitched together and has now evolved int the club-quality complete bodyweight training system you see above, and is helping to establish suspension training as part of mainstream fitness. 

The TRX is available to buy now from Fitness Anywhere.

Contents: Ring Training FAQ

• What is ring training for fitness?
• How can I start ring training?
• What do I need to start ring training?
• How do I setup gymnastic rings?
• What ring training exercises are available?
• How many exercises are possible on gymnastic rings?
• What muscles are worked when ring training?
• How is ring training so effective?
• What are the benefits of ring training?
• Where can I buy gymnastics rings for fitness?
• How are rings any different to a pull-up bar?
• How difficult is it to perform a muscle-up or Iron Cross?
• Is ring training safe?
• How do I learn advanced ring exercises?

What is ring training for fitness?

Ring training is bodyweight strength training on gymnastics rings. The rings are usually specially designed for fitness rather than professional gymnastics or dismounts moves. They can be suspended from rafters, beams, pull-up bars and trees and come with a height adjustable mechanism to move quickly between low exercises (like push-ups) to high exersises (like pull-ups).

Primarily an upper-body training tool, gymnastics rings can be used to develop phenomenal strength and an lean, athletic physique. Common exercises include ring pull-ups, dips, and the muscle-up.

Please see our ring training guide for more information and the Fitstream exercise directory for a list of exercises and instructions.

How can I start ring training?

Firstly, buy a set of fitness rings and find somewhere to hang them. Read our article - Ring training guide for pointers and general information about training with fitness rings, and our ring setup guide for tips on how to install your gymnastics rings.

For complete beginners we recommend starting with the ring support position which will build the initial stabiliser muscles needed for supporting your bodyweight above the rings. Once you can easily hold this exercise for around 60 seconds you can move on to more of the basic movements such as ring pull-ups, push-ups, dips and ring rows.

As fitness rings are height adjustable there are many variations for each exercise that give you finite control over the exercise intensity and difficulty.

When you're ready to move on from the basic exercises there are plenty more to keep you busy such as ring muscle-ups, levers, and the L-sit to name but a few. See our ring training exercise directory for further information.

What do I need to start ring training?

All you need are a set of rings and an anchor point to suspend them.

Professional gymnastics rings are expensive and designed for swinging manoeuvres and dismounts but there are many rings now available that have been designed specifically for fitness and stregnth training.

These rings are typically inexpensive, lightweight, and portable and are made up of two rings (plastic, wood or metal), lengths of webbing/straps, and buckles so that the rings can be height adjusted in seconds for the various exercises. They can be suspended from any overhead structure which makes them the perfect portable training tool and suitable for gyms or in the home. 

Visit the Fitstream store for a list of available gymnastic rings to buy online, with pictures, user reviews, and buying information.

How do I setup gymnastics rings?

Modern fitness rings can be suspended from any stable anchor point such as pull-ups bars, beams, rafters, trees or park equipment.

You simply thread the ring's straps over your anchor point. The straps pass through the rings and the buckle secures it all in place and allows you to adjust the height of the rings from the floor.

Click this link to read our full guide to setting up gymnastic rings.

What ring training exercises are available? / How many exercises are possible on gymnastic rings?

There are hundreds of possible ring training exercises mainly focusing on the upper body. 

The rings add an element instability to staple exercises such as ring push-ups, flyes, pull-ups and dips but also offer a range of exercises such as the notoriously difficult iron cross or muscle-up. Take a look at the Fitstream exercise directory for more examples and specific exercise instructions.

What muscles are worked when ring training?

Ring training hits every muscle in the upper-body and torso.

Through consistent and dedicated ring training you'll see significant developments in the shoulders, chest, back and major arm muscles.

The rings are also particularly effective at targeting the core body and abs, as each ring training exercise will call upon your core to stabilise the body, making the rings one of the most effective ab traininers available today.

How is ring training so effective?

Ring training requires exceptional strength to practice and therefore promotes exceptional physical development when performed consistently.

The free movement of the rings makes them so much more difficult than similar exercises on fixed platforms as they force you to stabilise yourself at all times. This increases muscular recruitment throughout the body and ensures that you see better results for fewer repetitions, and makes workouts more efficient.

What are the benefits of ring training?

Gymnastics rings are extremely versatile and integrating them in to your fitness training program has many benefits -

• Build superior upper body strength
• Develop a lean, defined physique with high strength to size ratio
• Establish a solid core with defined abs
• Rings are a portable training tool that can go where you do
• Scalable form of training suitable for beginners and experts
• Fun and novel training type
• Plateau buster
• Safe, natural movements for the joints

Where can I buy gymnastics rings for fitness?

Professional gym rings are expensive and not designed for easy home setup or portability. You can now buy gymnastics rings that are designed specifically for fitness.

Visit the Fitstream Store to buy gymnastics rings or view recommended third party equipment reviews and buying guides.

How are rings any different to a pull-up bar?

There are many reasons why gym rings are a better choice over traditional fixed apparatus -

Rings are height adjustable, portable and offer the element of free motion which is kinder on the joints than a fixed bar because it allows for more natural paths of motion throughout the exercises.

The instability of the rings increases the intensity of the exercise making them more difficult, yet effective than standard methods.

The rings are so versatile due to their portability and height-adjustment and there are many exercises that just aren't possible on a fixed pull-up bar such as push-ups, dips and the iron cross, to mention but a few.

How difficult is it to perform a muscle-up or Iron Cross?

Gymnasts categorise skills on a scale ranging from the easier end of the spectrum - A, to the more difficult moves - E.

The muscle-up is classed as an A-level skill and iron cross a B-Level. However, both moves are extremely difficult for the average person. They may seem unachievable at first but with dedicated, consistent training it is possible.

Take time to work up to them and make steady, incremental improvements. It's not a process that can be rushed. It may seem unachievable at first, and you may wonder how you can incrementally work up to the skill but many people have had success using resistance bands and controlling the amount bodyweight involved in the exercise.

Is ring training safe?

Once the rings are securely fastened to an achor point that can safely support your bodyweight and any obstacles are removed from the immediate area, ring training is extremely safe and highly recommended instead of fixed apparatus like a pull-up bar.

This is due to the free-motion of the rings which allows joints to track naturally. Also, as ring training is so difficult it's hard to even use improper form as you must always be in control of your movement to remain above the rings.

As with all exercise we recommend that you consult with your physician before undertaking any of the forms of training described.

How do I learn advanced ring exercises?

Advanced ring training exercises can seem unsurmountable at first, requiring incredible strength to perform.

An effective method of developing this strength is to use resistance bands to help support some of your body weight to make the exercise more acheiveable. As you improve you can use smaller bands until you can perform the exercise unaided. See band assisted front lever illustration below:

More Questions?

If you have any questions about ring training not covered here feel free to drop us an email at admin@fitstream.com.

You'll find our entire collection of ring training exercises with videos, illustrations and instructions in the Fitstream exercise directory.

Beginning gymnastics rings training

If you're just starting out with ring training or bodyweight training we recommend that you begin by mastering the ring support position. This exercise simply involves a static body-weight hold above the rings with your body suspended above the ground.

When you can hold the support position comfortably for 10 seconds or more it's time to move on to more advanced gymnastics rings exercises.

Primarily focusing on the upper body, there are many ring training exercises to choose from. Many people buy gymnastic rings purely for pull-up training as they're incredibly effective because you aren't constrained by a static bar and you benefit from the independent, free-range movement of the rings.

You will find guides on the following ring training exercises in the Fitstream exercise database:

• Ring Muscle-up
• Ring Dips
• Ring Rows
• Ring L-Sit

For a full list of ring training exercises with hints, tips, and images please visit our exercise directory.

When first starting out with ring training some of the movements might seem insurmountable but don't be deterred. With consistent practice the gains come steadily. Consider using resistance bands to help carry the burden of some of your body weight to help build the required strength. 

Buy gymnastics rings now from the Fitstream Store. 

Gymnastic ring training for fitness is an excellent form of bodyweight strength training. It's an incredibly diverse, challenging and fun way to workout, and builds impressive strength and defined upper-body.

In this context, ring training is any form of exercise with gymnastics rings similar to those used by professional gymnasts, but purely with the intention of building strength, flexibility and overall fitness rather than for true gymnastics and dismounts.

The benefits of ring training:

The strength and physical discipline required to perform some of the most basic of ring exercises is immense. You might be able to perform pull-ups and dips on a fixed station but using gymnastics rings adds an element of instability which brings a different dimension to your training and pushes you that little bit further.

Ring training promotes development of a defined and athletic physique. Unnecessary bulk is counterproductive and training with rings creates a lean frame, forges a solid core and creates an efficient strength to size ratio. Just look at a typical gymnast to see the effects.

These gymnasts perform superhuman feats of strength on the rings and have the Olympic bodies to show for it, but the same principles they train with can be applied to those training for fitness. Those people wanting to build strength, endurance, lasting muscle mass and have fun doing it.

Ring training is a great addition to any exercise routine. It won't develop an overly muscular frame, but a solid, well-rounded and defined physique. A functional body that not only looks athletic but is able to perform.

The rings achieve this by using an integrated approach to exercise, focusing on moves that work the muscles and joints together instead of in isolation.

Why is ring training so effective?

Gymnastics rings require you to manipulate your entire body weight through space, which is incredibly difficult to anyone that's overly familiar with our modern sedentary lifestyle. However, elite fitness and a strong, athletic body can't be built without physical challenge, effort, intensity and consistency. Despite clever marketing companies telling us otherwise.

There's no two ways about it - gymnastics rings will punish you. There's nowhere to hide. There are no cheats. You're suspended above ground, supported only by your arms, and for you to move it's going to take the coordinated effort and combined strength of MANY of muscles.

The independent movement of the rings is one factor that makes ring training so difficult. As gymnastics rings are free to rotate, move side-to-side or up-and-down at any time, you're forced to stablise your body, bringing multiple supporting muscles into play and working muscles in unison rather than isolation. Fighting the free movement of the rings and correcting the imbalance is incredibly taxing and effective.

Contrast this with fixed apparatus like pull-up bars or dipping stations and you'll notice the same exercises are worlds apart in difficulty.

Safe and natural movement

This "independent movement" factor of gymnastics rings also means that you're free to perform exercises in the most natural position to you, with no fixed path of motion (imposed by most machines) or static grips.

This means that ring exercises are more comfortable and safer for your joints, and you will commonly find that you can perform an extra few repetitions where you would otherwise have reached failure.

The value of proper biomechanics should not be underestimated when working out and your joints will thank you for it later on.

What exercises can you perform on the rings?

Buying a set of gymnastics rings opens up a whole world of new exercises to you. Rings offer the element of instability to the staple exercises that everyone is familiar with like pull-ups, dips, and push-ups but also allow you to try moves like the notorious muscle-up (a pull-up / transition / dip combo exercise that requires dedicated training to achieve).

Ring training beginners should try starting off with the ring support position (essentially holding your bodyweight in a static position supported above the rings) and only then move on to trying more advanced exercises.

Some of the ring exercises look deceivingly easy until you're up there!

Below you will find some example ring exercise illustrations and can find the entire Fitstream collection with instructions, images and videos in the Fitstream exercise directory.

Exercise: Ring pull-up

Muscle worked: Primarily the lats, but also works the biceps and middle back.

Exercise: Ring dips

Muscle worked: Primarily targets the triceps but also works the chest muscles.

Resistance bands can be used to help develop the required strength for more advanced ring training exercises. See band assisted front lever for an example below:

See all ring training exercises.

What do you need for ring training?

All you really need is a set of gymnastic rings and somewhere to hang them.

If your rings are designed for fitness rather than gymnastics you'll be able to fix the height adjustable straps in seconds to any overhead structure such as beams or rafters in your garage, via an eye-bolt in your home gym or for those that like to train outside - trees or climbing frames in the local park.

Your workouts can go where you do.

The rings, a breakdown:

Gymnastics rings designed for fitness are usually made from plastic or metal rings, straps that are thread around an anchor point, and a buckle to keep the rings suspended in place and allow for height adjustment.

Unlike professional gymnastics rings, fitness rings are not usually designed for swinging or dismount exercises but intended for bodyweight exercises and the incredibly physically taxing process of manipulating your body from one position to another whilst being suspended above ground.

If you're looking to buy gymnastics rings for fitness visit the Fitstream Store for a list of available rings to buy online with images, user reviews and recommendations.

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Abductors

Muscles that pull your legs from the midline of the body and away from one another.

Adductors

Muscles that pull your legs together into the midline of the body.

AMRAP

AMRAP is a fitness acronym for As Many Rounds / Reps as Possible. Commonly used by CrossFit. 

AS

[Acronym] Assisted. Commonly used shortcode for indicating that an exercise was performed assisted.

Ass to Grass

Slang term used in reference to full squatting exercises in which athletes squat low enough that they are almost sitting on the ground at the bottom of the exercise.

Also known as ATG or Ass to Grass.

Atrophy

A decrease in muscle size. 

Also see: Hypertrophy, Hyperplasia.

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BB

[Acronym] Barbell. Equipment reference OR Bodybuilding.

BF

[Acronym] Body Fat. See 'Body Fat Percentage'. 

Blood Pressure

The pressure of the blood in the circulatory system, often measured for medical diagnosis.

Also known and abbreviated as BP.

Body Fat Percentage

The percentage of a person's bodyweight that is body fat. This is usually the preferred metric to the Body Mass Index (BMI) but is more difficult to calculate.

Also known as Body Fat (BF) and abbreviated as BF%.

BMI

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a way of of measuring body fat based on a persons height and weight. See Fitstream's BMI Calculator to help measure yours. 

BP

[Acronym] Bench Press. Exercise reference. See Bench Press exercise.

Bumper Plates

Solid rubber composition Olympic weight plates to fit the Olympic bar. Bumper plates are safer and quieter than steel, and won't destroy your floor.

BW

[Acronym] Body Weight. Form of exercise reference. See bodyweight exercises. 

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Cadence

The beat, rate, or measure of rhythmic motion. In a fitness context this may be used as a measure of the speed of pedalling a bike.

Calipers

Body fat calipers are popular devices used to measure the amount of body fat present. 

Calisthenics

Calisthenics is a form of exercise consisting of a simple movements that are usually performed without equipment, using bodyweight as resistance and are intended to increase body strength, endurance and flexibility, e.g. push-ups.

Capoeira

Capoeria is a form of martial art that combines forms of dance, acrobatics and music, that originated in Brazil. It is renowned for its quick and complex movements.

CB

[Acronym] Cable. Equipment reference. 

CDL

[Acronym] Conventional Deadlift.

See deadlift exercise. 

CT

[ACronym] Circuit Training.

Circuit training

An efficient form of conditioning workout, combining aerobic exercise with strength training, moving from station to station in quick successsion.

Circuit training is effective for building strength and muscular endurance, whilst enhancing fat loss.

CG

[Acronym] Close Grip. Commonly added to exercise notes to indicate style used.  

Complex training

Complex training is a combination of traditional strength exercise followed by a matching plyometric exercise during a workout e.g. Squats followed by box jumps or the bench press followed by a plyometric push-up.

This training technique results in improved power and rate of force development.

Compound

An exercise classification relating to manoeuvres that involve two or more joints e.g. bench press, which involves shoulder and elbow joints.

See other exercise classifications: Isolation, Push, Pull

CNS

[Acronym] Central Nervous System. 

CrossFit

A core strength and conditioning program that prescribes "constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement”.

See - CrossFit Guide.

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DB

[Acronym] Dumbbell

Dietetics

The study of nutrition and the effect diet has on the body.

DOMS

[Acronym] Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness refers to the pain and stiffness felt in muscles that's felt after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. 

Also known as and abbreviated as DOMS.

Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching are body movements that create a stretch in muscles but not by holding a static position (the opposite of static stretching for set time). 

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Ex

[Acronym] Exercise. 

ExRx

[Acronym] Exercise Prescription. 

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False Grip

A method of gripping gymnastics rings (or a bar) to improve the ability to perform advanced exercises like the muscle-up. This grip makes the transition a little easier when moving from below gymnastic rings, to above the rings. 

In a false grip the base of the palms sits on top of the rings. It can be an awkward technique to learn for the beginner and usually requires practice and developments in wrist strength. 

Fartlek

The term Fartlek means "speed play" in Swedish and refers to a form of unstructured interval training that doesn't use an exact measure of intensity or speed, simply performing intervals whenever an athlete wishes. 

FIA

[Acronym] Fitness Industry Association. The FIA was established in 1991 as a non-profit organisation that represents the interests of the health and fitness sector in the UK. 

Five Rep Max

The maximum amount of weight that can be lifted for five repetitions without taking a break. Usually the five rep max is around 85% of a person's one rep max value (1RM).

Also known as 5RM.

Foam Roller

High-density cylindrical foam training aid used for stretching and warm-up exercises, self-massage, muscular flexibility, physiotherapy, and balance / core stabilisation training.

Foam rollers improve muscular alignment, posture and aid workout recovery times.

FSQ

[Acronym] Front Squat. Exercise Reference. 

Functional Training / Functional Fitness

Functional strength training involves training in such a way that directly enhances the performance of movements to benefit everyday activities. 

Functional training is not driven by aesthetics or size but by performance and capability.

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Girya

Original Russian name for kettlebells. Kettlebells are weights resembling a cannonball with a handle, used to perform ballistic exercises which combine cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training.

See - Kettlebell articles.

General Physical Preparedness (GPP)

Development of total fitness across the ten widely recognised general physical skills: Speed, agility, accuracy, balance, coordination, cardiovascular, flexibility, power, strength, stamina.

GHR

[Acronym] Glute Ham Raise. Exercise reference. 

GM

[Acronym] Good Mornings. Exercise Reference. 

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Hangry

Anger fueled by hunger. A cranky state resulting from lack of food.

Heart rate

The number of times a persons heart beats per minute. 

HIIT

[Acronym] High Intensity Interval Training. Form of exercise reference. 

HIT

[Acronym] High Intensity Training. Form of exercise reference. 

Hyperplasia

An increase in muscle cell number. 

Also see: Hypertrophy, Atrophy

Hypertrophy

An increase in muscle size. 

Also see: Atrophy, Hyperplasia

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IBP

[Acronym] Incline Bench Press. Exercise reference. 

Interval training

A form of physical training in which athletes practice bursts of high-intesity exercises, followed by periods of low-intensity work. 

Isolation movements (Exercise Classification)

Exercises that involve only one joint but can involve multiple muscles e.g. biceps curl.

See other exercise classifications: Compound, Push, Pull

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Kettlebell / Kettlebell Training

Exercising with a kettlebell, a piece of training equipment resembling a cannonball with a handle. These weights are effectively used to perform ballistic exercises which combine cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training.

Kettlebells have been around for centuries in Eastern Europe and are now part of mainstream fitness routines across the world.

See - Kettlebell articles or kettlebell exercises, kettlebells in our store, and "Girya" (the original russian name for the kettlebell).

Kipping

A technique that may be used for the pull-ups exercise in which the legs are used as a forceful initial movement to help raise the body up. 

When hanging from the bar, the legs are swung backwards to build momentum, and then swing forward while pulling the body up with the arms. Kipping pull-ups is a very powerful technique that makes pull-ups easier to achieve. 

Note: Traditional pull-ups rely soley on upper body strength with no swinging or kipping. 

Knurling

Knurling is the textured area found on barbells and weight training bars to improve grip or reduce the likelihood of slippage when fitness training. Usually found as grooved crosshatches etched into the metal. 

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LB

[Acronym] Lower Body. Body reference. 

LBM

[Acronym] Lean Body Mass. Body reference. 

LPD

[Acronyn] Lat Pull Down. Exercise reference.

LV

[Acronym] Lever. Exercise reference. 

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Macebell

Strength training equipment used to strengthen grip, shoulder girdle, balance, and core body by various swining exercises and static holds. A macebell resembells a cannonball welded to a long pole.

See - Macebell equipment.

Marathon

A 26.2 mile race for runners and walkers. 

MMA

Mixed Martial Arts - the professional sport formerly known as cage-fighting.

See - MMA Guide.

MP

[Acronym] Military Press. Exercise reference. 

Muscular failure

During a strength training program, muscular failure is the point at which athletes can no longer perform another repetition with good form, due to fatigue. 

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NG

[Acronym] Narrow Grip. Exercise style reference. 

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OHP

[Acronym] Overhead Press. Exercise reference. 

OHSQ

[Acronym] Overhead Squat. Exercise reference. 

Olympic Weightlifting

Also known as Olympic-style weightlifting or simply weightlifting, is a professional sport in which participants attempt to lift a maximum weight single lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates.

Olympic weightlifting consists of two exercises - the clean and jerk, and the snatch.

One Rep Max

The maximum amount of weight that can be used to complete one single repetition for an exercise.

See Fitstream One Rep Max Calculator.

Also known as 1RM.

Orthotics

Shoe inserts designed by a Podiatrist to correct weight distribution across the foot.

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Parallettes

Gymnastic equipment used for bodyweight training that are similar to the parallel bars. They can be used to develop incredible strength from exercises like V-Sits, handstand presses and dips.

See - Make your own parallettes guide, or parallettes available to buy.

Periodization

A physical training program in which workouts are arranged into several periods, each lasting around 4 weeks, each phase having a different focus. 

Personal Record

The maximum amount of weight or reps a person has performed for an exercise.

Also known and abbreviated as PR.

POOD

Russian measure used for kettlebells; 1 pood =36 lbs; 1.5 pood = 54 lbs; 2 pood = 72 lbs.

Postworkout

Postworkout is commonly referred to as PWO and used in the context of food or drink intake following a workout (e.g. PWO meal).

Also known and abbreviated as PWO.

Powerlifting

A strength sport resembling Olympic Weightlifting consisting of three main exercises - the squat, the bench press and the deadlift. 

PR

[Acronym] Personal Record. An individuals highest achievement for an exercise i.e. highest number of reps, amount of weight, or quickest time.

Progression

A progression is a distinct physical position or exercise that can be learned in order to reach another, more difficult goal exercise.

Typically there are a series of progressions, increasing sequentially in difficulty toward the goal. Progressions are commonly found in bodyweight / gymnastics training.

Progressive Resistance / Progressive Overload

A strength training method in which an increase in volume or intensity is applied to facilitate muscle / strength and fitness gains. 

Progressive resistance at the individual exercise level is often introduced using resistance bands or chains. For example, when using resistance bands during a bench press, more resistance is applied the further the bar is pushed away from the body at the top of the lift. 

Push (Exercise Classification)

A movement away from the center of the body during an exercise, when contracting a target muscle. 

See other exercise classifications: Compound, Isolation, Pull

Pull (Exercise Classification)

A movement toward the centre of the body during an exercise, when contracting a target muscle. 

See other exercise classifications: Compound, Isolation, Push

Pulse

The number of times the heart beats per minute.

PWO

[Acronym] Post Workout.  

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R

[Acronym] Resistance.

RDL

[Acronym] Romanian deadlift. Exercise reference. 

Repetition

One complete execution of an exercise, often used in strength / weight training. 

Also known as rep.

Resistance Bands

Heavy duty latex bands, usually available in varying thicknesses / widths used for fitness training and weight training.

Resistance bands offer and increasing resistance the further they are stretched and are commonly used in Olympic weight training or ballistic running drills.

See - Resistance band guide, or resistance bands in our store.

Ring Training

Training for fitness on gymnastic rings. Ring training is highly effective, hardcore, bodyweight strength training.

See - Ring Training Articles or ring exercises. 

RM

[Acronym] Repetition Maximum.

ROM

[Acronym] Range of Motion. 

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Self-myofascial release (SMR)

Myo refers to muscle, and fascia to the tissue that surrounds muscle fibers. 

Self myofascial release is a relatively simple technique that is used to alleviate trigger points by putting pressure on tender areas along the muscle tissue. This helps to relax the muscle, dissapate adhesions, increase blood flow, and improve flexibility and recovery.

Set

A set is a number of repetitions (or reps) of an exercise performed in a row.

SFP

[Acronym] Stubborn Fat Protocol. 

Sprawling

A defensive technique in combat sports used in response to takedown attempts. Sprawling is mastering the ability of staying on your feet.

Slacklining

Slacklining involves balance, movement and tricks or stunts on what is known as a slackline (flat webbing pulled tight between two anchor points).

SLDL

[Acronym] Stiff Legged Deadlift / Straight Legged Deadlift. Exercise reference. 

SM

[Acronym] Smith Machine. Equipment reference. 

SQ

[Acronym] Squat. Exercise reference. See Bodyweight Squat. 

SS

[Acronym] Steady State. Form of exercise. 

Strongman

A variety of strength events such as atlas stones, farmer's walk, log clean and press.

Suspension Training

A highly effective form of functional bodyweight training using a suspension trainer. The trainer is attached to an anchor point and you use the handles or foot straps to exercise with your bodyweight.

See - Suspension Training Articles for more information. 

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Tabata

Do as many reps of the exercise as you can for twenty seconds, then rest 10 seconds. Repeat this seven more times for a total of 8 intervals, totalling 4 minutes of exercise. Your score is the least number of reps for any of the eight intervals. 

Takedowns

A combat and martial arts term referring to the ability to off-balance an opponent and bring them to the ground, typically with the initiator landing a top. In MMA this will commonly take the form of a double or single leg takedown attempt, similar to a rugby tackle.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE, is the number of calories you need to consume each day just to maintain your present weight, at your current activity level.

The TDEE is a useful value when tracking calories and trying to understand what your level of consumption should be in order to lose weight.

TUT

[Acronym] Time Under Tension. Duration that a muscle is engaged during a repetition. 

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UB

[Acronym] Upper Body. Body reference. 

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WG

[Acronym] Wide Grip. Exercise style when training. 

Wobble Board

Also known as Balance Boards, Wobble Boards are training equipment used to develop coordination, agility and balance. Participants stand on a board that is balanced on an inflatable cushion or roller of some kind and attempt to stay upright.

See - Balance boards in store.

WOD 

WOD is a common acronym used to represent Workout Of The Day. Frequently used by CrossFit circles.  

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