resistance training

For the last three years, I’ve mostly been working out at home. For a while, I continued going to a commercial gym as well but, eventually, I made the commitment to stop paying for a gym membership that I didn’t need and started working out exclusively at home.

To start with, I found the lack of equipment and machines difficult to do without. After a few months, though, it got easier. And before the first year was out I was enjoying exercising at home far more than I ever did in a commercial gym.

I soon found that there were in fact lots of different options for exercising at home, particularly if you are interested in resistance training. Three of the best options are:

• Gymnastic-based movements;
• Barbell lifting; and
• Strongman-type workouts.

Gymnastic movements

Gymnastic movements are easy to start with if you have an athletic background of any kind. They are also quite easy to get the resources for: you only really need a pull up bar for most things and a couple of stools if you decide that you want to do dips. A simple gymnastic-based workout example might look like this:

• Pull ups (upper body pull)
• Press ups or dips (upper body push)
• Bodyweight squats, lunges or split squats (lower body: quad dominant)
• Single-leg deadlifts (lower body: hip dominant)
• Hanging knee raises (abdominals)

This workout would hit all the major movement patterns and therefore all the major muscle groups in the body. Typically, when following a workout like this, I use added weight with a belt or a dumbbell and do three sets of five repetitions on two minutes.

I’d usually do that three times a week and would expect it to take me about an hour including lots of warming up. Progression is straightforward on these movements:

• I have progressed my pull ups with a weight belt but you can also progress by changing to the front lever, which is harder, or even assisted one-arm pull ups if you’re really determined!
• Press ups can be made harder by putting the feet up on a box. Dips can be made harder using a weight belt.
• Bodyweight squats can be progressed by learning to do the single-leg squat or “pistol”.
• Hanging knee raises can be made harder by extending the legs until they are hanging leg raises. Once those were easy, I added weight.

Barbell lifting

Barbell lifting or weightlifting is often considered to be the staple of young men with too much testosterone but I have found it a very effective way of getting fitter and losing fat. It’s also very simple to resource in that you only need a barbell and a few weights plates. A simple barbell example workout could look like this:

• Barbell row (upper body pull)
• Floor press (upper body push)
• Lumberjack squat (lower body)
• Barbell rollouts (abdominals)

Usually, barbell workouts are more challenging on the body so I wouldn’t necessarily do two lower body exercises. However, I generally follow a similar pattern to the gymnastic workout in that I do three sets of five repetitions on two minutes. Progression from week to week is the way progress is made and more weight means more progress.

I have found the floor press to be a great exercise. It is basically a bench press from the floor instead of a bench. Because of this, a rack or a bench isn’t needed, which saves money and is safer.

The lumberjack squat is a squat using a bar wedged diagonally into a corner of a room with weights plates on just one end of the bar. You pick up the loaded end and squat with it. Hard to explain but very easy to do if you see a picture of someone. Again, there is no need for a rack, which saves you money. An alternative would be the Zercher squat, where the bar sits in the crook of the elbow.

Strongman

Strongman is possibly the cheapest type of resistance training you can do. A basic strongman workout might be:

• Sandbag lifting and carrying
• Car pushing
• Farmers’ walks

The basic strongman lift is the odd object lift and I use a sandbag to train this movement. A suitable kit bag can be picked up in any army surplus store and sand is available in plastic bags at hardware stores. Adding the plastic bags of sand to your canvas kit bag and tying it up tightly gives you your sandbag.

My favourite lift with a sandbag is the basic lift and carry. I put the sandbag on a low platform, like an old car tyre with a paving slab on top, lift it and carry it to another, similar platform about five metres away. I always take care when lifting odd objects to lift with the proper mechanics and not allow my lower back to round. A knowledgeable friend is a good precaution here.

Car pushing is also great fun if you have a quiet road nearby. If you do have a go at this, please remember to have someone else drive the car and make sure you have an agreement with them in place for when you get too tired to carry on! Having the car drive itself off the road because you can’t control it is a very bad idea. I aim for twenty metres to start with for a couple of pushes and see how I feel after that.

Farmers’ walks can be done with heavy dumbbells or with barbell plates looped through pieces of rope and through short sections of thick PVC pipe for handles. I usually do three or four walks of about ten metres.

Lots of options

I hope this short article has gone a little way towards showing you how many options there are for doing resistance training at home. However, please note that when resistance training, it’s very important that your form is sound in order to avoid injury. If you do decide to try resistance training, ensure that you have the proper grounding in the movements described and if in doubt seek help from a qualified personal trainer.

Chris Beardsley is a strength and fitness enthusiast from Nottingham, in the UK. He’s been clanking around in his garage gym for the last three years and has never been happier. He writes about his training, his homemade gym equipment and current trends in the fitness industry at his blog The Garage Gym Online.

Author: Chris Beardsley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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