The Most Essential Gym Equipment For Your Home Gym
Building a home gym is a great way to get in shape for those who dread going to their local gym every day. Home gyms are extremely convenient, and can be just as effective as a commercial gym if done properly. So what gym equipment will get you closest to achieving your goals?
Power Rack
I would consider a power rack one of the best pieces of gym equipment you can get because they provide a safe way to complete a large variety of different exercises. Most importantly, you can do the “Big 3” when it comes to lifting weights: Squats, Dead lifts, and Bench press. Many power racks even have a bar up top that allows you to do chin ups, or pull ups.
Power racks are also ideal in terms of safety. A good power rack will have adjustable bars that can catch the barbell if you fail a rep.
Olympic Size Barbell
Without this essential piece of gym equipment, your power rack will basically be useless. A barbell will allow you to do a variety of workouts like bench press, shoulder press, curls, squats, deadlifts, and more. Given that you can train every part of your body with a barbell, it will be an essential addition to your home gym.
Bench
In order to maximize the amount of exercises you can do, you will need a bench. Ideally, you want a bench that is able to do incline, flat, and decline. An adjustable bench will greatly increase the amount of exercises you can do. Look for a quality bench that provides a lot of stability.
Weight Plates
All of the above pieces of equipment will be pretty useless without some Olympic size weight plates. You can buy these individually or by the set (much cheaper this way).
Dumbbell set
A good set of dumbbells will basically complete your home gym. It will greatly increase the amount of exercises you can do. Some exercises include: curls, dumbbell flys, military press, lateral Raises, dumbbell rows, tricep extensions, and much more.
Curl Bar
This is not a totally necessary piece of gym equipment but it is good to have. It can definitely add a variety of exercises to your arsenal. Be sure to get a curl bar that will be compatible with your weight plates.
Cardio Equipment of Your Choice
When it comes to cardio, it is important to choose a piece of equipment you enjoy the most. Some people prefer a stationary bike over a treadmill, or vice versa. Maybe you like the elliptical the best to burn those calories. Choose the one that you can see yourself doing for a long period of time. This will allow you to stay more consistent and help prevent you from dreading your workouts.
These are some of the best pieces of gym equipment you can have for a good home gym. You will be able to complete a huge variety of exercises within the convenience of your own home.
Personal Trainer Qualifications
The demands for a personal trainer have increased quite a lot in the past few years. It seems that people are looking to get fit now more than ever. As a result, this opens up a lot of opportunity for those who want to become a personal trainer as a career or even just a job on the side. If you are one who wants to get certified, you have to learn the personal trainer qualifications so you can get started.
The first thing you have to understand about getting certified as a personal trainer is that there are a number of certifications out there. There are also a lot of good options as the companies who are offering certifications are trying to outmatch the competition to become the ‘go to’ option for everyone looking to become a certified personal trainer. I recommend that you do the research to find a program which suits you the best. If you are looking to train for a particular gym then you should ask them what they require before making your choice.
If you are serious about becoming a personal trainer then you are going to want to do more than the bare minimum to be successful. This means that you will want to have the best certifications. Unfortunately, it seems the the most reputable certification programs are also the most expensive. However, many of these programs have options for you to pay in installments.
Being a personal trainer is more than just having the best qualifications – you also have to have what it takes to gain the reputation to become successful. This includes:
- Being good with people.
- A person who is able to motivate others.
- Someone who is passionate about health and fitness themselves.
- Someone who is actually knowledgeable about health and fitness.
I think the last point is very important. Just having a certification does not turn you into a expert who knows everything about health and fitness. In fact, there are many personal trainers who routinely spread false and potentially harmful information as if it were the undeniable truth. A personal trainer who is knowledgeable about the science of fitness is a very valuable one and people will take notice of this and recommend you as a good personal trainer.
Cycling to Stay in Shape and Garmin Edge 800 Review
Cycling is a great way to get in your cardio and stay in shape. Turning cycling in to a hobby is one of the best ways you can make fitness a integral part of your everyday lifestyle. You will burn a ton of calories and you can forget about worrying about heart disease or even gaining weight if your diet is in check. There are many people out there that have trouble finding a cardio exercise that they will enjoy. This leads them to end up dreading it every time and eventually give it up all together. If you haven’t tried cycling, you should. It is great if you are an adventurous type and love exercising outdoors.
Garmin Edge 800
If you are serious about cycling, you may want to take a look at the garmin edge 800 GPS. This GPS has a variety of different features, and can help you set new goals and personal records. Another reason this tool is good to have in your arsenal is the fact that it can keep track of your heart rate if you have the strap. It can also keep track of your speed, elevation, distance and many other things. It is good to have an all in one solution for navigating and keeping track of your heart rate because you will avoid the extra distractions. This will enable you to better focus on cycling and not getting lost!
Good Motivational Tool
There is also another feature that serves as a good motivational tool. This feature visually keeps track of your goal speed and your real time speed. If you find that you are lagging behind, you will know that you need to increase the speed in order to accomplish your goal. Continue reading
Best Weight Training Workout Routines For Beginners
When it comes to weight training, the structure of your workout is very important for your success and ability to make good gains. There are many people who go into the gym with no plan on what muscles to workout until they see a machine or exercise that they feel like doing. By going in without a plan, they are at a disadvantage for a few reasons.
For starters, if you plan on weight training on a consistent basis, you probably end up neglecting muscles you think you don’t need to work on. As a result, you will probably end up looking like Mr. Incredible – who has a huge upper body, but shrimpy legs. This is because many people (especially men) neglect working out legs and end up with a disproportionate physique as a result. Another gem is where the person only works out their arms and abs. You don’t want to be “that guy”.
Another failure that many people have when they don’t have a set plan is to quickly lose motivation. How are you supposed to improve on a particular exercise if you are just bouncing from machine to machine? It can be very difficult to track your lifts this way and usually people who do this aren’t fully invested or interested in achieving progress.
If you are looking to improve instead of maintain you have to improve on your lifts from week to week. This is because the only way to entice your muscles to advance is to increase the load in whatever rep range you are working on.
Structuring a Good Program
How Pull Ups Can Benefit Your Back Workout
Wide Grip Pull Ups
It is important to add an effective back workout program to your gym routine because these muscles will not only help your physique, but also help improve your posture.
Most gyms have a variety of different machines that target your back muscles. There are also a couple of exercises you can do right from your home to make things easier. We are just going to focus on the pull up because it is a great way to develop your back muscles. Continue reading
Fast Twitch Vs. Slow Twitch Muscles
There are two main classifications of muscle fibers: Slow-Twitch muscle fibers (Type I) and fast-twitch muscle fibers (Type II). There is a lot of debate regarding the body’s ability to adapt its muscle fibers from one type to another. Some studies seem to show some ability to affect muscle fiber type with training, while other studies show no correlation.
Type I fibers are able to use oxygen more efficiently. Slow-Twitch muscles, as the name suggests, fire more slowly than fast-twitch muscles. Continue reading