Opinions on my modest "Home workout"?

[Lees Dragon]

I do cardio, go to kung fu sessions and such...But i also started to lift weights at home with what i got.

Now dont laugh or be too critical.

I got two 12 lb dumbells, and one 6kg dumbell.
This is what I have to work with, and i dont know when i should advance with heavier weights.

My workouts usually always take one hour, and I do them daily.

Now, I'll give an example of my modest workout by posting the last 3 days' workouts.

17th of July

Weighted Bench Dip (24 lbs) 3 sets of 15
Hammer Curls (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 20
Bent Over Dumbell Row (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 15
Dumbell One Arm Triceps Extension 2 sets of 10 for each arm
One Arm Dumbell Preacher Curl 2 sets of 20 for each arm
One armed Dumbell Row 2 sets of 15 for each arm
Dumbell Bicep Curls (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 20
Push Ups 3 sets of 20
Random bicep exercises 10 minutes

18th July

Air Bike 3 sets of 150
Around The Worlds (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 15
Dumbell Flyes (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 10
Crunches 3 sets of 100
Dumbell Side Bend (12 lbs) 2 sets of 15 for each side
Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift (24 lbs) 3 sets of 20
Supermans 3 sets of 15
Eagle Sit Ups 2 sets of 50

19th July

Weighted Bench Dip (24 lbs) 3 sets of 15
Crunches 2 sets of 100
Dumbell Flyes (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 15
Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift (24 lbs) 3 sets of 20
Dumbell Bicep Curls (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 20
Bent Over Dumbell Row (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 20
Seated Dumbell Press (2x12lbs) 3 sets of 20
Push Ups 3 sets of 20

Remember, I aint posting this for any other reason than to be tweaked and fixed up by more experienced people.
I appreciate all help.

[compleks]

What are you training for?

Are you actually struggling/working hard, with the weight you have?

[rock_ten]

If the answer the compleks' question is "no", and I expect it is, then just ditch that whole BS routine. Do tell us what you're training for, as he also asked.

You might consider picking a few bodyweight exercises you want to get good at, decent ones with room for progression (handstand pushups, pistols, pullups, psuedo-planche pushups...) and consider building a sandbag if you want something heavy to lift. It will cost $fuckall to get the materials, and its easy to build, as you might imagine

[Pale Nimbus]

Your routine needs alot more than tweaking, Lees Dragon.

[Lees Dragon]

What are you training for?
Muscle gain and fat loss. Basically, along with my nutrition, cardio and other activities, its to improve my body composition.

Are you actually struggling/working hard, with the weight you have?
Well. All my routines are do-able. I always finish them.
I definetely feel a burn when i do most of them, and i dont really struggle, except sometimes when i'm doing the last reps of the last set of an exercise (when muscles get kinda exhausted).
As for working hard.....I really cant say.

and consider building a sandbag if you want something heavy to lift. It will cost $fuckall to get the materials, and its easy to build, as you might imagineBuild??

Your routine needs alot more than tweaking, Lees Dragon.
I knew that before i even posted, but honestly, it is better than nothing.

[compleks]

You won't gain muscle and loose fat simultaneously. Pick one over the other (I wouldn't bother trying to loose fat at your age, to be honest).
Anyway, weight loss/gain will come down to diet in the end.

Lay out some more specific training goals. If your goal is simply to improve body composition, then you need to be setting measurable goals. Weight will be the easiest measurement to take.

Do you trick? If you want a program which will assist with your tricking or other sports, then you will need to specialise your training alot more, and make it more sports specific.

I would consider getting a gym membership. Your program is just too random. The exercises are fine, but there is little structure. The reps are all over the place and your focus is not spread evenly. You place far too much emphasis on isolation work, biceps in particular.

You should be prioritising large compound exercises, which will be difficult with such limited weight. So I would get a gym, or look towards a more bodyweight oriented training routine. Something more difficult than what you are currently lifting.

Either way you should have more structure to your workouts, and a way of progressing, and tracking progress. Without progression, there really is no point.

[Birch]

yer you need heavier shit too

[rock_ten]

Build??

You have to, at a minimum, put the sand in the bag and then seal it. Commonly people make many smaller bags with like 1-5lb of sand in, taped up securely, then put those in the large outer bag.

[anfeyd]

Well. All my routines are do-able. I always finish them.
I definetely feel a burn when i do most of them, and i dont really struggle, except sometimes when i'm doing the last reps of the last set of an exercise (when muscles get kinda exhausted).
As for working hard.....I really cant say.

Pump, or 'burn', is not an indicator of an efficent workout.

[Lees Dragon]

You won't gain muscle and loose fat simultaneously. Pick one over the other (I wouldn't bother trying to loose fat at your age, to be honest).
Anyway, weight loss/gain will come down to diet in the end.

Lay out some more specific training goals. If your goal is simply to improve body composition, then you need to be setting measurable goals. Weight will be the easiest measurement to take.

Do you trick? If you want a program which will assist with your tricking or other sports, then you will need to specialise your training alot more, and make it more sports specific.

I would consider getting a gym membership. Your program is just too random. The exercises are fine, but there is little structure. The reps are all over the place and your focus is not spread evenly. You place far too much emphasis on isolation work, biceps in particular.

You should be prioritising large compound exercises, which will be difficult with such limited weight. So I would get a gym, or look towards a more bodyweight oriented training routine. Something more difficult than what you are currently lifting.

Either way you should have more structure to your workouts, and a way of progressing, and tracking progress. Without progression, there really is no point.

Hmmmm..well i'm rather jammed here, aint I.
At this current period of my life, i really don't think i'll be able to get access to a gym.

But as far as progressing goes, I measure bodyweight, and I look in the mirror scanning for improvements.

O and yes, i do trick. Or at least i try.:eh:

[rock_ten]

Hmmmm..well i'm rather jammed here, aint I.
At this current period of my life, i really don't think i'll be able to get access to a gym.

But as far as progressing goes, I measure bodyweight, and I look in the mirror scanning for improvements.

O and yes, i do trick. Or at least i try.:eh:

bodyweight shit and odd-objects (e.g. a sandbag) will take you a long way, if you want, dude.

[Lees Dragon]

Ok then. Where do I begin?

PS.....What is considered high intensity and what is considered low intensitey? How can we tell if a certain exercise or routine is either of them?

[compleks]

If you can do it for more than a few reps (for weight training) - or more than a few minutes (for 'cardio' type movements) then it's probably not all that high intensity.

'High' is a very subjective word anyway. You could get into heart rate percentages etc... but it's not worth it.

[Lees Dragon]

Back to the important thing:
Where do I begin about this weight lifting business?

[compleks]

Probably at a gym.

[Lees Dragon]

Probably at a gym.

Darn it!
Thats what I thought.

But to be honest I definetely dont think i'll be gettin a gym membership this year. Too many factors against that.
But that being said, i'm prbbly gnna start going to a gym next year after finishing high school, cause i'll prbbly be in the states next year.:wink:

So, for now, with the current circumstances: Where do I begin?

[Pale Nimbus]

Somewhere that has heavy things you can pick up.

[Aahem]

Back to the important thing:
Where do I begin about this weight lifting business?
If you don't have an access to a gym, start doing bodyweight exercises. I personally don't like airtight weightlifting programs, I just follow a few important rules:
- keep sets under 10 reps, pref 1-4 ( this means that if you do a set of four reps, you should NOT be able to finish the fifth )
- dont finish the sets (if you can do five reps in a set, do four)
- don't lift if your muscles are sore
- lift either three-four times a week and trick in-between, or train GTG four-five times a week and trick four-five days a week

and uhh... that's about it.

Some exercises you definitely should do:
- The Pistol (http://beastskills.com/Pistol.htm)
- Handstand Push-ups (http://beastskills.com/Handstand%20pushup%20inter.htm)
- One Arm Chins-ups (http://beastskills.com/OneArmPull.htm)
- The Planche (http://www.beastskills.com/splanche.JPG)

You could do Ab Wheel Rollouts (http://beastskills.com/AbWheel.htm) as well, I don't. And then there are front levers and all that other stuff. Just google 'bodyweight exercises'.

That should keep you busy for a while.

Oh and check Junior out for motivation:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3SpIvZibzAU


EDIT:
BW shit, yes - or like I suggested you could make a sandbag for yourself. There's nothing pussy about lifting odd-objects.
Yeah that kicks ass as well. And you might be able to improvise a lot of "machines" and such using your environment and ie. ropes.


- Ade

[rock_ten]

BW shit, yes - or like I suggested you could make a sandbag for yourself. There's nothing pussy about lifting odd-objects.

[compleks]

Yes, you will need to focus on bodyweight exercises. But, most bodyweight exercises are designed for children and women, so you will need to find/create variations to increase the difficulty.

Aahems post has some good exercises.

You can still use your dumbbells/barbell for certain exercises, but I don't believe they are really heavy enough for what you are trying to achieve.

You're going to have to be a little bit creative to make a solid bodyweight program. Don't neglect any movements or muscles.

Think:
Upper Body - horizontal push / horizontal pull - vertical push / vertical pull -

Lower Body - quad dominant / hip dominant -

[mr popular]

just do 100 pushups, 100 pullups, and 100 squats every week.

christ, it's not that hard people.

The OP obviously doesn't have the willpower to get creative on his own, so he will simply fail. That's it.

[Aahem]

just do 100 pushups, 100 pullups, and 100 squats every week.

christ, it's not that hard people.

The OP obviously doesn't have the willpower to get creative on his own, so he will simply fail. That's it.

Now that's what being supportive is all about :good:
You can see he has very limited knowledge about weight training in general, so you should help him out if you can. IMHO. But yeah, most people do fail, and I can understand your point of view. Mh :/

On topic:
Check out my post and add those odd-weights. Build a sandbag and do deadlifts and squats with it, or just generally lift it up in any way you can while keeping your back relatively straight. If you're not struggling with 5 reps, increase the weight.

Oh oh and btw, don't do push-ups, pull-ups(well, these you can do) and non-weighted squats :tongue:


- Ade

[tricker_d]

For fucksake people. If those weights give him a good workout than dont try to make him injure himself by getting heavier weights to be cool and seem like a strong badass. As your current weights start to get really easy to lift, then you can move on to heavy ones. But don't injure yourself trying to do something that other people want or expect you to do.

[mr popular]

your recommendations are retarded because

a) beginners shouldn't go that heavy because they'll hurt themselves, and it is pointless since beginners gain strength by adaptation
b) you can't go that heavy (safely) without weights. haha

[tricker_d]

your recommendations are retarded because

a) beginners shouldn't go that heavy because they'll hurt themselves, and it is pointless since beginners gain strength by adaptation
b) you can't go that heavy (safely) without weights. haha

So how do you adapt by pulling a muscle, waiting a while to recover, then when you go again to lift, your back to where your current strength is? You would "adapt" better if your arm is "sore" after a workout than if it was "injured". Your arms "adapt" to being sore and they get sore less often as you lift. Then when the soreness is less bothering, you move on to heavier weights and the soreness is about as much as where you started. This process is repeated as much as you like for strength build up.

[compleks]

No offense tricker, but you really have no idea what you are talking about.

[tricker_d]

Yes I do. Its just hard for people to understand my way of thinking about things. I'll try putting it in a different way. When you injure yourself, your body has to recover. In that time, you body will become "not used" to the exercise and get "lazy". When you recover, you may feel good and ready to train again, but when you go to exercise, you will be as strong as you were before the injury because it may have been a while since you lifted or exercised. When you are sore, it only takes a day or two(maybe 3 for some people) to recover. So your body will not be as "lazy" and you can exercise more often. Your body will get used to exercising often and because of less injuries, you will find it easier. So then you need to find harder exercises or lift more. The same thing will happen with the heavier weights as it did for the lighter ones. In time, you will become stronger.

[Skilzat85X]

Soreness is a sort of injury, ahaha.

[Lees Dragon]

Thanks for the advice and tips people.

Now basically i should come up with a body weight workout system, and add what weights i have along to it. Along with that i should make a sandbag.

Problem is, most bodyweight exercises need some sorta skill: such as handstand push ups, pistols and so on.
I cant do them yet, so learning them will take a while.

Now that i got a basic outline: how should i start building the actual workout.

PS....What would you consider an appropriate dumbell weight for a 16 year old (or someone weighing in at about 63 kg)?

[compleks]

It would change for each exercise.


Start planning your program by choosing an exercise for each of the following movements:

Upper Body
horizontal push - Push up
horizontal pull - Horizontal Body row
vertical push - Handstand Push up
vertical pull - Chin up

Lower Body
quad dominant - Pistol
hip dominant - Hyperextension


Those are just examples, but it should give you a rough idea.

[tricker_d]

About pistols...How do you do them without killing your knee? I swear, I just tried one and I literally buckled down in pain. I would think you have to build up majo strength for that.

[rock_ten]

Pistols can rape my knees but can be fine if I get them right. I think that since there are such huge differenes between people's untrained ability in them - some people can rep them easily, some take months of negatives before even one full rep - then the kinds of stress on the joints such as the knee are probably quite variable. For many people they're probably really quite risky. Do them standing on a table/wall/chair so that your free leg can hang down instead of being held out infront of you. That will make them much easier and you can try to get into a groove that doesn't pinch your knee at the bottom.

[Aahem]

Problem is, most bodyweight exercises need some sorta skill: such as handstand push ups, pistols and so on.
I cant do them yet, so learning them will take a while.
With handstand push-ups, you have walls to lean against. Doesn't require any skill whatsoever. As for the pistols, you don't really need any skill for them either. Just leave the negative part of the movement out if you're struggling with balance; the negative part is a knee killer. When you can do more than a few pistols, add weight.

Compleks gave you a good workout, use it.


- Ade

[Lees Dragon]

ok.

Pistols: can be done
handstand push up: can be done
pull ups: cant be done (no bar available)
hyperextensions: cant be done (dont they need some kinda machine thing)

I need more things to add.

remember, I'm aiming at a full intensity workout to build muscle and burn calories. All that but at the cost of being available without gym access (if possible).

As far as the sandbag is concerned, i'm gnna try and fill up a 17 inch training bag with plastic bags filled with sand.
How much weight should i aim at?

PS....I tried out two 11kg dumbells yesterday, and i tried some dumbell curls and hammer curls. I managed 5 reps with effort.
Is this what i'm lookin for.
Also, i tried to do squats with my brother, he weighs 35kg, and i managed 15 reps without much difficulty.

[compleks]

pull ups: cant be done (no bar available)
hyperextensions: cant be done (dont they need some kinda machine thing)


Use a tree. I refuse to believe that people can't find somewhere they could possibly do chinups. Improvise. Use some initiative.

Same with the hyperextensions. Stick your feet under a couch or something. This is why bodyweight programs are harder to design effectively.

[mr popular]

I no longer have access to a gym, so I do my pullups on the neighbor's staircase.

When I was just starting out, I would do pullups on the actual door to my room.

All of this made it easy for me to do as many pullups as I wanted once i actually had access to a nice pullup bar in a gym. haha

IMPROVISE!!

And there is nothing wrong with bodyweight squats (on two legs..), by the way. And it is probably better for strengthening a beginner's legs than pistols, simply because pistols are retarded.

~Brian

[Kon-El]

heres my two cents:
-one arm pushups (progressing to incline).
-lay on ur back and put ur elbows straight our perpendicular to ur body. try pushing them into the ground to lift your body up, start by helping urself up with ur legs and core, eventually without, later add depth by elevating ur elbows/arms
-http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/ ..
see the big pic on the right, hard as those are you can start with regular L-sits and then eventually lift higher pushing your arms back into the ground. bend you legs and kick up high while forcing your arms back.
-dips between chairs
-forearm lifts (if u could be bothered), hold a chair from the legs and lift keeping your arms still. start with a light chair and keep your arms closer to the seat. aslo this can be done behind u in the opposite direction.
- once you have a lil more strength in your legs from exercises mentioned before (maybe even uphill joggin though not everyone agrees on that) you can easily throw plyometrics (jumps, sprints.. just google it)

hope that helps in the slightest fellow kid from the UAE, i have a feeling you might be syrian :p

[Lees Dragon]

The problem with chin ups is no that I cant improvise, I can. But i have to go outside into the blazing furnace and that would just kill the whole workout.
I'm currently doing chin ups on my door.


PS.......

hope that helps in the slightest fellow kid from the UAE, i have a feeling you might be syrian :p

I just gtta reply to this. First dont say i'm form the UAE. I hate it. Just say i live in it.:tongue:
Second, I aint syrian at all. Try Kuwaiti!:smile:

[rock_ten]

If you're too pussy to go outside in the heat, build a bar somewhere in your house. There's so many ways to do it - here are two that I've done:

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/20609465244.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6107677)

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6333/dscf1582smalljq2.jpg

[NightHunter]

Wait, rock_ten trains?

[mr popular]

i built a bar similar to that, except it hung from a clip in the middle of the bar, making it extremely unstable, and therefor regular pullups now seem obselete. haha.

I found it was an excellent way to destroy all lat imbalances, because if you aren't doing equal work with both sides, the bar won't be straight. Not only that, but it also trains the stabilizing aspect of the lats.

Maybe one day I can write a t-nation article about it, telling everyone that it is impossible to build your lats without this specific device (which i offer for a modest $10000 dollars), and that bodybuilders must just be on steroids to get their lat development, and in fact everyone who makes progress not using the t-nation "way" must just be on ridiculous amounts of steroids.

god DAMN i hate that site sometimes.

[NightHunter]

i built a bar similar to that, except it hung from a clip in the middle of the bar, making it extremely unstable, and therefor regular pullups now seem obselete. haha.

I found it was an excellent way to destroy all lat imbalances, because if you aren't doing equal work with both sides, the bar won't be straight. Not only that, but it also trains the stabilizing aspect of the lats.

Maybe one day I can write a t-nation article about it, telling everyone that it is impossible to build your lats without this specific device (which i offer for a modest $10000 dollars), and that bodybuilders must just be on steroids to get their lat development, and in fact everyone who makes progress not using the t-nation "way" must just be on ridiculous amounts of steroids.

god DAMN i hate that site sometimes.

There's some decent stuff that comes out of the site. Berardi's nutrition articles are generally a good read, just ignore the biotest plugs. I also like Alwyn Cosgrove and Dan John. Even though I'm saying this, I haven't been on that site in a very long time.

Also, I like the idea of the one clip in the middle, I may try that.

[rock_ten]

werd, good call, mr popular. I'll see if I can make my one like that somethimes.

Another great variation is towel chins; hang a towel over the bar where your hands would be, and hold onto the towel underneath the bar instead of the bar iteself. Either use a towel for both hands or one on the bar and one on the towel maybe. Different kinds of towel/rope will offer different gripping challenges, but generally its a cool grip exercise, and everything feels so much tighter and tenser while doing the reps.

http://www.beastskills.com/OAC%20towel.jpg
^ you can use two hands if you really need to, though

[compleks]

Wait, rock_ten trains?

Haha, I think he just likes to make training equipment.

[Wesker]

Haha, I think he just likes to make training equipment.

I saw those pics on google the other day.

[Kon-El]

But i have to go outside into the blazing furnace and that would just kill the whole workout.

man last summer in ad from july to august i worked out at a lil kid's jungle gym that was in a park right beside my house, on a few occasions i even did it at noon, just man up and do it, having a whole jungle gyms adds loads of opportunities for exercise. if you really cant take the heat, go before 10 am and you'll be fine. a while ago on youtube there was a kid named thisfooltyler with some good vids of park workouts,he instead has some horrible website in his name, perhaps you could find the old park videos there. gdluck

[Lees Dragon]

First of: I can take the heat. No probs with that.
The problem is moving from my room to the outdoors has too many risks in killing the workout. Mainly: if someone saw me they might give me a chore or something that would destroy the workout.

I just rather a one hour peaceful workout in my room.

And o yeah: no such thing as jungle jims for miles around here. I swear....the basics are so hard to get in this place

[rock_ten]

do the whole workout outside, then, and somewhere away from home so no one can interrupt it with shit.

[Pale Nimbus]

i built a bar similar to that, except it hung from a clip in the middle of the bar, making it extremely unstable, and therefor regular pullups now seem obselete. haha.

I found it was an excellent way to destroy all lat imbalances, because if you aren't doing equal work with both sides, the bar won't be straight. Not only that, but it also trains the stabilizing aspect of the lats.

This is the second useful thing I have learned from mr popular :good:

[Aahem]

And there is nothing wrong with bodyweight squats (on two legs..), by the way. And it is probably better for strengthening a beginner's legs than pistols, simply because pistols are retarded.

~Brian

Please elaborate on why pistols are retarded.

Also, bodyweight squats are shit because probably even a beginner can fire way over twenty of them in a row.

- Ade

[mr popular]

This is the second useful thing I have learned from mr popular :good:

What was the first again?

[Pale Nimbus]

What was the first again?

The first thing was about eating more peanut butter as a good way to get in extra calories haha

[Ashtar]

About pistols...How do you do them without killing your knee? I swear, I just tried one and I literally buckled down in pain. I would think you have to build up majo strength for that.Building up to doing sizable reps with full RoM with a front squat of at least your bodyweight is a good start. In 'Naked Warrior' Tsatsouline teaches some other methods like using partial rom (boxes), negatives or holding on to stuff.

Aahem: if someone can't do the negative of a pistol how do you expect them to do the positive? Or let's use eccentric/concentric if this continues.

Use a tree. I refuse to believe that people can't find somewhere they could possibly do chinups. Improvise. Use some initiative.

Same with the hyperextensions. Stick your feet under a couch or something. This is why bodyweight programs are harder to design effectively.It's true, I was waiting for a bus on Thursday and started doing chins on a tree. I think with trees it's easier to do the 'military style' one with the palms facing each other and stuff though. This way your hands are together and on an equal level. Some branches slant up or down and they get weaker as you go out so that can make it uneven.

Using the couch for hyps is a really good idea, I'm going to try that now :)

And there is nothing wrong with bodyweight squats (on two legs..), by the way. And it is probably better for strengthening a beginner's legs than pistols, simply because pistols are retarded.Only reeeeeeallly beginners. Because even a total weak fatass like me can do 200 consecutive squats. It's really an endurance thing, not a strength thing. Excellent calisthenics to do throughout the day to stay limber, and for a warmup or a cooldown to surround SERIOUS training. Pistols are hella harder and kick bodyweight squat's asses. If you want 2-legged squats to work you really have to add some weight on you.

If you're too pussy to go outside in the heat, build a bar somewhere in your house. There's so many ways to do it - here are two that I've done:

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/20609465244.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6107677)

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6333/dscf1582smalljq2.jpg
Seeing your badass bar makes my foam-padded bally bar only as wide as my doorway feel utterly pathetic. Is it fun having it swing if you use body english? When I use some, it obviously can't move, but it does rotate in its hinges on the door which is creepy (and creaky).

Have you ever thought of making one where it only attached in the middle so that if you put too much weight on one side the bar tips and you fall off so it forces you to balance your weight equally between your hands? A lot of wobbling! Oh weight mr popular describes this right after your post...

There's some decent stuff that comes out of the site. Berardi's nutrition articles are generally a good read, just ignore the biotest plugs. I also like Alwyn Cosgrove and Dan John.I agree, love those guys. You know what nearly ruins the site though? Christian Thibedeau. Fucking 'lat pulldown reverse squat'. Still hasn't retracted that PoS. Whoever writes the newsletter made it exercise of the week too so whoever did that's also dumbass.

[Aahem]

Aahem: if someone can't do the negative of a pistol how do you expect them to do the positive? Or let's use eccentric/concentric if this continues.

Let's see, what did I say...... Oh yeah... So, let me elaborate:

I was talking about the lack of balance rather than the lack of strength.

Even if you have the necessary strength to do a complete pistol, you have to lower yourself down slowly during the negative part, and a lot of people (me included, at first) find it hard to keep the balance good enough so as to avoid wobbling from left to right and cause damage / pain to the knee. It's much easier (for balance) to rise up from the bottom (that is, if you have enough strength to begin with). You will eventually build up the necessary balance for safely doing negatives, and it doesn't matter if you skip them at the beginning.

OFC, if you don't find this or any of the more advanced variations (such as extra weight with pistols) to work for you, there are other methods as well. I quote Jim from beastskills.com:
"In this variation, you'll squat to the ground with two legs, then extend one leg out in front and proceed with a normal pistol."
^ this is what I mean.

Oh and...
"Personally speaking, I don't train weighted pistols at all and prefer the modified step-up for any heavy single leg work."
- I do the same.

Actually, why don't I just give you all the link haha.

Jim's article about pistols! (http://beastskills.com/Pistol.htm)


- Ade

[Ashtar]

I guess that makes sense, although you could just not go deeper until you're able to maintain balance.

[Aahem]

I guess that makes sense, although you could just not go deeper until you're able to maintain balance.

Yeah. I would do it the way I described as I prefer full ROM... But to each their own, it's really just a matter of preference :smile:

People are often restricting themselves for no good reason with BW exercises: "I dunno if I should do this or would it be completely incorrect and and and and"... Just do what you feel is working out for you! As long as you are following the main principles of sets, reps, weight and safety, it's all good as long as you're feeling it work.

And be more creative!


- Ade

[Lees Dragon]

I thought of this bodyweight exercise ive seen: push ups except your lying on your back and holding a bar, kinda like a reverse. Just wanted to know what are they called?

And second, does anyone have a good isometrics workout. Something that can be done in any spare half hour in the day. This isnt for my actual workout. This is something i can do separately.

[Lees Dragon]

O yea, and i was thinking of buying a door frame pull up bar. Im gnna look for the kind that doesnt damage the door (as in screws and such). I was just wondering how can the bar hold your weight without collapsing if its just tightened against the door?

[compleks]

I thought of this bodyweight exercise ive seen: push ups except your lying on your back and holding a bar, kinda like a reverse. Just wanted to know what are they called?
Bench press.

And second, does anyone have a good isometrics workout. Something that can be done in any spare half hour in the day. This isnt for my actual workout. This is something i can do separately.
I wouldn't bother. Get your main workout sorted.

O yea, and i was thinking of buying a door frame pull up bar. Im gnna look for the kind that doesnt damage the door (as in screws and such). I was just wondering how can the bar hold your weight without collapsing if its just tightened against the door?
I don't think they exist. You will need to screw caps into the door frame if you want to do chin ups there. The damage is minimal, 2-3 screws into the frame on either side.

[rock_ten]

Compleks, I think he might have meant lying down and pulling up to the bar, like a rowing motion.

Pullup bars do exist that don't screw on - my housemate had one, its teloscopic with rubber butts on each end, you twist it to extend it and jam it into the door frame. I couldn't get it on tight enough to hold up, though. They're crap, probably, so figure out somewhere to rig up a better bar.

[Steve]

Yes he was talking about rowing haha

Just use a tree or some ledge for pull ups

[Aahem]

I thought of this bodyweight exercise ive seen: push ups except your lying on your back and holding a bar, kinda like a reverse. Just wanted to know what are they called?

And second, does anyone have a good isometrics workout. Something that can be done in any spare half hour in the day. This isnt for my actual workout. This is something i can do separately.

Are you talking about this? (http://www.beastskills.com/front%20lever.JPG)
If so, then it's a front lever. Verrry hard.

And I wouldn't really bother with the isometrics all that much. If you're striving for planches and such, you should do a few isometric holds at the beginning of each session to measure your progress, but other than that... meh...


- Ade

[Ashtar]

They usually just call it 'bodyweight row' even though it's not your bodyweight because your feet are resting. But neither is a pushup, so how come pullups are the whole bodyweight? I think we should just call pullups 'pronated chinups or pronate-ups or pro-ups' so that that rowing exercise could be called a pull-up to match the push-up it's the opposite of.

Although technically it would be the opposite of doing a pushup on a bar... to match the hand position. So I wonder what the true opposite of a flat-palmed wrist-extended pushup would be... I can't see someone holding onto a bar that way.

Maybe it would be similar to that 'beastskills' no-handed chinup, where he hooks the bar with his wrist instead of holding it, only with feet on the ground? It should be possible...

[Lees Dragon]

okay. now i got a handful of exercises.
how should i go about setting the sets and reps?
And as for the sandbag, how many kg's am i aiming for?

[Lees Dragon]

dudes, how does the set and rep system go?
Help me out here..:juji:

[compleks]

Just search for basic loading parameters.

Try and do 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps.

[Lees Dragon]

basic loading parameters? :eh:

[compleks]

Search for rep ranges then, c'mon.


I just gave you the answer above anyway.

[Lees Dragon]

I finally made myself a "sandbag".
Basically its a school bag filled with bags of sand.
I got it to 30kg, while I weigh 64kg.
I think its appropriate to start with.

What are the exercises that I should incorporate into my workout with this wonderfull sandbag?

[compleks]

Making sandcastles.

[rock_ten]

come on msn and I'll send you Dinosaur Training, which mentions it. Also:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=sandbag+training&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Theres some good ideas around.

50% of your bodyweight should be light enough for pressing overhead and stuff. Make it heavier for shouldering it and walking with it, or whatever.

[Lees Dragon]

right. Lets see you on msn then.