A Piece of Equipment we Should All Have

A piece of equipment we should all have

I am someone who mainly works out at home, although I do go to the gym now and then. I use very little equipment for my workouts and use a lot of bodyweight exercises to keep fit and strong. To be fair, I am not someone who is keen on developing huge mass so I do not need the biggest weights money can by. However, there is one piece of equipment that I swear by, because it is so versatile. I am referring to a doorway pull up bar (or wall bar).

What is a pull up bar?

A doorway pull up bar is, obviously, a bar that can be used for pull ups. They are a piece of home equipment that fit into (most) doorways so that we can do our pull up exercises from home. However, pull ups are not the only exercise that can be done with this piece of equipment and that is why they are so valuable to us.

What exercises can be done?

There are so many exercises that can be done, as well as variants of the basic forms of exercises too. There is of course the pull up and chin up, with the many variants that come with them, such as one-handed versions of these exercises. We can also use a door bar to do hanging knee raises, which is a very tough abdominal exercise. Hanging leg raise is another exercise, quite similar to the knee raise. A hanging hip knee raise is fantastic for our abdominals too! Simple put, the number of exercises we can do with one piece of equipment is fantastic.

Why should we all have a door bar?

As well as all the exercises that we can do with them, door bars are really convenient to use. Many fit to any door, and they are generally very easy to store. If we travel they are also pretty easy to take to hotels and use too.

Alcohol

Alcohol

Many of us enjoy alcohol and in certain circumstances, a moderate amount of alcohol drinks can be beneficial. However, generally, alcohol is bad for us – especially when we have workout goals to aim at.

What is Alcohol?

Alcohol is the common term used for ethanol. It is used in alcoholic drinks and is actually toxic, at moderate to high levels, to us humans. Despite feelings of euphoria when drinking alcohol, it is actually a depressant. Alcohol has a number of impacts on our health.

Benefits of alcohol

There is some evidence to suggest that, when consumed in moderation, alcohol be beneficial to us. Some research shows that the risk of heart disease can be reduced with a moderate intake of alcohol.

Another potential benefit is seen from drinking red wine. It contains flavonoids that can act as anti-oxidants (which have been discussed here). This helps to reduce the build up of atherosclerosis.

Negative Effects of Alcohol

However, for most of us, the amount of alcohol we drink will impact us in a negative manner. Aside from the hangover of the next day, there are more long-term effects that we may endure from drinking too much alcohol.

First of all, there are a lot of calories consumed when we go for a few drinks, and this is why drinking alcohol can lead to weight gain, as well as making it so difficult to lose the gut – there is a reason it’s called a beer belly.

The liver is one organ that it is at major risk of damage due to too much alcohol. There can be progressive damage caused through a condition known as cirrhosis. This can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and in extreme cases death.

There is evidence to suggest that the nervous system can be damaged on various levels. The brain can get damaged, and this can lead to problems such as depression.

Problems such as a weakened heart, high blood pressure and stroke can all develop from excessive alcohol consumption.

Recommended Units

There are a number of sources to find out the recommended units of alcohol. If we stick to these then alcohol poses little risk to our health. Two to three units of alcohol for women and three to four units for men, is a generally accepted amount of alcohol to consume per day.

Isometric Training

What is Isometric Training?

Isometric training involves exercises that use static muscle contraction to work the muscle. This type of training and exercise involves no movement, so the muscles and joints do not move during the exercise. Like other forms of training, isometric training can lead to increased energy, hypertrophy and strength.

What are the benefits of isometric training?

There are many benefits to isometric training, and this is why they are commonly used to this day. Here, we will look at some of the main benefits associated with isometrics.

Isometrics build muscle mass. It is strongly suggested that muscle mass CAN be developed through isometric training, good news for all of us who like staring at the mirror.

Isometric training builds strength in the muscles. In fact, some people argue that you can build strength much more efficiently using isometric training as you work the muscles more intensely. There is strong evidence to support the idea that, because we hold a static position for 3-6 seconds we are sustaining maximal tension for a longer period of time than when we are lifting weights, for example.

Isometric training builds strength at an exact point in a certain exercise. This can be a valuable thing if we have a weakness in certain exercises.

However

It is generally advised that isometric training is used as a routine that supports our main workout as opposed to it being the sole focus of our exercise routines. So, to use isometrics correctly we should aim to incorporate it into our training regimes. Luckily, isometric training does not use too much energy so when fitting it into our workout we should not need to alter much.

Isometric Exercises

We can turn almost any exercise into an isometric exercise. All we need to do is hold a position in the exercise to make it isometric! We can, from this, target moments in our range of motion where we are not as strong and build these up.