One of the endless fitness debates is the – “squat rack vs. Smith machine.” Along with “wrist wraps or not,” and “squat belt or not”, those are the two topics of conversation bound to cause a serious battle of opinions between gym rats.
As you might guess, diving into both of these topics will take a ton of time so we will spare you the wrist wraps debacle and squat belt conundrum, and just head on to discussing the squat rack vs. the smith machine. In this article, we will go over the two types of fitness equipment, what they are good for, and why you should consider using one or the other, depending on your training goals.
So let’s not keep you waiting any longer and dive straight into the topic.
The overhead press; also known as the press, shoulder press, barbell press, and standing press; is often confused with the military press; and is quite possibly the best upper body exercise known to man. Sure, the bench press gets all the glory, but this is only because it is easier to lift more weight benching than pressing.
In many ways, the overhead press is actually more effective than the bench press at building upper body muscle mass. With the overhead press, we are standing up rather than laying down, which already means a better workout for the back, legs, and core. And seriously, massive, powerful shoulders are far more impressive than a puffy chest.
Fitness is your life or at least a big part of it. This means the gym is exceptionally important to you. Whether you’re a pro athlete or a weekend warrior, there are certain pieces of equipment your dream gym must have if fitness is a priority to you. I don’t just mean kettlebells, dumbbells, and barbells either. We need to also consider accessory work, conditioning, recovery, and the overall atmosphere.
Here are some of our thoughts on building out your dream gym to maximize efficiency.
No time is better than the present to start looking after yourself and your health. If you want to feel good and energized, it is recommended to get in at least 20-30 minutes of exercise, five days a week for optimal performance. Exercise is a great way of sweating out those excessive toxins. It also releases a hormone called dopamine that can help elevate your mood. It fights against cortisol, the main stress-producing hormone, which is why more and more people are looking to fit in a quick workout these days. If you do not have time to hit the gym, you can always work out at home. We have curated a list of some unique home gym equipment that will change your life for the better.
Building your home gym is an effective way to save money and still hit your fitness goals, by working out from the comfort of your home. The first step to building a home gym is always to evaluate the proper selection of home gym exercise equipment to maximize your time and space.
Working out at home has become a popular concept over the last couple of years, as we face one of the hardest challenges of our generation. This has shown people all over the world that you don’t need an expensive gym membership to get started with your health and fitness goals, instead, you can do it all from your living room, with the right set up of equipment.
It is recommended that we should participate in at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, so building yourself a home gym can help you easily meet the recommended standard and mix it up with variety.
Lots of people are thinking about turning a part of their apartment or a room in their home into a gym. There are plenty of benefits. If the gym is closed for whatever reason, you can keep up with your training plan. If you’re super busy, it’s a lot easier to find time for a workout if the gym is at your house instead of down the road. If you’re thinking about putting some kind of gym in your home, here are the basics for building a better home gym.
Exercising is the best way to jumpstart your journey to better health. However, getting pumped and ready to spend time working out, in the beginning, isn’t easy. You need the right equipment to boost your morale and keep you motivated to get your sweat on regularly. So, where do you start? What types of products will actually help you improve your workout on a daily basis? Here are a few must-have items that are virtually guaranteed to make your workouts more fun and effective.
Gym memberships aren’t for everyone, some people prefer to train at home by themselves. Having made that decision, it can be really difficult to decipher what equipment you actually need to achieve the goals you’ve set. Any good salesman is going to convince you that you need to set up an Olympic grade weightlifting gym in your garage. For most people, this is very unnecessary. Don’t get swindled into buying a bunch of gym equipment you don’t need. Sidestep the noise, and understand what gym equipment you actually need.
You have been slacking most of your adult life and your stomach folds are getting harder to ignore. Then you tell yourself it’s enough as you try to think of ways to lose weight. Little did you know, you have been ignoring the answer to your problem – the rebounder your mother bought you back in your “active” days.
MMA is one of the toughest contact sports and having the right gear is extremely important for both your safety and the people you train with. In mixed martial arts, the main piece of equipment is your gloves. The type of glove you want to buy is dependant on the type of training you want to do since there are many different aspects to mixed martial arts.
In this article we are going to cover some tips and information to pick the best mma gloves for the type of martial arts training you want to do.
#1 – Style
There are a few different types of mma gloves that serve different purposes. Bag gloves – These gloves as the name suggests are meant for bag training. They are tough and lightweight and are primarily designed for training with the speed bag.
They have a thin knuckle padding and therefore are used with hand wraps. These gloves can be used for hitting either a speed bag or heavy bag.
Training gloves – As the name implies these gloves are used for training and they are quite similar to boxing gloves. Their designs is much like that used for boxing though slightly different. (more…)
Exercise bikes, also called stationary bikes, are exercise equipment pieces that function exactly the same way as regular bikes except for the fact that they stay in one place as you pedal them. They are meant to give the user a similar workout as the one provided when riding a regular bike on a road or street.
This is achieved by the bike’s design which requires the user to place a lot of pressure on the pedals in order to spin the suspended wheel. This pressure can be adjusted by the user thus allowing them to progress to higher intensity levels as their levels of fitness improve.
I always tend to find workouts at the gym very stressful when visiting at peak hours. There are so many people grunting and grinding, dropping weights and chattering. I really can’t concentrate on my own workout when noise is all around me. It increases my heart rate and makes me nervous and uncomfortable. Yet because of work schedules, I often find that the only time I have to visit the gym, is during the peak hours, along with everyone else.
This is where my cell phone comes in to save my day (and sanity); I simply plug in my headphones and turn up the volume for 45 minutes until I am safely out of the gyms doors. I know this is sounding terribly unsocial of me, but the gym at peak hours isn’t a calm social gathering to me, its prime purpose is unwinding and letting go of the days stress.
The major benefit of signing up for a gym membership is that you gain access to a facility that houses the many large and expensive pieces of fitness equipment that you want to use, from cardio machines like the treadmill and Stairmaster to weight-training options that let you work specific muscle groups without the onus of lifting free weights. And yet, there are also drawbacks to going to the gym.
For one thing, choosing a popular and well-appointed facility means that you may have to wait in line for machines, or else frequent the gym during oddball hours, like the middle of the night. And once you finally get your turn, the machines could be a mess of sweat and germs. Yuck. Of course, you also have to go through the time-wasting hassle of actually driving to the gym, yet another deterrent to your motivation.
Wouldn’t it be better if you had the equipment you needed at home? It might be pricy, but there are definitely bonuses to having a home gym, and there are all kinds of ways to save when you purchase the high-end equipment needed to help you get fit.
You might, at one time or another, have considered building your own home gym but gave up on the idea because you were somewhat unsure of how to go about it. Constructing your own home gym is actually simple once you concentrate on acquiring the basic essentials and developing from there.
Some of you may remember the guest post by Daria Holcomb about her sweet lines of workout clothes for women. Daria was so happy with her guest post, that she done gone and provided a coupon code that y’all can use to save some dough when you order workout clothes from her site.
Today’s guest post is written by Daria Holcomb. Daria is the amazingly fit and attractive founder of Fit Girl Gear, a fashion-forward online store for women.
How to Choose Athletic Wear
Our feminine curves and shapely figures may be fun to shop for when it comes to casual attire, but in the world of ladies fitness wear, we have high demands for performance & fit.
Here are some things to look for when shopping for your next gym tank top or a new pair of yoga pants.
The following guest post was contributed by Alexia Krause, a PR executive who is writing today about MMA Workouts for women.
MMA Workouts are not Just for Men
Mixed martial arts appears to be a male dominated sport, yet the number of women who are becoming part of the MMA community is continually growing.
There are many female MMA fighters (including Kaitlyn Young and Gina Carano), who follow the same rigorous regimens as their male counterparts. These inspiring ladies have broken open the doors to what used to be the “boy’s club” of MMA. They use the same techniques, MMA equipment, and exercises that most fighters would use.
There is a ton of weightlifting equipment out there and the bench is one of the most important pieces.
As with all purchases, you should do your due diligence. Of course if you are ordering a weight bench or browsing the stores, you will want to do your initial research into product quality, customer reviews, and the amount of time the weight bench manufacturer has been in business.
After that, you should examine and try out each bench before you make your decision. Listed below are some common criteria for selecting a bench that will make you happy and keep you safe.
There are so many choices out there for exercise equipment, sometimes it is hard to know what to choose. Free weights are always best – barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, odd objects, and even bodyweight. Machines have their place, but they don’t usually belong in your main training routine.
So how can you choose your equipment based on your training history, goals, and injuries?
Welcome to the very first Ultimate Fitness Equipment Championship battle. This will be a lowdown showdown between 2 pieces of fitness equipment that I have used. I’ll break down the good and the bad, then I’ll make my recommendation for best piece of equipment. Ready?
This weekend my friend bought an Ab Lounge Sport from Target. He set it up in my living room, which essentially forced me to try it out. For a comparison, I used the results from my handy ab wheel to gauge the effectiveness of this Smurf-blue chair-like contraption.
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