Tag Archives: chest

New Video….Resistance Bands!!

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Hi Everybody,

I promised you some more videos and here is the next one. The video is fairly self explanatory so I’ll keep the notes brief, although there are a few things i want to say.

Resistance Bands:

Firstly in the video itself the exercises I am doing look pretty easy and I’m sure that will be putting some guys or hardened trainers off. As I said in my previous post , if you are a hard core body builder or strength athlete these may not be for you, but for everybody else Resistance Bands are a great addition to your workout equipment and perfect for home use. In this video I am only using 1 band but by using the higher resistance ones or adding 2, 3 ,4 or even 5 bands you can really make the exercises much more difficult.

The second thing I’d add is that Resistance Bands are fantastic for people who either have injuries that they live with and have to work around, or who are recovering from injury. The ability to add or decrease resistance as needed but also to change the angle and approach to exercise’s mean that they can be very forgiving for various type’s of muscle, ligament or tendon damage, and you can build up strength, tone and muscle without risking further damage.

Resistance bands are also perfect for beginners, people who don’t belong to gyms, or ladies looking to tone their bat wing arms or other saggy parts but who don’t want the expense or hassle of going to a gym.

Finally they are extremely light, convenient, easy to travel with and very inexpensive compared to either a gym membership or buying your own sets of weights for home use. It makes them one of the perfect additions to your home use equipment.

I hope you enjoyed the video and as i say at the end, please watch this space for the opportunity to get great discounts on Ordinary Guy Fitness Resistance Bands and other products that will be coming soon.

Regards

John

Join The Band to Build Muscles & Get Fit!

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Don’t panic, we’re not talking music here (I’m tone deaf). We are talking about what i rate as the single best piece of home workout equipment you can buy. Watch the video, read the article and scroll right down to the bottom for some exciting news!!

Resistance Bands:

So what exactly are resistance bands and why do i rate them so highly? They are simply a set of latex tubes that come with handles, feet and door attachment. Usually they come in a set with 5 different colour tubes or bands and each has different resistance levels. By attaching all 5 bands you can really ramp up the weight/resistance to some quite high levels. I wrote in a previous article about these and some other pieces of essential home equipment but to me these are top of the list.

Why? Well because they are just so versatile. You can replicate probably 80% of the exercise’s that you can do in even the most well equipped Gym with just one piece of equipment that fits in a drawer. You can take it on holiday or business trips with you. They work equally effectively for beginners or for pretty serious trainers who are looking to build solid muscle. Resistance bands are also a little more forgiving on muscles, joints and tendons for those that have injuries or those who are perhaps getting on in years slightly. They are also perfect for ladies that either don’t want to go to the Gym or have busy lives with kids etc and want something they can do at home for 20 minutes a day.

They take a little getting used to and certainly a bit of experimentation to find the angles and exercises that work best for you, and that target the muscles that you want to target. However with a little practise you will find that you can work Shoulders, Chest, Biceps, Triceps and your entire back very easily. Working those leg muscles and Abs are a little more complex but still perfectly possibly.

Now i know that there are a load of guys out there shaking their heads and saying “resistance bands?? Really? They are for wimps!”  To a degree I can’t argue with that. If you are an advanced body builder or weight lifter then resistance bands cannot replace going to a gym and just shifting a shedload of heavy weights. If you are really trying to build massive muscles then resistance bands are not going to do it for you. However this blog is called Ordinary Guy Fitness and it aims to cater to the majority of people who want to get fit, lead healthier lifestyles and definitely tone up and build some muscle. For that aim these are perfect.

An additional, and for many people an essential benefit, is also the cost. Gym memberships generally speaking are expensive. Exercise classes are expensive and any sort of personal trainer is definitely expensive. I’m not putting you off of any of those things as I use or have used all of them, but many people are no fortunate enough to have the spare cash and in those cases a one of payment of maybe £20 or $25/27 is a very inexpensive way to buy a piece of equipment that can help you get fit and build some muscle.

If you want some tips on how to use the bands or incorporate them into your existing workout programme then drop me an email or comment and I’ll do my best to respond.

That’s it for this article. I will make it a mission to do my own video showing as many different band exercise’s as possible in the near future.

However at the top I promised you some exciting news. A couple of weeks ago in this blog post I talked about Ordinary Guy Fitness possibly offering some products that will help with your fitness, health and training goals. Well in a couple of weeks the first couple of products will be rolling off the production line and will be available on Amazon with Ordinary Guy Fitness branding and guarantee. Not only that but the very first products available will be Ordinary Guy Fitness Resistance Bands. Not only that but readers and subscribers to this blog , the Facebook page or my Twitter page will be given their very own discount codes that will not be available elsewhere. Make sure you don’t miss out. Go to the home page and subscribe to my email list now to make sure you don’t miss future posts and the release date.

Take Care,

John

Todays Training- Resistance Super Sets, HiiT stylie!

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CircuitsSummer is coming, I have a holiday booked and I freely admit I’m vain. I like to look as good as i can in my beach shorts so need to start adjusting my training accordingly. Therefore I’ll still be hitting the weights but will be making some changes to how i train a couple of time a week. Generally speaking I’ll be throwing in some weights based resistance circuits, a bit more HiiT and just aiming to burn some fat and get a bit leaner. Also trying to be good when it comes to food and diet so bye bye to the Wine, Beer and Crisps that I love (well at least to some extent, I’m not an angel after all).

So here is todays training workout. Basically i picked sets of two exercises at a time and did them as Supersets with very little rest.

I started with Hanging Leg raises supersetted with Chest/Tricep dips on parallel bars. 8 hanging leg raises, straight into 12 dips. Then rest for around 45 seconds and repeat. 3 sets in total.

Next was standing alternate arm shoulder press with 15kg dumbbells supersetted with Kettlebell swings (2 hands between legs). Concentrate on bracing the core when doing the shoulder press and pushing with the shoulders not the triceps and then thrusting forward with the hips and glutes when doing the swing. 10 reps each side for the dumbbell press and then 12 reps for the Kettlebell swings.3 sets in total.

Next bent over Dumbbell rows supersetted with Goblet squats. Again using the same 15kg Dumbells in each hand concentrate on squeezing the weight up, back and into the side and pulling with the back rather than the Bicep, then standard Goblet squats with a fairly wide Sumo stance and going down as deep as possible to stretch the Glutes and Hamstrings. 3 sets in total.

Next I used an exercise ball as a bench and did Dumbell Chest press. The ball wobbles slightly which means you engage your core to maintain stability and you also get a really deep stretch in your chest as you lower the weight down. 15kg for 10 reps.This was immediately followed by standard exercise ball crunches x 15 reps. 3 sets in total.

The final exercises of the circuit were on the cable machine. I set up a single handle at mid chest level with 20kg on it. Then did Cable twists or woodchoppers as they are sometimes called. 10 reps on the right and then 10 on the left. I supersetted this with Tricep pushdowns on another machine. 12 reps at 50kg.

That was it for the weights. These exercises used pretty much every part of my body – Shoulders, Chest, Back, Legs, Abs etc and gave me a pretty good full body workout but would also have burnt calories due to the superset effect and low rest periods.

Finally i headed over to the running machine. Incline up to 4.5. Speed up to almost sprint level. I jumped on and did 20 seconds running at speed, then stepped off and rested for 30 seconds. Repeated this 6 time. Then did 2 more reps with 30 seconds sprinting and 30 seconds rest so 8 in total.

That’s it, done. Back to doing some mass building stuff tomorrow in training and then something similar to this on Friday maybe. As always, if you have any questions please ask. It’s probably cheeky of me to ask but if you are enjoying these posts, or any of the stuff i put out, then please share or Like them from the website or Facebook, Linked In or wherever you are reading them. I really appreciate it.

Have a good evening.

Take Care,

John

 

Todays Training – Chest, Biceps and Some HiiT

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Kiddie Biceps

Just a very quick training diary update for today. Todays aim was to hit my chest hard, then do some Bicep work and finish with a few rounds of a HiiT type routine. It’s late and I’m knackered so I’ll keep this brief.

Chest: Started with Dumbbell presses on a very low (almost flat incline), maybe around 15 degrees. 1 x warm up set of 12 reps @ 17.5kg in each hand. Then some proper sets. 1 x 10 reps@24kg, 1 x 6 reps@30kg, 1 x 5@30kg, 1 x 8 reps@22kg and 1 x 10@17.5kg. Tried to keep rest to a max 1 minute between sets.

Then put the incline up slightly but still only about 30 degrees. The next exercise was again dumbbell press but alternating from hand to hand. So basically press both dumbbels overhead, then lower one back to your chest whilst keeping the other hand extended overhead. This really works your chest well but has the added advantage of working your core as you need to maintain your balance and prevent rotation of your body.  1 x 10 reps (each side)@22kg, 1 x 8 reps @24kg, 2 x 10 reps @17.5kg.

Then 4 sets of cable crossovers @20kg each side.

Finally I shot across to the seated front bench press machine and knocked out one set of 40 reps at a low weight (think it was about 20kg in total) just to really fatigue the chest.

Biecps: I decided to start with an exercise I am really poor at but which is a great mass builder, close grip chin ups focusing on pulling with Biceps rather than using the back. 5 sets and managed a feeble 6 reps, 6 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps and a final 3 and a bit. Definitely needs work.

Then good old fashioned standing barbell curls. 4 sets of 10 @ 35kg and really focusing on no body movement, squeezing the weight up with the biceps and no body movement with a slow lowering of the weight.

Finally seated incline dumbbell curls with a drop set. 10 reps @10kg per hand, then no rest into 10 reps@6kg, then 10 x 3kg. Repeated this 3 times. I realise the weights sound really low but if you go slow, don’t cheat and really squeeze and isolate your bicep it hurts like crazy by the end.

Finally onto a quick HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) circuit.

30 jumping jacks, no rest into 12 press ups, into 16 (8 each side) alternate leg jack knives, into 20 twisting slow mountain climbers and then 20 (10 each side) jumping alternate leg lunges. Had about a minutes rest then went again. Did it 4 times.

That’s it, am already feeling the chest tonight but not so much the biceps. Think I’ll probably do some more resistance circuit work tomorrow. Have a good night.

Take Care,

John