29 Nov
Blog

How to Build a Brand in the Fitness Industry

Our guest is Andrew Coates. Andrew is a coach, writer, and podcast host. He works with athletes and gen-pop clients with an emphasis on education and fun.

This means that their training, diet, and lifestyle are sustainable for long-term progress.

Over the past few years, Andrew has grown to be a prolific content creator. In this episode, we discuss how he exercises over 35 hours a week with weekly podcast episodes, writes articles, and posts daily on social media. We also examine how this has opened up several possibilities for him.

If you're interested in growing your impact in the fitness industry and need practical tips on how to get there, this episode is a gold mine.

You can also find this podcast on top of all of my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the world's greatest hypertrophy experts).

Or search for Breaking Muscle's channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

23 Oct
Blog

Heavy Suitcase Deadlifts Build Anti-Rotational Control and Strength

Deadlifting with dumbbells or kettlebells is pointless unless you are doing one-legged variations. Not correct.

Have you ever tried a one-armed variant instead of a one-legged one? Two legs on the floor but only one bell in one hand held by the side of your body. This is the suitcase deadlift, and in many ways it trains the same qualities as a one-legged RDL.

The difference is that you can load this exercise much heavier and have a lot more fun with it. I've included many details of your approach in this article if you need to dig deeper or have specific issues than you should read my online movement principles course.

The benefits of the suitcase deadlift

Why do we do one-legged exercises? It's easy to build one-legged strength. But that's not all. They also help improve our stability, and not just because they build one-sided strength. It's about developing the ability to trigger the core muscles that keep our hips from rotating or shifting in coordinated effort.

Our body finds stability and strength for one side of the other. Our slants on the left turn on to keep us from bending sideways when we hold something heavy on the right side of our body.

We create a force against the floor from our right foot to flex our left lat pulldown.

These cross patterns should be automatic and we should have control and strength on each side to stabilize the other, but that is not always the case.

The suitcase deadlift makes it intuitive to hone this quality.

It feels wrong to tip or twist sideways when lifting a heavy weight off the floor with just one hand. You instinctively and actively fight against it.

Should you do it

This may seem like a remedy, or beginners should practice some before doing heavy deadlifts with barbells. Still, it is just as necessary that elite powerlifters be far removed from the competition during general training blocks.

We will always have a tendency to use one side of our body more than the other in motion.

And while part of it is part of being human, too much is part of a problem that can hurt you.

You can practice a sport that uses almost exclusively one side of your body. Or, you could be a busy professional who does some repetitive tasks over and over again.

It doesn't matter what it is. Repeat the same movements over and over on one side and you will have to deal with some excruciating injury, pain, and discomfort.

Exercises like deadlifting a suitcase can keep you healthy or help repair the damage already done.

Which muscles are involved?

The movement itself works the hamstrings, quads, glutes, and even the back muscles while helping you grab and hold the bell.

However, the real benefit of adding these elements to your workout is that they improve the control and strength of the core against rotation.

The deep muscles of the trunk that stabilize the spine, pelvis, and hips, such as the transverse abdomen, psoas major, and even the pelvic floor muscles, to name a few, can be really stressed and worked harder with this exercise than with any exercise that you have the same weights in both hands.

How to do a suitcase deadlift

Place a dumbbell or kettlebell next to one of your ankles.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Hang down and squat, much like doing a barbell deadlift. You need to squat lower and more upright than a traditional deadlift with a loaded barbell because the bell is not that high off the floor and is placed on the side.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Inhale deeply, filling your entire abdominal cavity and expanding not only your stomach but also the sides of your torso and lower back with air.

Hold on and remember to drive your feet and ankles through the floor while standing. Make sure that your hips do not shoot up in front of your chest and shoulders.

  • As you stand, focus on relaxing your shoulders and sagging, but using the weight to keep the side of your trunk from diving or sloping lower than the opposite side.
  • You want your hips to stay straight all the time.
  • Fight the urge to bend your torso to the side of the weight while standing.
  • Focus on engaging your core so that your hips stay straight and you are not allowed to twist or bend to the side at all.
  • Exhale strongly at the top, then tense back and crouch in the same manner to touch the floor with the bell before standing up again

Add variation

One of the greatest ways to turn things upside down would be to use a barbell instead of a dumbbell or kettlebell.

  • Many people think of using a barbell when doing deadlifts with suitcases, but it must be viewed as an advancement to using a bell.
  • With a barbell, not only do you need to fire your trunk to stabilize yourself and not twist and turn, but you also need to stabilize the bar so it doesn't tip back or forth in your hand.
  • This takes a lot of focus on engaging your shoulders, back, and forearms to stabilize the barbell itself. If you can't fix your hips and pelvis in place first, the use of a barbell will defeat the purpose of the exercise.

First, find stability in your body with bells. Then you can also use dumbbells.

Too far too early

To train core stability and get your legs going, you need to challenge yourself with a heavyweight.

But you have to get involved.

Too heavy a dumbbell on the first day and you stabilize your muscles will likely tire too quickly and make you twist or turn.

And when that happens, nothing protects your back from injury.

For advanced

Regardless of what weight you're using – dumbbell, kettlebell, barbell – swimming reps can make this exercise much more difficult.

Begin the exercise as normal, but if you crouch down after the first rep, instead of placing the weight on the floor or even tapping it on the floor, lower it down until it is only half an inch above lying on the ground. Take a short break and get up again.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Using the weight to move your entire set directly off the floor without touching it, you'll feel tired and painful like you haven't since your overzealous high school teacher. Challenge.

22 Oct
Blog

Heavy Suitcase Deadlifts Build Anti-Rotational Control and Strength

Deadlifting with dumbbells or kettlebells is pointless unless you are doing one-legged variations. Not correct.

Have you ever tried a one-armed variant instead of a one-legged one? Two legs on the floor but only one bell in one hand held by the side of your body. This is the suitcase deadlift, and in many ways it trains the same qualities as a one-legged RDL.

The difference is that you can load this exercise much heavier and have a lot more fun with it. I've included many details of your approach in this article if you need to dig deeper or have specific issues than you should read my online movement principles course.

The benefits of the suitcase deadlift

Why do we do one-legged exercises? It's easy to build one-legged strength. But that's not all. They also help improve our stability, and not just because they build one-sided strength. It's about developing the ability to trigger the core muscles that keep our hips from rotating or shifting in coordinated effort.

Our body finds stability and strength for one side of the other. Our slants on the left turn on to keep us from bending sideways when we hold something heavy on the right side of our body.

We create a force against the floor from our right foot to flex our left lat pulldown.

These cross patterns should be automatic and we should have control and strength on each side to stabilize the other, but that is not always the case.

The suitcase deadlift makes it intuitive to hone this quality.

It feels wrong to tip or twist sideways when lifting a heavy weight off the floor with just one hand. You instinctively and actively fight against it.

Should you do it

This may seem like a remedy, or beginners should practice some before doing heavy deadlifts with barbells. Still, it is just as necessary that elite powerlifters be far removed from the competition during general training blocks.

We will always have a tendency to use one side of our body more than the other in motion.

And while part of it is part of being human, too much is part of a problem that can hurt you.

You can practice a sport that uses almost exclusively one side of your body. Or, you could be a busy professional who does some repetitive tasks over and over again.

It doesn't matter what it is. Repeat the same movements over and over on one side and you will have to deal with some excruciating injury, pain, and discomfort.

Exercises like deadlifting a suitcase can keep you healthy or help repair the damage already done.

Which muscles are involved?

The movement itself works the hamstrings, quads, glutes, and even the back muscles while helping you grab and hold the bell.

However, the real benefit of adding these elements to your workout is that they improve the control and strength of the core against rotation.

The deep muscles of the trunk that stabilize the spine, pelvis, and hips, such as the transverse abdomen, psoas major, and even the pelvic floor muscles, to name a few, can be really stressed and worked harder with this exercise than with any exercise that you have the same weights in both hands.

How to do a suitcase deadlift

Place a dumbbell or kettlebell next to one of your ankles.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, elite athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Hang down and squat, much like doing a barbell deadlift. You need to squat lower and more upright than a traditional deadlift with a loaded barbell because the bell is not that high off the floor and is placed on the side.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abdomen, criss-cross pattern, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Inhale deeply, filling your entire abdominal cavity and expanding not only your stomach but also the sides of your torso and lower back with air.

Hold on and remember to drive your feet and ankles through the floor while standing. Make sure that your hips do not shoot up in front of your chest and shoulders.

  • As you stand, focus on relaxing your shoulders and sagging, but using the weight to keep the side of your trunk from diving or sloping lower than the opposite side.
  • You want your hips to stay straight all the time.
  • Fight the urge to bend your torso to the side of the weight while standing.
  • Focus on engaging your core so that your hips stay straight and you are not allowed to twist or bend to the side at all.
  • Exhale strongly at the top, then tense back and crouch in the same manner to touch the floor with the bell before standing up again

Add variation

One of the greatest ways to turn things upside down would be to use a barbell instead of a dumbbell or kettlebell.

  • Many people think of using a barbell when doing deadlifts with suitcases, but it must be viewed as an advancement to using a bell.
  • With a barbell, not only do you need to fire your trunk to stabilize yourself and not twist and turn, but you also need to stabilize the bar so it doesn't tip back or forth in your hand.
  • This takes a lot of focus on engaging your shoulders, back, and forearms to stabilize the barbell itself. If you can't fix your hips and pelvis in place first, the use of a barbell will defeat the purpose of the exercise.

First, find stability in your body with bells. Then you can also use dumbbells.

Too far too early

To train core stability and get your legs going, you need to challenge yourself with a heavyweight.

But you have to get involved.

Too heavy a dumbbell on the first day and you stabilize your muscles will likely tire too quickly and make you twist or turn.

And when that happens, nothing protects your back from injury.

For advanced

Regardless of what weight you're using – dumbbell, kettlebell, barbell – swimming reps can make this exercise much more difficult.

Begin the exercise as normal, but if you crouch down after the first rep, instead of placing the weight on the floor or even tapping it on the floor, lower it down until it is only half an inch above lying on the ground. Take a short break and get up again.

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abdomen, criss-cross pattern, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Heavy suitcase deadlifts build anti-rotation control and strength - fitness, top athletes, kettlebell, dumbbells, functional strength, suitcase deadlifts, one leg, powerlifters, transverse abs, criss-cross patterns, inclines, psoas, one-sided exercises, remedial measures, core stability

Using the weight to move your entire set directly off the floor without touching it, you'll feel tired and painful like you haven't since your overzealous high school teacher. Challenge.

09 Aug
Blog

Build A Strong Back Without a Gym

My first introduction to strength training was in my sophomore year. Every day after my last class, I made my way to the gym and got ready to let off steam. Going to the gym was part of my daily routine – a routine I still follow provided there is less bicep curls.

Now things are different and most, if not all, gyms are closed for the time being. So what are you doing? The possibilities are endless thanks to social media for #athomeworkouts by talented trainers.

Here are some of my favorites:

You don't need fancy setup or equipment to build incredible strength. Since you may not have access to a chin-up bar or free weights, I wanted to share some of my favorite body weight exercises for developing a strong rear chain.

Rocking cues

  • Initiate the movement through the shoulder blades.

  • Keep your arms locked and push through your arms the entire time.

  • Put something soft under your knees to help with discomfort.

Increased rocking cues

  • Raise your knees.

  • Initiate the movement through the shoulder blades.

  • Keep your arms locked and push them through.

  • Move with control all the time.

Baby crawl cues

  • Move with contralateral motion. (The right arm moves with the left leg.)

  • Look straight ahead and keep your back long.

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

Leopard crawl cues

  • Raise your knees

  • Move with contralateral motion. (The right arm moves with the left leg.)

  • Look straight ahead and avoid rounding your lower back.

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

Hollow crawl cues

  • Push yourself off the floor and tuck your tailbone in while focusing on squeezing your shoulders.

  • Move with contralateral motion (the right arm moves with the left leg).

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

  • For added challenge, try balancing with two limbs off the floor

Forearm planks notices

  • Place your forearms on the floor with your shoulders stacked above your elbows.

  • Activate your glutes by squeezing your legs together.

  • Push away from the floor as you pull your shoulder blades into your back pocket.

Keywords

  • Put a pusher or towel under your feet.

  • Place your forearms on the floor with your shoulders stacked above your elbows.

  • Activate your glutes by squeezing your legs together.

  • Push away from the floor as you pull your shoulder blades into your back pocket.

Notes on windshield wipers

  • Keep your shoulder blades in contact with the ground at all times.

  • Squeeze your ankles and knees together throughout your range of motion.

  • As your lower body moves to the right, fold your right palm up. Repeat the process to the left.

Tabletop rock cues

  • Slide through your arms and lift your chest.

  • Drive your hips towards the ceiling.

  • Push through your arms to shift your weight forward.

  • Pull your shoulder blades down to return to your starting position.

3-point bridge information

  • Slide through your arms and lift your chest.

  • Drive your hips towards the ceiling.

  • Bend one arm and glue it to your ribs.

  • Shift your weight back over the support arm.

  • When you feel stable, you can stretch your curved arm over your head.

Bridge pushup cues

  • Keep your feet hip-width apart.

  • As you slide onto the bridge, focus on relaxing the glutes and activating the quadriceps.

  • Slide through your arms and raise your chest.

  • As you push through the quadriceps, you are shifting your weight back into your arms.

Sets and repetitions

You can customize any of these exercises to suit your training needs. I'm a big fan of following timed sets rather than aiming for a specific number of reps. Timed work allows me to focus on the quality of every move while keeping every session short and sweet.

Sample session

Preparation: 5 minutes

Exercise: 5 minutes

Leopard crawl

  • Practice moving with control and take as many breaks as necessary during the 5 minutes.
  • Focus on the quality of the movement over the quantity.

to press: 30 seconds per exercise with a 30 second break after the exercise

goal:: 5 rounds

Think: How did your session go? Were there any moves that challenged you? What is a positive aspect of your training session today?

Try one of these movements on your next workout and reap the benefits of a strong back.

07 Aug
Blog

Build A Strong Back Without a Gym

My first introduction to strength training was in my sophomore year. Every day after my last class, I made my way to the gym and got ready to let off steam. Going to the gym was part of my daily routine – a routine I still follow provided there is less bicep curls.

Now things are different and most, if not all, gyms are closed for the time being. So what are you doing? The possibilities are endless thanks to social media for #athomeworkouts by talented trainers.

Here are some of my favorites:

You don't need fancy setup or equipment to build incredible strength. Since you may not have access to a chin-up bar or free weights, I wanted to share some of my favorite body weight exercises for developing a strong rear chain.

Rocking cues

  • Initiate the movement through the shoulder blades.

  • Keep your arms locked and push through your arms the entire time.

  • Put something soft under your knees to help with discomfort.

Increased rocking cues

  • Raise your knees.

  • Initiate the movement through the shoulder blades.

  • Keep your arms locked and push them through.

  • Move with control all the time.

Baby crawl cues

  • Move with contralateral motion. (The right arm moves with the left leg.)

  • Look straight ahead and keep your back long.

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

Leopard crawl cues

  • Raise your knees

  • Move with contralateral motion. (The right arm moves with the left leg.)

  • Look straight ahead and avoid rounding your lower back.

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

Hollow crawl cues

  • Push yourself off the floor and tuck your tailbone in while focusing on squeezing your shoulders.

  • Move with contralateral motion (the right arm moves with the left leg).

  • Initiate movement through the shoulder blades

  • For added challenge, try balancing with two limbs off the floor

Forearm planks notices

  • Place your forearms on the floor with your shoulders stacked above your elbows.

  • Activate your glutes by squeezing your legs together.

  • Push away from the floor as you pull your shoulder blades into your back pocket.

Keywords

  • Put a pusher or towel under your feet.

  • Place your forearms on the floor with your shoulders stacked above your elbows.

  • Activate your glutes by squeezing your legs together.

  • Push away from the floor as you pull your shoulder blades into your back pocket.

Notes on windshield wipers

  • Keep your shoulder blades in contact with the ground at all times.

  • Squeeze your ankles and knees together throughout your range of motion.

  • As your lower body moves to the right, fold your right palm up. Repeat the process to the left.

Tabletop rock cues

  • Slide through your arms and lift your chest.

  • Drive your hips towards the ceiling.

  • Push through your arms to shift your weight forward.

  • Pull your shoulder blades down to return to your starting position.

3-point bridge information

  • Slide through your arms and lift your chest.

  • Drive your hips towards the ceiling.

  • Bend one arm and glue it to your ribs.

  • Shift your weight back over the support arm.

  • When you feel stable, you can stretch your curved arm over your head.

Bridge pushup cues

  • Keep your feet hip-width apart.

  • As you slide onto the bridge, focus on relaxing the glutes and activating the quadriceps.

  • Slide through your arms and raise your chest.

  • As you push through the quadriceps, you are shifting your weight back into your arms.

Sets and repetitions

You can customize any of these exercises to suit your training needs. I'm a big fan of following timed sets rather than aiming for a specific number of reps. Timed work allows me to focus on the quality of every move while keeping every session short and sweet.

Sample session

Preparation: 5 minutes

Exercise: 5 minutes

Leopard crawl

  • Practice moving with control and take as many breaks as necessary during the 5 minutes.
  • Focus on the quality of the movement over the quantity.

to press: 30 seconds per exercise with a 30 second break after the exercise

goal:: 5 rounds

Think: How did your session go? Were there any moves that challenged you? What is a positive aspect of your training session today?

Try one of these movements on your next workout and reap the benefits of a strong back.

16 May
Blog

Microsoft Build 2020 News | Digital Trends

Microsoft Build, the company's developer conference, kicks off on May 19, but the popular event doesn't take place in Seattle. For the first time, the company is hosting a virtual event for its major developer, leaving Microsoft teams to collaborate and network to interview event attendees. At Build, the company will likely focus on Azure, its cool computing platform, addressing Windows, games, virtual computing (Hello, HoloLens!) And buzzwords like ambient computing, quantum programming, and AI at work.

07 Apr
Blog

DIY Beast Mode Gear: How to Build Your Own Barbell

There have been many challenges as an American in Japan in the past six years. First of all, finding my size shoes is a challenge at best, and almost impossible at worst. Finding T-shirts that don't suffocate me while not being treated in nonsensical (or at least grammatically wrong) English is another. And let's not even try to find a decent steak.

But I digress, this article is about DIY crafting equipment. Almost a year ago, I opened my own gym in my city and am the proud owner of one of the few Olympic-style weight sets in the whole city (including the three largest commercial gyms).

However, when shopping, prices have raised their ugly heads. Weight sets that would have cost about $ 600 in the U.S. cost 100,000 yen (about $ 1,000) here in Japan – before shipping! I spent most of what I could afford and got the best set I could. Hey, heavy lifters are rare in Japan and rarer in the country. Almost everything has to be imported and the prices are high.

Fast forward to last month and I've worked on my squats. I was very happy to achieve a personal best (after the ACL operation) of 210 kilograms (about 463 pounds) when I noticed that my bar, though not failing, contained what I considered to be an excessive amount of “Flex Would designate.

Since this was my only bar for the gym, it wouldn't be a good idea to shred the damn thing in half. So I went back to my weight set documentation and checked my bar capacity.

Open the correct page and read "Recommended maximum weight: 200 kilograms". Ooooops. What do I do now? I want to get even heavier, but if I do that, I can just shear off the ends of my bar. It seemed time to buy a new bar.

Here the prices have raised their ugly heads again. When I checked the prices for a high-capacity bar, the cheapest one I could find was over 50,000 yen ($ 500). A good quality bar like an Ivanko bar would cost over 100,000 yen (USD 1,000).

To be perfectly honest, I just couldn't afford the damn things. As a former military officer who did his fair share of “MSU Ops” (Making Sh ** Up Operations), I decided to build my new bar myself.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

The most important part is of course the heart of the bar, the core bar itself. After reading a number of very informative (and often fun) articles by Dr. Ken Leistner (no stranger to the DIY iron game itself), I knew I wanted to get cold rolled steel. The helpful employees of the Osaka Stainless Steel Company in Osaka, Japan entered.

In cooperation with their representatives, we finally decided on a cold-rolled hardened steel bar with a diameter of 38 mm and a length of 250 cm (about 8 feet, which is longer than your normal bar – it is the one in the photo above). And it was really a good price too, just about a hundred dollars including delivery.

I chose the rod with a larger diameter (38 mm in contrast to the standard rod with 28 mm) for several reasons. Although I knew that the bar I got was cold rolled, it was not a guarantee that it was as strong as the steel used in a high quality commercial bar.

These extra millimeters of steel could be useful. Second, the additional diameter could also be useful as a grip aid. While it's not a real fat bar in the 2 inch or higher category, this extra almost half inch will still challenge grip on deadlifts and other trains.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

So I had my "heart", now I needed the finishing touch. A quick trip to a local hardware store made me run the pipes over the ends of my bar, a set of 50 cm long water pipes with a diameter of 1.5 inches.

With an inside diameter of 39mm and an outside diameter of 49mm, I couldn't ask for a better fit if I had ordered the damn things made to measure.

Since this rod is intended for power lifts and not for Olympic lifts, I did not need bushings or bearings or the like. I was able to attach the tubes directly to the pole without the need for twisting.

Using a series of high strength epoxy resins, I was able to easily attach the tubes to the ends of the bar (although I would have liked to weld them on, I have neither the ability nor access to a welding set). Use an old set of screw collars to work as my inner collars and TA-DA! The animal is unleashed!

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

I can tell you so far this thing is a stone on my back. Taking out on squats was like having a dead straight laser line over my shoulders, even when I was fully loaded, and even trying to hop the top of some squats just to see if I could bend the bar at all could. As an added bonus, the extra bar width felt a little more comfortable on my shoulders and spread the weight a bit wider over the back muscles.

So don't despair if you find yourself in a similar situation. Although I doubt that few readers will be in a non-English speaking foreign country where there is no large heavy lifting community, you may find yourself in a situation where your finances are not quite up to the commercial price of the equipment available or shipping and other costs make DIY work useful and worthwhile.

If you choose to go DIY, here are some tips I want to share with you:

  1. Shopping spree. I checked over a dozen different sources (online and over the phone) before choosing the bar that I bought.
  2. Research. Check the dimensions, thickness, and other information about the commercially available products that you are emulating or that you want to create a template from. Even if your build is unique due to your circumstances, you will find out as much information as possible.
  3. Build over. If you're not a master metalworker or fabricator, or know someone who is, your welds and materials may not be as foolproof as the commercial ones. Let's face it, York, Ivanko and the others stayed in business and did what they do because they build good things and know how to put them together. You're not (yet?) So good. So build over if you can. If the desired commercial rack has box walls with a thickness of 2 mm, get a thickness of 3 mm if you can. If you need something that can handle £ 500, build something that can handle £ 750. It could be a little more expensive (hey, I could have built the BEAST for about three quarters of the price I would have done if I had exactly copied commercial measurements), but the added safety factor helps me sleep better at night.
  4. Try it. Put it through its paces, but do it slowly. Just because you might want to build something that can hold up to 1000 pounds, don't just hit 1000 pounds on the thing the first time. Take it in slowly and see what it can do.

In any case, I hope that this also encourages you to make your own homemade equipment in beast mode for your own needs.

06 Apr
Blog

DIY Beast Mode Gear: How to Build Your Own Barbell

There have been many challenges as an American in Japan in the past six years. First of all, finding my size shoes is a challenge at best, and almost impossible at worst. Finding T-shirts that don't suffocate me while not being treated in nonsensical (or at least grammatically wrong) English is another. And let's not even try to find a decent steak.

But I digress, this article is about DIY crafting equipment. Almost a year ago, I opened my own gym in my city and am the proud owner of one of the few Olympic-style weight sets in the whole city (including the three largest commercial gyms). However, when shopping, prices have raised their ugly heads. Weight sets that would have cost about $ 600 in the U.S. cost 100,000 yen (about $ 1,000) here in Japan – before shipping! I spent most of what I could afford and got the best set I could. Hey, heavy lifters are rare in Japan and rarer in the country. Almost everything has to be imported and the prices are high.

Fast forward to last month and I've worked on my squats. I was very happy to achieve a personal best (after the ACL operation) of 210 kilograms (about 463 pounds) when I noticed that my bar, though not failing, contained what I considered to be an excessive amount of “Flex Would designate. Since this was my only bar for the gym, it wouldn't be a good idea to shred the damn thing in half. So I went back to my weight set documentation and checked my bar capacity. Open the correct page and read "Recommended maximum weight: 200 kilograms". Ooooops. What do I do now? I want to get even heavier, but if I do that, I can just shear off the ends of my bar. It seemed time to buy a new bar.

Here the prices have raised their ugly heads again. When I checked the prices for a high-capacity bar, the cheapest one I could find was over 50,000 yen ($ 500). A good quality bar like an Ivanko bar would cost over 100,000 yen (USD 1,000). To be perfectly honest, I just couldn't afford the damn things. As a former military officer who did his fair share of “MSU Ops” (Making Sh ** Up Operations), I decided to build my new bar myself.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

The most important part is of course the heart of the bar, the core bar itself. After reading a number of very informative (and often fun) articles by Dr. Ken Leistner (no stranger to the DIY iron game itself), I knew I wanted to get cold rolled steel. The helpful employees of the Osaka Stainless Steel Company in Osaka, Japan entered. In cooperation with their representatives, we finally decided on a cold-rolled hardened steel bar with a diameter of 38 mm and a length of 250 cm (about 8 feet, which is longer than your normal bar – it is the one in the photo above). And it was really a good price too, just about a hundred dollars including delivery.

I chose the rod with a larger diameter (38 mm in contrast to the standard rod with 28 mm) for several reasons. Although I knew that the bar I got was cold rolled, it was not a guarantee that it was as strong as the steel used in a high quality commercial bar. These extra millimeters of steel could be useful. Second, the additional diameter could also be useful as a grip aid. While it's not a real fat bar in the 2 inch or higher category, this extra almost half inch will still challenge grip on deadlifts and other trains.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

So I had my "heart", now I needed the finishing touch. A quick trip to a local hardware store made me run the pipes over the ends of my bar, a set of 50 cm long water pipes with a diameter of 1.5 inches. With an inside diameter of 39mm and an outside diameter of 49mm, I couldn't ask for a better fit if I had ordered the damn things made to measure. Since this rod is intended for power lifts and not for Olympic lifts, I did not need bushings or bearings or the like. I was able to attach the tubes directly to the pole without the need for twisting.

Using a series of high strength epoxy resins, I was able to easily attach the tubes to the ends of the bar (although I would have liked to weld them on, I have neither the ability nor access to a welding set). Use an old set of screw collars to work as my inner collars and TA-DA! The animal is unleashed!

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

I can tell you so far this thing is a stone on my back. Taking out on squats was like having a dead straight laser line over my shoulders, even when I was fully loaded, and even trying to hop the top of some squats just to see if I could bend the bar at all could. As an added bonus, the extra bar width felt a little more comfortable on my shoulders and spread the weight a bit wider over the back muscles.

So don't despair if you find yourself in a similar situation. Although I doubt that few readers will be in a non-English speaking foreign country where there is no large heavy lifting community, you may find yourself in a situation where your finances are not quite up to the commercial price of the equipment available or shipping and other costs make DIY work useful and worthwhile. If you choose the DIY jump, here are some tips I want to share with you.

  1. Shopping spree. I checked over a dozen different sources (online and over the phone) before choosing the bar that I bought.
  2. Research. Check the dimensions, thickness, and other information about the commercially available products that you are emulating or that you want to create a template from. Even if your build is unique due to your circumstances, you will find out as much information as possible.
  3. Build over. If you're not a master metalworker or fabricator, or know someone who is, your welds and materials may not be as foolproof as the commercial ones. Let's face it, York, Ivanko and the others stayed in business and did what they do because they build good things and know how to put them together. You're not (yet?) So good. So build over if you can. If the desired commercial rack has box walls with a thickness of 2 mm, get a thickness of 3 mm if you can. If you need something that can handle £ 500, build something that can handle £ 750. It could be a little more expensive (hey, I could have built the BEAST for about three quarters of the price I would have done if I had exactly copied commercial measurements), but the added safety factor helps me sleep better at night.
  4. Try it. Put it through its paces, but do it slowly. Just because you might want to build something that can hold up to 1000 pounds, don't just hit 1000 pounds on the thing the first time. Take it in slowly and see what it can do.

In any case, I hope that this also encourages you to make your own beast mode gear for your own needs. Did you build your own equipment? What did you build and what did you learn? Please share in the comments below.

01 Mar
Blog

Build Shoulder Strength to Avoid Injury

The shoulder. Maybe it's not the best design out there, but it does allow people to do some pretty amazing things. When you think about which joints in the human body are most susceptible to injury, there is healthy competition between the shoulder and knee for the top spot,

But it's not a fair fight. The knee is a highly complex hinge joint designed to deal with an insane force in the frontal and sagittal plane that is inherent to the flexion and extension of the joint. The knee contains a series of stabilizing ligaments (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL) and menisci (medial and lateral) that offer additional stability and act as shock absorbers to deal with varus and valgus forces as well as internal and internal forces.

The shoulder joint and the surrounding muscles, on the other hand, are a kind of ball joint that was primarily developed to stabilize the glenohumeral joint. While this allows for amazing flexibility and freedom of movement (certainly much more freedom of movement than the knee), all of this flexibility and complexity can make the shoulder more susceptible to injury.

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

The shoulder is under pressure

Conclusion: The shoulder is not well designed to deal with the horizontal and vertical forces that we exert on it in strength and condition, But with intelligent programming and thoughtful extra work, you can train hard, push big weights, and avoid the kind of injuries that we've all probably had one or two times and get stronger in the process.

Because of the range of movement that the shoulder is capable of, it is important to train the surrounding muscles so that they are strong in as many of these ranges of movement as possible.

At Gym Jones, we use a series of isometric grips where we ask the shoulder muscles to do what they were designed to do – stabilize the glenohumeral joint. For example:

  1. Double kettlebell / barbell rack
  2. Overhead kettlebell / barbell wears
  3. Mixed kettlebell / dumbbell bears
  4. FLR planks
  5. ring boards
  6. Side boards
  7. Light weight presses with isometric overhead handles
  8. Squat overhead
  9. Slosh pipe carries and holds

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

We also use a number of additional shoulder exercises to get as strong as possible in different areas of movement, including:

  1. Dumbbell side elevations
  2. Leaning over rear delta flies
  3. Breast flies
  4. pushups
  5. Parallel pushups
  6. Ring pushups
  7. pull ups

Feel free to add these shoulder-specific movements and exercises to your existing programming if they are not already available, Remember to stay light enough to ensure perfect technique and only increase weight if you can do it perfectly. Technology is of paramount importance in shoulder work. Don't let your ego sneak in!

Increase your training and increase your strength

As with all other types of training Your sets and rep structures should be progressiveStart at the lowest volume that will adjust and work to the maximum that you can recover from. Go out there and build some bulletproof shoulders.

28 Feb
Blog

Build Shoulder Strength to Avoid Injury

The shoulder. Maybe it's not the best design out there, but it does allow people to do some pretty amazing things. When you think about which joints in the human body are most susceptible to injury, there is healthy competition between the shoulder and knee for the top spot,

But it's not a fair fight. The knee is a highly complex hinge joint designed to deal with an insane force in the frontal and sagittal plane that is inherent to the flexion and extension of the joint. The knee contains a series of stabilizing ligaments (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL) and menisci (medial and lateral) that offer additional stability and act as shock absorbers to deal with varus and valgus forces as well as internal and internal forces.

The shoulder joint and the surrounding muscles, on the other hand, are a kind of ball joint that was primarily developed to stabilize the glenohumeral joint. While this allows for amazing flexibility and freedom of movement (certainly much more freedom of movement than the knee), all of this flexibility and complexity can make the shoulder more susceptible to injury.

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

The shoulder is under pressure

Conclusion: The shoulder is not well designed to deal with the horizontal and vertical forces that we exert on it in strength and condition, But with intelligent programming and thoughtful extra work, you can train hard, push big weights, and avoid the kind of injuries that we've all probably had one or two times and get stronger in the process.

Because of the range of movement that the shoulder is capable of, it is important to train the surrounding muscles so that they are strong in as many of these ranges of movement as possible.

At Gym Jones, we use a series of isometric grips where we ask the shoulder muscles to do what they were designed to do – stabilize the glenohumeral joint. For example:

  1. Double kettlebell / barbell rack
  2. Overhead kettlebell / barbell wears
  3. Mixed kettlebell / dumbbell bears
  4. FLR planks
  5. ring boards
  6. Side boards
  7. Light weight presses with isometric overhead handles
  8. Squat overhead
  9. Slosh pipe carries and holds

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

We also use a number of additional shoulder exercises to get as strong as possible in different areas of movement, including:

  1. Dumbbell side elevations
  2. Leaning over rear delta flies
  3. Breast flies
  4. pushups
  5. Parallel pushups
  6. Ring pushups
  7. pull ups

Feel free to add these shoulder-specific movements and exercises to your existing programming if they are not already available, Remember to stay light enough to ensure perfect technique and only increase weight if you can do it perfectly. Technology is of paramount importance in shoulder work. Don't let your ego sneak in!

Increase your training and increase your strength

As with all other types of training Your sets and rep structures should be progressiveStart at the lowest volume that will adjust and work to the maximum that you can recover from. Go out there and build some bulletproof shoulders.

12