Home Gym Equipment for You

May 17, 2010

Home gym equipment essentials—Part 5

Filed under: Home gym equipment — Tags: , , , , , , , — info @ 12:30 pm

Cardio Equipment:  Wrap up

As I read over the last few blogs, I see a bunch of boring stuff about cardio equipment.  My intention is not to bore you to death, but if there are some people who need an overview on some good additions to their home gyms there it is. 

To be honest, cardio training is a necessary evil for overall health.  The key word is NECESSARY.  It is probably the most important aspect to health and fitness.  I am a weightlifter at heart, strength training is my passion, but nothing is more important than cardio.

So, if you want to run and bike outside, that’s great.  The nice thing about having a couple of pieces of cardio equipment in your home gym is variety.  Inside you can watch television while doing cardio, which definitely helps the time go by for me.  Or you can read a book while doing light cardio for extra workouts (it’s kind of hard to do intense interval training while reading the latest Harry Potter).

Cardio is for everyone and the machines we’ve gone over can help the beginner to the powerlifter and the next fitness model.  We all can improve our cardio.  Not to mention that cardio will give the endurance necessary to perform intense strength training session in order to build the muscle to shape your body.

-Dr. Mark Mylan
Creating fit and healthy bodies with home gym equipment
www.healthyhomegym.com

May 7, 2010

Home Gym Equipment Tips to Transform Your Life—Part 25

Filed under: Home gym equipment — Tags: , , , , , , , — info @ 12:30 pm

Strength Training:  Deload 2

There are many different ways to deload in order to give your body a break from all the hard work you’ve been doing.  Please do not make the mistake of ignoring this vital aspect of your training.  A deload week will only be effective if you actually give your body a break.  This is not the time to take a break from strength training and kill yourself on the treadmill.

One way is to cut all strength training to 50% of your last regular training week.  That means 50% of the weight that you are lifting and at least 50% of the sets your doing (this pertains more for accessory lifts as you should only be doing one or two sets of your compound movements).  Also, back off 50% on the cardio training for that week.

Another great way to deload is to do only body weight exercises on your normal lifting days (push ups, chin ups, sit ups, bodyweight lungs, deep knee bends) and walk three miles in an hour on cardio days for a full week. 

A final way to deload is to take all the stress out of your joints and hit the pool.  Basically, get in the pool and move all of your joints through different ranges of motion and let the water be the resistance.  Many gym pools have water weights that will add to the resistance.  Your cardio for the week can be swimming laps.  This is a great break for your muscles and joints.

A final plea—please take care of your body and incorporate a deload week!!! 

-Dr. Mark Mylan
Creating fit and healthy bodies with home gym equipment
www.healthyhomegym.com

April 26, 2010

Home Gym Equipment Tips to Transform Your Life—Part 14

Filed under: Home gym equipment — Tags: , , , , , , , — info @ 12:30 pm

Standing shoulder press:

Standing shoulder press will train chest, shoulders and triceps.  Use a squat rack for this exercise.  If you perform the shoulder press while sitting, it will unnecessarily load the spine and can lead to injury.  Also, you have more control of your balance when performing this exercise standing.

Start by unracking the weight in front of your body.  The bar will rest on the uppermost part of your chest.  Place your elbows at approximately 45 degrees to your sides.  As with the bench press, you want every part of your body tight.  If your elbows are at 90 degrees to your sides, it will leave your shoulder joints loose and prone to injury.   Press the bar above your head to full lockout, pause, and return the bar to below your chin.  Always maintain control of the bar at the top position and the bottom position to ensure stability and avoid injury.

There are a few things that should never occur with this exercise.  Do not press from behind your neck.  You will injure your shoulders.  Do not press with your elbows at 90 degrees to your body.  As I’ve already mentioned, this can loosen your shoulder joints.  Do not lower the bar to anywhere above your chin.  This usually means you are using too much weight and can’t maintain proper form.  Finally, do not use your legs in this exercise to push the weight up.  This is cheating and also means you’re using too much weight.

-Dr. Mark Mylan
Creating fit and healthy bodies with home gym equipment
www.healthyhomegym.com

April 15, 2010

Home Gym Equipment Tips to Transform Your Life—Part 3

Filed under: Home gym equipment — Tags: , , , , , , — info @ 12:30 pm

Cardio, Part 1:

Cardiovascular exercise is usually where most people need to focus or improve.  Everyone can improve their cardio and get better results for whatever goals they are trying to achieve. 

Cardio slims and tones bodies.  In order to “get abs”, you do not need to do countless sit-ups to build the muscles.  You need to shed the layer of fat on top of those muscles to show them off.

Weightlifters will improve their stamina which will enable them to workout harder and eventually lift more weight with more cardio.  Elderly folks will be able to function better in their daily lives with more cardiovascular capacity. 

Simply put, the vast majority of people will lead a better quality of life in direct proportion with how good there cardio is.  But…most of us do it wrong, or at least we could do it better.

One thing you must realize is that in order for your cardiovascular endurance to increase most efficiently, one of two things must be involved in your training.  That is resistance or elevation.

You either need to be heading uphill or pushing against some resistance.  Walking on a flat plane, while being very healthy for you and your spine, does little to increase cardiovascular capacity. 

Also, getting on the elliptical machine and going for a 30 minute “workout” at level 1 may be a starting point for many. But in order to get into shape, increase the elevation on the treadmill and turn up the resistance on the elliptical. 

-Dr. Mark Mylan
Creating fit and healthy bodies with home gym equipment
www.healthyhomegym.com

Powered by WordPress