With limited space i want to get a bar bell to do a full range of exercises to compliment my biking, a desk job doesn’t help upper body strength i tell you!!

Will i see proper benefits or limited?

get a 10 and 16kg kettlebell and look on youtube for kettlebell swing and turkish get up. that’s all you need for the first 3 months

ceilings are not high enough for that shit

you can touch the ceiling with your hand?

yes – old cottage

If you have limited space, get a swiss ball. There isn’t a piece of equipment that allows you to exercise as many different muscles. Couple of easy workout variations that could be done just with 2 kettle bells and a swiss ball [list]http://www.racerxonline.com/2011/04/15/racer-x-films-rynos-gym[/list] To those you can add back extensions, reverse flys, tricep dip, many many variations of situps etc. I have about 7 years of old gym programs at home and by far the most used piece of equipment is the swiss ball, you can even do quite a few stretches on it to increase your flexibility which is important when you have a crash. The ball can also replace a bench to make any exercise done on a conventional weight bench more difficult. For mundane things like bicep curls, lat raises, shoulder press you can kneel or stand on the ball to make them more challenging moving up to doing squats on the ball when you have a really strong core.

Iain

yes – old cottage

Does this cottage have a garden ?

Do it in the garden,

edit: beaten to it 🙂

great video Iain

Id recommend a chinning bar. While hand weights are beneficial for isolated training, large compound movements are better for strength gains (assuming that is what you are after).

Depending on the model they can be set at various heights to enable full chins, laid down curls, or even as a support for your feet while you do elevated press ups.

I need a 20kg kettle bell.

I’d recommend buying nothing unless you need a new cloths horse. Stick to the old school combination of press ups, squats, crunchs, burpees and variations of these. If you have a tennis ball or smallish football get in the press up position but have 1 hand on the ball, do a press up then when back in the rest position move the ball to the other hand and so on. Get in the plank position on your elbows, then do alternate knee strikes 10 each side. Lie on your back and raise your legs and arms at the same time to make a V shape- repeat 10 times. If you buy anything at all then agree get a swiss ball but look at MMA style plyometric training on the web. Most strength and conditioning coachs use very little in the way of equipment.

Jesus H Christ.

Functional movements is where it’s at.

I have a cheap York bench and a set of dumbells from Argos 😉

I imagine a set of kettle bells or dumbells is going to offer a wider range of exercises than a barbell.

On the actual bench itself, I find that I’m way more motivated to exercise with it, than without it. I often got bored of just doing pressups and situps. For whatever reason, I don’t with this.

Motivation is key! 🙂

what ridingscared said ^^^

pressups
marine pressups
hindu pressups
squats
lunges
horse stance
sit ups
crunches
v-sits
burpees
star jumps
tuck jumps
squat thrusts

all done in the park whilst out running.

Kev

+1 riding scared’s post.

If you really want some iron though, dumbbells are better than a barbell.

iDave – Member
great video Iain

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

It’s quite a nice demonstration of a few exercises, did laugh a bit when he got to the neck exercises when I first saw it! But I am guilty of just buying a neck brace for MX when they first came out without actually thinking of strengthening the muscles. The more conventional stuff he does seams quite sound but there is also a video of him working with Ken Block and thats just odd.

Iain

If you have space for a squat rack I would recommend a program something like this:

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5×5-beginner-strength-training-program/

The advantage of these exercises is that they are all compound and one of the biggest increases is increasing core strength and stabiliser muscles. I trained this way over the winter and actually lost about 3 kg but you have to be a bit careful about your diet. I restricted my calorie intake and stuck to a higher carbohydrate intake, avoiding too much protein.

The thing I really like about this is that because the main exercises are found in powerlifting competitions so you can measure your improvement and see how you’re doing compared to other people. I tried doing specific core exercises for a while but because it didn’t feel like I was competing against anyone I lost interest.

why avoid protein??

I read a bit about how to gain strength without bulking up and one thing it recommended was to try to take in more carbohydrates and less protein because that creates more bulk. I do a lot of climbing so it was really important that I didn’t bulk up and gain weight. I didn’t avoid protein altogther, just did things like having more pasta and less bolognese sauce, a bit less meat and cheese on sandwiches, etc.

Molgrips, try http://www.kettlebellseminars.co.uk
I found them to be the cheapest and had free p+p too. £35 for your 20kg bell.

Just watched that video and agree about the neck strength and neck braces. Go somewhere like FoD and see the young kids with their neck braces on.

Chin/dip station. Cheap, compact and you’re not going to poke holes in the ceiling or TV with it. Add a weight belt and some weights in a few months and it’ll give you years of workouts.

Thanks gazza. Issue is that I am in Germany and I have to drive home in 3 months with a LOT of stuff and my car could do without an extra 20kg dead weight!

Just leave the weights there.

It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve dumped a load of ironmongery in Germany.