Can I train on a budget? New VXS Gymwear range.

Now two similar questions I get asked a lot as a PT is 'do I have to train here in the gym, can't I train home?' And 'how can I train on a budget?' Now these coincide with one another because often if you want to train at home you aren't going to be able to afford the level and quality of equipment the gym would offer you so because you're on a budget, but here are the essentials and how you can use them to get the most out of you training if you decide to swap the gym for your garage.

Barbell - these are one of the most simplest pieces of equipment people use to train. You can involve all the large compound exercises with these giving you a wide spread of both exercises and muscle groups to train. Along with a couple of weight plates your workouts can be endless. The barbell offers the ability to build strength, hypertrophy or an exercise to throw in with a circuit to improve muscular endurance. If there is one piece of equipment to buy it is this!!!

Dumbbell- much like the barbell a great addition to any home gym. The downfall for me is you would have to spend a little more money building a bigger range of Dumbbells for the different weights, unlike the barbell where plate loading is easier. They offer you compound along with isolation exercises but more so require little space to use so can be brought inside in the colder months with easy storage.

Kettle-bells - these are much more of a specific piece of equipment but are easy to obtain and can still be used as part of any programme. Exercises include that much like the dumbbell, the only point I would like to mention is make sure you are totally comfortable and aware of techniques before you really start upping the weight with kettle-bells. They're quite a dangerous piece of equipment so really take some time into researching what and how to perform an exercise this may otherwise it result in quite a serious injury.

Bodyweight - as often neglected your own bodyweight is such an effective and efficient way to train your body but also so cheap. Find a park and start doing pulls ups super setting them with push ups. 20 sets of 5 pull ups and 10 press ups your upper body will be pretty taxed, add in different variations and you will have achieved a perfect workout. If things get easier add in tempo, which people always neglect for reps or throw together 3 exercises, a rep scheme and see how many rounds of those 3 exercises you can do in a set period of time.

There are 4 ways to one, train at home but secondly train on a budget. So no more excuse as the gym membership is too expensive or closed at the weekend, make home your own gym!!!

Now for the exciting bit. Yesterday I attended the Team VXS Gymwear open day at the Royal Docks Crossfit Gym. Firstly thank you to Will for his squat clinic and letting us use the gym all afternoon and evening. The event itself was great, catching up with people who have similar goals and objectives they want to achieve, exchanging advice on how to individually achieve them and of course a preview of the new Fusion range.

Today at 1700 GMT marks the release of the new Fusion range but we got to sample this yesterday so thought I better had share my thoughts and all I can say is it's a must buy. As ever they've been really creative with the styling to make you look great in the gym, this becoming more and more of a concern for people, more so than what you're actually doing in there. I got to try out the new t-shirt range and with the baggy waist with a tapered fit to the upper body is ideal for anyone in or out the gym. With a 95% cotton to 5% elastic comparative the feel of the top on you is perfect, not restrictive in areas such as under the arms or when you want to reach overhead it just moves freely with you. Sweat is absorbed straight into the t-shirt and  much like a lot of the Dri-fit ranges doesn't cause the material to stick to your body causing you to feel cold as the session moves on. I didn't get the chance myself to grab a look at the other bits being released in the range but everyone commented on how the quality is second to none, trumping any of the bigger sport wear designers which I personally believe is the biggest reason you need to get out buying this new fusion range. The link is below so get buying and be one of the first to train this out.

http://vxsgymwear.co.uk/collections/new-lines

Have a great week of training, make every moment in the gym worth while and keep intensity high!!

Jack

Can I train on a budget? New VXS Gymwear range.

Now two similar questions I get asked a lot as a PT is 'do I have to train here in the gym, can't I train home?' And 'how can I train on a budget?' Now these coincide with one another because often if you want to train at home you aren't going to be able to afford the level and quality of equipment the gym would offer you so because you're on a budget, but here are the essentials and how you can use them to get the most out of you training if you decide to swap the gym for your garage.

Barbell - these are one of the most simplest pieces of equipment people use to train. You can involve all the large compound exercises with these giving you a wide spread of both exercises and muscle groups to train. Along with a couple of weight plates your workouts can be endless. The barbell offers the ability to build strength, hypertrophy or an exercise to throw in with a circuit to improve muscular endurance. If there is one piece of equipment to buy it is this!!!

Dumbbell- much like the barbell a great addition to any home gym. The downfall for me is you would have to spend a little more money building a bigger range of Dumbbells for the different weights, unlike the barbell where plate loading is easier. They offer you compound along with isolation exercises but more so require little space to use so can be brought inside in the colder months with easy storage.

Kettle-bells - these are much more of a specific piece of equipment but are easy to obtain and can still be used as part of any programme. Exercises include that much like the dumbbell, the only point I would like to mention is make sure you are totally comfortable and aware of techniques before you really start upping the weight with kettle-bells. They're quite a dangerous piece of equipment so really take some time into researching what and how to perform an exercise this may otherwise it result in quite a serious injury.

Bodyweight - as often neglected your own bodyweight is such an effective and efficient way to train your body but also so cheap. Find a park and start doing pulls ups super setting them with push ups. 20 sets of 5 pull ups and 10 press ups your upper body will be pretty taxed, add in different variations and you will have achieved a perfect workout. If things get easier add in tempo, which people always neglect for reps or throw together 3 exercises, a rep scheme and see how many rounds of those 3 exercises you can do in a set period of time.

There are 4 ways to one, train at home but secondly train on a budget. So no more excuse as the gym membership is too expensive or closed at the weekend, make home your own gym!!!

Now for the exciting bit. Yesterday I attended the Team VXS Gymwear open day at the Royal Docks Crossfit Gym. Firstly thank you to Will for his squat clinic and letting us use the gym all afternoon and evening. The event itself was great, catching up with people who have similar goals and objectives they want to achieve, exchanging advice on how to individually achieve them and of course a preview of the new Fusion range.

Today at 1700 GMT marks the release of the new Fusion range but we got to sample this yesterday so thought I better had share my thoughts and all I can say is it's a must buy. As ever they've been really creative with the styling to make you look great in the gym, this becoming more and more of a concern for people, more so than what you're actually doing in there. I got to try out the new t-shirt range and with the baggy waist with a tapered fit to the upper body is ideal for anyone in or out the gym. With a 95% cotton to 5% elastic comparative the feel of the top on you is perfect, not restrictive in areas such as under the arms or when you want to reach overhead it just moves freely with you. Sweat is absorbed straight into the t-shirt and  much like a lot of the Dri-fit ranges doesn't cause the material to stick to your body causing you to feel cold as the session moves on. I didn't get the chance myself to grab a look at the other bits being released in the range but everyone commented on how the quality is second to none, trumping any of the bigger sport wear designers which I personally believe is the biggest reason you need to get out buying this new fusion range. The link is below so get buying and be one of the first to train this out.

http://vxsgymwear.co.uk/collections/new-lines

Have a great week of training, make every moment in the gym worth while and keep intensity high!!

Jack

Barbells, Dumbbells or Cables?

With the ever growing dilemma of achieving the best workout the exercises you're using are important but more so now the equipment in which you're using to perform these exercises. Now I would always advise people to try and stay away from machines, do they have a place? Yes, but, they're so constrictive on movement, range of motion and more often than not giving you the plasibo effect that you can lift a lot greater weight than one can actually lift. I'd recommend sticking to the Barbell, Dumbbells and cables, here are a few pointers on how to choose which.

The barbell is the most recognisable piece of equipment in any gym when it comes to lifting weight. Usually being 7ft in length and weighing 20kg, with smaller versions in certain gyms if you're lucky enough to target a certain muscle group or perform an exercise. They're easy to set up, just loading plates onto each side, often in 2.5kg intervals with a huge exercise base to use them for. The barbell is often associate with the big compound exercises such as the squat, bench and deadlift where by you're recruiting many muscle groups in one exercise, this is why they're a must in anyone's routine. They allow you to go heavier than most other exercises and due to the fact your lifting all of the weight through one force is often easier to control than say a dumbbell.

There are however some disadvantages to using the barbell that being they can often create strength imbalances amongst the same muscle groups, where by muscles don't get to work independently. Let's take the simple back squat, you load 100kg on the barbell and be performing a squat with perfect form but more so than not you have a dominate side creating a imbalance, sometimes as drastic as 70/30. This in the long run can causes size difference and cause you to plateau. Furthermore it's late on a Friday night, in the gym by yourself and you benching your one rep max and you go for a second rep but just can't lock it out, that weight is coming back down onto you. Barbells can therefore cause serious injuries, there is no way of being able to remove the weight unless you've got a spotter, to many cases seen on the Internet of people not and ending up in serious trouble.

Dumbbells are what more and more people are tending to use when working out due to these sense of ease to change weight and the versatility in which they offer. The one thing I love about DB's is they offer fitness to a wider range of people purely due to the fact they can be used anywhere. From your home, to office it doesn't take up any room to store a few DB's with a heap of exercises which they can be used for, avoiding the hefty gym costs along with no excuses of not being able to fit a workout in.

There are no constraints when training with DB's either, allowing muscles to work independently, targeting and isolating certain muscle groups whilst further recruiting major muscle groups if required. This over time will aid balance and coordination through the independent training. Unlike a barbell the range of motion with a dumbbell can be slightly altered, this can be seen as a positive or a negative but in my eyes a certain positive. Not everyone's built the same, in short not everyone's therefore going to lift the weight from A to B the same, much like a barbell promotes. The DB however allows this, furthermore recruiting more to form a stabilising platform than a barbell. When lifting a dumbbell greater attention is paid to ligaments, tendons and overall agatonist muscles. People neglect these a lot, especially in the shoulder department however lifting with DB's you're somewhat achieving this. The only downfall is it demands a greater deal of control thus meaning you can't go as heavy and will often require a spotter.

Finally cables, people often neglect using when it comes to training anything but arms. The fundamental factor is they can be used for any movement pattern, which is great for sport related exercise or rehabilitation. It allows you to focus on a certain movement, let's take golf. The tee off shot you would never be able to rubricate unless using cables, building the strength, explosiveness and overall power through the increase of weight in order to develop the swing. With all cable machines you can gather many different attachments opening a wider spectrum of exercises and again allowing to rubricate certain functional movement from sport and everyday life.

From your committed gym goers the cables allow for ease when wanting to perform supersets with just a switch between the two cable or things such as drop sets and strip sets by just removing the pin as oppose to stripping the barbell or grabbing more DB's. The most important thing for me with cables is they cause greater muscle stress due to constant tension on the muscle. Unlike the barbell where for example with a barbell row the contraction, pulling the weight towards is a great deal harder than lowering it due to gravity with cables this never changes. It gives you a far superior of motion but further contraction allowing for you to really squeeze the muscle when contracting and stretching at the bottom of the movement. Some may say cables are superior therefore when it comes to isolating the muscle.

Cables do have their drawn backs through the way that the range of motion is so forgiving and any exercise can be performed often leading to horrendous form. They take up a lot of room so out of the question for your garage as well as very few will ever be in your gym.

So you may think which one is best and my answer to that is neither. There is no one I would solely recommend on using to create an all round great workout. They all have positives and negatives but I would create a happy medium using all in your workouts. Barbell for the big lifts, Dumbbells for your more so isolation along with cables for those high rep finishers.

If you're still lost and confused then I am still writing personalised programmes so drop me an email me on jcdpersonaltraining@gmail.com

Happy Training

Jack