Health and Wellness

Gym Routines Without The Bar

Do you get to the gym and find yourself hopping on the treadmill wishing you knew what to do when it came to lifting weights. Without shelling out on some expensive personal training, you run the risk of injuring yourself with badly performed deadlifts, so you tend to stick to what you know.

If you’re looking to build a little more weight training into your routine but are unsure where to start then we give some ideas that are safe for beginners, with equipment that’s readily available at your gym.

Free Weights

Forget barbells for a moment, there are a lot of benefits to be had for using free hand weights. For a start you can use them to mimic the deadlift stance but without the bar. This is safer and less likely to impact on your lower back.

Stand with your feet slightly apart, knees bent and lift the weights off of the floor until you are standing straight with the weights just to your sides. Be sure to keep your spine and head in a neutral position, neither concave nor convex and push up with your feet. Start off with light weights and get heavier as you become more confident. Think about carrying out four reps of between 5 and 12, depending on the weight.

You will be able to find plenty of variations with free weights online without having to worry too much about dealing with a heavy bar.

Ben Walker, personal trainer from London Fitness broke it down for us that sprints build muscle. This is a big comparison to steady state cardio, which can actually deplete gains. It has been proven sprinting enhances protein synthesis, stimulating muscle growth after a full workout. With active rest and the right nutrition, you can get defined look without having to lose your build by incorporating sprints into your routine.

Kettlebells

Another excellent and easy to master set of equipment, kettlebells are usually available in most gyms.

Kettlebell swing benefits are plentiful. This is a movement that works a lot of parts of your body in one movement. Get it right and you’ll be working your legs, core and arms in one go, not to mention the anaerobic benefits it also has.

It’s also an easy exercise to do and one that you could just as easily incorporate into a home routine as one at the gym.

TRX 

This is quite simply using body weight to achieve total body fitness and an all over workout. If you’ve wondered what all those ropes and bands were dangling down at the gym, now’s the time to use them. In essence you use your hands or feet to pull or push against the bands. You may also use the bands to suspend a part of your body.

For example, by hooking your feet into a set of TRX stirrups just a few inches off the ground, you can then perform a challenging and effective push up. Use them to carry out rowing movements, lunges, triceps and so on. No weights to worry about and plenty of exercises that you can build into a full programme.

Don’t be intimidated by your gym, the weights or the equipment. Ask for a demonstration or do your research online and get started on a fresh programme that’s going to keep you interested and seeing real progress in your gym sessions over the next few months.

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