Tag: strength training

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Strength Training – Most Effective Exercise You’re Not Doing

strength training
strength training

From resistance bands a great option which will give you plenty of variety and special grips to Bulgarian bags and the newest four-movement exercise to target your rear delts, working out can often contain a few complexities here and there – sometimes too many. With all of the newest technology and year-long fads crowding our minds, we can often leave the simplest movements by the wayside. To make your entire body stronger, bring up imbalances and get some conditioning in while you’re at it, there is one old-school, simple strength training movement to add to your repertoire: the farmer’s walk. 

 

Photo by Binyamin Mellish from Pexels
Photo by Binyamin Mellish from Pexels

The farmer’s walk is as easy to understand as carrying your groceries inside – only much, much more physically taxing. To perform this exercise, simply grab two heavy (for seasoned gym-goers, half your body weight in each hand should be a good starting point) weights – dumbbells, kettlebells, trap bars, plates, etc. – let them hang down at your side with your palms facing your body and start walking. Make sure to focus on keeping a good posture and tall spine, keep your grip tight and take short steps – the weight will handle the rest. For more strength and hypertrophy (muscle growth) benefits, focus on heavier weight and shorter walks – longer walks will help you improve cardiovascular performance and have an effect on the nervous system similar to a set of sprints.

Benefits of Strength Training with the Farmer’s Walk

 

Photo by Victor Freitas from Pexels
Photo by Victor Freitas from Pexels

 

“It’s just walking, right?” If that thought crossed your mind, you’re not wrong, but that is the beauty of this exercise. Walking in a controlled manner with extremely heavy weight comes with a ton of benefits, even being cited as a safer alternative to the deadlift.  Your arms will take a beating keeping the weight inside your hands and at your sides, your shoulders and back will be taxed from maintaining proper posture, your core will struggle to keep everything together and your legs and glutes are pumping with each step. If you’ve heard the term “functional strength training” thrown around in the gym, this is it. A single, heavy exercise that will improve your musculature and translate to increased athletic performance in every aspect and generally better fitness.
 
Training will also naturally help with HGH levels, which includes the ability to build and repair muscle, keeping the body fit and energetic, and its anti-aging abilities. Building this naturally takes some time though, so here are different types of HGH injections that may speed up this process.

For more fitness and strength training tips, head over to our Downtown Fitness section.

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Fitness Health

Fitness Friday: Ready to Rumble

Earlier this month, NoHo welcomed its own Rumble spot. This is the second NYC location of the already popular boxing-inspired workout studio that first opened its doors just this year in the Flatiron/Chelsea-area.

Needless to say, we’re beyond thrilled to have a Rumble studio in Downtown and stopped by to check out Rumble’s newest location and get our sweat on with trainer Joe Ferraro.

Now, for those of you who’ve never heard of Rumble Boxing, it’s a group class workout with elements of boxing, strength and breaking a sweat. You can buy wraps, water, and rent gloves at the front desk, and you’re all set. Upon entering the workout area, you’ll find it’s separated into two — one with benches for strength training and one with bags for boxing, with a stage in between from where the trainer directs the workout and the music. We all know that a good playlist matters.

You go through a circuit from the bags to benches, back to the bags and then end at the benches — or the other way around, depending on where you’re spot is. The studio is well-connected, meaning there’s a screen above the mirrors all the way round, so you can follow the routine if you didn’t quite catch whether you were supposed to do jabs, sit-ups or shuffle.

Don’t be scared if it’s your first time. Show up to class 5 minutes early, and the trainer will give you a quick run-through of the different punches and the right stance. You’ll leave knowing what jabs, upper cuts, and hooks are. Now, doesn’t that sound pretty kick-ass? Not to mention how freeing it can be to let go of some of those city aggressions and just punch it out.

The rest of the studio comes fully equipped, too. Taking the stairs down to the locker area, you’ll find outside lockers to stash your stuff while in class — and then men’s and women’s locker rooms complete with showers (with shampoo, conditioner and body wash from Beekman 1802), complimentary towels and an area to put on your makeup, blow dry your hair and get yourself looking as fabulous as you’re feeling.

Now, let’s just take a moment to appreciate this area fully. Hair ties, razors, dry shampoo, hair spray, body lotion… Honestly, we’d almost rather shower here than at home.

Trainer Beth Gold

The rest of the studio is designed true to Rumble’s urban-chic-meets-street feel, and at the entrance, you can find their awesome apparel. Hoodies, muscle tanks, leggings. Everything to get you looking as tough as you feel. Safe to say, they’ve hit the spot.

See NoHo’s full schedule here and book your first class today — for the first one, they’ll do you a solid give you the second one for free. And yes, it’s true, Joe looks like a young Al Pacino. How’s that for motivation?

Photos courtesy of Rumble Boxing

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Fitness Health

Two Workouts In One With Kettlebell

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Credit: Kettlebell Facebook Page

Why choose between cardio and strength building? With the kettlebell swing, you can have two workouts in one. The swing is not only an arm exercise, but also combines a hip hinge, a hip thrust, and a bit of a vertical explosion, without your feel ever leaving the ground. Here are some ways to effectively use the kettlebell swing to its full potential:

Starting with the kettlebell between your legs, hold the bell with one arm. Swing it back and forth like a pendulum. When the kettlebell swings back, rock to the heels of your feet. This movement stretches the hamstrings and activates the lats of the back. When the bell swings forward, rock towards the balls of your feet, which will open up your hip flexors and engage most of the muscles of the posterior chain in your back and legs. Keep your knees slightly bent, but not too much–you don’t want to turn this into a squatting motion. 

Some trainers prefer the two armed kettle bell swings, which utilize both arms, but I like to perform them with one arm at a time or alternating arms. In fact, by using two arms at the same time, it can be difficult to breathe–this is especially common in men with broader shoulders, since the handle of the kettlebell is quite narrow.

The height your kettlebell swing can vary. It doesn’t have to be completely horizontal at chest level. You can play with lower swings while you develop the coordination necessary for the full movement. 

Don’t count reps but instead, go for time. Generally, the number of swings and the speed at which you do them will make it difficult to count accurately. I recommend that you time yourself: start at 20 seconds, move to 40, and eventually swing for 60 seconds.

The kettlebell is a great way to work a variety of muscles–it’s quick, easy, and doesn’t require clunky machinery.

– Bill Garelick, DOWNTOWN’s Fitness Editor