When I was a kid around the age of 6-7, I remember my dad mocking me that I can’t do a push-up. I asked what’s that? He laughed, did 6 and got off the ground with a red face all proud of himself. I was in awe, I remember that this exercise looked almighty in my eyes. I tried a push-up after him but was unable to even lower myself down to the ground. I felt like I was lacking 98% of the strength needed for a push-up.

Almost a decade later, the push-up became the first exercise on my workout path. I was 14 when I decided I want to do something for my body’s physical state. I was at our village where I would typically spend my summer with my grandparents. Bored and determined that being at the beginning of my teenage hood I should start developing my body, I attempted a push-up. I remember that it was a wide-stance push-up. I managed to do just several, the form was terrible but I was happy. It was a start.

The push-up is a fantastic exercise to begin calisthenics and overall body weight training with. It’s one of the body weight compound exercises. Just how bench pressing, deadlifting and squatting make the foundation for powerlifting, the push-up, the chin-up/pull-up, the sit-up and the squat build the foundation for calisthenics. It’s what all professional gymnasts once started their career with. Mastering the push-up and its variations will develop a serious upper body pushing strength which you can further develop on the rings with exercises like the muscle-up, the iron cross or the inverted iron cross.

0. Warm up.
Start with a warm-up to get your body ready for working out! Click here for a detailed warm up article.

 1. The Push-Up Progressions.
These will be your direct exercises for this move. Your push-up’s workout should be divided of direct and assisting exercises. You should start with one of the progressions below(being your direct exercise) and once you are done with it continue with several assisting exercises.

Try all progressions below and find out which is the farthest progression you can go with performing it for 6 to 8 repetitions. Once you figure this out stick to it as your direct exercise. You will start each workout with this progression.

Your goal is to begin somewhere with one of the push-up progressions and continue from there. You will then start building strength and muscle mass and move on with the other progressions until you eventually reach a full push-up.

1.1. A Push-Up Against a Wall.

This is probably the easiest push-up variation I can think of. Stand against the wall at a 45 degrees angle and perform a push-up. Go forward until your nose touches the wall, then push back to the initial position. Your goal is 8 to 10 repetitions. Once you reach 10 repetitions move on to the next progression.

Alternatively if you have a bar(at a convenient height) somewhere use it instead. A bar would be better than the wall because it will save you the tension in your wrists.

 1.2. The Chair Push-Up.

If you feel that the wall push-up is too easy for you then try this variation next. It comes very close to the regular push-up but it’s fairly easy and will provide you with the feeling of what the actual push-up feels like. Get a chair in front of you, place your hands on it, keep your feet on the ground and straighten your back. Now go down until your chest is relatively close to the chair. Extend your arms back to the original position. Your goal is 8 to 10 repetitions. Once you reach 10 repetitions move on to the next progression.

 1.3. The Knee Push-Up.

This is just like a normal push-up but however your back point of support is not on the toes of your feet but instead on your knees. Being on your knees shortens your body and thus decreasing the load that you will have to handle. Your goal is 8-10 repetitions. Once you reach 10 repetitions move on to the next progression from this tutorial.

1.4. The Straddled Push-Up.

This variation comes super close to the standard push-up already but is still somewhat easier. Get on your palms and toes but straddle your legs as much as you can. This way, again, you are shortening your body and decreasing the difficulty level of the push-up. Once you reach 10 repetitions move on to the next progression.

1.5. The Regular Push-Up.

Eventually you will get to the regular, standard push-up relatively fast. However remember the hints I gave you at the beginning of the article and maintain a proper form with your push-up. When younger I had reached 200 push-ups at a time but then I thought of checking my form. I realised I had focused too much on setting a record for myself rather than working on the look of my push-ups. I was not going all the way down and not going all the way up, my butt was slightly below the line of my upper body. I decided it looks ugly and imperfect and fixed it. I also decreased the average speed per push-up. As a result the overall number of push-ups lowered but however I optimized the results of my push-up workouts. 10 perfect shaped push-ups will work your upper body much better than 30 push-ups with improper form. Always focus on your form, it should be a top priority when studying a new move!

2. Assisting Exercises.
The muscle groups involved in the push-up are your chest, shoulders and triceps. That’s why I will give you several assisting exercises that will work these muscle groups in particular.

2.1. Chest Press.

This exercise works your shoulders, chest and triceps very similarly to how the push-up does. You should pay additional  attention to it! Execute the exercise for 3 sets of 8 repetitions. The rubber band from this exercise you can get from http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com on a very good price and great quality.

2.2. Shoulder Press.

Stand tall and make sure your back is straight. Keeping your arms close to your head extend them all the way up. Do this exercise for 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

2.3. Chest Flies.

This exercise is perfect for the inner side of your chest. Keep the elbows slightly bend and pull the band for as much as your hand’s movement allows you to. Using rubber bands for this exercise allows you to expand the movement, weights limit it to the point where your arms are above your body shoulder width apart.

2.4.1. Triceps Extensions. (Type I)

For this variation you will have to attach the bands above your head. It targets the outer part of your triceps and thus will greatly help you develop strength in your triceps, something which is needed for the push-ups.

2.4.2. Triceps Extensions. (Type II)

Attach your bands to something in front of you and bend forward so that they will come at you almost at chest height. Grab the bands and pull them backwards keeping your elbows close to your body. Actually the whole movement should be in your elbows, the rest of your body and arms should be static and not moving. You target the triceps, remember! Do this exercise for 3 sets of 8 repetitions.

Push-Up Training Chart

Exercises	Repetitions	Days
1. a) Wide Grip Push-Up Progression	3 x 8-10	Monday, Friday
1. b) Narrow Grip Push-Up Progression	3 x 8-10	Wednesday, Sunday
2. Chest Press	3 x 8	Monday, Wednesday, Sunday
3. Shoulder Press	3 x 8	Wednesday, Friday
4. Chest Flies	3 x 8	Monday, Friday, Sunday
5. а) Triceps Extensions (Type I)	3 x 8	Monday, Friday
5. b) Triceps Extensions (Type II)	3 x 8	Wednesday, Sunday

Notice the presence of a) and b) for certain number of the exercises. It means that you have to choose between a) or b) for your workout and never do both in the same workout. Refer to the “Days” row of the table, it indicates on which days you have to perform a) and on which days you have to perform b). NB! The rest intervals between each set and each exercise should be kept in the 1-3 minute interval. 

3. Rest days.

4. Nutrition.

Good luck,
-Arthlete

As you can see, after reading the first of the nutrition articles, every part of the nutrition is needed and important for your body. You need to balance everything in order to stay healthy and reap the maximum out of your workouts. So how do you do that?

I’ll explain using the typical day for the general person.

1. Morning: 8am – 11am, Breakfast
It begins the moment you wake up. During the night your body has been maintaining the vital processes in your body which are not using all that much energy but taken that the processes have been ongoing for an approximate of 8 hours they have used quite a big amount of energy already. That’s why you should consider yourself deprived from energy every time you wake up. Thus what you should eat first in the morning must be carbs.

Normally I would focus on things like fruits(ex: apples, pears, kiwis, grapes, etc.), honey or home-made jams(blueberry jam is my favourite) that I would spread on a toast and eat it along with drinking milk. Something else I would often eat would be different combinations of milk with semolina/macaroni/couscous, feta cheese and vanilla. God I love milk! Anyhow these are all a great carbohydrates boosters and will provide you with a lot of energy!

2. Noon – 11pm – 1pm, Lunch
Taken you have finished with your breakfast, your next meal should supposedly be around noon time. That would be your lunch. For lunch you should focus on protein, carbs, minerals and vitamins + water. After your breakfast you have filled yourself with enough energy and now need to pay attention to the proteins in order for your muscles to recover. Here are several of the typical meals that I would have for lunch: chicken with rice(or potatoes), pork with rice(or potatoes), beef with rice(or potatoes), peppers with minced meat and white sauce, mish-mash(scrammbled eggs with peppers and feta cheese), musaka(minced meat with potatoes), fish. Any of these together with a salad of your choice!

If you have worked out before noon then I suggest you eat something sweet right after your workout(and before your lunch) in order to provide your body with some energy for it to recover. Also sweet things(carbs) increase the level of insulin in your body. Insulin is a growth hormone and that will help your muscles recover and stronger and bigger. So eat some carbohydrates and wait for another 30 minutes to an hour before you take your lunch. Anyhow this is really a personal preference and I myself do it sometimes and other times don’t. For me it really depends on how much time I have there(whether for 2 meals or 1 meal only) and how hungry I am.

3. Early Evening – 1pm – 4pm, Snack
This is not going to be a whole meal but more like a filling in between the main meals. In other words you want to eat a little bit so you are not hungry but at the same time not too much to the point where you miss your dinner. Proper foods that can serve you well as snacks would be: nuts(ex: cashews, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.), a salad, fruits(ex: apples, pears, kiwis, grapes, etc.). I always drink milk when consuming nuts, thus getting a little bit of extra protein with them.

Carbohydrates are also appropriate for an early evening snack meal. Especially if you worked out after your lunch then as I explained above, you want to fill in with carbohydrates to replenish the lost used energy.

4. Evening 4pm – 6pm, Dinner
The dinner can be the same as your lunch. It saves you time if you eat the same dish instead of cooking 2 different dishes. So I usually eat the same meal as I did on my lunch. That would be carbs with proteins and salad again.

5. Late Evening 6pm – 10pm, Snack
Now this one meal could be debated on. A lot of people would say that eating past 6pm is unhealthy and should not be done. Well, this meal is completely not obligatory, it’s permitted in case you need it. Let me explain – if your metabolism is faster or if you do double workouts during your day then a late evening snack is necessary. I usually eat around 9-10pm and never have problems with it. For an athlete hunger is like a wake-up call, one reminding that he needs to re-fuel with fresh food because his organism is running out of resources and needs more in order to recover.

I often feel like eating carbs so I would usually attack the honey jar. Fruits or nuts are still just fine. Sometimes I might have a lighter second dinner if I feel like eating proteins. It really depends on what my body is asking me for!

After 10pm you are not supposed to have more meals for I would advise you to go to bed not later than midnight. Anyhow this was part two of the nutrition articles. I will probably post some simple recipes that do wonders for me later on as well.

Sincerely,
-Arthlete

Image References:
Blueberry Jam
How To Milk A Nut
Sweet, Crispy Orange Beef
Comfort Me with Apples

1. Breaking Down Nutrition.
All the food that you consume consists of several key components. Balancing these will ensure you good health, enough energy in the gym and making enough progress due to quality recovery. I will firstly list them briefly and then will go in further detail with each of them:

• Carbohydrates(in short “carbs”) – the main source of energy for your body;
• Protein – builds muscles, bones, cartilage, blood and skin;
• Fats – another source of energy, part of the structure of the cells in your body, needed for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A, D, K and E;
• Minerals – turn the food that we consume into energy, control some body fluids inside and outside of the cells, essential for maintaining strong bones and teeth;
• Vitamins – important for the normal functioning of the body which includes the immune system, nervous system, the reproductive system and circulatory system;
• Water – water makes around 80% of your body, it’s needed for all essential processes in the body;

2. Carbs

I am not accidentally starting with the carbs. Carbs are the beginning of your diet, they are your natural source of energy and the key to a fast and stable progress in your training. In order to workout you need energy, hence carbohydrates. In order for your body to digest the food you provide it with after a workout and for all of the rest of the body’s processes you still need energy, carbohydrates again. Learn to control your carbs intake properly and your workouts will always go smooth and you will feel great, having enough energy, throughout your entire day.

Carbs come in different forms and types and that’s why it is important to understand which are good for you and which aren’t. But before I list what I consider good and bad carbs I want to shed some light on simple and complex carbohydrates. All health and fitness sources out there divide carbs into simple and complex carbohydrates. An example for simple carbs would be white rice and regular potatoes. Opposed to them, complex carbs would be brown rice, sweet potatoes. The difference is that complex carbs take more time to digest. Simple carbs digest faster. All on all the notion here is that complex carbs provide you with a stable amount of energy for a longer periods of time as opposed to the energy that simple carbs give you. However I have tested that theory and honestly it doesn’t make much of a difference for me(that applies for all the fellow athletes around me as well). Furthermore, for example, I love sweet things and often treat myself to desserts(ex: milk with semolina, vanilla and sugar). I love them and they give me a good amount of energy for my workouts. You will only gain fat from simple carbs if you consume them in excessive amounts. So my advice is to not pay much attention whether you are eating white or brown rice. Instead focus on natural(ex: honey, fruits) and home cooked carbohydrates(ex: potatoes, rice).

Good carbohydrates for you would be: fruits, honey, potatoes, rice, corn, bean and others. Homemade carb dishes are good for you as well.

Bad carbohydrates would be all processed foods such as: pasta, ice cream, sodas, breads, buns, cookies, pizza, tacos, cakes, candy and all other sweet things you can buy from the store.

3. Proteins

Proteins for me come second. After you provide yourself with energy(carbohydrates) you are ready to workout. After your workout you should provide your body with more energy(carbs) and an opportunity for the muscles to rebuild. That’s where the proteins step in. Your diet needs a stable amount of proteins in order for you to maintain your muscle mass and to increase its size and strength.

Good protein sources: any meat(ex: chicken, pork, beef; make sure you cut away the fats off of it though!), fish, eggs, cheese, milk and others. 

A lot of athletes depend on protein shakes to obtain an additional amount of proteins. That or amino acid protein shakes in order to digest proteins faster. I never used any protein shakes for I don’t believe in them. Surely one might be able to recover faster by taking a protein shake for it’s going to be digested quicker than eating a steak. But however I don’t feel it’s making such a big difference judging by the results the athletes around me get. In my eyes it’s a lot more money spent over JUST a bit better results that are even doubtful for this type of sport. I would rather not feed the fitness industry and believe more in my body’s natural ability to recover once I have provided it with proper food.

4. Fats

Even though none of us want to gain fat, consuming fats is still important for the ongoing processes in our bodies. Fat is good for your skin, hair, nail, it also surrounds the internal organs in your body and helps for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins!

However you must remember that not all fats are good for you. Fats are divided into two groups – Saturated and Unsaturated fats.

The saturated fats could be listed as: dairy products(ex: butter, cheese, whole milk, yogurt, chocolate, ice cream, whipped cream), animal products(ex: lard, beef, pork, poultry, lamb), tropical oils(ex: coconut, palm). They are referred to as unhealthy fats that may increase the level of bad cholesterol in your body and lead to heart diseases.

The unsaturated fats are: nuts, seeds, liquid vegetable oils from plants(soybean, corn, olive, sunflower, safflower and canola oils), cold fish(salmon, trout, herring), avocados, olives and others. Opposed to saturated fats, unsaturated fats may help decrease your bad cholesterol levels thus decrease the blood pressure and the risk of heart diseases in your body.

However there are a lot of controversial data and studies on the subject so my advice for you is to limit and control the amount of saturated foods but not eliminate them completely from your diet. For example with dairy products you can focus on low fat and skimmed products. Although personally I don’t enjoy the taste of skimmed and low-fat dairy products much so I usually buy whole-milk options. As for the animal products, make sure you choose leaner pieces of meat at the store and then at home cut away all visible fat or skin. Fat and skin on meat are utterly disgusting to me so I always make sure I get rid of these. You can also eat more often cold water fish(such as tuna, salmon and herring) for these are high in unsaturated fat and in particular omega-3 fatty acids. I however dislike fish and eat it rather rarely and have just replaced it with other animal products so it’s really up to you if you are going to include it in your diet or not. As for the oils, what you can do is use olive, sunflower, safflower and canola oils instead for they are high in unsaturated fats.

 4. Vitamins, Minerals and Water

Remember the popular saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”?

If carbs give you energy for your workouts, proteins allow your muscles to recover and get stronger and bigger, fats help build your nails and hair, then minerals, vitamins and water do all of the rest for your body. Actually water makes around 80% of your body mass! Vitamins and minerals are needed for your body to keep functioning, they are essential components needed for your blood, eyes, skin, hair, immune system, nervous system, the reproductive system and circulatory system. If you neglect them you will start experiencing different types of health problems. The easiest example I can give you is the weakening of your immune system. A well balanced diet in vitamins and minerals will keep your organism stronger and you will be less prone to sicknesses.

Instead of drinking soda or alcohol drink water. Drink water with all of your meals and also throughout your whole daily round. Keep yourself constantly hydrated! The vitamins and minerals could mostly be found in fruits and vegetables. So make sure during your days that you put these on your menu. I don’t always find time to eat fruits but I always make sure to have salads along with my main meals. That would include anything really. Most often I would eat salads including cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, corn, onion or garlic. As for the fruits any fruit would be good for you and my favourite are apples, pears, oranges, kiwis, grapes, watermelons and muskmelons.

Nowadays it’s very popular to take vitamins and minerals in the form of pills but I am strongly against that. I would rather enjoy my food having developed a healthy eating habits rather than taking pills instead. It’s the natural order and that’s how things have been for thousands of years, our bodies are meant to function on food, not pills.

Take this as a beginning article regarding nutrition. In the next article of the series you can learn how to structure your daily meal plan. 

Sincerely,
-Arthlete

References:

Harvard School of Public Health: Carbs
American Heart Association: Fat Recommendations
American Heart Association: Milk Products
The MayoClinic.com: Dietary Fats
American Heart Association: Meat
American Heart Association: Unsaturated Fats

For the past 2 years I have been working out in the morning. What I love about morning workouts is that they fulfill my whole day with energy and enthusiasm. They wake me up and give me a refreshed feeling. Also worth pointing out is that I in the morning I have all my energy there whereas after work/studies I usually would feel drained mentally which would pretty much prevent me from properly using my body. My whole mental and physical focus is so much easier in the morning then it is during any other moment of the day. Thus I quickly adopted morning workouts and enjoy them daily.

However sometimes it’s not always easy to workout after you wake up. The workout might not go well. One might feel like his body is still sleeping. So a question arises – how much time needs to pass for you to begin your workout after you have woken up?

I myself had encountered that problem a lot before. I then remember discussing this with my coach one day. I remember her explaining to me that a workout should never happen right after one wakes up. For the mind needs some time to wake up too and for the body to get prepared.

She explained that it’s good to workout at least 30 minutes after you wake up because most liquids in the body have gathered around the spine during the night. So you need to wait until they have streamed back around your entire body. Then you can slowly start warming up and prepare for a serious workout.

I have been following her advice ever since and it has always worked great for me. I usually wake up around 8, then check my emails, facebook, reply to all the messages that I can and by the time I am finished I feel I am already hyped up for action. After that my workout goes on just great and I don’t think I can find a better moment for it.

In case you have problems waking up in the morning you can also consider taking a chilly shower before your training to additionally help you wake up(although I would rather shower after my workout). A cup of coffee might do some wonders for you as well, my fiance for example never begins her workout before she finishes her morning coffee. That’s what gets her ready. Whatever you choose though, do not forget that your sleep during the night is the most important factor for a proper morning workout. Don’t neglect it!

Sincerely,
-Arthlete

Hey fellow athletes! I am going to bring up some good news for everybody who’s been having any type of tendonitis or overall joints problems!

I have had the most terrible elbow tendonitis that I can think of. I received that after prolonged ring over-training. It got so bad at one point that I couldn’t extend my arm fully, nor lean against it on the table. So I did rest a lot(almost a whole year), visited a lot of doctors, did a lot of physiotherapy, tried different medications but nothing fully erased my elbow pains.

As a result I couldn’t properly train on rings again. If you are wondering why is the iron cross tutorial lagging for so long, that’s the main reason. Every time I start getting that move back my elbows start hurting within a month to the point where I can’t properly workout.

A friend of mine has been bugging me about a certain product that goes under the name “Flex” produced by the brand Animal. That’s a training supplement entirely dedicated to joints’ recovery. In its essence it consists of 44 packs, each containing 8 pills. I felt like it’s not going to do much so I have been neglecting his recommendation for over a year. Finally I decided it’s not going to hurt if I try it. I quickly researched online and stumbled across only positive reviews.

Being slightly encouraged I bought a package and started taking it. For the first month I felt no difference but towards the last week I felt like my elbows are starting to feel better and better during each workout session.

Now it’s been a month since I have finished the package and my elbows are getting stronger and stronger every week. I haven’t done such prolonged training sessions on the rings in years!

In conclusion I am highly recommending this product to all of you who are seriously training daily and feel like your joints could do a little better. For those interested below I am posting the nutritional data related to this product:

Regards,
-Arthlete

During my workout years I approached most of my training alone. I am a solo player and I hate being taught, I would rather explore things on my own, I love empirical knowledge. Which inevitably led to a lot of mistakes related to my training, slower progress, sometimes injuries to mention a couple. But I regret nothing, I learnt a lot and took the responsibility for my actions. Now, like the teenagers I mentioned above I would allow one particular mistake to slip in at the very beginning of my training days. That would be the lack of rest days.

Naturally I would have seen athletes on TV working out and would have assumed that was what I had to do to become like them. And usually it goes like this, everybody speaks about this and that exercise, about this and that workout, you see motivational poster-quotes everywhere online today stating things like “A one hour workout is 4% of your day, no excuses!”. All said and done with the single goal to motivate us to get in the gym. Nobody, however, tells athletes that rest is just as important as the actual exercising. During my first years I would exercise all day every day. At the very beginning that does wonders for everybody. The first exercises that you are going to get accustomed to are relatively easy, your body is still adapting to training and can handle it without much effort. However as you progress you need to learn to give your body an adequate time frames for it to recover.

1. Why should you NOT workout everyday?

Let’s talk about recovery. Recovery time is important because it is then when the body adapts to the stress from the new exercises and the effect from your workout takes place. Your workouts cause muscle tissue breakdown and during the recovery period does your body repair the damaged tissues as well as replenish the energy lost during the exercising.

And now here’s where the confusion comes from. Most people confuse complete recovery with replenished energy. Once they feel relieved from any fatigue and tiredness they assume they have to go back in the gym. Depending on their workout that might happen in the same day or on the day after. However even if your body has recovered the lost energy this doesn’t necessarily mean that your muscle tissues and ligaments have repaired and recovered. At first as I said it is not going to be a problem but after a while your progress will start decreasing more and more to the point where you are no longer making any. That’s the small problem. The bigger and more serious problem is when a joint, muscle or ligament will start hurting because you over trained them. Athletes usually don’t understand that the process of injuring that particular part of their body began much earlier and would usually attribute it to a recent exercise or workout.

2. How often should you workout?

Now there isn’t a general rule as to when and how often you should workout. Most people go by the rule of one on one – one workout day, one recovery day. In other words if your first workout for the week is on Monday then you are going to rest on Tuesday. Or your workout days will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, likewise your rest days will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. After you are done with this week your next workout will be on Tuesday.

At one point with my training I figured no workout regimen works the same way for two different people. Which means you better experiment and explore a little on your own as well. Nowadays I go with my body, I try listening to it, when it’s tired it gives me a sign, when it’s recovered it gives me a sign as well. Sometimes I would consider a certain day to be a workout day. Then I will get on the rings attempt a particular move but feel lack of strength in my muscles and instead of pushing harder I will just take another rest day or two until the body is in good condition again. In other words I suggest you try working out using the “one on one” method but also encourage you to experiment with it.

3. What is a rest day?

Of course when I say rest days I don’t mean the rest day of the regular person. Spending the whole day in your bed or on your couch is not allowed. In fact you are not allowed to spend your whole day at home, even if you intend to clean or repair something there. You should actively enjoy your rest days. Outside, with your girlfriend, family, friends or even with your dog. Go out for a walk, for a jog, swim, ride a bicycle, the opportunities are endless!

Why is it important to stay active on your rest days? Because staying home for the whole day will make your mind and body sluggish. You should go out everyday at least for half an hour to keep your body going through physical activity. Thus remind it that you need it and it should not lose the edge of it. Also fresh air, nature and sceneries, meeting with people will keep your mind active as well. You need a vigorous mind in order to squeeze the maximum out of your body, taken that your body is also in an active state ready for a workout.

I want to remind you that you should NOT get carried away with being active. When I say that you have to be active I mean active to the point where it is not an effort for your body and you enjoy it. The best example would be going out to stretch your legs for an hour during the day.

Thanks for your time,
-Arthlete

Everybody nowadays has a pull-up bar but how many of your friends have rings in their homes? How many of your friends have rings in their rooms? How many of them live in a small apartment?

For most of my exercising years I lived across the street from a very big gymnastics’ hall. Literally ten minutes after I would feel an urge for a workout I would already be warming up in the gym. Being very determined, curious and studious about everything training related, I slowly became close friends with the president of the club. And at one point she invited me to become a co-founder there. Thus I made a very tight relationship with that place, I was always welcome there, for as much as I wanted and never had to pay for anything. That’s how my carefree teenage years went – I would spend most of my time in the gym, it was my second home and people there were my family.

I first felt the need to exercise at home when I moved to my current place 2 years ago. Two hours would be needed for a trip to the gym and back to my place if I decide to visit. That’s why I arrived at the conclusion that it would be much easier to just start working out at home. After all what did I really need? A pull-up bar and rubber bands. I had already replaced weights with rubber bands earlier before. So I had that solved but I had no pull-up bar. I spend a whole week trying to find the best place for it. However I realised a pull-up bar is that limited and there would be still rings’ moves that I would be unable to practise on it such as iron cross, maltese, inverted cross, even a handstand. That’s why a very strong desire to place rings in my apartment appeared and so I did.

So before we begin – this tutorial will explain to you how to mount still rings in a home environment. Everything costed me less than $100 and took less than an hour to mount. It’s been over 2 years since I have been using my pair of rings, almost everyday and never experienced any problems with the installation.

 1. What do you need?

1.1 Still Rings 

Obviously you will have to buy a pair of rings in order to mount them. I recommend ring training for their equipment had proven high quality to me considering I and my friends never had problems with it for years now. Also they have been the longest on the market and have continuously been improving their gear ever since 2003. That’s why this brand for me outdoes the rest of the amateur still rings manufacturers out there.

Price: $72 (Free Shipping for USA)

1.2. Anchоr bolts 

The anchor bolts are the most important part in the whole setup. They are the attachment and what holds the rings to the ceiling. I chose the most expensive anchor bolts which I could find over here. As you can see on the photo the manufacturers name is “Black & Decker”. They can hold up to 500kgs(~1100lbs.) of static weight.

Another thing worth pointing out here is that you MUST find anchor bolts with a hook, not just regular bolts. The bolt must end up with a hook so that you can attach the climbing buckles to it. On the photo above you can see how the climbing buckle is already attached to the anchor bolt.

Price: ~$10

1.3. Climbing buckles 

On this photo you can see the anchor bolt and the climbing buckle separated. The climbing buckle is the bottom element in the picture.

The climbing buckle is the link that connects the rings to the anchor bolts. The hooks of the bolts are a bit tiny so that’s why I added buckles in order to save the straps of the rings. Again I bought the most expensive buckles that I could find in my area. They can hold up to 230kgs(~507lbs.) of weight.

Price: $5-10

2. Choosing a spot

Before you begin with the installation process you must ask yourself a couple questions. 1) Is my ceiling strong enough to hold to my weight? In the general case the answer will be yes. However this setup won’t work for suspended ceilings unless you cut a serious hole around the anchor bolts so that you can attach the climbing buckles to the hooks of the bolts. 2) Is there enough space in that area for me to exercise? All on all you won’t need that much space. My room(not the one on the photo above) is extremely small with a single corridor between my desk and my bed. That’s where I placed my rings. How did I choose – think of all the moves that you might ever want to train on your rings. The pull-ups and chin-ups are obvious, think of the front and back levers, the iron cross and the inverted cross. For the levers you will need enough space in front of the rings(for your legs) and behind them(for your upper torso). For the iron cross you will need space on both sides(around the height of your head) so that your arms can spread freely in the air. For the inverted cross, again, you will need space on the sides but however this time at feet height(you will lower the rings almost to the ground to exercise this move). Also last but not least you will need height in general to attach your rings. My rings are at a height where I need to step on my finger toes in order to grab them. That works perfectly for me so that I don’t have to bend my knees when I do pull-ups/chin-ups and I can get into an iron cross without touching the ground with my feet(consider that you will have to lower the rings to your shoulder height so that you have enough height above you and below you for the cross).

 3. Mounting everything

3.1. Drilling

Find a driller which is powerful enough to go through concrete. Keep in mind that there are steel bars and cables(for the lights in your room) in your ceiling. Try figuring out the path of the cable considering where the switch and the lamp are and try avoiding drilling on that side of the ceiling. For the steel bars there’s nothing you can do. Drill and pray you don’t hit any. In my case you can see that on my second attempt I hit a steel bar and was unable to go through it. Usually steel bars are situated every 20cm(~8 inches) so if you hit one just move the drilling machine by an inch to the side.

You don’t have to drill a very deep hole, just make sure it is deep enough so that the body of the anchor bolt can fit in up to its head. The distance between the two points where you will hang the rings should be 50cm(~20 inches). This is the Olympic standard.

3.2. Placing the anchor bolts 

This is a very simple process but very important at the same time. Put the anchor bolts inside up to the loop and then start screwing the loop for as much as you can! As you are screwing it the legs of the bolt will open up to the sides and thus attach themselves to the inside of the ceiling. The harder you screw it the better! Don’t worry you will not damage the ceiling nor the anchor bolt.

3.3. Attaching the climbing buckles and rings

As I said above the climbing buckles are needed so that the straps of the rings can go easier through them. The hooks of the anchor bolts are just too tight for the straps to go well through them which might wear them off easily.

After you have attached the buckles hang the rings from them. And voilà you are done!

Check out the video below where I am showing a better view of the setup in my room. You can see how seriously small my room really is. Yet it never stopped the progress in my training.

Regards,
-Arthlete

Hello everybody! Two months ago the owner of fitpoint.it contacted me asking if I can test his rubberbands. So I was sent several bands and used them for quite a while. As most of you know I have switched from weight lifting to bodyweight training mixed with rubber bands several years ago.

Ever since I haven’t touched weights again and I like my training better this way since it allows me to train everywhere, at anytime and also saves my joints.

The difference between the bands that fitpoint.it are selling and the bands that you have seen in my youtube videos is not big. My bands have handles and it makes it very convenient to use them for any assisting exercise like regular bodybuilding moves – biceps curling, triceps extensions, chest flies and so on. Fitpoint’s bands don’t have handles and make a whole circled band with no endings. This makes them very convenient for direct exercises.

1. Wrapping the bands

1.1. To decrease part of your weight
For example you can see me using the fitpoint bands in the how to do your first chin-up tutorial. You can use that resistance to help yourself on standard bar and parallel bars exercises like pull-ups, chin-ups and dips. Even more advanced exercises like planche, front lever or even an iron cross could be made obtainable for training using this type of rubber bands if you are creative enough and willing to experiment.

As you can see on the photo below, I have wrapped the band around the bar and stepped inside it. This way the band is taking care of some of my weight and making the pull-up easier for me.

1.2. To create additional resistance for your workout
Alternatively you can wrap these bands around any bar(vertical or horizontal) and this way create resistance. Either for the standard assisting exercises that I am showing in my tutorials  or use it for conditioning. As for the conditioning you can see my friend Ross Enamait illustrating how you can use them for resistance running in the video below.

2. Not wrapping the bands
If you are not to wrap or attach them to any object you can still use them to create resistance for your training. The simplest example would be with push-ups. On the photo below you can see exactly how the guy in the photo has the band going around his back and his palms are pressing on it. At one point in my training I just stopped doing push-ups because I couldn’t gain anything from them regardless of the variation. After I received fitpoint’s bands I was trying just anything I could think of and eventually got to the push-ups. Using them for resistance does miracles and I was to feel my chest, shoulders and triceps burning right on the first set. I was very satisfied and started incorporating push-ups in my training once again.

In conclusion I will say that I am still relying on bodylastics for the most part of my workouts but began incorporating fitpoint’s wide lastics as well. If you are from Europe I think they will be your best option for bands since you won’t have to pay import taxes if you purchase them. The company is situated in Italy, you can check their website at http://www.fitpoint.it/.

Regards,
-Arthlete

I’ll start first by sharing what I use in my home workouts.

On this first photo you can see my set of rings. They are attached to the ceiling in my room. It is where my workouts always start(except for the leg workouts). I will begin with several sets of an exercise(levers or crosses usually) and then continue my workout using my assisting equipment which you can see on the photo below.

This is my “assisting” equipment the name comes from assisting exercises. I carry just 1/3 of my workout on the rings to protect the joints in my upper body. For the rest of the workout I am using the equipment in this image. 90% of the time I will be relying on my set of bodylastics to complete my workouts. I will attach them to the front door right behind them and perform a numerous amount of different exercises. In the photo there is also a skip rope(using it very rarely nowadays), another set of rings my sponsors have sent me(still to record a promo video for them), a white rope(used in the One arm chin-up tutorial), a green rubber band(I will show you how to use it in the iron cross tutorial), a sambo belt(for weighted pull-ups), also more rubberbands(which I use for push-ups and some leg exercises), 2 ab wheels(haven’t used them in forever), and 3 pairs of ankle weights(I add ankle weights for when I work crosses or levers on the rings).

This is all the equipment I am counting on for my training at home. Honestly I can go just by my rings and my rubberbands and wouldn’t ever need anything else. But that’s me, I am curious what is your home gym like and what are you most often using in your home workouts? Do you exercise at home only or do you go to a particular gymnastics or climbing gym? Or weightlifting gym?

Take some photos and send them to me on our facebook page or to our email – closetoimpossible AT gmail DOT com

All the home gym photos will be available on this link.

Regards,
-Arthlete

What’s the problem?
“Have a break, have a *candy*”, “Hungry? Why wait?”, “Don’t let hunger happen to you.”, “For the Kid in You” – these are just several slogans of some of the most proclaimed candy bars in my country and I believe all around the world. They encourage you to consume them but they don’t warn you about the risk that you are exposing yourself to by doing so. Eating too much sugar inevitably increases the chances of gaining weight which always goes hand in hand with a lot of health hazards. Some of the health issues which are most often to be encountered include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, high rate of bad cholesterol, tooth decay and the list goes on. Yet people fail to protect themselves and pay for their mistake with their health.

Precautions or what could be done
Recently I heard they are putting labels on foods that are endangering people’s health in my country. Doesn’t this just sound logical? If constant smoking is slowly killing you can’t we say the same for the continuous consumption of candy, soft drinks, cakes and cookies, “foods” we are voluntarily taking everyday from the store to our homes and workplaces. If there could be a “smoking kills” label on all smoking packages why can’t there be one related to the candy bars and soft drinks as well. Not quite sure what it should exactly say but something along the lines of “this product can lead to obesity and all the associated with it diseases”. Of course there will always be people ignoring warnings. Nothing can be done about them but however even if 1 out of 100 is to read the label and begin a healthier lifestyle, wouldn’t that be worth all the efforts? There’s another important side to the story that’s worth mentioning here. A label like that could send a clear message to the players on the market that their pawns(us, the customers) are becoming aware of what’s going on and care for each other.

Just some thoughts for the day. Thanks for reading.
-Arthlete