Resistance bands are a wonderfully effective addition to any workout routine, especially when it comes to rehabilitation or strength training. Available in a variety of resistance levels and lengths, resistance bands have become the latest craze in the fitness community over the past five years New Fad or Old trick? While they may seem like… Continue reading Guest Post: A brief history of resistance bands
Cambered bars, that is bars with a slight or pronounced bend, are one of the more niche elements of the gym floor. While many of us will be familiar with the EZ Bar, undoubtedly the most popular form of cambered bars, far fewer will have used Safety Squat, Buffalo or straight Cambered Bars as part… Continue reading The History of the Cambered Bar
So admittedly I am a massive fan of the World's Strongest Man competition having grown up watching clips from the 1980s and 1990s. As a child I marvelled at the strength of Geoff Capes, the 'Viking' Jón Páll Sigmarsson and I even had a soft spot for Rick 'Grizzly' Brown. There was one strongman however, who… Continue reading Forgotten Exercises: Kazmaier Shrugs
Owing to the increasing popularity of powerlifting, cross fit and olympic lifting, chances are you either own a weightlifting belt or see them on a regular basis on the gym floor. A means of bracing the abdomen, weightlifting belts are a source of controversy in the weightlifting world between those who see them as legitimate… Continue reading The History of Weightlifting Belts
Image Source Are you interested in learning about the history of StairMaster? If yes, then here is amazing information you may need to know. StairMaster was first found by Lanny Potts and Jim Walker, and then introduced at the National Sporting Goods Association Trade show by Tri-Tech, Inc. of Tulsa Oklahoma in 1983. However, it… Continue reading Guest Post: History of Stairmaster
I grew up in the age of rotator cuff injuries. Whether or not the danger was as real as people believed, it didn't matter. I, like many others, spent the first five years of training involved a series of mind numbingly boring shoulder exercises as part of our warm up. Taking light dumbbells, we would… Continue reading The History of the Face Pull
In 90% of the training you do the emphasis should be on picture-perfect form AND heavy weights. Cheating is undesirable, and while it SEEMS that you are working harder because you are lifting moreyou are, in fact, working less intensively since the “heavier” work is being distributed over many hefty muscle groups – instead of… Continue reading Bradley Steiner, ‘Partials, Rack Work And Isometrics’, POWERLIFTING (1972), 16-17
Few pieces of equipment have a century's long history. Aside, perhaps, from the Indian club, most of the machines or devices we exercise with today count their origins to the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Sure some may argue that dumbbells have long been used by trainees but a simple look at Ancient Greek halteres makes clear… Continue reading The Long History of the Medicine Ball
Many young men take up weight training because they are underweight. Individuals who have been underweight most of their lives usually have high metabolic rates, i.e., they burn calories at a rapid rate, making it difficult to add mass to their frames. Having such high BMR’s, these individuals are especially prone to overtraining. In such… Continue reading Mike Mentzer,’High Calorie Diet: 6000 Calories,’ Heavy Duty Nutrition (1993), 16.
Since beginning my study of physical culture several years ago, I have been fascinated by the extent of Irish physical culture. Part of the British Empire in the early twentieth century, Ireland was very much influenced by the broader spread of physical culture in Great Britain. So close were the two regions that the Irish… Continue reading Ireland’s First Bodybuilding Show
