Bony to Beastly—How to Build a Badass Home Gym(Updated February 2. I gained my first twenty pounds using a rusty old barbell and bench that my dad and I found on the side of the road. It wasn’t expensive, it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t safe. It also wasn’t the first time I’d tried to build muscle. I’d already tried going to the gym, using a personal trainer, and martial arts. This time though, in my simple rickety home gym, I finally figured out the basic principles of weight gain. Orthopedia.com reports that the most traumatic pectoral tears occur in weight. You can build massive pecs at home with just a used set of dumbbells. Individual chest exercises and complete chest workouts made easy with pics & videos. Dont overtrain! Many people do pushups every day thinking that is the way to huge pecs, WRONG, it isnt even the way to strong pecs. Doing pushups every day optimizes. Greyskull LP Training Guide Fitness by nfontbuena My Penis And Everyone Else’s challenges society’s stereotypes of masculinity as well as getting to the heart of why men are so fixated with their members. Genetics is the key factor that determines body shapes and each person will have varying sizes for different muscle groups and overall physique symmetry. Chris, the reason is because the article is called “Stop Stretching!” and SMR (self myofascial release) is NOT stretching, but breaking up fascial adhesions which. Joram Oudenaarde. Great article! Some of these things are unconsiously obvious, but laying them out like that really makes it clear what parts we need to focus on. You don’t need much equipment to build muscle optimally. The big heavy muscle- building lifts don’t require much. You don’t even need the rickety bench and rusty barbell that I had. If you’re smart about this, you can get away with just one simple piece of fairly inexpensive equipment. Maybe two. Gaining My First Twenty Pounds. Despite my very best efforts I started out at a pretty bony 1. This isn’t me after attempting a marathon, struggling with an eating disorder or intentionally losing weight or anything. This was the heaviest I’d ever been. And I’d been trying to gain weight for six years. On left you can see me at my then- heaviest. It’s hard to show you what I looked like back then because I started destroying evidence as soon as I started growing. Luckily, my friends kept that photo of me in the unitard. Probably as blackmail. The middle shot is me right after having trained for four months in my parents’ basement with an awkward mix of equipment from the side of the road and a local fitness store.* I’d finally gained weight. Twenty pounds in four months. I didn’t know that was possible for anyone, let alone me. That was enough to stop my friends from thinking of me as “the skinny kid” and start treating me like a man.(The final photo is me after having gained another 4o pounds. That story here.)Over the years we’ve coached many hundreds of guys into building muscle. Some guys train at home, some guys train at the gym—both work equally well. Their success doesn’t have much to do with how fancy their setup is, but rather how well they apply the fundamentals of muscle- building lifting and nutrition. Here’s what a member of our community, a thin medical doctor, was able to accomplish doing our Bony to Beastly Program from home: Basic Gym- Building Principles. Progressive overload. Progressive overload is “the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during training.” This is what causes our body to adapt. Since our goal is building muscle, we need to do a type of training that causes our body to adapt by synthesizing new muscle mass. To do this we need to increase our strength, not our endurance, balance, fitness or the myriad of other things we can train for. The way to best increase our strength is resistance training. There are several ways to do resistance training, and some are better than others. For example, bodyweight workouts are better than nothing, but not anywhere near what weightlifting can offer. Going from 1. 5 pushups to 6. There are ways to make bodyweight workouts heavier, but if your goal is building muscle, you don’t want be spending six months mastering a handstand pushup so that you finally have the balance and stabilizer muscles you need to start building up your shoulders. If you want to build muscle effectively, weightlifting is the best route. You start off lifting within your means and you gradually lift more and more, building muscle along the way. Over time your technique improves and you start lifting heavier and heavier weights. Each step of the way your body responds by growing bigger, stronger and more stable. In order to do this we need weights that get progressively heavier. The Five Fundamental Movements. Once we have some weights we can work with, the best way to build muscle is to learn a few movement patterns that allow you to hit all the muscle groups that you’re trying to grow. Marco learned these five fundamental movement patterns from strength legend Dan John: Presses, like the bench press, build up your shoulders, chest, triceps and abs. Pulls, like the chin up, build up your back, shoulders, biceps, forearms and abs. Hinges, like the deadlift, build up your back, butt, legs, abs and forearms. Squats, like the back squat, build up your legs, abs, butt and back. Loadedcarries, like the farmer carry, turn you into a true beast. They build up your core, your forearms, your traps, your bones, and build up all kinds of spinal support and stability. Stuart Mc. Gill, the leading expert in spinal health, calls these a “moving plank” and considers them one of the most important tools for developing a strong body that resists injury.(Shown: dumbbell sumo deadlift, goblet squat, one- arm two- point supinated hinge row, one- arm press and cross carry.)You’ll see that your abs, obliques, forearms, shoulders, back and hips are getting a lot of attention. They need it. We’re teaching them how to work together in a variety of different ways. Rather than isolating muscle groups, we’re using many different muscle groups at once to perform the most natural human movements as effectively and efficiently as possible. This develops real world strength, coordination, balance. Let’s say you’re trying to learn how to type – would it make sense to spend Monday practicing typing with just your index finger, Tuesday practicing typing with just your middle finger, Wednesday typing with just your ring finger? Obviously not. You’d want to learn how to use everything together. Not only that, you’d want to practice typing actual words, learning actual movement patterns and building up muscle memory so that you can do those movements without thinking. That’s how you become a fearsome typist. That’s also how you build a fearsome physique. Just like typing, soon being a strong dude will become intuitive both in and out of the gym. When you start your lawnmower you’ll be doing a perfect pull, when you carry your groceries you’ll be doing a perfect loaded carry, when you pick up your wife and lift her over your head you’ll be doing a perfect hinge and then a perfect press. You can also add in some isolation lifts to give your favourite areas some love. We use plenty of biceps curls and triceps extensions, chest flys and shoulder raises. So when it comes to building a home gym we need weights that allow us to do these fundamental movement patterns (and some curls and stuff). The minimum dose that’s maximally effective. If you get a gym membership you’ll have access to a vast array of equipment that let’s you do a rather overwhelming amount of different lifts. That’s great, but when we’re trying to put together a home gym we want to keep equipment to an absolute minimum. And we want to do this while still getting maximal results. If you do this right, you can buy a few high quality, safe and effective pieces of equipment and have everything you need for the rest of your life. Safety. We also want to avoid being pinned under bars and dropping barbells on your head, or getting an exercise machine that forces unnatural movement patterns and puts stress on our lower back and whatnot. Recap. So we need to build a gym that let’s us lift progressively heavier in the five fundamental movement patterns with minimal equipment—safely. With all of that in mind, here’s how to build a beastly home gym: Building the Best Muscle- building Home Gym. Must Have: Big Heavy Adjustable Dumbbells. Dumbbells are the most effective piece of muscle- building equipment—far better than any machine, and arguably better than even the barbell. They’re also cheap, they don’t take up much room, and they allow us to lift very safely. You can safely drop them to the sides if you get stuck during a bench press, safely drop them to the front if you get stuck during a goblet squat, etc. Just don’t drop them on your feet. Best of all, if you get a adjustable ones (or a wide assortment of different weights), you can start light and progressively load them up heavier and heavier each week as you grow bigger and stronger. That’s everything you need to build one helluva burly body. Dumbbells are the only mandatory piece of equipment needed to do our Bony to Beastly Program. Here are some lifts you can do with just a couple dumbbells: The Press: Floor Press, Half- Kneeling Press, Pushups, Tricep Extensions. The Pull: Hinge Row, Bicep Curl, Hammer Curl. The Hinge: Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift, Suitcase Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Dumbbell swings. The Squat: Goblet Squat, Split squat, Lunges (backwards)The Carry: One- Arm Farmer Carry, Racked Carry, Cross Carry, Waiter carry. What I’d get: Badass & Basic Adjustable Dumbbells (1. These Amazon links are affiliate links, so if you purchase something after following the link we’ll get a small 4% commission, which would be sweet! If you decide to get this stuff using our links – thank you! The three of us really appreciate it. However, checking for secondhand weights on a site like Kijiji is a good option too. You might get lucky! Probably Want: Sturdy Adjustable Bench. While you can build muscle perfectly well with a pair of adjustable dumbbells, there will probably be a time when you’re eager to expand on the list of exercises you can do and the range of motion that you can do them through. An adjustable bench allows you to turn your floor presses into dumbbell bench presses, turn your hinge rows into 3- point rows, unlock some new badass strength lifts like the pullover, and some badass aesthetic lifts like the incline bicep curl. Some of many new exercises: The Push: Dumbbell Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Military Press. The Pulls: Dumbbell Row, Pullover, Chest Supported Reverse Fly, Incline Bicep Curl. The Squat: Bulgarian Split Squats, Step Ups. The Hinge: hip thrusts, one- legged hip thrusts. The bench just needs to be sturdy, well proportioned and simple. You don’t need a bench with any sort of weird leg attachments or “bonus” features on it—they’ll just get in the way. Go for quality and function, not fanciness. How To Be More Attractive In 5 Easy Steps. One of the ongoing debates that crops up when it comes to dating advice for men is: “How important are men’s looks?” Just check the comments section of this blog; whenever I talk about what women find attractive in men, people will inevitably show up and insist that all of this is bullshit and that women are interested in tall dudes with rippling washboard abs, blindingly white teeth, pecs you could bounce rocks off of, an Audi R8 and a 7 figure bank account. Which is why Dwayne Johnson has been People’s Sexiest Man Alive for seven years running. But they also don’t. Confused? It’s understandable. The issue comes down to the differences between how men and women define “attractiveness”. Men tend to have a more uniform definition of what they consider attractive while women’s definitions tend to have more variability. Men tend to assume that women view men with the same metrics that men view women – that is, that women will put greater importance on facial symmetry, height, body fat percentages, penis size and muscle tone. In reality, being attractive to women is a combination of a host of factors, coming together to build a holistic version of desirability that’s based on more than just whether or not one has Scandinavian cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. Good looks in men certainly help when it comes to attraction; nobody is denying that. But there’s a difference between being good looking and being attractive. And there are many ways for a man to make himself more attractive. The Difference Between Good Looks and Attractiveness. There’s no question that good looks help in life. Humans are psychologically predisposed to be more positively inclined toward people who are physically attractive; a cognitive bias known as the “halo effect” influences people’s judgements and impressions about a person based purely on their physical appearance. A person who is blessed with good looks will frequently have a leg up in the world. However: The definition of what women consider to be “good looking” varies wildly. Men tend to think that all women go for Chris Hemsworth’s god- like build and leonine mane of hair, when women may be far more likely to scream for Joseph Gordon Levitt’s more wiry frame, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s gap- tooth smile or Matt Smith’s unique fivehead. I mean, some women dig the Easter Island Moai look, y’know? A person can be good looking. A man can be far less than model- gorgeous and still be incredibly attractive to women; in fact, one of the most popular, sex- gettingist men I have known is short and fat, yet attracts women like cheese attracts mice. The men who are most invested in the idea that women only like guys who look like X often need to believe that attraction is immutable; it takes the pressure off of them to be responsible for their own successes – or lack thereof. It allows them to put the blame on others – on women who have “unfair” standards, on the media for promoting certain looks, on their own genes. After all, short of painful surgeries, there’s not much a man can do about the shape of his face or his height. Attractiveness, however, is about more than facial symmetry and height. It’s about how a man presents himself – the way he talks, the way he dresses and his attitude. There’s more to grooming and self- care than the usual male ritual of “a couple of spritz under the pits and out the door you go”. If a woman gags when gets within two feet of you. The 9. 9 cent drugstore special is not going to help you here and most of them are going to leave white residue on your clothes. You’re better off to shell out for something at the level of Anthony’s Logistics for Men than Speed- Stick. Also: no Axe anything. Ever. However, most men stop here when it comes to personal grooming. This is a mistake; part of grooming means taking care of your face and skin. After all, 9. 9% of communication means being face to face with people – why wouldn’t you want to keep up the maintenance of the one area that everybody is going to be looking at? It’s time to embrace proper skin- care. Many men will avoid this for fear of being too “metro” (read: gay) and as a result. Their skin looks old and dull and detracts from their natural looks. Proper skin care will make you look younger, more alert and – importantly – more attractive. Start with going beyond washing your face with bar soap, which will actually dry your skin and make things worse. You want a facial cleanser – preferably one with 2% salicylic acid – in the morning to help wash away dirt, debris and oils that lead to clogged pores and zits. OH GOD HYGIENE BURNS IT BURNS US PRECIOUSSSSS! Follow this up with a moisturizer with sun- screen. Sun exposure ages your skin and leaves you at risk for skin cancer; this is why you need the sunscreen. Meanwhile, the moisturizer keeps your skin firm and smooth, minimizes fine lines, and preserves skin’s elasticity. At least once a week, use an exfoliating scrub. Think of it as sanding away the top layer of paint on an old house; you’re getting rid of the old, damaged, and dead skin and letting your real face shine through. Also: learn to corral your unwanted hair. Get a decent pair of tweezers and attack your eyebrows and any ear and nose hair. Keeping bushy eyebrows under control (especially if you tend towards a unibrow) will work wonders for improving your look and confidence, and you don’t want anyone getting in close to notice stray nose or ear hairs.(This, I might add, gets much more important the older you get; when you start losing hair on your head, you start gaining it everywhere else.)While I’m at it: take care of your damn hands. You don’t have to go out and get a mani/pedi (but I do recommend it) but you want to keep your nails neatly trimmed (not bitten) and filed with care to avoid points or raggedy edges. Women definitely notice your hands. Sorry. Most men have absolutely no idea what to do with their hair. They go to the barber or Supercuts, get the exact same haircut over and over again, and never stop to think just how much a decent hair cut can change how they look. There’s more to a haircut than just trimming off a couple of inches here and there; a proper hair cut can completely transform your face, bring balance to your features and help frame your personality. Also: No ponytails. Very few men can pull off long hair and unless you are ripcord, rockstar thin, that includes you. Some of us learned this the hard way. This means you need to get a decent hair cut. Find a good stylist. Do not go to Super. Cuts or that place in the mall; you want a proper salon or barbershop and that means being willing to pay. Sorry, but this is definitely one of the areas where you get what you pay for. It can be hard to find a new barber or stylist (I hate it, personally) because it can be hard to find a good one, but it’s vitally important. Word of mouth is the best way to find one, but Yelp and Google Reviews can help lead you in the right direction. Bring a photo. Yup, it’s a chick move, but it helps you communicate exactly what you want to your barber instead of trying to convince him or her to read your mind. Just be willing to be flexible; a good barber will be taking your head and face shape, hair thickness and texture into account and not everybody is going to be able to pull off the same style. If you have curly hair, you’re going to have to learn how to work with it. If you have thinning hair, you need to learn to embrace it and just start cutting things short. Use some product. Different hair products are suited to different hair styles – wax works better for thicker, coarser hair while clay or pomade works better for thinner or silkier hair. A little bit of hair product can turn a sloppy look into something nice. While you’re at it: start attacking your facial hair. Some people can pull off facial hair. If you have patches of bare skin in your beard, you need to just accept that you may not be one of them; a patchy, scraggly beard makes you look more like Chester The Molester than the God of Testosterone you think you are. That being said, a nicely trimmed. Keep it short and neat and for fuck’s sake don’t let it grow into neckbeard territory. Shave your neck; your beard should stop just under your jaw line – not so close that you look overly groomed but not so far that you look like you spend all your time in your mother’s basement running 2. World of Warcraft. Step Three: Your Clothes Need To Fit. There is nothing that drives me crazier than people who wear clothes that don’t fit properly. Most men out there do not wear clothes that actually fit them. Many times, it’s that they are so simply out of touch with how clothes are meant to fit; they dress for comfort, under the assumption that clothes are supposed to be roomy. Others are insecure about their bodies and wear larger clothes in an attempt to disguise it. This never works. In fact, wearing clothes that are too large will serve to draw attention to the fact that you’re trying to camouflage a perceived flaw.(The less said about “relaxed fit” anything the better.)At best, wearing clothes that don’t fit looks sloppy and immature, making even the most expensive, stylish clothes look like something you picked up from the Lost and Found. At worst, you look like a kid trying to play dress- up in his daddy’s clothes. PLEASE stop doing this. Here’s what you need to know: A shirt’s shoulder seam should sit at your shoulder joint. If it goes any further, it’s too big. Cuffs on a dress shirt should not reach past your wrist. A dress shirt’s collar should be loose enough so that you can slip two fingers into the neck without effort. Blazers, jackets, and sports coats should also have shoulder seams that sit at the shoulder joint. The sleeves should stop around 3/4 of an inch from the back of your hand, allowing just a little cuff to show. Pants are meant to sit at your natural waist, approximately three finger- widths below your navel.
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