Pull ups

I admit I was one of those that avoided pullups/chinups for ages... It was just too difficult to do any more than a couple so I resorted to lat pull downs. That all changed a few years ago having got plenty of advice on the brilliance of the plain old pullup. I've kept working on them and if you keep at it your strength will build up and it gets better, but it takes time. From struggling to do 5 I managed to do the 25 needed for the original 300 workout you may have seen in an earlier post.

The best way to get you started is to have a spotter - someone to help you out. Have the spotter lift you up when you can't do any more and you come down by yourself. Gradually lessen your reliance on the spotter.

When you can go past 15-20 pullups you may want to do some variations. One of those variations I do these days is the pull up on suspension rings as you see me doing below.

So throw in some pullups at least twice a week into your workouts and reap the rewards.

Kettle Bells

Kettlebells are awesome - if you know what you are doing with them :) Here is a kettlebell circuit I did today and I will stick to it for a few more weeks. If you don't have access to kettlebells you can use dumbells but they don't work as well. Here is the workout:

20 Kettlebell Swings (two hands) 24Kg 

20 Single arm kettle bell clean and press (10 for each arm) 24Kg

20 Kettlebell single arm bent over rows (10 for each arm) 24kg

20 Kettlebell upright rows 24kg

20 kettlebell pushups

Do the above with no rest, then take a break and start again for a total of 3 rounds making it 300 reps. Do the first circuit with a lower weight so as to warm up and then go hard the next 2 cycles.

I attach video clips to illustrate each of the above exercises: Enjoy !!

Kettlebell Swings

Single arm clean and press

Bentover rows

Upright rows

Pushups

Point your toes up!

When you workout your legs you will find often people say "drive through your heels" for correct form, this is also true for deadlifts, lunges, and so on. What it means is that you push through through your heels rather than say your toes when you do your squats, keeping your heels firmly planted on the ground. This also prevents you from leaning too far forward and stressing out your knees.

Now, if you've learnt how to do this and have been doing this for years, its not only easy but also natural. However, if you are just starting out or haven't been doing this, then its awkward until you get used to it.

Here is a very simple tip (that I used when I started) to overcome this - point (bend) your toes upwards as you do the exercise. Try it and you will see that it helps a lot. Enjoy !