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Using Kettlebell workouts to enhance fitness (April 30th, 2011)

The Kettlebell has become a popular piece of gym equipment in recent years, although this basic weighted apparatus has been around for decades. As with any other fitness craze, there have been countless Kettlebell workout spring up on blogs and web sites which claim to give you the body you desire in a matter of weeks (usually if you hand over your credit card details, surprisingly!). I’ll be honest, the Kettlebell is not going to drastically improve your progress, but it does have many benefits over other training equipment and I believe should be supplemented into your overall fitness training for enhanced results.

Why use the Kettlebell in your workouts?

The Kettlebell is a circular weighted ball with a large handle attached. There are various weights available, usually from 4kg all the way up to 50+kg. As with any weight training equipment, the Kettlebell is great for improving muscle strength and endurance, but I believe the Kettlebell has even greater benefits than dumbbells and barbells for many users.

Firstly, the Kettlebell is great for improving balance. The exercises performed with Kettlebells tend to be compound; involving many muscle groups, and require assistant muscle groups to support the body and maintain balance.

A further benefit of the Kettlebell is I believe it promotes whole body compound exercises. Yes, you can perform such exercises which a barbell or a pair of dumbbells, but how common is it to see a gym goer perform Olympic movements in the gym? If your gym is anything like mine, most the gym goers use the barbell and dumbbells for bench pressing, biceps curls and lateral raises. Getting someone to use a Kettlebell can promote more beneficial compound movements into a training routine.

Kettlebell exercises

Here are a handful of great Kettlebell exercises you can incorporate into your fitness training!

Kettlebell squats

Targets the quads, hamstrings, glutes (butt) and core muscles. Video by the stunning Lauren Brooks!

Kettlebell shoulder press

Targets the shoulders, triceps and core. Video by Podium Powered.

Kettlebell Russian twist

Targets the core. Video by Charlotte Ord.

One arm Kettlebell clean

Targets the lower body, biceps, shoulders and core. Video by DV8Fitness.

Where can I buy Kettlebells?

Any reputable fitness store will stock Kettlebells. The FitnessUncovered shop stocks 4kg, 8kg, and 12kg Kettlebells.

Body part split training, not for beginners! (April 4th, 2011)

For me unless you are a competitive body builder or a “serious” gym rat, the concept of a traditional split training routine is lost on most people. I remember when I started weight training, I read a lot of magazines and articles about split training and I figured that this is the way to go. I did the traditional chest, shoulders, legs and back (never went as far as an arm day though) split and did ok. The problems I encountered were when I missed sessions for whatever reason. This meant that I was all out of sync and would end up not training a certain area of my body for that week. This could lead to muscle imbalances because of me using the split training method at the time.

What I tend to see nowadays in the gym is younger guys coming in and after reading a body building magazine go in doing split routines straight from the start. I have seen skinny kids doing tons of tricep exercises for example and also overweight individuals doing small isolated movements that don’t burn many calories. This is where the problem lies in traditional split training for the average person. The youngsters want big arms and chests but don’t do the basics and the overweight guys may build great muscles but never get to see them. There is also a tendency to spend hours and hours in the gym training one muscle from all different angles. This is fine if you are a body builder competing in £100,000 plus contests but the average guy on the street? I am not so sure.

The truth is that there are loads of exercises that can give people a solid foundation to start from which I don’t often see people doing. A good example is the squat, you don’t very many kids doing squats at the gym and if you do, it’s using the smith machine (which is not really effective as it is a fixed motion) I remember doing front squats one day and a bunch of teenagers smashing their triceps looking at me like I was mad! (I was probably using about 400 more muscles and burning far more calories) I believe most people don’t attempt a squat because of the difficulty and the fact that you can’t see your legs all the time so why bother. You can’t ever be truly powerful and functional unless you train the foundation of your body and the largest muscle groups like the legs. Another great example is the tricep dip, works a load of muscles and gets the heart rate going but you don’t see it very often, why? It’s far more difficult that the tricep pushdown!

My advice to anyone looking to start weight training is to do your homework. There are plenty of great resources available that give practical balanced advice on muscle gain and nutrition. One book I would recommend is Chad Waterbury’s “Huge in a hurry” as it gives good solid guidance on the type of exercises that really build muscle and burn calories (I am the only one in my gym that does a clean and press for example) This book focuses on the big movements with the option to use isolation to increase gains. I would recommend super setting on isolation movements to increase the heart rate and save time.

In conclusion, what I have written about is not rocket science but sometimes I believe many people get turned off from weight training because of the myths surrounding the way you need to train. Professional bodybuilders are just that and train the way they do for a living, most people haven’t got the time or discipline to do this. I have found my best results from a lot of variation and also using the basics such as pressing, pulling, squatting and lifting really well. If I was to have my time again, I would have got really good at these movements first and hogged the preacher curl machine less!

Get rock hard abs in 3 simple moves (April 2nd, 2011)

A well defined and pronounced 6-pack is only achievable with two things; low body fat and a hypertrophied midsection. The latter is what we aim to discuss in this brief article, and I believe is not optimised by many trainers who are looking to develop a strong and defined set of abs.

The reason why I believe this is due to the many people who train the abdominals within a very high repetition range, and do not train anywhere near to failure. I would guess there are some gym goers who train the abdominals within a high repetition range because they do not want a “chunky” midsection, and instead want a slim, yet defined look. I believe this reasoning is overstated and somewhat misses the point. As with any other muscle group; a toned appearance is the result of some muscle gain and a low body fat. You can achieve muscle gain quicker by training within a repetition range which is more optimal for hypertrophy, which is not the countless reps many perform crunches for!

Train the muscles of the midsection like you would any other muscle group, within a repetition range of 8-15. This will result in notable muscle growth, and compounded with fat loss will create a defined and pronounced 6-pack. The following exercises are great for applying resistance to the muscles of the midsection, and will have your midsection chiselled in no time!

Kneeling cable crunch

You are probably familiar with the traditional bodyweight crunch; the kneeling cable crunch is the same sort of movement, yet performed kneeling and using resistance in the form of a cable station. The reason we perform the crunch with a cable is so we can adjust the resistance we use, instead of being limited by our bodyweight.

How to:

• Attach a rope handle attachment to the high pulley and set the resistance at a suitable level (start off light to begin with)
• Grasp each rope handle, kneel down in front of the cable station, and bring your hands just above your head
• Hyperextend your back slightly at the top of the movement to stretch the abdominals
• Keep your lower body and hips fixed in position whilst crunching forward so you bring your elbows close to your thighs
• Reverse the movement in a controlled manner
• Repeat for repetitions

Hanging leg raise

The hanging leg raise is a fairly difficult exercise to do, yet it is great for exercising the lower portion of the abdominals. You can increase and decrease the difficulty of the exercise by changing how far you extend your legs during the movement. Those new to the leg raise can keep their knees fully bent to reduce the resistance. As you become stronger, you can increase the difficulty by extending your legs during the raise.

How to:

• Hang from a high pull up bar, ensuring there is ample clearance below
• Raise your legs be flexing at the hips
• Fully flex at the hips until your thighs are well past parallel to the ground and the abdominals are flexed
• Slowly reverse the movement
• Repeat for repetitions

Cable twist

The cable twist is similar to the cable crunch we previously mentioned, but the crunch is performed on a declined weight bench, and the resistance is from the side of the body so we can perform a twisting motion during the crunch. This is a fantastic way of exercising the obliques. The exercise can also be performed using an exercise ball, as shown in the video the right.

This exercise is also referred to as the Russian crunch, or Russian twist.

How to:

• Place a decline weight bench next to a low cable pulley, so the cable pulley is to the side of your midsection when you are positioned on the bench
• Attach a D handle to the cable and adjust to a suitable resistance
• Sit on the bench, in a half seated position (the half way position of a crunch, with the back not touching the bench), and grasp the handle to your side with the hand closest to the pulley station and place the other hand on top of your grasping hand
• Lock your arms, and twist the handle across in front of the body by rotating the torso, until the arm closest to the cable station is now across your torso and parallel to the ground
• Slowly reverse the move back to the starting position
• Repeat for repetitions, and remember to turn the bench around after each set to perform the exercise again for the other side

When supplements are NOT for you! (March 26th, 2011)

Those new to the gym can be forgiven for getting sucked into the marketing hype surrounding supplements. We’ve all been there. “Gain up to 14lbs of rock hard muscle in 2 weeks!” or “lose up to 1 stone with no exercise!” litter magazines and online adverts – the bold claims accompanied with a picture of a pro bodybuilder or an airbrushed model, enticing you to part with your hard earned cash for a tub of these life changing magic beans.

I understand some may say there is some irony in that statement, after all; FitnessUncovered sells a vast range of fitness and bodybuilding supplements! However, this brief article is not at all against supplement use, if we were against supplements we would not sell them. It is more to do with the use of supplements, and how they are viewed by the gym goer. Supplements can be extremely useful, if used correctly.

Here are some examples of when I believe it is not productive for a person to buy and use supplements. If you think you fall into these categories, not to worry; keep reading this site and others, you will soon master the fundamentals and gain the knowledge needed to make the best possible gains in the gym!

You pay more attention to your supplement intake than your diet

It is lost with many that supplements are called supplements for a reason. They are meant to supplement your dietary intake. The problem is, you mention the word “diet” to most people and they naturally switch off. People will happily purchase a tub of protein powder because the big guy at the gym uses the same stuff, but they pay hardly any attention to the poor quality protein sources they are consuming within their overall food intake.

Want to gain muscle size? Put a diet in place which is geared towards this goal, and then look at supplements. Want to lose weight? Put a diet in place which is geared towards this goal, and then look at supplements. You are not going to achieve either goal by paying little attention to your diet, it is fundamental.

You believe you can lose a stone in a week or gain twenty pounds of muscle within a fortnight

I received an email recently from a young women asking if taking a certain weight loss supplement will help her lose weight in time for an important event happening in four days time. I politely explained that four days is a far too short a time span to lose any notable body weight, and I encourage her not to purchase the supplement she had her eyes on, and instead look to perform some exercise and follow a restricted calorie intake. She was very disappointed to hear it would take at least weeks, not the four days, to see any meaningful results.

Supplement companies prey on people like this! The email from the young women is what gave me the idea to write this brief article, as I want more people following a sustainable path to fitness and health, not a quick fix in a bottle.

Your monthly supplement regime costs nearly the same as your mortgage

Unless you are a pro bodybuilder or athlete, there is no reason to spend masses of money on your supplement intake. As mentioned, you should be looking to source most your nutrients through your diet. Supplements are the final layer of icing on the cake, so to speak.

If you’re finding you are spending hundreds of pounds a month on supplements, I believe it is time to take a step back and assess your overall nutritional intake!

Shin splints (March 19th, 2011)

Shin splints are a common problem for runners, especially for those who run on hard pavements and roads. Shin splits refer to a pain located in the inside front of the lower leg, which can be caused by a number of factors.

Inflammation of the covering around the Tibia (lower leg bone) can be one reason for the pain. You may notice swelling, redness, and small lumps when pressing down on the inside of the shin bone. The pain associated with shin splints can be present after physical activity, as well as during.

Treating shin splits

1. Stop physical activity.
2. Rest.
3. Immediately after you experience the pain apply an ice pack or a bag of frozen peas to the front of the lower leg to reduce any possible swelling and inflammation. Also elevate the lower legs.
4. Over the next few days stretch the muscles of the calves.
5. Slowly return to training, possibly looking at low impact exercise to begin with, such as swimming.

For severe persisting shin splints, seek professional help.

Preventing shin splints

Shin splints can be caused by tight calve muscles, biomechanics, incorrect footwear and poor running surfaces.

1. Thoroughly warm up prior to exercise by performing some body weight calve raises and toe raises, and slowly building up intensity during your main cardio workout.
2. Ensure you regularly stretch the muscles of the calves. Invest in a foam roller; they are great for loosening the calves and other muscles!
3. Buy specific running trainers which offer support and cushioning. Seek advice in a reputable sports/running shop, as you can buy trainers specifically designed for your running style and biomechanics.
4. Running on more forgiving surfaces will help reduce the stress on the lower legs.