Strength & Mass for Athletes

Every time I walk into the weight room in my school, I meet a lot of good friends from my rugby team. They like going to the gym, they train together, don’t miss a workout, and are committed. They want to get big, strong, and look good! And why not, if this also helps them in the field, even better.

But, because of the way I am, I can’t help but notice that they are doing some exercises that fuck their shoulders, like bench pressing bodybuilding style with weights they can’t control and doing forced reps. Then they tell me that their shoulder hurts, and it doesn’t surprise me at all.

Other things they do is super wide pull ups, which apart of not being the best thing you can do for your shoulders, especially when you play rugby and use them to tackle day in and day out, don’t allow them to pass their chin over the bar, or load themselves with any significant weight. When I ask them why they do it this way, they’ll tell me it is because “it hits the back”. Doesn’t regular pull ups hit the back, on top of having a much larger ROM (Range Of Motion)? I can tell you that when I do heavy chin ups, the next day my lats are sore as hell.

Of course, as any beginner, they’ll squat bringing their knee forward and putting them at risk of injury, and doing quarter reps. Actually, they do half reps in every exercise they do, because to start, their hand placement or hip/knee break isn’t correct.

But because I love these guys, I want them to succeed, and to avoid wasting years of training, effort, and getting injured on the way. That’s the reason why I promised them to make a routine to help them get big, strong, get a nice looking body, and avoid getting injured in the process.

I recommend this routine to any beginner. It is a classic A/B, training 3 times a week the whole body, with lots of basic compound exercises, progressive overload being the focus, and also with some curls at the end of the workouts, optional of course, just to make them happy.

Where to hang your rings from

People love making excuses. They'll say they ain't got time for making it to the gym, or that they ain't got money for it, even if they have very expensive phones, and go out to party and dinner every single week.

So you tell them, "Hey, you don't have to have those problems anymore. Just make a little investment in a pair of rings, or suspension trainer. This way you will be able to train at home, without spending time and money going to the gym."

But then they will come with a new excuse. They'll say there's nowhere at home to hang the straps from.

So my intention with this post, is to give some ideas to those that really want to train but do not know where to hang their rings from, and at the same time to avoid those excuse-makers from lying to themselves with poor excuses. Now, they will have to invent another lame excuse about why they do not train, or face the truth, and maybe start to man up and train!

Find a place to hang your rings from

Change your point of view

You have to start seeing the world as your gym. Look for things to hang from and do Pull ups, places to climb and heavy shit to lift, be it wood logs or stones.

Now, start searching for a place to hang your rings from. Where do I usually hang them, or would if I had no other place?

Calisthenic Beginner Routine

Many people want to start training with their own bodyweight, because they wanna try something new, or because they have no time to go to the gym. But the problem is that they don't know how to start. That's why I'm going to share with you a good routine you can follow, based on the most basic exercises for beginners, i.e., squats, Australian pull ups, push ups and leg raises, and how you can adapt it to your goals and life.

Bodyweight Routine for Beginners

1A) Australian Pull Ups 2-5 x 20

1B) Push Ups 2-5 x 20

1C) Bodyweight Squats 2-5 x 20

2) Leg Raises 1-2 x 15

How to do Leg Raises

Leg Raises work your abdominal muscles and your hip flexors. Hip flexors are used for flexing your hips... Duh! This is when you approach your knee to your upper body in any way. Think of sprinting, holding the bottom position of a squat, kicking, and much more. I once injured my hip flexor, this is the reason why I know how important they are. I could not lift my leg 1 inch off the floor!

I've made a video showing you how to perform the different variations of leg raises on parallel bars. When you master straight leg raises on the parallels, start again form the easiest variation hanging from a chin up bar, or anything you can hang from.

Here's the video:



Just add this exercise at the end of your workout, and progress when you are able to do 15 reps. Even with just one set you will progress, no need to do any more.

If you give it a try, keep me posted, and if you have any question, don't hesitate to ask.

Train hard!
Gabri

To read this post in Spanish, please click here.

How to do Pushups and Close Pushups

The Pushup is one of the most classical exercises on earth. They are the bread and butter of the military. It is one of the first exercises that comes to your mind when you think of bodyweight exercises.

However, most people do not give them the respect they deserve. They think that it might be a great exercise for cardio circuits, for a finisher and for warm ups, but that there is no way Pushups could help you get bigger and stronger when you are past the beginner status, right? Well, I am here to tell you that they are completely wrong. The first reason why they think so is that they do not even know how to perform a strict pushup, not even the regular variation. They do them only half way down, with they elbows flared out to the sides and with shitty form.

The strict pushup is done by keeping the elbows close to your body, and going all the way down till your chest touches the floor. Once you have mastered the regular pushups, you should slowly progress to close pushups, by reducing the distance between your hands an inch or two once you get used to the new hand width.

Close pushups are awesome. They will blast you triceps and shoulders, and they are a prerequisite to one arm pushups. Don't rush things to avoid injuring your elbows, since you need to give time to your tendons to get used to the greater ROM (Range Of Motion).

In this video I'll show you how to progress from a total beginner level to the close pushup.

Hit the like button of my Facebook page and ask me anything you want.

Train hard!

Gabri

If you want to read this post in Spanish, click here.