Home gym gear review thread

[Chocki]

For example you could say that a back squat is functional because it mimics a standard human movement that we've been doing for 10s if not 100s of thousands of years. Although then you could argue that you are not usually lifting heavy weight on your shoulders, so therefore a front squat, deadlift or farmers walk be more "functional" because it more closely mimics lifting or carrying something off the ground. To take it further, you could argue that lifting a sandbag or some kind of irregular shaped heavy item be more "functional" because most objects that we need to lift in real life are not dense yet relatively small uniformly shaped discs at the end of a smooth stick.

Meanwhile, fitness equipment manufacturers sell "functional" trainers which are merely cable systems with different angles for pulling weight stacks.

I came to this very same conclusion a long time ago. If I don’t see the potential for carryover/improved athleticism I’m not doing it. Kettlebells have enough of a carryover it’s been termed the WTF effect. Preface, Marker is fully legit imo.

The What the Hell Effect: How the Swing Improves Everything - Breaking Muscle

In the Hardstyle kettlebell community, people talk about the “What the Hell Effect.” The phrase is typically uttered after someone uses only kettlebells for a period of time and then finds great increases in strength in other movements, seemingly unrelated to the kettlebell. RELATED: The Origins...

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I posted this anecdote before and it’s relevant again. Josh Henkin aka sandbag dude had a booth at a fitness convention. In the booth on the floor was a heavy sandbag. Many dudes with impressive #s in the gym struggled or just outright failed to lift it. Does that mean that sandbags are the best tool for developing raw strength? No. A barbell is. But...

 

[Chocki]

I posted a thread on it a week ago. I was hoping more people would post on it. I'm trying to learn more about it.


Judging by some of the call-outs he's been getting lately, he's going to die by the clicks. I actually never associated Jeff with functional training. His schtick seems to mostly be unilateral training and training on your feet more. "If you want to look like an athlete, you need to train like an athlete." I tried one of his programs and didn't see any improvements in strength or hypertrophy.

I think some of Jeff's "genetics" are vitamin S. IDK, Greg Doucette has been pwning him lately. Greg rightly makes the point, "Look, if the guy will lie about the weights he's lifting, what else will he lie about?"

JC is the worst. Total fraud and a loser imo. 40+ yo old wanna be fuck boy passing off bodybuilding as functional training. Fake weights just proved my snap judgement was right. When you’re that jacked and it looks like your body is covered in dick skin there’s some human lab rat/addiction level juicing going on. FWIW I’m totally cool with anyone who’s honest about their vitamins (Jujimufu = juicy mofo), and I’d literally bet my life on the fact that Max is and always has been natty. If you asked him about them I guarantee his answer would be something like “how proud can you be of an A you got on a test by cheating” and also something about how idiotic it is to be willing to wreck your endocrine system for nothing.

 

[Chocki]

You guys are scientists. I'm just a surfer dude. I've been doing squats and deadlifts with light weights (75lbs and 95 lbs respectively...lots of reps). I get DOMS every time in my glutes and hamstrings. Then the other day we finally had tubes at my local and I found it hard to get in a tight crouch. My hamstrings were too tight (and the back was resisting too). Pulling in is the only thing I'm kind of good at. So now I've added air squats in my "compromised" valgus squat position to my regimen. I swear the muscle dynamics feel a whole lot different than a proper squat. Less glute and hamstring and more in the knees. I also from time to time get down in my tube crouch and stay in that position for while to stretch those muscles, whatever it is attached to my inner knees. Today we had little wave and I felt I could crouch again. Always a little worried about popping m discs again when I try to squeeze into micro tubes...

Air/bw/Hindu squats are fully legit. They’re on my short list of things to get good at. Did a set of 50 the other day. I should be able to do 100 shame.
I enjoy learning about S+C, no doubt. That’s why I became a PT/got my CSCS. But one of the main principles that has guided me from the start is

Pavel’s Minimalism: “When All You Have is a Hammer…”

The fourth part in our series “20 Years of Pavel Tsatsouline.” Table of contents here. In our last installment we encountered Pavel Tsatsouline’s first major book, Power to the Peo…

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[JTS]

Thanks for the information in this thread, I’ve been enjoying it
I trained and competed in powerlifting in my 40s and early 50s . I wasn’t any good really, just loved training with a couple of good friends who were very strong . Lost touch with both of them due to military moves and addiction struggles.
Haven’t been training PL in probably 8 years

1 thing I found is that I have really limited mobility ( especially in my shoulders and thoracic). I never really realized how limited it had gotten until I started BJJ 3 years ago . I’ve spent most of the COVID lockdown trying to improve my ROM ha ha

I set up a room with mats for working on drilling and yoga. Added a really nice pull-up bar from Rogue, some rings, 2 KBs and a rower for cardio.
At 61 I’m just trying to stay in shape to keep surfing and keeping rolling.
Jim

 

[Havoc]

Thanks for the information in this thread, I’ve been enjoying it
I trained and competed in powerlifting in my 40s and early 50s . I wasn’t any good really, just loved training with a couple of good friends who were very strong . Lost touch with both of them due to military moves and addiction struggles.
Haven’t been training PL in probably 8 years

1 thing I found is that I have really limited mobility ( especially in my shoulders and thoracic). I never really realized how limited it had gotten until I started BJJ 3 years ago . I’ve spent most of the COVID lockdown trying to improve my ROM ha ha

I set up a room with mats for working on drilling and yoga. Added a really nice pull-up bar from Rogue, some rings, 2 KBs and a rower for cardio.
At 61 I’m just trying to stay in shape to keep surfing and keeping rolling.
Jim

more reason to work on compound movements. one of the coaches at my gym is mega strong and blk belt jiu justu

 

[Chocki]

more reason to work on compound movements. one of the coaches at my gym is mega strong and blk belt jiu justu

Was on the Strong First forum (legit strength/kettlebell org/“school”) looking into something about loaded carries I think and the old salts were talking about how that was the way to go eventually/ultimately because it offered the most strength(and conditioning) gains for the least wear and tear on your joints/body. Based on my personal experience with a program of just farmer’s walks alone unlocking beast mode (I looked like I just got out of prison) I’d agree.

Imo you can program your movement patterns better not under load anyway?

Train and Challenge your Balance the right way | MAX SHANK Training Program

One thing that always strikes me as interesting is the excessive use of odd toys to enhance a person’s balance.

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[Havoc]

more reason to work on compound movements. one of the coaches at my gym is mega strong and blk belt jiu justu

btw hes mendes bros blk belt. i'd still train but the injury potential is huge. st ppl dont think about as they age. too many frens with severely injured backs and necks from bjj. myself included

 

[PRCD]

Clinical reasoning framework for thoracic spine exercise prescription in sport: a systematic review and narrative synthesis | BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine

I don't think this a great study. Most of the compound movements would work better in several of these categories. Otherwise, they're talking about mobility exercises.
(open the table) https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/6/1/e000713#DC4

It takes careful attention to move the proper segment in any of these exercises. For example, It's easy to move the lumbar spine when you're supposed to be moving the thoracic. The Bird Dog mostly moves the neck and lumbar spine if those are already the most mobile.

 

[VonMeister]

I think there' some confusion between effort/exhaustion and stress.

Lifting a sandbag is hard. There is no way I can pick up a 300 pound sandbag to waist level once, while this weight is a multi rep warm up for me deadlifting. Two reasons...the first is I don't have the technique because I don't pick up sandbags. Second is, a sandbag puts you at a mechanical disadvantage. When deadlifting a bar it is completely inside and centered on all my leverage points. With a sandbag it's the opposite, outside and not centered.

Lifting a sandbag will fatigue you at much less weight than a deadlift at the same number of repetitions. Both will fatigue you at a maximal effort in almost the exact same degree.

What is fatigue? It's the decline in ability of a muscle to generate force. What is the usefulness of fatigue? It's a metal awareness of some degree of work being done but in and of itself it's not useful outside of that moment.

Lifting a sandbag does not recruit more muscles or motor units than a deadlift, they both will require every muscle in the body to be maximally contracted in order for the implement to move at higher working sets.

In consideration of building strength, is there a reason you would want to train an exercise that fatigues you as part of a mechanical disadvantage over an exercise that fatigues you by focusing leverages and external stress directly on the muscles and relies almost solely on muscle contraction vs isometric stabilization? The fatigue is greater for sure, but the absolute muscular stress is lower. We know strength is increased by applying stress to muscles and the subsequent recovery from that stress so why would you limit it?

Now, if lifting sandbags, battle ropes and farmers carries builds a level of adherence for the trainee because he/she finds them enjoyable, I would by all means recommend them..or mostly recommend them to someone else because I'm focused on people who are already athletes or athletic and are just trying to improve in their sport or rehab and prevent injuries. I will add that they are great assistance exercises because trainees need sub maximal stress during the training week in order to recover from the high stress exercises. Battle ropes are a great challenge day exercise.

 

[JTS]

btw hes mendes bros blk belt. i'd still train but the injury potential is huge. st ppl dont think about as they age. too many frens with severely injured backs and necks from bjj. myself included

True , potential for injuries is high, no denying that. At my age I’m just trying to learn and have fun so I’m very picky about rolling partners- stay away from big white belts , ex wrestlers and guys getting ready for competitions. Luckily I have made quite a few friends in the BJJ community, most guys realize stomping a mud hole in a 61 year old man doesn’t give you any street cred
How long did you train for?

 

[Havoc]

True , potential for injuries is high, no denying that. At my age I’m just trying to learn and have fun so I’m very picky about rolling partners- stay away from big white belts , ex wrestlers and guys getting ready for competitions. Luckily I have made quite a few friends in the BJJ community, most guys realize stomping a mud hole in a 61 year old man doesn’t give you any street cred
How long did you train for?

Rickson Gracies school in west LA many many years ago. trained up to blue belt test 3+ years. injured my neck badly and stopped. did muay thai for 10+ years

 

[Chocki]

Rickson Gracies school in west LA many many years ago. trained up to blue belt test 3+ years. injured my neck badly and stopped. did muay thai for 10+ years

Doesn’t get much more legendary than Rickson. Respect and sorry about your neck.
If VM sees this he is going to get a huge boner. Going to join CF gym with all the toys and open workouts. Along with sleds, farmer’s walks with the bars, etc., going to be concentrating on getting good enough at the Olympic Lifts. Except for back squats. That sh!t is whack.

 

[VonMeister]

That was terrible and unnecessary. Stupid human tricks. Not training, just a display.

The back squat is probably the single most useful exercise. If a person only had time for one exercise it should be the back squat.

I can watch Klokov lift for hours over and over again. Olympic lifting is awesome. Olympic lifting for strength training not so much. Olympic lifting is a technique, not a training method (unless you are training to be an olympic lifter of course).

Crossfit gyms are usually very well put together and stocked to the gills with equipment. When I travel it's usually a Crossfit gym that will allow me to use their facility to train. I always offer to pay them a day use fee but it's rarely collected. I've never left a Crossfit gym without a great experience with the people there. Crossfit though...is silly.

One indisputable fact. Random training equals random results.

 

[Chocki]

That was terrible and unnecessary. Stupid human tricks. Not training, just a display.

The back squat is probably the single most useful exercise. If a person only had time for one exercise it should be the back squat.

I can watch Klokov lift for hours over and over again. Olympic lifting is awesome. Olympic lifting for strength training not so much. Olympic lifting is a technique, not a training method.

Crossfit gyms are usually very well put together and stocked to the gills with equipment. When I travel it's usually a Crossfit gym that will allow me to use their facility to train. I always offer to pay them a day use fee but it's rarely collected. I've never left a Crossfit gym without a great experience with the people there. Crossfit though...is silly.

One indisputable fact. Random training equals random results.

We can agree to disagree and come to common ground on the importance of strength training.
I need to get stronger at squats so bad it’s not funny. But I think a bar on your back directly compressing it is bad especially when there are safer alternatives but that’s just like my opinion man.

When I said Oly I meant squats, DL, etc. Barbell stuff.

I’m stoked to use all the fun toys and the dude who runs the place sounds cool.
I asked Max about CF at the cert I did with him (HKC). He was very diplomatic and still is but let’s just say you can tell he’s not a fan. “High skill movements should not be done for conditioning” and more than likely something about how the only person in the gym you compete against is yourself aka “Better Every Day”. You know something is loco when the competitive CFers don’t use it to get good at CF. And don’t get me started on Couch lol.

Random training does = random results to a point. Mindful daily practice with the rings has worked for me. Max’s rings hang squat flow = inverted hangs and skin the cats.

But yeah I totally agree with you otherwise. Ordered Max’s Ultimate Athleticism book and I really want to see what can happen if I follow a program/template religiously.

Max Shank's Ultimate Athlete Training Template - Breaking Muscle

Training can turn into a whole lot of fuzzy reasoning in a hurry when you start to introduce different components. This is a large part of why people gravitate toward one thing – simplicity. Simplifying is usually good, but not if it is costing you potential benefits. Being able to gain the...

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And to do that I need my tools, so I decided to find the raddest CF gym with open workouts and is open 24/7. Stocked.

 

[VonMeister]

I'll just respond with one point. There's no evidence that shows a squat is inherently dangerous and if a person were to overload their spine with a squat they used a combination of too much weight and terrible technique. This is what a good coach is for.

 

[PRCD]

I trained myself from Rip's books and video and never hurt myself. I think it's pretty hard to hurt yourself with a squat. It's such a natural movement. I think people are just afraid of doing them because of the Cartesian model of pain that has prevailed in orthopedics and medicine, to wit, you feel a pain in your back -> you go into the doctor -> he does imaging and attributes your pain to MRI findings that are uncorrelated with pain because he sees something. IOW, he says your pain has a mechanical cause in the back and says your back is fragile rather than just tell you it'll heal up in 6 weeks like everything else. This has become a cultural belief.

 

[Chocki]

I'll just respond with one point. There's no evidence that shows a squat is inherently dangerous and if a person were to overload their spine with a squat they used a combination of too much weight and terrible technique. This is what a good coach is for.

Either way, I’m not going to compress MY spinal vertebrae brah.

The Zercher Squat: The Most Underrated Squat?

There are multiple variations of the squat, including the back squat, front squat and overhead squat—not to mention pause squats, box squats, squatting with

boxlifemagazine.com

https://npbarbell.com/articles/2018/6/14/spinal-loading

 

[PRCD]

Either way, I’m not going to compress MY spinal vertebrae brah.

The Zercher Squat: The Most Underrated Squat?

There are multiple variations of the squat, including the back squat, front squat and overhead squat—not to mention pause squats, box squats, squatting with

boxlifemagazine.com

https://npbarbell.com/articles/2018/6/14/spinal-loading

I tried some of those and don't see the point. You're loading up your spine either way since your arms and shoulders are all connected to your spine. I suppose you're not putting the bar directly on your spine but your spine adapts to the load of a barbell placed across it just as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments adapt through progressive overload and the Selye Cycle.

 

[Chocki]

I tried some of those and don't see the point. You're loading up your spine either way since your arms and shoulders are all connected to your spine. I suppose you're not putting the bar directly on your spine but your spine adapts to the load of a barbell placed across it just as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments adapt through progressive overload and the Selye Cycle.

Indirectly loading the spine forces you to use your core to keep good posture. And zerchers and anything old time strongmen related is badass.

 

[Havoc]

zercher swat is just marketing gimmick by strongfirst since they cant really use any of thecback swats since alreadybpopular in crossshit and strapping strength etc