The following is my personal experience in how to adapt to a difficult injury to recover from, that of the long head of the biceps.
Monday 21 October 2019
Tuesday 30 July 2019
When resistance machines are your best friend
When most people start off with resistance exercise, the first thing they are usually shown is a resistance machine. Indeed they form the basis of most people's workouts in places that have them such as leisure centers etc. After a while that person will learn that free-weights are actually better for you than machine based.
Saturday 22 June 2019
It's all in the hips - neutral pelvic alignment
A vital component of exercise, and indeed every day life, that most people have never heard of is neutral pelvic alignment. PT's are quick enough to tell you to brace your core or abs during an exercise, but whilst that is important it is a compromised technique without first setting your pelvis.
Thursday 13 June 2019
Latest Updates
I must apologise for not having gotten any new posts up for over a month. I have been quite busy as well as having a small holiday thrown into the mix, however I do have a few articles in progress, which will be up soon.
Thursday 16 May 2019
Ratcheting up the intensity - metabolic condition (part two)
Following on from my post Ratcheting up the intensity - metabolic conditioning, here is the update on the effects of my metabolic conditioning routine now that it has ended.
Thursday 25 April 2019
Triceps Bench Dips
The triceps bench dip, also simply known as the bench dip, is a great beginners exercise for targeting the triceps in a calisthenics manner. It also hits the front of the shoulders when pressing back up as well as targeting the upper back musculature as you press yourself up at the very top of the movement.
This exercise can also be performed anywhere you can find a ledge such as a chair, window sill, bench or similar.
Friday 12 April 2019
Fruit and vegetables - how to get your portions
One thing we are all told to do is eat our recommended portions of fruit and vegetables every day. In the UK, this is at least 5 portions. It seems like a small number however for many people it is not easy to achieve. I know, I was one of them.
Indeed, for about 20 years of my life, from roughly the age of 5 to 25, I never ate any fruit or vegetables. Nowadays I meet or surpass the recommended number of portions and find it quite easy as well.
Wednesday 27 March 2019
Ratcheting up the intensity - metabolic conditioning
With the conclusion of my recent strength-endurance phase a fortnight ago I decided to embark on a phase of metcon (metabolic conditioning) to improve my cardio-respiratory system and ramp up my metabolism into a calorie burning furnace. Two weeks of such a routine has now passed and I thought I'd share some thoughts:on it so far.
Wednesday 13 March 2019
Latest Updates
A short notice to state that I have updated the Disclaimer page to cover image rights.
Also due to vulnerabilities with having your email address displayed openly on a website, namely scams and spams, I've condensed the contact menu to simply the Contact Gym Pal page.
I've also replaced all links to my email address for this site in articles with the aforementioned link. I get an email notification of any feedback form submissions anyways, whilst hiding my email address from email harvesting bots.
Monday 11 March 2019
Planes of motion and axes
An important but often awkward or difficult concept of exercise to get your head around are the planes of motion and associated axes. These refer to the different dimensions and axes that body motions occur in.
Working out in all three planes of motion helps improve your neuromuscular efficiency, meaning greater cohesion and co-ordination between your muscles and central nervous system.
Monday 4 March 2019
Purpose and scope
A simple update to announce the publishing of the purpose and scope page for the Gym Pal site.
Friday 22 February 2019
Dorsal Raises
The dorsal raise, also known as the prone back extension, is a simple and basic but highly effective lower back strengthening exercise that can be done anywhere.
The dorsal raise also targets your inner core and gluteal region, helping improve your posture and your posterior chain.
Wednesday 13 February 2019
The importance of your gym gear
An aspect of exercise that can have a significant impact is what you wear whilst performing a work out. Most people are happy enough to simply buy and wear gym gear that appeals to them and there is nothing wrong in that, it helps display your persona and character. Yet sometimes it is worthwhile to judge whether it is what’s best suited for what you are doing.
Below I will share some personal experiences I've had over the years.
Wednesday 30 January 2019
Tic-Toc - The importance of keeping time
During any phase of training one of the most important acute variables which is often overlooked is keeping track of your time under tension. For most average gym goers the tempo of each specific part of a repetition is an after thought if even a thought. Some might willingly focus on faster tempo's for speed and power, whilst others focus on slower to work the muscle more.
Thursday 17 January 2019
Pull-Ups
The king of upper body exercises, the pull-up is for the upper body what the squat is for the lower body. Utilising almost every muscle in the upper body to execute and stabilise, there is no better exercise for developing a great upper and mid back whilst doing so in a holistic way. Mastery over your own body with the pull-ups outstrips anything you can achieve with barbell rows and lat pull-downs.
Tuesday 8 January 2019
New Year's Resolutions
Well a week has passed since New Year's arrived and how many of you made a resolution or two? And how many of you are still biding by them?
I myself have made a few, most of which I know I can do as I have done them before but I have gone with a couple of new ones for the challenge. I'll elaborate on them a bit more later on in this post. First of all however I would like to address the problem of the New Year's resolution.
Friday 4 January 2019
Kipping handstand push-ups
Kipping handstand push-ups (HSPUs) are something I have seen more and more of over the past few months in my part of world. Sadly this is another exercise that gained popularity thanks to CrossFit.
Why sadly? Kipping HSPUs are supposedly for building hip and shoulder power, however for most people it is simply a cheat way to perform handstand push-ups. What is so wrong with this? From most clips of people performing kipping HSPUs I have seen from my locality and on YouTube, there is an incredible lack of proper instruction by trainers on form and the prerequisites needed to even contemplate performing such a high-risk exercise.
