Exercise in a Balance Stepper without Tension Bands - Part 3

(This is the continuation from Part 2)

At first, I thought that exercising with the Balance Stepper but without the tension bands would be near impossible. I must admit that I was scared to just step on the foot pedals to mount it.

The thoughts of crashing one foot down and then not being able to put the other foot on the pedal without falling over were too much for the imagination. I held on to the back of a chair for support to carefully mount the stepper.

Exercise in a Balance Stepper without Tension Bands - Part 2

(This is the continuation from Part 1)

From what I've read in the online reviews and opinions, there are some instructions to limit workouts up to 15 minutes only. I believe the reason is because the hydraulic pistons generate friction and enough heat after a few minutes.

Here are some opinions and feedback I read on the Sunny Health and Fitness Twister Stepper. Some of them came from different sources.

Exercise in a Balance Stepper without Tension Bands

Seven years ago, I gave a review of the balance stepper for cardio workouts. It had its shortcomings which I listed in the review. But for its price and my satisfaction of its performance, the shortcomings were no obstacles to my using it.

Sadly, a week ago, one of its hard rubber tension bands broke. This is the thick rubber that provides a bit of resistance when pressing on the pedals.

Homemade Reverse Flyes or Rear Delts Station

The Reverse Flyes exercise is one of the shoulder exercises that isolates the rear delts. The exercise can be done on a Reverse Pec Deck machine, with low cable crossovers or with free weights, using dumbbells.

As a free weight exercise, it is sometimes called Rear Delts Lateral Raise or Bent Over Dumbbell Raise or a combination of those words.

Homemade Bench Press Rack

Another application of the homemade safety squat racks is their use as barbell racks in bench press exercises. The advantage of using these freestanding racks over the commercial bench press racks is that they're able to accommodate barbells of any length - even EZ-curl bars. You just move them closer or farther from each other to adjust to the barbell length.

Homemade Dip Station

Here's a dip station that I have for performing the dip exercise. Basically, the body of this homemade dip station comes from the safety squat racks I built.

Dips are good for building overall muscle mass around the tricep, chest and shoulder areas. Even if you're not strong enough to perform full dips, you can begin by just performing the negative phase of the exercise.

The dipping bars are made thicker and more comfortable with these homemade thick grip handles.

Homemade Thick Bar Handles for Barbell and Dumbbells - Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

7. Position the interior lining (EVA floor tile piece) on top of the thick bar handle (half of the PVC pipe) with the rough side facing up.
   
   
8. Push the interior lining down inside the thick bar handle. Position the lining so it's centered in the thick bar handle half. The concave shape of the thick bar handle compresses the lining and keeps it in place without the need for glue.
   
   
9. With a pair of heavy duty scissors, cut off excess lining material that protrudes from the edges of the thick bar handle.
   
   The photo below shows the interior lining inside the thick bar handles. The inside lining is held in place by compression and no glue was used.
   
   
   

Homemade Thick Bar Handles for Barbell and Dumbbells

Many powerlifters, strongmen and bodybuilders acknowledge the value of thick bar training. Thick bar training challenges the hand and forearm muscles much more significantly than regular bar training.

So, why aren't many weight trainers using them?

Weight Training for Bodybuilding Program

I've been wanting to post my weight training exercises eversince I restarted my physical fitness program. These exercises revolve around the homemade gym equipment I assembled after I decided to workout at home instead of joining fitness gyms.

My strength training equipment at home consists mainly of free weights (barbell and dumbbell plates). I have a wooden dumbbell amd plates rack to store the free weights and use rubber tiles on the floor to prevent dumbbells from rolling.

Many of the exercises utilize a pair of multi-purpose safety squat racks that I built.

Barbell Collars with Quick Release Lock

The barbell collars that I requested from Chris Sports have finally arrived. It's been a good two weeks before I finally found the time to go back to the store and get them.

The last time I was there, I only saw one piece of these quick release barbell collars. It took a while for me to ask the staff about these type of collars because the staff was busy with a customer who had a serious treadmill accident.

Review of the Balance Stepper for Cardio Workouts

It has now been over two years since I bought the Balance Stepper. This is the same balance stepper advertised by Tony Little as the "Rock 'n Roll Stepper". I have a post that has the Rock 'n Roll Stepper video.

It's funny, but elsewhere on the net, this same aerobic exercise equipment is being advertised as the "Body Slender". There are plenty of mini-steppers around, but I suppose this one is the one commonly referred to as a Balance Stepper.

Anyway, I feel that after using it for a couple of years, on-and-off (mostly off), it's high time I gave my own review for this fitness equipment.

Secret Weight Training with an Improvised Barbell

Back in the days when I was still in college, I stayed at my aunts' house during the weekdays. The house was old, but very spacious. I had my own bedroom that was neat and comfortable and it was there where I spent studying.

But it wasn't only studying that I did there. Little did my aunts know, that bedroom with the nice and shiny wooden floors also became my secret gym for my improvised weight training exercises.

Buy Used Barbell and Dumbbell Weight Plates Cheap

By powerlifting standards, I've amassed a modest, if not meager collection of gym weight plates. Not that I'm desperate or looking to add more plates immediately.

No, I'm still in the process of my lower back rehabilitation and my current inventory of barbell and dumbbell weight plates is enough, thank you.

I've been lifting weights on and off for the past decade and as one who's been weight training at home, I've worked mostly with barbell and dumbbell weight plates.

These gym plates were bought new from sports hobby stores in malls. I was attracted to the nice black shiny new plates and as a beginner back then, who wouldn't want to workout using shiny new equipment?

Clean and Paint Rusty Old Weight Plates to Look Like New

When we had our house renovated, we rented a small bungalow at the back of our old house. Since we had limited space, all my dumbbell and barbell weight plates were relegated on the floor in a small corner in the rented house.

On top of them were all the other stuff that we boxed in cartons. Because I had to lay off my workouts, I quickly forgot about those dumbbell and barbell weight plates.

Boxing Hobby for Cardio Fitness and Conditioning

One of the sports hobbies I dabbled in during my younger days was boxing. No, it wasn't anything serious or competitive.

In fact it was just my brother who I sparred with and this was at our front yard. We had a front yard with concrete paving and was large enough for half-court basketball playing. This was in the early 80's, I believe.

I was just finishing college and my older brother was already working.

Five Reasons for Building your own Gym Equipment

In a recent article, I wrote my top ten reasons for working out at home. If you're working out for flexibility or cardiovascular conditioning at home, you may not require an array of exercise gear.

But for weight or strength training, a modest selection of free weights equipment or maybe weight machines is a must.

Now, there's a variety of ways to do this. You could buy weight training gear used or new.

There are certain specifications to keep in mind though. Commercial weight plates and barbell bars, for example, come in two hole sizes - standard and olympic size.

Nonetheless, uninterrupted and and progressive workouts require you to have many pairs of weight plates with varying poundages. And for this reason, I suggest you buy weight plates used rather than new.

Top Ten Reasons for Working Out at Home

All you home training converts out there have seen the typical commercial gym scene. That, and the pitfalls that go with the gym membership.

I used to be a member in a local small fitness gym and noticed that the problems mostly stem from the fact that you workout with other people. In other words, it's usually the crowd that comes with the gym.

Let's face it. The differences in training styles, preferences, beliefs and attitudes simply get in the way. And the more gym members you're not friends with, the more difficult it is to overcome these challenges. So the lesser the crowd, the better for you.

Musclehead at the Gym

The Urban Dictionary defines Musclehead as

"A selfish, narcisstic, egotistical person in the gym or fitness center. One who is a bodybuilder or aspiring strength maniac who usually looks at others with disdain unless they need them for a spot.

They almost never put their weights away when they're done with their exercise -- sometimes leaving a pile of 45's (45-pound plates) next to the machine or leaving a heavy load of plates remaining on the machine."

If you've been working out in fitness centers or gyms, you would've probably seen one. In the first fitness gym I joined, there certainly was one.

Joining my First Fitness Gym

Fresh out of college in the 1980's, I was lucky enough to immediately start working as a Junior Industrial Engineer in a semiconductor company. Since college, living away from my parents' house wasn't new and so I quickly adapted to life in a boarding house.

The boarding house was a quick 5-minute jeepney ride to my work place and so that made it convenient.

But even more convenient was the location of the first fitness gym that I joined. The gym, named ProdiGym, was a good walking distance from my boarding house and was in between my workplace and the boarding house.

Homemade Adjustable Safety Squat Racks Part 5

(This is the continuation of Part 4)

In the previous article, I wrote about the construction of the homemade adjustable safety squat racks. In this article, I'll discuss some of the finishing touches you can do.

My homemade squat racks have served me for quite a long time and in that time, they've pretty much held up. I only had to repaint the metal parts once. Of course, functionality and safety prevails over aesthetics so your mileage may vary here.