If you have been going to the gym for any length of time, you’ll notice that other gym-goers have fancy belts, knee sleeves and other pieces of equipment. In this article, I’ll share the 5 essentials that I feel everyone should have in their gym bag. These will help you prepare, organise and make the most of your training in the gym helping squeeze out those marginal gains to help you towards your goals that bit quicker. Inevitably, there may be some things that don’t make the list which could have a lot of benefit for some but these are the things that I simply would not go to the gym without, if I had the choice. All of the equipment and accessories mentioned are available at Strength Shop. This is my personal list, let me know what accessories you would never go to the gym without in the comments below.
The Lat Pulldown is an upper body compound exercises that targets the pulling muscles of the back and arms. Pretty much every gym has one of these and that means pretty much everyone will have tried it. That means that like the Bench Press it is most often performed poorly or with little thought. The loadable nature of the Pulldown makes it perfect for total beginners as you can put on any weight you like, this overhead pulling motion is normally lacking and is very difficult to train outside of a gym setting unless you can do chin-ups (which very few can!). As the motion exactly replicates the pulling motion for a chin/pullup it is perfect for getting in higher volume muscle and strength work to assist with building towards your first bodyweight pullup.
The kettlebell swing is a great movement for the hips and posterior chain (back of the body). It is very common so we need to understand how to do it and why. It can be a tricky one, it is suitable for beginners if coached in an appropriate setting by someone who knows what they are doing. The fast nature of them movement however makes it a lot more complex than other hip hinge variations and so should only really be utilised once you can confidently perform movements like Romanian deadlift. It is good for power development, getting all of your muscles firing quickly and in co-ordination as well as for conditioning. When you have the intent to move something as quickly as possible, it is very good for power development and very tiring!
In this series, I’ll set out 5 of the top benefits of weight training.
Before we dive in, I’ll start with a quick clarification of terms. Weight or resistance training is generally considered to be the use external resistance to add load to the body to achieve muscular benefits like strength. From now on, I’ll refer mainly to strength training which encompasses anything which puts a demand on the body causing it to generate higher levels of muscular force. This can cover assisted methods which serve to unload the bodyweight, bodyweight exercises or any type of external resistance like kettlebell, barbells and bands. The benefits set out are aimed at those who are going from doing no or very little strength training to some focussed sessions a couple of times a week. That’s where you will reap the biggest rewards however some of them are still applicable to even the more experienced trainer. There are benefits to exercising shared among many different types such as the social aspects of community and making new friends as well as the physical benefits of it aiding with achieving and maintaining a healthy bodyweight. I’ll try to focus more on those that are unique or are particularly relevant to strength training. |
AuthorAllan Young is a Personal Trainer and coach educator in Glasgow who operates Strength Coach Glasgow and is a 4x Scottish Champion Olympic Weightlifter. Archives
March 2021
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