TWO Workouts

Strong triceps will complement your arms and well developed triceps can represent almost 65% of the arms mass. Contrary to the belief that the biceps are the king, the triceps contribute a lot to the outlook and functionality of the arms. All pressing movements from dips to handstand push-ups rely strongly on the triceps to get the arm straight at the lockout position. There are good bodyweight exercises that help you to get most out of your triceps and that way most out of your pressing movements. You can use ordinary household items or gymnastic rings to perform the following exercises. Homemade suspension trainers don't last forever. These are good for triceps extension since they rotate in the straps. Had to replace the inner pipe. Tricep push-ups - Compound exercises for triceps  Tricep push-up is a compound exercise that also works the chest and the front delts. Closest equivalent barbell exercise would be the close grip bench press which is also a great tricep builder. But d...

Powerful biceps will help you to excel in your pulling exercises. But by doing only compound exercises such as chinups and rows you might not be able to stimulate the biceps enough to make them grow big and strong. That's why a good combination for the biceps is to use both compound and isolation exercises. If you already do a lot of pulling in your workout routine you can do only isolation exercises for the biceps to avoid overuse injuries due to the repetitive motion. Let's take a look at some great biceps exercises you can do at home with rings or minimal equipment. My favorite biceps exercises are weighted chinups and inverted curls Isolation exercises for the biceps Isolation exercises work the biceps directly with very minimal assistance from other muscle groups. You can do these exercises with rings, suspension trainers or with a dining table. If you are not strong enough for compound exercises that is fine. Work your way up using the following isolation exercises until ...

Chest dips are fun! But with the dips we are facing the same issues as with the pullup. You are lifting about 93% of your bodyweight which makes it too hard for beginners. You will need sufficient tricep and chest strength to be able to perform these. Normal dip progressions have you do band assisted dips, negatives or tricep bench dips. These work but they all have their downsides. Negatives are not generally good because of the increased injury risk. I would not recommend negatives for beginners since they have not been able to learn the movement pattern. Doing the movement pattern in both directions with good form and lighter load is always a safer option. Tricep bench dip is not a very good option since the positioning of the hands is behind the body and might cause shoulder pain for some. Also it does not develop the chest strength required for the chest dip. And last not everyone has a selection of bands they can attach to their dip setup. Dips are fun. But try not to fall! How t...

Ah, the calves. The most ignored and underrated muscle group among mortal men. And I must confess that I'm one of them. But not to a degree where I don't do any work for the calves. I just work them with maintenance volume by doing one session of heavy work and one session of light work weekly. There are few problems with calves. They don't directly affect your physique unless you wear shorts all the time. Also from a training perspective the calves get very little training effect from compound lifting for the lower body such as squats. Sure the calves contribute for balance and stabilization but don't get any significant training stimulus from lower body training. That's why calves need to be trained separately with isolation exercises which is time consuming and not fun. Direct arm training is fun! Calves should be treated like any other muscle group that does not get direct training stimulus. So around 8-12sets per week and up to 16-20sets if you really want to g...

Strong hamstrings will help to balance your lower body. If your legs are quad dominant and your hamstrings are weak you are likely to face some issues such as knee pain and hamstring strains at some point in your life. Two most common bodyweight hamstring exercises recommended are the hamstring bridge and if you are strong enough the nordics hamstring curl. Both are great options but they have their limitations. With the regular hamstring bridges you don't get much range of motion and you are missing the full flexion of the hamstring muscles. People are instructed to lay on their back while doing these which reduces the range of motion and reduces the load on the hamstrings. The nordic hamstring curl is an advanced exercise that you rarely see anyone do with perfect form. Mostly you see negatives, modified nordic curls or assisted curls with bands. Not everyone has a place to do these since they require a special setup: a pullup bar placed on the floor level, loaded barbell, straps...

Having a strong lower back is your insurance againsts life. In our daily lives we need to lift heavy objects from the ground and carry them from point A to B. I have a big family so carrying the groceries from the car to the kitchen resembles a farmers walk these days. Also from time to time we need to be able to lift that heavy couch to clean the floor or move that washing machine since you dropped the keys behind it. If you are unprepared for these tasks you will eventually face difficulties. I'm talking about lower back pain, disc bulges and strains. Since most of us don't have equipment for deadlift or access to a back extension machine we have to rely on other exercises to train the back extensors. For this purpose I would like to introduce you to the following back extension exercises and progression to strengthen the lower back.  Note that most of the exercises include other muscle groups such as the glutes and hamstrings. The spinal erectors work alongside with these mu...

Inverted rows and its variations are a great way to increase your pulling strength. At best they are also safe if you limit the range of motion by adjusting your setup in a way that your back slightly touches the floor in the bottom position. My preferred equipment for inverted rows is my homemade suspension trainer or rings. With these you can set the difficulty linearly. If you don’t have access to rings or suspension trainers that's fine. I’ll add some variants you can do at home with basic equipment. For example table row is a great variant when you don’t have access to other equipment and it's one of my go to rows when travelling. Using a door anchor with a suspension trainer also works fine when travelling. If the two arm row is too easy you can do one arm incline rows. Tucked front lever rows are fun! 1. Easy incline row https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wWFlr2gQU Actual load ≈ 0.3x Bodyweight For this variation you can use a post, towel attached to a door handle or ring...

Since dips are a great and fun exercise for chest and triceps I made a list that collects places where you can perform dips at home. When looking for a place to do your dips you should look for the following requirements. Height of the dip platform should be from 70cm to 90cm (28” to 35”) in order to do dips with bent knees depending on your height. Surface has to be stable. You don't want the dip stand to fall over or slide sideways. In order to be able to perform dips without the need to tuck your body excessively, a suitable height of the dip platform should be at least 80 cm depending on your height. This is the distance measured from your knees to about 10cm (4 inches) below your chest line. For a 170cm person this distance is about 70cm and for 190cm this measure is about 90cm. This way you are able to perform dips with proper range of motion with legs slightly bent. If you can find a higher platform you are in luck since you don’t have to bend your legs that much. Also when ...