A man performs a lat pulldown exercise on a machine
Exercise Equipment

Best Lat Pulldown Machine for your Garage Gym

One of my favorite exercises to do at the gym is the lat pulldown. It’s a great exercise for the back, shoulders, and arms. It’s also a great way to get a lot of volume work on the back muscles – without the drawbacks of pull-ups or chin-ups. The problem with pull-ups or chin-ups is that your grip can be a limiting factor – and it’s very hard to work the pull-up with anything less than full body weight. The biggest impediment to performing the lat pulldown in your home or garage gym is that it requires a pretty expensive machine – and it usually takes a lot of space. We’re going to review the best lat pulldown machines and [Read more …]

Young woman using a 45 degree leg press machine
Exercise Equipment

Top 5 Reasons to use the Leg Press Machine

The leg press machine catches a lot of flak. It’s considered an inferior exercise when compared to the squat and deadlift. But there’s a reason these machines are popular and you’ll find one in just about every gym. You might as well understand what it’s good for – and use it to your benefit. We’re going to discuss the top 5 reasons to use the leg press machine. We’ll highlight some of the things you can do with this model of leg press machine. Reason #1: Rehabilitation The legs constitute the largest muscles in the body. The quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes are a significant portion of your total muscular mass. How do you provide a strength building workout if you’ve [Read more …]

Rogue MG-3 Knurled Multi-Grip/Swiss/Football Bar
Exercise Equipment

Multi-Grip Swiss Bars for Bench Press

In this review we’re going to look at the multi-grip swiss bar – also commonly called the football bar or the swiss bar. But, no matter what you call them – they all have the same benefits. The swiss bar gives you a variety of grip angles. This can have huge benefits for those with shoulder, elbow, or wrist issues. Pain when you bench press heavy? You should try the Swiss bar. These are great for all kinds of pressing and rowing movements. Bench press, incline press, rows, overhead press, curls, triceps extension – you can do all these with the versatile football bar. These are also great for targeting your triceps. Let’s get started. We’re going to show you [Read more …]

Young woman working out with an air bike.
Aging & Health

Study: Aerobic Fitness Shows Reduced Cardiometabolic Risk vs Strength Training

A new study published in the JAMA Open seems to show that those who possess greater aerobic fitness have less cardiometabolic risk as opposed to those who prioritize strength training.[1] The researchers involved in this study wanted to evaluate whether the metabolites associated with cardiometabolic risk were equally associated with both aerobic fitness and maximal muscular strength. The study involved many participants who were part of a military training exercise. The participants were split up into multiple groups – those with maximal aerobic fitness, those with minimal aerobic fitness, those with maximal strength (as demonstrated on the leg extension), and those with minimal strength. The researchers used metabolomics to study the metabolites present in the trainees blood stream. Metabolomics is [Read more …]