This one doesn't attach permanently, you can mover it aound so just need the one. Unlike the old style bars, you don't have to fit retainers, etc. The only thing it uses, is a removeable hook to stop it slipping. The hook takes 5 seconds to install and does not damage anything. The Iron Gym itself, about another 5 seconds.
My advice is also not to hop from exercise to exercise too much. Vary the routine, but keep the movements. If you try and progress too fast, you won't.
May I ask what you mean by this? Specifically "keep the movements." Do you mean do a few exercises thoroughly and not a bunch of exercises half-arsed?
No, you don't need weights to build muscle or strength. Then again you don't need to use both legs to get to the shops if you're happy to hop. Weights are a useful tool, as are bodyweight exercises, neither are essential but they're both very, very useful.
weights vs bodyweight is a silly distinction anyway. it's all a matter of how you contract different muscles at different angles, and how frequently you do it (along with diet and all the other aspects that are not a part of the work-out itself). people tend to attribute magical qualities to weights or bodyweight exercises when they're both the same thing: muscle use against resistance.
I agree that the "weights vs. bodyweight" argument is silly, but in my opinion, gymnastic style bodyweight training for the upper body and a mixture of body weight plus heavy squats and deadlifts for the lower body make a great mix for any athlete. Just decide what you want to do, and figure out which method (or maybe a mix) will get you there... FWIW
Why is it usually "skinny" people who are just starting to workout that worry about looking like body builders? For God's sake, it's not like you just pick up a weight and end up looking like Arnold. Body builders workout for years to look the way they look and follow certain techniques. I guess people don't realize that in real life it is sometimes necesary to move other objects than just your own body...which is OK, your body won't transform immediately. /rant
Ironically what you just advised looks much more like a hypertrophy program designed to as much size as possible. Did you have any science to that claim? Just out of curiosity. Getting strong invariably Leads to some growth, because surprisingly enough people who are strong look strong! Yes you bodyweight moves will cause some gains with a good diet. More so if you area beginner. Once they become less challenging for you you could switch to the plyometric equivalent, then from there look at a more specific gymnastic workout. Really though, I'd always recommend big weights for someone who wants to be strong. But perhaps that's personal preference.
As seiken steve just said, it's more a hypertrophy/muscular endurance rep scheme you're recommending. Typically, multiple sets of low reps will allow you to add a lot of strength. Gaining size is merely a matter of diet combined with the hard work. If you want to get strong, you need to lift heavy weights on a regular basis. Lifting a weight you can do for 12-15 repetitions for the most part is not the same as doing one for multiple sets of low reps. Take a guy who can bench 300 pounds. Using the Brzycki formula, you can do 70% of 300 (210 pounds) for 12 reps. Using reps that high, typically your last set is your work set, so you basically lift 2520 pounds (210x12) in that workout for your bench. Now, instead if you work say multiple sets with a higher weight (let's say 80%, or 240), if you're doing the typical 5x5 routine now you can do something like three work sets with 240, or 240x15 in this case, for a total workload of 3600 pounds. You've now just lifted almost 1100 pounds more in this workout.
Getting big or strong is never effortless. Getting strong is the result of HARD work, people who look for an easy option don't get strong. Similarly people who think it is easy are rarely strong.
I thought I'd post an anecdotal observation on this subject. I've never lifted weights, all my training is body weight and/or running and martial arts. I don't lift weights, well except for a shirt stint before I joined the army I guess. This springs from my belief that natural human development (before the invention of the gym) occurred with little purpose designed weights. In older times you're fitness came from work or weapons/military training. In this line I also always try to do manual work when possible. Anyway I'm only 5'9 but my body is well toned (my wife describes it as lithe I think...). However I have a younger brother who only lift weights, a lot, ever since he could get into the gym I think. His body type is completely different. He's taller and broader than me with much larger musculature. What is interesting is that we sometimes have "fights" as brothers do, and I can still kick his ass up and down for all his "weight lifting," I can run faster and further, and do more labour type work (we were digging and filling a cable channel). This leads me to believe that bodyweight training is better for general application in life, where as gym is only good for gym.
It all boils down to how you train, not necessarily what you do. Bodyweight exercises do have their merit, but a lot of manual labor that requires a lot of strength benefits a lot from weight training. A combination of both is what you need. I will say though that a solid foundation in weight training carries over much better to manual labor than does calisthenics. That's why during my military days like today these young kids start crying after moving only maybe a hundred 8" cinderblocks (maybe a rough 16kg each) to make a masonry wall I usually end up doing the bulk of it. Why? A combination of knowing what hard work is really like helps, but I attribute a lot of it to my weight training. That's what helps me work these 20-something privates into the ground without breaking a sweat.
It never has to be mutually exclusive. You can actually lift weights and do bodyweight exercises. Shocker that.
Sssshhhh. You're ment to charge £74.99 and warble about muscle confusion and flexanography for an hour or so before revealing secrets like that!
I need to do more weight training in order to get the strength for more bodyweight training exercises like pullups, chinups, dips, handstands. I just managed 40kg on bench press last night
