I recently quit going to the gym!
No, I didn’t give up on training. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m training more. I’ve started rock climbing, and I couldn’t afford to pay both gym and climbing wall subs. Even though rock climbing gives me a great workout, it primarily loads the agonist (pull) muscle groups, so it’s still really important for me to have a workout which trains the antagonist (push) muscle groups. Failure to do this would result in an imbalance in my physique, which could lead to injuries.
So what did I need to buy to kit out my home gym? Did I need to spend thousands of dollars on weights, weight benches and machines? Of course not! I could have managed with just a Swiss ball, but I went a little further and purchased some dumbbells too.
Have I ended up compromising my workout? No! here’s my rundown to training my full body using my Swiss ball and dumbbells.
Chest exercises
The Swiss ball is so much better than a bench for pressing because it creates instability, your body has to compensate by providing stability through your core muscles. You can do flat presses, incline presses, flat flyes, incline flyes, swiss ball push ups with your feet elevated on the ball and more.
Back exercises
My back is already getting a great workout from rock climbing, but I also use my dumbbells to perform straight leg dead-lifts
Shoulder exercises
With my dumbbells I can perform standing shoulder presses, lateral raises and front raises. I can also perform all of these from a seated position on my Swiss ball. I also perform seated, reverse flyes for my rear deltoids.
Abdominal and core exercises
Where to start! I can perform crunches from the floor with my feet elevated on the ball, crunches sat on the ball (both of these require stabilization from the core). I can work my lower abs, laid on the floor, holding the Swiss ball between my legs and raising it a few inches from the ground and slowly lowering it again. In fact there are too many core and abdominal exercises to mention here. I’ll give you more of these in future posts.
Legs
For my quads I perform Bulgarian split squats (rear foot on a chair or Swiss ball), regular split squats, dumbbell squats and single dumbbell squats.
For my hamstrings I use my dumbbells for bent leg dead lifts, and the Swiss ball for Swiss ball leg curls.
My calves get a fair battering from climbing, but if I need to work them more I do some dumbbell calf raises.
Arms
For biceps I use regular dumbbell curls and preacher curls, where I kneel in front of my Swiss ball and use it instead of a preacher bench.
My triceps are worked with the following exercises; dips (feet on the Swiss ball, hands on a chair), overhead tricep extensions (both standing and prone on my Swiss ball), I also love performing tricep blasters!
I’ll provide more detail on these exercises and more in future posts.
