In this post I will be explaining some of the most basic and most essential supplements and nutrition tips for athletes and strength oriented bodybuilders. I think first and foremost it is important to get the right amount of protein. To get this amount of protein you often need to take a protein supplement. You can definitely get this in other ways such as meat beans and other high protein items. But typically to get the amount of daily protein that you need it is important to get a protein powder, or premade protein shakes. When searching different protein powders they can often seem expensive but when you compare that to what you would pay to get the same amount of protein out of standard food you will see that the comparison is pretty close. One of the most common proteins is whey protein. This is because it is very fast absorbing and can be taken right after a work out. Most people recommend that you take your protein supplement within 30 minutes of finishing your work out. Are usually take about 1 1/2 scoops with 8 ounces of water. This is a total of 40 g of protein.

The next supplement that I recommend taking is a pre-work out. Often there is a negative connotation surrounding pre-workouts. This is because they often have high amounts of caffeine and other items in them that are foreign to most people. Start with the basic pre-work out often identified as a non-stimulant. This means that it does not contain caffeine and other synthetic stimulants that people tend to frown upon. If you see that it is not enough you can always upgrade to a light stimulant that will give you a little bit more energy and a little bit more pumped through your work out.

Next is creatine monohydrate. It is a very cheap and easy way to gain muscle mass. It is important to drink lots of water because it will fill your muscles with water and it can dehydrate you if you’re not drinking a sufficient amount. I recommend taking 5 g per day. And at the beginning when you first start taking it you can do a loading phase which will be about 25 g for five days and then you will just maintain with 5 g per day.

Another great supplement is branched chain amino acids. Please help with recovery and will help break down lactic acid and get you ready for your next workout the following day. They come in many great flavors and taste like Kool-Aid.  

Today I was going through a list of some of the top five workout equipment that you can get. This is a list comprised by some of the top CrossFit athletes in the world. This is also equipment that I use every single day.

1. First and foremost our weights and a barbell. Weights in a barbell are arguably the most versatile piece of equipment that you can on. I put them as one piece of equipment because they are almost always use together. With this you can do squats, benchpress, deadlifts, overhead press, and several more. With those workouts alone you have covered every single body part and different type of movement.

2. Number two is the yolk or a squat rack. A squat rack allows you to re-rack the weight after you’re done using it. It also allows you to work out by yourself without a spotter. The reason this is important is because if you are always waiting for a workout partner it is often hard to work out daily. It gives you one more excuse to skip working out for the day. But if you have a squat rack you are able to do push-ups and pull-ups with the different bars and accessories. You can also get an attachment to do tricep dips. And now you can do benchpress and front and back squat without a spotter. You still need to use caution on how much weight you do so don’t get stuck.

3. Third is just a sandbag. The reason I like the sand bag is because you can buy the bag for fairly cheap and then you just fill it with your own sand. Home Depot and Lowe’s both sell sand for five dollars for 20 pounds. This makes it incredibly cheap and incredibly useful. You can do sandbag cleans and you can even just do sandbag holds and sandbag walks. I think the ideal weight is 150 pounds.

4. The next piece of equipment is definitely not a cheap one. There are two great companies that make them and a few others. But the top-of-the-line companies are echo and assault. This is the often hated but very useful assault bike. It has a large rotating fan in the middle that can cool you off while you’re working out. It uses your legs and it uses your arms in a pushing and pulling motion. This bike ranges between 700 and $900 and get you the best all around work out and helps you warm up or cool down.

5. Lastly are a set of dumbbells. Dumbbells can get very expensive depending on the weight that you go with. I would pick a weight that you think you can do the most work out with. For me that is 55 pounds. That will work for rows, tricep extensions, incline press, flat bench press, decline press and several more. 

Today I will be writing a narrative blog posts on some of the scientific benefits to doing bodyweight exercise training. One of the biggest benefits is how functional these movements are. The motion of doing a push-up or a pull-up is a very functional movement and allows you to perform other tasks more easily. For example the better you can do push and pull movements the better you will be able to do various types of yardwork even something as simple as bringing in the groceries. One unique and very interesting scientific benefit to adding bodyweight to your exercises, is your body will adapt to the weight and it will increase your bone density to support the new weight that your body is not used to. This will make your bones stronger and be able to handle more strain.

Another huge benefit is the high output, and low investment. What I mean by this is you’ll be able to benefit largely to your strength training and it is extremely low investment. Compared to other workout equipment you’re able to do a lot by just adding a little bit of body weight. Typically when you buy weights they are between two and four dollars per pound. Another aspect to this is the convenience you are able to do bodyweight exercises anywhere and anytime being able to do this will not give you many excuses and will help you keep a lien. It requires no special equipment or training gear. Therefore it makes it very accessible and your home or yard essentially becomes the health club or gym.

The last benefit that I wanted to explain is the control and variety. Mini strength training and cardio routines can fill two routine and become monotonous but with the body weight training you are in total control of what your routine in tails. You can change it up or include more challenging set some days. And on days that you want to recovery you can switch it up and keep things fun.

Today I wanted to write a blog post about some of the daily products that I use. This will be a sectional post that I will divide into two parts. The two parts will be one product that I use every day and the second will be a product that I wear every single day. Let’s get started, the first product is something that I wear, they are Adidas ultra boost. In my opinion these are some of the most versatile and comfortable shoes you can buy. The price point is quite high, they start at $180. You can often find them on sale and can find discounts in various locations. They also make an all-terrain version, I recommend this for anyone that likes to do their workouts outdoors or likes to trail run or hike. I believe the reason these are so expensive is because they are Adidas flag ship line of shoes. They come in about 20 different colorways and can also be used for running. They have plenty of reflective highlights that make them great for running at night. I recommend looking through the sale section and looking at the Google shopping page to see if you can find a sweet deal. I have bought two pairs in the last year and they have both been under $100.

Now moving onto the second product. The second product is a percussion massager gun. There are lots of different companies that make this but typically they are subpar and don’t work as well. Also the battery and plastic housing is not as good of quality. The one that I believe is best is called the hyper volt hyper ice. It is quite a bit more expensive than some of the other knock off brand. You can typically get knock off brand percussion massager guns for around $80-$150. Hyper volt next two options. They make the high price for $300 and they make the high-priced plus for $450. The differences between the two are just three extra millimeters of percussion along with a larger electric motor that can push harder. This helps break up the lactic acid after working out, and in turn this will help you recover significantly faster. I highly recommend this product.

There are several variations of workouts. Typically, most people will either do cardio or some sort of weightlifting. The third option that incorporates both the best is bodyweight training. This allows the athlete to use the weight of their own body to get a workout. This is often the best because it provides the most functional results. By using your own bodyweight to work out you are able to have better control of your body and better coordination when doing any other type of activity. The other two forms have their own advantages and disadvantages as well. One major advantage to doing strictly cardio is building up stamina and endurance. This is almost impossible to do, doing any other sort of work out other than cardio. A disadvantage is if you do too much cardio you can often lose some of the strength that you have acquired from weight lifting and body weight exercises. The advantage to weightlifting is building up strength quickly. When someone starts to wait lift they are able to see you really quick progress at the beginning. As they learn the movements the amount of weight that they can lift will go up drastically. A major disadvantage to weightlifting is it can be limiting to certain activities. For example, if you want to get good at Shotput, football, or wrestling, weightlifting could be very beneficial. But somebody that wants to become faster in track at the one hundred meter would want to focus more on cardio. Too much strength could limit their speed.        

While doing a comparison there are a few things that I want to dive into, these are; convenience, progression, safety, flexibility of movements, and overall muscle building. First of all, the convenience aspect, time is money. Lots of people will always say if I had time to go to the gym I would but with bodyweight exercises your gym is anywhere large enough to get down on the floor and do push-ups. Also as part of convenience, there is the financial aspect. Bodyweight exercises can be done without a gym membership or any weights. In the category of progression, I feel like weightlifting wins. This is because it is a lot easier to see your progress, as the amount of weight that you can lift increases you are progressing. Bodyweight training is much safer. The safety aspect is huge because often people will lift far more weight than their technique can handle, even if their muscles can handle it. This will lead to sprains, tendinitis, or even worse broken bones. Most bodyweight exercises come innately by nature. 

Flexibility of movement that you do with weights is impacted by gravity. Because gravity only pulls straight down this limits the type of movements you can do with weights. When doing bodyweight exercises you can do different motions at different angles which will increase flexibility. The last thing to compare is overall muscle building. Both methods can lead to building muscle, but the increase in muscle mass is often greater with bodybuilding. This is where weightlifting outshines bodyweight exercises. When you become comfortable lifting your own body weight, your only option is to increase repetitions. When doing weight lifting you can just increase the weight and stick to the same amount of repetitions. 

As you can see there are several disadvantages and advantages to each type of exercise. That’s why it is always good to be diverse and try and get the most benefits you can from each style.

Here is a tutorial of how to use the Powr Performance Workout Vest.

Knowing how to properly adjust a weight vest is the first step in using a weight vest. Because they are one size fits all it is important to load it with the right amount of weight and use the cable system to adjust it to the right size. This cable system allows you to adjust the shoulder straps to make the plates higher or lower on your chest. While the cable system also allows for the cummerbund to be adjusted around the circumference of your torso. In this how to blog post I will be going over how to adjust the vest properly so that you can get a maximum benefit from the vest and the workouts that you perform. Feel free to click the link, and read the descriptions thoroughly to understand the assembly process and best way to use.

To start, the vest comes fully assembled. To get the proper adjustment I recommend lifting the Velcro strap that is attached to the two black cables and pulling it out of the vest. This will self disassemble the vest in order to put it back together with your specific measurements. You will now have four separate pieces, the two cummerbunds, the front chest piece in the back piece. Start by taking the front and back pieces and interlocking the Shoulder straps while having it placed over your head, if you feel that it is too low on your chest interlock the shoulder straps one position higher. Once it is in the right position start by threading the cable through the shoulder strap on one side. A helpful tip is to not worry about the other side and just focus on one side at a time. Once the first side is done it will be easy to mimic the same thing on the other side.

Now that the shoulder straps are adjusted to the right height we need to make sure that the waist straps are the right circumference around the torso. Both cummerbund straps are identical to each other so don’t worry about which one you are using. Strap them to the front Velcro with them meeting in the middle. Now this part may be easier if you have some assistance from a friend. Bring the back of the straps to the back part of the vest. Have Your friend pull the straps until the elastic is at a comfortable tension around your waist. I like to tie a string around the notch so that I can take it off and remember my positioning. Now it’s time to do the same thing that you did with the shoulder straps. Run the cable through the waist straps at the notch that you marked in the excess cable will be stored at the bottom part of the best. Now mimic the same process on the other side with the other cummerbund.

Now that you have assembled the vest to fit your size, just add weight and get to work!

1. Pull-ups

Pull ups are some of the most common workouts out there. It’s a very traditional military workout that involves upper body strength. The pull-up is a closed chain movement where the body is hanging by the hand and then use the lats, shoulders and arms to pull your chin over the bar. The further you go down and the farther your chin gets over the bar the better the workout is. Anytime there is more extension it’s better. Ideally you want to get the bar to the middle of your chest. Pull ups are also a very common way to measure upper body strength. The strength that is measured is often called “pulling muscles”. This is part of the physical test that they do in the Marine Corps.

2. Chin-Ups

Now moving onto the chin up. The chin up is very similar to the pull up with one main difference, which involves the palms of your hands facing toward you, while the palms of your hands are facing away in a pull-up. Also pull-ups often have a grip that is slightly wider than your shoulders, when the chin up is typically closer. Both workouts include pulling your body up until the chin passes the bar. One of the biggest differences, are the muscles worked. Chin ups focus even more on the lats and put a direct focus on the bicep.

3. Body Weight Squats

Next is a very functional exercise known as the squat. What makes it a callisthenic workout as it is nothing more than a bodyweight squat. This is a good warm-up and get you ready to add weight. The primary muscles worked are the quadriceps, and secondary muscles include hamstrings and calves. To perform this work out you simply stand shoulder width apart. And then squat to about 90 degrees. It can help to put your hands straight out in front of you to counterbalance your weight as it shifts backwards. To add difficulty to this work out you can hold a medicine ball, use resistance bands, or a barbell squat.

4. Sit Up

This next workout focuses solely on your core. It is and abdominal workout that has been tried and tested. The sit up is something that you do every day without realizing it. Which makes it one of the more functional workouts there are. The difficulty of this workout is considered beginner and can be performed pretty much anywhere. To start the sit up, lay on your back and simply sit up while clenching the abdominal muscles. To help you perform this exercise make sure to have your feet supported under something for stability.

5. Pushup

The push-up is another workout that is often used to examine the strength of someone in the marine corps. The push-up is performed by lying face down on the floor with your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Push down on the floor to raise your body up by extending the arms, and then lowering yourself back down. A key to this exercise is maintaining a straight body throughout. The primary muscle worked is the chest and secondary muscles include shoulders and triceps.