The Ab Wheel
Providing the most bang for the buck out of all these items, the ab wheel will build core strength unlike
anything you will every come
across. Surprisingly, every gym I have ever been to does not have an ab
wheel lying around. The principle is simple: a handle bar attached to
a wheel. For beginners, you get on your knees and roll out slowly. If
you collapse on the floor, well you got some work to do. If you can
make it back to your starting position, repeat until you can repeat no
more.People with greater core strength will be able to do it from their feet. Bend over like you’re touching your toes and extend all the way out. If you can recover from the repletion back to your starting position, then you’ve got more core strength that 95% of Americans. That isn’t a true statistic, but I’ve only seen two people in my life pull off an ab wheel repetition from their feet.
Ab Ball
The ab ball looks like a piece of exercise equipment geared towards women and yoga instructors, but don’t be fooled. When it comes to ab exercises such as crunches and weighted crunches, you’re going to get a far
better range of motion than lying on the floor. You’ll stretch your abdominal to the extreme and keep your bones intact without the pain and discomfort that you’ll experience on the floor.
And it’s not just for crunches. You can use the ab ball to build core stability by sitting on it to do dumbbell shoulder presses, regular dumbbell presses, chest-flies, and so on. You can even try using the ab ball as a place to put your feet for push-ups. Or you can be a complete asshole in the office.
Pull-Up / Chin-Up Bar
We all know that the pull-up is essential to your weight training foundation. Unfortunately I can’t do one
unless it’s a reverse grip chin up. But my goal is to do a few by the time summer rolls around. I used to be able to do them, and that came after many months of trying everyday.
So rather than doing pull-ups every once in a while when you’re in the gym, you can do that at home every morning. You don’t have to exert yourself to failure every time, but you can get away with doing a few during the day. You’ll be doing pull-ups before you know it.
Push-Up bars
I know it seems ridiculous to get a bar for push-ups. You just put your hands on the ground and go right? Or
change up where you place your hands to target different muscle groups, such as the diamond push-up for a strictly triceps exercise.
But the Push-Up bars do have their advantages. Sometimes it’s very uncomfortable to place your hands in awkward positions for the more advanced push-ups. Having a grip on those bars feels a whole lot better than pressing your palms against the pavement. And they offer you a chance to do exercises that you can’t do without them. How about using just one and crossing over while you’re at the top of your push up?
Ankle Weights 10lbs
about your daily business while putting resistance on the muscles in your legs that you’re not used to. They add another challenging level to running and jogging if you’re the kind of person that thinks 5 miles isn’t that far.
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