HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN WEIGHTS

It sometimes happens that you want to train, but can't find any weights within a mile from your location; or you just dont want to pay those high gym subsrciption fees. In such situations, it helps to be ble to build weights for yourself using readily available and inexpensive material. In this article I will discuss 3 ways to improvise and build your own weights.

 

1. Milk Gallon Dumbells: Take 2 one gallon (or 5 litre) plastic milk jugs/oil jugs/water jugs and fill them with sand or water. This should give you about 5kg of weight. Use them to perform each exercise to failure i.e till your muscles cannot perform another rep. Milk jugs can also be used like kettlebells, providing you with the benefit of a kettlebell workout, without the attendant cost.

 

You can take this exercise to the next level by creating heavy weights for deadlifts and squats with 25 or 50 litre cans. This will provide you with fantastic gains at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a gym subscription.

 

Work It

 

 

2. Concrete Dumbells: I started out with these and I'm a big advocate of this inexpensive fitness option. You can make your own crude weights using just cement, gravel, toilet paper/paper towel rolls, and a bucket.

• Place the cardboard roll in the center of the bucket, and pour the mixed concrete into the bucket. The granite increases the weight.
 
• Once the concrete has dried, cut the bucket off and you now have a weight disc to put on your barbell.
 
• Cover the concrete with epoxy paint to prevent it from cracking, and make as many as you want.

Alter the thickness of the concrete and the size of the bucket to change the weight of the disc. To determine how much each weighs, place it on a scale once it has dried. You can make some pretty heavy weights for the cost of a couple of concrete bags.

 

 

 



 Sandbag Weights: To do this you need the following, Empty rice or sugar shipping sack (the local supermarkets sell them, they are like potato sacks), Sand, Duct tape, Rope, an old duffel bag (optional).

Steps:

1.  Fill the sacks with sand until desired weight is reached. (use a bucket so that you can fill to the top and have an equal distribution of sand in both sacks).
2. Tie a loop at the top of the sack.
3. Use the rope to tie and secure the loop so it doesn’t open
4. Reinforce the bottom and sides of the sack with duck tape
And that is all, rinse and repeat to make as many weights as you want.

 

HOW TO EAT FOR MAXIMUM GROWTH

You need to eat to grow, bla bla bla ....yeah we all know that!!!

The problem is, how do I fit 5-6 meals a day into my busy schedule. Add to this the difficulty in finding healthy food around my office and the cost of eating that many meals per day  and you will get a picture of how hard it is to eat enough to maintain my body weight, talk less increase mass.

Having suffered through this conundrum for the past few months, I experimented with different food sources to determine which foods would help me generate the greatest amount of mass in the quickest time.

 

This post is the outcome of my experiments; please feel free to try this at home :).

 

Morning: I mixed up a muscle shake made up on 2 cups of raw oatmeal, 20cl of milk, 1 banana, 1 avocado, 4 egg whites, 3 tbsp Peanut butter and 3 teaspoons of honey for taste. Blend these ingredients together and drink it up at once. without pausing for breath. This shake represents a balanced diet of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, fibre and water and it should keep hunger at bay for the next few hours at least.

Breakfast: This needs to be quick because you'll be rushing out the door as you chomp. I rustled up a  sandwich from wheat bread, lots of peanut butter and boiled eggs. I wash this down with a mug of  chocolate, and I'm good to start the day.

Lunch: I'm normally at the office at this time, so I quickly order a plate of white/jollof/fried rice with beef/chicken and plantains. I usually eat whilst working, so I avoid any foods that are liable to stain.

Pre-Workout: I usually get back from work by about 7pm and immediately get ready to hit the gym. I usually would grab anything I found in the fridge e.g a banana, apple, biscuit.  However, I recently discovered a phenomenal pre workout meal in 'gari' (coarse ground cassava flour), soaked in water, generously sprinkled with peanuts. I also add milk to increase the protein content. The high carbohydrate content gives me that 'kick' needed to move my weight lifting to the next level.

Dinner: This is usually eba/pounded yam with any soup available at the time. The meat contained in the soup/stew (however you all it) provides protein, whilst the eba is pure carbs. On a workout day however, I usually dine on a plate of beans. This source of pure protein helps rebuild the muscles destroyed during the course of training, helping me develop maximum muscle in minimum time.

 

 

 

 

Getting In shape for a Naija Beach Party

The flyer

The Western conception of hanging out at the beach usually involves you getting no more physical exertion than lounging on the beach with a case of beers, a coterie of friends and maybe a book.  

The Naija concept of a trip to the beach is far more decadent. For us,  an average beach party involves hot girls, skimpy outfits (for the ladies at least), copious amounts of alcohol, lots of food, a bad a** DeeJay, and vigorous dancing till the sun goes down. 

Damgerous!!!

The Hot Ladies

You need Lots of Energy to do this!!!

Crazy friends

Suya...An Absolute Necessity

End of Discussion

Dance

To prepare yourself for a naija beach party, quickly execute the following workout.

• 25 Jumping Jacks
• 10 Push Ups
• 20 Squats
• 10 Sit Ups
• 10 shoulder push-ups: Bend down like you're picking something up off the ground and support yourself with your hands like a tripod. Do a push-up, trying to touch your nose to the sand. Repeat
• Stretch
• Dance with the hottest dancer in the party
• Make sure you drink lots of water!!! It's easy to get dehydrated during a beach party
  

Crazy Workouts for Building a Steel Core

"I find that my core is ostensibly the toughest part of my body to firm and shape up!!! It has been a frustrating venture for me as I have had 3 children and it unfortunately shows in the areas of my person that I do not want this to show. I don’t know if I can do it" - Worried mother

Your core is the corset of muscles and connective tissue that encircle and hold the spine in place. If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. The core comprises of all the muscles and tendons between your knees and your rib cage, partivularly these 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle (the six pack), the internal and external obliques (those muscles at the sides), and the transversus abdominis. Abdominal muscles have many important functions such as contributing to breathing, they are responsible for the acts of coughing, and sneezing, as well as maintaining posture and speech.

The rectus abdominis can be worked out with the basic crunch, the vertical crunch, the reverse crunch, and the full vertical crunch, and when at a low enough body fat percentage (10-12% for males, 15-18% for females) the individual parts of the muscle become visible; many refer to this visible separation as a six pack. By exercising the internal and external obliques the stomach can be flattened while the waist line can be reduced

Here are some crazy exercises that will help you flatten that stomach and build a solid core within a reasonably short period.

The Fireman Stair Climb

Fill a back pack with books or any heavy objects (the weight should be at least 20kg for this to be really effective). Try to run up and down 10 stairs 6 times within 3 minutes. this will build your core, leg and heart to new highs.

The Mighty Plank

The plank exercise  is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as the stabilizer muscles. This move is also great for building strength for pushups, an exercise that requires quite a bit of core strength. You can add some weight on your back to increase difficulty.

How to:

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Good Ol' School Pushups  (need I say more?)

BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES FOR TONED ARMS

Your arms are one of the most exposed parts of your body (especially when you're wearing a sleeveless outfit). This means that whenever fat accumulates around the arm area it becomes very obvious, very quickly.

I have found that it doesn't take much to get your arms looking good; in fact you need only about 10 -15 minutes of exercise on a daily basis to achieve that really toned look within 2 weeks (You know, the Michelle Obama look). Any other thing you do is just icing on the cake. 

You don't need to get an expensive gym membership, or pay any gym fees to perform these exercises; in fact, I believe you can get amazing arms with a minimum investment of time and resources. You don't need much more than a light weight (this could be a filled water bottle, a dumbbell, or any cylindrical household object). However, if you feel more comfortable working out in a gym or using more sophisticated equipment, be my guest.

This workout takes the form of a 15 minute circuit, with the exercises performed in an unbroken sequence.  You can mix up the exercises to meet your tastes, and when the exercises get monotonous, you can add a few more to make your workout more interesting.

That said,  Here we Go!!!!

- Shadow box non stop for 3-4 minutes, you can be creative with this; bob, weave, jab, cross, uppercut and knock out your imaginary opponent to your hearts delight (Dont forget to celebrate when you knock him out). This gives you a fun filled cardio workout, while warming up your biceps an shoulder muscles. 

Ensure that you breathe evenly throughout the workout, this helps your body take in the valuable oxygen it needs to work, and it helps burn off that pesky fat.

Bonus: Get a punching bag; believe me, it makes the boxing experience so much more intense.

- Execute 20 Push ups ( Please note that if you can’t do the normal push up, you can simply do the pushup from your knees. It is still the same thing). Try slowing down the pace of each rep so that it takes you 6-8 seconds to complete each rep; this adds an isometric element to your push ups, with all the attendant benefits

- Jumping Jacks – Just to keep your heart up and prepare your body for the next phase

- Perform 20 bicep curls using your dumbbell, waterbottle or any other heavy object you can find ( I once used an interlocking paving stone for this). You can slow this down to make your workout more intense. Avoid increasing your pace, it can only lead to injury.

- Hold yourself in the plank position for 1 minute. Remember to breathe normally and keep smiling through the workout. This will keep you in a positive frame of mind.

- Perform 20 squats with good form. To do a squat, set a normal sized chair or a bench behind you, push your butt back like you want to sit on the chair, just as your butt comes in contact with the chair/ bench, flex your butt muscles and stand upright.

To add more intensity to your squats, while giving your rear shoulder muscles a workout, interlace your fingers behind your head, while squeezing your shoulder blades together. this will build your shoulder and trapezius muscles.

Note: Using the wrong form for squats can cause serious damage to the tendons and ligaments around your knees.  Always strive to perform your squats with the right form.

- Elevate your feet on a box, chair, or bed. Hold the position for about 1 minute. This works your triceps and shoulders.

When you're through with the above, DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN  AND AGAIN!!!!!!!

Don't give up working for the body you want. Keep testing new approaches and exercises, hit your muscles from different angles and they will surely respond. When your efforts click, people will tell you immediately, they will see the wonderful body you have built for yourself and they will want to know how you got it.