Monday, March 27, 2023

The Importance of Barbells in Building Muscle and Strength

When a man walks into a gym, he may be confused about where to spend his time. You probably have numerous fitness equipment in the gym. You might be unsure about what to do or where to begin! You may be attracted to the section filled with easy-to-use fitness machines, or the barbell section where you may be overwhelmed by how to use them.

Are you an avid gym-goer? Are you planning to get into a strength training program? Barbells should be an essential part of your fitness equipment. There's a reason why you see so many people use barbells in their workouts, regardless of their fitness level. You may achieve your goals safely and effectively with the aid of your fitness equipment.

Let’s just clear it up right here! The barbell in a gym is the best way to train your strength. Squats, presses, deadlifts, and the Olympic lifts performed with a barbell are the best exercises for building strength, power, and muscle growth. Hence, barbells as fitness equipment are so valuable. They are the most ergonomically friendly load-handling fitness equipment in any gym. A barbell as fitness equipment is a metal bar that you can load weight plates on. With this two-handed weight bar, you can perform exercises like:

  • Squats with weights
  • Hip thrusts
  • Bent-over rows
  • bench presses

There are various kinds of barbells. the most popular barbells among them are:

Olympic barbell- Olympic barbell, which is a straight bar and weighs around 20kg. It can be utilized for strenuous weightlifting exercises. Even more weight plates can be loaded onto it.

The EZ or curl barbell- It is curly in appearance and is mostly utilized for upper arm exercises. It is good to make bicep curls.

Cardio bar- The light bar, which typically weighs around 9 -10 kg. Mostly they are fixed in weight. You can use it in group exercise courses for interval training and endurance development.

Barbell training is easy to understand, reasonable, cost-effective, and most importantly, proven. You will come across barbells at the gym when lifting weights. It has a specific diameter, so you should purchase weight plates for multiple uses. It will ensure everything matches up. It should be made up of high-quality materials that will last and handle everything you can use on it. It allows heavy weights to be gripped in the hands and are adjustable as well. Its nature allows small increases in stress to be applied to the whole body over the full range of motion of all your major leverage systems.


The barbell offers a way to load the body’s movement patterns with progressively heavier weights. It will force the body to get stronger! For example, if you start with a 45-pound barbell that is empty and adds simply 5 pounds to it each week, you will be able to deadlift 175 pounds in 6 months. In a year, you’re up to 300 pounds. It's wise to begin slowly if you're new to weightlifting. Barbell lifts are not necessary during every training session. Every small increase in weight accumulates into amazing gains in size and strength for many years.

You should select such fitness equipment carefully. Safety is key when lifting weights, so you must purchase a barbell from a reliable online store like METAL MUSCLE ATHLETICS. To know more, please visit https://metalmuscle.com.au/ today!

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Ready, Set, Race: Tips for Preparing for Your First Obstacle Course

Obstacle course racing (OCR) and mud runs have been popular for the last 10 years and are set to become an Olympic sport— Odds are if you are a runner, many of your friends or coworkers have tried one.

While OCRs are booming, some still haven’t ventured far off the street or trails. Many runners are hesitant to sign up and give one a try, with common excuses like I am not fit enough, I am afraid that I will get hurt, or I don’t even know where to start! But it doesn’t need to be such a daunting task. Find the next nearby race. Accept the challenge and start making preparations!

One benefit of OCR is it gives you a chance to break up the monotony. Rarely is any one course exactly the same as the other, so each race you sign up for is a completely different challenge compared to the local 5K run you do every year. Getting out of your comfort zone can be scary, but the reward is worth it. Shorter races are around 5 kilometers or less long and will only have a few or maybe 5-8 obstacles. Think of them as a nice trail run with a few things to crawl over, under, and through, on your way to the finish line. Medium races of 10-20 KM are more challenging with more different obstacles and then the ultra-long adventure races could have 50-100km through all terrains and run 12-24hrs or even days.

Depending on your current fitness level and goals, almost anyone can go out and survive an OCR race right now. Even if you walk the majority of the way and fail a lot of obstacles, you can still make it through. However, if you want to do more than just finish, you will want to dedicate six to eight weeks to OCR-specific training. Running and short sprints (for endurance and stamina) is still the main component of any OCR race so emphasis on 50 to 70 percent of training out on trails should be a big component of the program. Treadmills and running around the neighborhood streets get the job done but spend some time on hills and dirt paths for added complexity.  Grip strength is the second most important training factor. Anything from hanging on a bar, pull-ups, or holding yourself up on a bar with your arms in an L position will make you stronger for those climbing or pulling obstacles. Always train pull-ups with a standard grip or neutral grip. Both positions will be important when you are pulling yourself over walls or traversing American Ninja Warrior-style rigs.” If you can’t perform a pull-up, you can start with a resistance band to help assist. Also work on “negative pull-ups.” This is an exercise where you start from the top of the pull-up and lower yourself slowly.



When you’re assessing the time you expect to complete the course, make sure you add about 25 to 50 percent to your expected finishing time of an equivalent road or trail race. The added strain and exhaustion from completing obstacles will slow you down greatly.

In summary, running coupled with hill sprints and crawls together with practicing at your local park or playground on monkey bars is all you need to get started. If you have the space and budget then take your training to the next level. Tactical Racer OBOX is designed for athletes and weekend warriors preparing for their next Ninja or OCR race. Contact info@metalmuscle.com.au for more details.

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METAL MUSCLE ATHLETICS

Tel/whatsapp: +61 478 848 033

 Email: info@metalmuscle.com.au

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