10 essential conditioning tools

10 Essential Conditioning ToolsRecommended by the authors of Straight to the Bar

12 September 2009

10 Essential Conditioning Tools Straight to the Bar straighttothebar.com! 1

The Home Gym is a beautiful thing. A place where

you can get away from everything for a while, and

concentrate on the simple act of becoming stronger,

leaner and generally in better shape than when you

started.

For me, there are really two Home Gyms. The spare

bedroom that now houses a rack, bench, plates and

so on - and the backyard. A small area, but my

favourite place to use many of the tools listed below.

If youre just getting set up and wondering what to get, consider these :

10 Essential Conditioning Tools. Highly recommended.

10 Essential Conditioning Tools Straight to the Bar straighttothebar.com! 2 / 6

Keg

When it comes to serious strength-conditioning work, its hard to

go past the simplicity of the keg.

Not only is it one of the least expensive items youll come across,

itll challenge you in ways you never imagined. To find out exactly

how to put it to use (including some incredibly unusual variations

that you certainly wont see everywhere), grab a copy of Dave

Lemanczyks Keg Conditioning. Superb.

Ultimate Sandbag

Ive been training with sandbags for years, and this is the

only one that stands up to regular abuse. Although the

home-made ones are a great start, when youre ready to get

serious, grab an Ultimate Sandbag. You wont be

disappointed.

Sledgehammer

There are many, many ways to use a sledgehammer in your

conditioning work. Everything from striking various parts of

an elastic object (typically a large tyre) to repeatedly throwing

and gathering. It can also be used in place of an Indian Club

or Mace as part of your strength-endurance training.

Where to get them : online (heres one from Amazon), or

your local hardware store.


Kettlebells

As with the sledgehammer, these are fantastic for

strength-endurance work.

Although there are many on the market, my personal

favourites are the ones from Dragon Door (heres a

great video from Jordan Vezina explaining why).

Beautiful things.

Battling Ropes

When it comes to conditioning work, its hard to look past the

Battling Ropes. Love em.

All you need to get started is a length of thick rope and a handful of

exercises. Get both here, and watch your excess bodyfat melt away.

Brilliant.

Tyre (or Tire)

Whether youre planning to get a large tyre for

flipping, or a smaller version for various jumping/

carrying/throwing drills; a tyre is the quintessential

piece of free (or ridiculously inexpensive) training

equipment.

How do you use them? Well, here are a few ideas.

Enjoy.


Clubs

Like kettlebells, clubs are great for an enormous range

of strength and strength-endurance work.

These days there are several varieties of clubs available.

Personally I favour the hand-made, fillable clubs from

Stronger Grip; which not only feel right when in use,

theyre beautifully made. Fantastic things.

Bulgarian Bag

Although it may not be obvious exactly how to use this bag,

Matt Wichlinski demonstrates a number of superb exercises

with his own home-made version.

Brilliant things.

Weight Vest

No matter what your conditioning goals are, chances are that at

some point youll want to increase the resistance.

Often, an incredibly simple way to do that is to throw on a

weight vest (I use one from Hyper Wear), and train as usual.

Especially for bodyweight exercises such as sprints.


Gymboss

If youre sick of fumbling around with a stopwatch, counting in

your head or getting your workout partner to tell you when its

time to stop; invest in an interval timer. Youll be amazed at the

difference it makes.

Which one should you get? Although there are several timers on

the market, the one Ive used for years is the Gymboss. Love it.

Incidentally, if youre worried that youll need all of these to get a decent conditioning session

in - relax. You wont.

Just check out any that appeal to you.

Now the fun part begins - the conditioning work itself. Enjoy.


10 essential conditioning tools

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