Thursday 2 July 2015

Train with Dumbbells for a Better & Bigger Chest

The barbell is one of the most commonly used pieces of equipment in any commercial gym, the barbell is used particularly frequently for the ever popular bench press. This famed exercise has been used for decades by meat heads and novices alike in the attempt to capitalise gains in muscle to the chest, the focal point for any respectable trained upper body.

But the way I see it, and this is all this article is, one man's opinion, the barbell is not the most effective way to achieve the sought after chiselled pecs of your dreams. The problem with barbell's for chest development is that it's more of a multi-joint compound exercise, it heavily recruits the shoulders and triceps, this allows you to lift heavier but reduces the focus away from the chest.

Dumbbells on the other hand are a different story, because you have more control and flexibility over the movement of the weights you can direct the focus away from your shoulders and onto your chest. I've found having the dumbbells aligned with the lower chest and rotating your hands inwards at the bottom of the press makes for challenging but rewarding work. Your chest will develop symmetrically and evenly at both sides because each side has to produce equal effort whereas you can use your stronger side with the barbell to aid your weaker one creating an imbalance. 

Another little plus of using dumbbells is the benefits to your wrists, because you can rotate the weight through the pressing motion you can alleviate pressure as your wrists will want to naturally angle themselves towards the bottom of the press. With a barbell you simply have a fixes plane of motion which is up and down, your wrists just have to take the pressure which may come back to haunt you in years to come.

If you're a barbell enthusiast and advocate then all I'd say is give it a shot, you might be astounded at the difference and change in weight training is never a bad thing, so stimulate those pectorals with some dumbbells!

Thanks for reading.

Author: Ben Owst
PureFitness & Sports
No.1 for all things active!

Thursday 4 June 2015

Tabata Interval Training - Blast some fat at the end of your workout

Tabata training is a 4 minute blast of high intensity interval training (also known as HIIT training), for the past year or so I have been integrating Tabata into my routines for a quick burst of intensity to pretty much wipe me out at the end of either a cardio or a weights session.

HIIT training is a globally recognised method of training to stimulate fat loss (if you put the work in of course), the beauty of Tabata I've found at least is that it's versatile and easy to cram into workouts that are already running on a tight schedule before work beckons me. 

So the Tabata breakdown is basically 8 sets of 20 seconds on with 10 seconds rest, that can be blasting out as many reps with weights within 20 seconds as possible or getting the legs pumping on the cross trainer (or any other cardio machine but that work's best for me). It's generally recommended that you don't overdo it by using it multiple times within the same workout so I just fit it in once at the end.

I highly doubt that it's coincidence since I jumped on the Tabata bandwagon my waist has chipped its way down gradually over time, as with anything I've learned to never expect remotely instant results but perseverance wins out in the end, I'd certainly recommend sneaking it into your workouts for a couple of months if they've been feeling a bit stagnant of late.

Thanks for reading.

Author: Ben Owst
No.1 for all things active!

Thursday 21 May 2015

Two can train at the same time with the Marcy GS99 Dual Stack Home Gym

The Marcy GS99 Home Gym is one of our long standing favourites at PFS and also with our customers too, the ingenuity of this distinctive gym is its dual stack and dual station feature allowing two people to lift weights at the same time.

GS99 Chest Press
Two chunky 65kg stacks nestled at the back of the gym operate independently, one for a shoulder and leg press system, the other for chest press, pec dec, high & low pulleys, leg developer and preacher curl pad.

GS99 Shoulder Press
The gym doesn't have to completely dominate one whole room too with the angled frame it can fit nicely into the corner of any room, and a few gym attachments are thrown in for good measure:
  • Lat pulldown bar
  • Straight Bar
  • D-handle
  • Ankle strap
For a closer look feel free to visit our store:


Thanks for reading!

Thursday 14 May 2015

A new innovative style Cross Trainer from Yowza Fitness!

Yowza are experts in the fitness world for introducing new and exciting adaptations to their fitness machines to truly divide them from the pack and define their range as unique. 


Their most successful innovation is the introduction of the patented CardioCore handles on their cross trainers, these distinctive handles move from side to side instead of back and forth to better stimulate your core muscles on the cross trainer.



Initially this unique design was only available on their top spec ellipticals but recently they have introduced them to the Houston cross trainer priced at £749.00 so you can experience this fantastic take on the popular fitness machine at a more affordable price.


You can view the full breakdown of the Yowza Houston through this link:


Thanks for reading!


Wednesday 8 April 2015

Marcy MP2106 Platinum Home Multi Gym now comes with a Free Exercise Bike Included

You looking for more than just your bog standard basic boring multi gym? One of our long standing favourite multi gyms the Marcy MP2106 Platinum Home Gym is set to be discontinued so as a send off promotion we're throwing in a free Marcy Exercise Bike for good measure in case you fancy supplementing your strength training with a bit of cardio too.

Marcy MP2106 Platinum Home Multi Gym with Free Exercise Bike

A quick breakdown of this beast of a gym includes an adjustable chest press to shoulder press, the usual high and low pulleys with the leg developer like every other gym on the market has, the set apart features of the MP2106 come from the dedicated ab crunch station, free weight motion pec dec (which is brilliant from experience) and complete adjustability in the back and seat pads for perfect alignment.

Marcy MP2106 Platinum Home Multi Gym Features
Marcy MP2106 Multi Gym Features Breakdown

Compliment these attributes with a nice 62kg weight stack and you have great scope for building muscle or just toning up across your chest, shoulders, back, legs, arms and abs with this all round multi gym.

Marcy MP2106 Platinum Home Multi Gym Exercises
Marcy MP2106 Multi Gym Exercises
You can view the Marcy MP2106 to buy through the link below:

Thanks for reading.