So, you can do your pull ups, chins, and dips almost effortlessly. You’re wondering: what’s next?

Well, you could do more reps. More reps is always an option, but the more reps you do, the more time it takes. Besides, you want a really strong upper body.

I say, add weight. If you want a strong and powerful upper body, adding weight to chins, pull ups, and dips is a great way to get it.

But, how do you add weight? Well, you could do what I did when I first started adding weight to these movements: put weight in a backpack. But, that only works for so long and it changes the groove of the exercise.

You could also buy a really cheap dip / chin belt that’ll break in a few years. But, what’s the point? You’ll be exercising for the rest of your life.

Get the Dip / Chin belt from Iron Mind. This thing is awesome. For one, it’s really quick to use. You can put the weight on the belt in about 15 seconds or less. It’s also extremely sturdy. I bought mine in 2005 and it still looks like new. I’ve supported 106 pounds from this belt with no issues whatsoever. I know people who have supported more. It can take the stress and the wear and tear.

The belt fits nicely and comfortably on your back. It fits in place snugly and stays put so you don’t have to worry about it during your reps. The weight hangs between your legs and doesn’t change your groove during the exercise (like a backpack would). It also folds up nicely when you’re not using it so you can store it in a drawer or some other place where it is out of site (from your wife!).

Jumping rope is a great exercise, jump ropes travel well (as shown above), and jump ropes help you develop your feet, ankles, and calves, as well as your wind.

Sure, big arms are cool. But, in the grand scheme of things, big arms aren’t really that important. What is important is foot, ankle, and calf strength.

Many people have incredibly weak feet. Weak feet cause problems right up the chain—ankle problems, knee problems, hip problems, back problems. A painful back might have its roots in your foot.

For this reason, jumping rope is a great exercise because it develops strength in this area. But jumping rope also can develop your wind and cardiovascular system. You can add your grip, forearms, and shoulders to this list if you get a weighted rope.

Many weighted ropes place the weight in the handles. The Lifeline Weighted Rope is different—the weight is in the rope itself. That means that the faster you go, the harder you work and the heavier it feels. Ten rounds of 100 jumps at a good clip and you’ll feel it all over your body. That’s what I call efficiency.

I’ve used this rope for quite awhile and although I like it quite a bit, it does have a few drawbacks. One, the rope is stiff, especially when you first get it and it took me a while to adjust. I jump on concrete and my form isn’t perfect so the rope will hit the ground on occasion and that is wearing out the rope a little quicker than I’d like. Finally, the rope gets extremely brittle in cold weather and I’ve heard stories of it breaking in extreme cold.

Those problems aside, the feel of this weighted rope is great and it definitely makes you work harder than just having weighted handles. You can get this rope directly from Lifeline.

I support the idea of a minimalist gym. There are a few items, however, that I don’t like doing without. One of those items is a Swiss Ball.

A Swiss Ball is worth owning just for doing backbends on it. Because so many of us spend the majority of our days hunched over in one way or another, doing a backbend to reverse that motion is critical. The Swiss Ball helps you do that.

A key tip for performing the backbend on the Swiss Ball is to make sure you’re not bending from your lower back. Make sure you arch rearward with the thoracic spine (the middle 12 vertebrae).

Swiss Balls are also good for crunches. You get an increased range of motion and increase the exercises effectiveness.

Occasionally, I’ll put one foot on the Swiss Ball while lying on my back. I bend flex my knee and raise my body up and get a great leg curl. This exercise here is way better than any of those hamstring curl machines the gym has. The leg curl on the Swiss Ball will challenge your butt and reinforce a movement pattern rather than just exercising muscles.

Of course, you can also sit on the Swiss Ball while you work. For some people this helps them with their posture, although I find it just as easy to hunch over with a Swiss Ball as with a chair.

A Swiss Ball is also a great substitute for a flat bench. Using the Swiss Ball will challenge you more and, especially if only using one arm at a time, will benefit your stomach muscles more than the flat bench would.

The best way to get a Swiss Ball is to have one delivered to your door. The TKO Fitness Ball comes in two sizes, 65 and 75 cm. If you’re 5’10″ or over, the 75 cm is a good bet. Anything less and you’ll want the 65 cm.

A college friend once said, once you get addicted to coffee, you’ll never stop drinking it. I have to say that I’ve found the coffee and caffeine addiction quite powerful. Its health effects certainly aren’t as bad as alcohol’s, but anything that addicts you lowers your level of day-to-day freedom. An inability to start the day without caffeine is weak-minded.

I recently did a 30 day challenge without both caffeine and coffee, however, at the end of the 30 day challenge I started to drink coffee again. I started with one cup and moved to two cups after a few weeks. It crept up. “Steps taken forward and sleepwalking back again,” as the line in the Pink Floyd song High Hopes goes.

One thing that calls me to coffee is that it’s cold this time of year in Wisconsin and I like a hot beverage in the morning and at various points throughout the day. According to Ayurvedic medicine, I’m a Vata / Pitta type and don’t do well with cold. The hot beverage is nice. The other thing, of course, is the caffeine high, and the taste.

Even though my intake is much lower than it was before, I don’t like the idea of having to have coffee in the morning. I don’t like the idea of something that I don’t need exerting an influence over me and controlling my actions. How many Americans are controlled by the bean? Millions!

For those that say, “I can stop any time,” then do it! Do it for a year! See how you’ll hurt your little ego and how hard it will try to get you to have some coffee. It’s even harder if you don’t have something that you can substitute it with. That’s where Dandy Blend comes in.

My wife had some Dandy Blend in the fridge and she recommended that I give it a try. It’s definitely not coffee, but it is hot and dark and tastes pretty good. Much better than Caffix. Caffix to me is like steeping dirt in water in drinking that. But Dandy Blend has good flavor, especially if you put some cream in there.

I try to keep it simple and just drink the Dandy Blend by itself and that works quite well.

Health Benefits

Dandy Blend has dandelion root in it. The company is careful not to make any health claims about its product, but dandelion root can help with liver and gallbladder detoxification according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. It can also help with digestion, high blood pressure, and improve heart health. Actually Dandelion has a whole bunch of health benefits–you’d be amazed to note the number of weeds that have surprising medicinal benefits.

Again, the company makes no health claims, but the benefits of dandelion root are widely cited.

Dandy Blend comes in a box with 25 singles, or 14.1 oz and 2 lb. bags. I’m so hardcore about it that I just bought the 2lb. bag. You can see who retails Dandy Blend in your area, or you can purchase from Amazon and get it shipped to your door.

If you’re switching from a coffee and caffeine lifestyle to Dandy Blend, I’d switch to black tea for a spell and then make the full switch to Dandy Blend after you are down to one cup of tea per day.

The Jungle Gym isn’t what you think at first. It’s not that thing you used to play on when you were a kid. It’s just a strap with a few pieces of plastic. But, that strap opens up a world of exercise possibilities, makes exercise on the road easier, and makes exercise at home more effective. It’s lightweight, portable, and only takes a few seconds to set up.

Exercises You Can Do with the Lifeline Jungle Gym

I want to point out a few of the exercises you can do with this piece of equipment. This list is not exhaustive, but it shows you the versatility.

Body Weight Rows

The major reason I fell in love with this particular piece of equipment is that I can do bodyweight rows. Most people don’t work out their back properly. To be specific, many people, if they exercise, spend a disproportionate amount of time exercising their horizontal upper body pushing and neglecting their upper body pulling. Especially teenagers who are obsessed with the bench.

The horizontal pressing movement should be balanced out by a horizontal pulling movement. So, if you’re working out at home, you could easily superset your pushups with the Jungle Gym Rows.

If you use one hand for the rows, you get a bunch of stabilization benefits. Your torso ends up working hard to keep your body from rotating. Additionally, this exercise is a great way to prepare for the one arm push up as well.

Atomic Push Ups

A really cool exercise is the Atomic Push Up (see a Youtube). Stick your feet in the straps of the Jungle Gym and get in a push up position. Go to the bottom position and then push up–when you get to the bottom, draw your legs toward you so you end up curling into a ball. Then uncurl and do another push up and start all over. This exercise feels extremely powerful, and gives you a great workout.

Amosov Squat and Pistols

Another way to use the Jungle Gym is for assistance in particular exercises. For example, you can use it during the Amosov Squat (See a Youtube of the Amosov Squat). Or, you can use it while you’re training to do a one-legged squat (a.k.a. the pistol).

Pull Ups and Chin Ups

You can sling the Jungle Gym over a decent-sized tree branch and do pull ups and chin ups. I’ve also used a railing to do this. Because the handles want to move all over the place, you engage quite a bit of your body just controlling the handles, so the chin up feels incredibly strong using the Jungle GYm.

Push Ups and Dips

Ready for a challenging set of push ups.

Hamstring Curls

Finally, if you’ve been using those ridiculous hamstring curl machines at a gym, you’re in for a treat. Using the Jungle Gym, the hamstring curl is actually an effective exercise! Try it–you will feel an immediate difference. (See a Youtube.) For one, you actually engage your butt. A lot of people have gluteal amnesia and forget all about their powerful butt muscles. I’m not sure if this is a travesty or not, but it seems downright wasteful to me not to use something and let it waste away!

Extreme Portability, but Watch for TSA

The Jungle Gym is totally portable. Although, I’ve had to take it out of my bag for TSA because they were always stopping me. I’m not sure whether it was the jump rope or the Jungle Gym, or both, but boy, did they look at my bag funny. It was sort of a game to me until a TSA agent pointed out something I should have realized on my own: “Take it out of your bag.”

Lifeline Jungle Gym Usage Tips

For most exercises, you can just put it over the door and close the door and you’re set. That takes about five seconds. Then, I always measure the length of the straps for exercises where longer or shorter straps will change the difficulty. That way I can better track my progress. At home, I make sure that the direction of pull is going the opposite way the door opens. The hotel doors are pretty strong and it usually doesn’t matter if you’re going with the direction that the door opens.

Get your Jungle Gym from Lifeline.

When buying things online, particularly things that cost in the hundreds of dollars, you want to be careful. I was skeptical about the Trapeze Rigging pull up bar, but it delivers.

What I Like About the Trapeze Rigging Pull Up Bar

• It assembles in under a minute. If you don’t have a place for your pull up bar to sit out, then this pull up bar is the only option.
• It’s lightweight. I can put it in the carrying bag and take it to a friend’s place easily. If I’m conducting classes, it’s easy to take it with me.
• It’s rugged and functional. I needed a freestanding pull up bar. The Trapeze Rigging Pull Up Bar is freestanding—it works, and it works well.
• I can use it in conjunction with my Lifeline Jungle Gym to do pull ups, dips, and rows.

What I Don’t Like About the Trapeze Rigging Pull Up Bar

• It’s a little wobbly. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it does move when you use it. Here’s the thing: it hardly moves at all if you do your pull ups and chin ups smoothly and under control. In a way, the wobbliness is a good thing.
• I would like it to be a bit taller. I’m 6’2″ with long, monkey-like arms. I’d like to be able to do hanging leg raises with my arms straight and not have my feet hit the floor.

As far as I know, the only real competition with this bar is the TAPS pull up bar. I’ve used that one, too. The bar is a little thicker than I like, it weighs 95 lbs., and it costs $515. In my mind, there is really no comparison.

Trapeze Rigging Pull up Bar works perfectly.

I’m pretty impressed with this bar. It’s a great addition to any home gym.

If you’re making a home gym, find out what other equipment I recommend for a home gym.

The Way to Live—it’s a book. I’m not becoming a guru and preaching from on high. The guy who wrote the book, George Hackenschmidt, lived to be 90 years old.

Hackenschmidt lived a most unusual and colorful life. He’s travelled the world, known intimately presidents and kings. Well educated, in later years he became a writer and lecturer on philosophy.

He was a physical culturalist with a head on his shoulders. Among other things he’s said:

• “The principal food for man is pure air.” I don’t think he was stipulating recirculated office air. Likely, he meant the kind of pure air, inhaled with deep breaths, that you might find in rural areas where you can still clearly see all the stars at night, assuming a clear night sky.
• “Vegetables form the ideal human food.” He probably wouldn’t count French fries as vegetables.
• “Without concentration of thought, you are courting failure. How many people are there who are, so to speak, the shuttlecock of their thoughts?” He probably wouldn’t like how Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, television, YouTube, and list blog posts have dulled our attentions spans.

For any smokers out there, George says, “The consumption of tobacco is the most useless vice which exists.”

During a brief foray of Internet research, I learned that when he was 80 he could still jump over a chair for 20 reps. Who knows if that is true, but if I can contribute to his lore with un-sourced statement, more power to me!

When it’s not 77 and beautiful outside, I’ll write a little more about the training he recommends. Like the training I recommend, it’s simple and easy to do. The key thing? Consistency.

I’ll never forget the day my first Captains of Crush grippers arrived. Office mates crowded around my desk trying to give them a squeeze. Of course, the fad wore off, but I persisted and to this day have a strong set of hands that can close the #2.

I know of no better way to develop hands than through kettlebell training and Iron Mind’s Captains of Crush Grippers.

Here’s What Using the Captains of Crush Will Do For You

• Give you and iron grip (Important for physical tasks like pounding nails, picking things up, cooking with iron cookware, shaking hands, arm wrestling and throttling would be muggers.)
• Develop and strengthen your forearms
• Develop and strengthen your shoulders
• Teach you how to contract all the muscles in your body to generate force (it takes a lot of force to close a gripper that requires 195 pounds of pressure)

You can strengthen your entire upper body by using hand grippers. Not run of the mill hand grippers though. Captains of Crush hand grippers.

If you play any kind of sports, you need hand strength. Baseball, softball, football, boxing, MMA, basketball—you need hand strength.

Developing Hand Strength with the Captains of Crush Grippers

Hand strength is easy to develop with the Captains of Crush. If you squeeze these grippers 3-5 times per day, 5 days per week, for a month straight, your entire upper body will be stronger. Your stomach, your back, your lats, your shoulders, your biceps, triceps, forearms, AND your hands. More tips for squeezing the Captains of Crush.

It sounds ridiculous. But give it a try.

If your hands are relatively weak, get the sport.

The Trainer is the next good place to start.

If you don’t consider yourself weak, then you should get the trainer and the #1. Otherwise get the Sport, Trainer and #1.

Closing the #1 is strong. The #2 is really strong, and the #3 is pretty much out of this league for the majority of the population—only hundreds have done it. (Only 11 were able to do it an all of 2010.)

Some days go harder. Some days go lighter. Every fourth week do a little less than you’ve been doing to let your self recover.

Don’t train for more than 5 days a week. Three days a week is fine for the first three weeks.

Pragmatism rules the day. Listen to your hands. If you haven’t trained your hands in awhile, go easy for a few months. You have plenty of time to develop a killer handshake.

Here are the grippers to buy en route to your quest in hand strength:

Captains of Crush Hand Gripper – Sport
Captains of Crush Hand Gripper – No. 1
Captains of Crush Hand Gripper – No. 1.5
Captains of Crush Hand Gripper – No. 2
Captains of Crush Hand Gripper – No. 3

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Proper kettlebell exercise burns calories so fast that you can’t eat enough to keep weight on. Well, you could—but you shouldn’t. And anyway, that’s what the recession is for. Who’s going to spend all their money on food when we can’t afford gas? That’s right, the system is self-correcting.

Here’s why the kettlebell is better than anything else you’re doing for fitness:

• It exercises almost all your muscles at the same time.
• It coordinates your muscles to work together as a unit.
• You learn how to use your body better.
• You get more strength, more endurance, more muscle tone, less fat, and more free.

More free? Yeah. You’re not tied down to a gym. You have this cast iron ball with a handle that is a great, portable workout tool—and when you’re not using it, it’s a great conversation piece.

“Hey, what’s that thing for?”

“That, my friend, is a kettlebell. I use it to stay in shape and avoid paying gym fees. Studies show, you know, that most people who pay gym fees don’t actually go to the gym.”

Alright, so maybe I exaggerated when I said the kettlebell is present-day culture’s saving grace. But, just think about this: We’ve only gone a few decades with our new, incredibly sedentary lifestyle. We’ve gone hundreds of thousands of years with a physically active one. Sure, we’ll probably adapt a bit. But, the rewards of physical capacity far outweigh the costs of inactivity.

If you want to decrease the amount of time it takes to work out, become acquainted with the pull up bar.

The pull up simultaneously develops your gripping muscles, your forearms, your biceps, your lats, your shoulders, and your coolness. Telling your office cohorts you can do a pull up is practically guaranteed to receive a few minutes of admiration.

It’s been years since I’ve been able to do pull ups because I reluctantly avoided those gimicky-looking door frame pull up bars. Let me tell you, the Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar is the real deal. It fits securely on the door frame and I can set it up in a few seconds and do some pull ups.

It feels solid when I put my weight on it, but it’s not for those who weigh over 300 pounds. But as far as pull ups go, most people who weigh 300 pounds aren’t doing pulls ups. Don’t try doing kipping pull ups on it, either. You need to be slow and controlled to avoid making the bar jump.

The pull up is a good measure of overall upper body strength. Because it uses so many muscles, you can replace a lot of different exercise with the pull up. Use different grips to emphasize different muscles and to eliminate boredom with the exercise.

If you can’t do pull ups, have someone help you with the pulling part and then lower yourself slowly. If you’re diligent with this, you’ll get to the point where you can do a pull up. You can also bend your knees and place your feet on a chair. Flex your legs to provide assistance with the pull up. Try to accomplish the lowering portion without giving yourself any assistance.

Or maybe you just need to lose some weight.

One fun way to work pull ups is by doing a ladder. You do one rep, then rest the amount of time it would take you to do one rep. Then do two reps, resting the amount of time it would take you to do two reps and then do three. Continue progressing like this, but stop short of failure. Exercise is about success, not failure, so avoid failing to perform a repetition. Leave a rep in the bank.

If you want to have a Pro Fit Iron Gym pull up bar delivered to your home, go here.