Commercial exercise handles for strength training cable machines or exercise bands are quite easy to make yourself.
If you strength train using a cable machine, or use resistance bands, you will probably need exercise handles. These plastic and nylon webbing handle attachments clip to the cable with a carabiner, allowing you to more comfortably pull as well as allowing your wrist and arm to rotate in a more natural position. This rotation is much easier on your joints and greatly adds to your comfort. Conversely straight and rigid attachments such as a lat pulldown bar usually offer no flexibility of wrist angle, which is harder on your joints. A neutral grip for rowing is easier on the wrists, and therefore better for long-term use.
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Photo by Don Tai
There’s really not much to the lat pulldown rope, sometimes called a triceps rope. A lat pulldown rope attaches to a strength training cable machine, high up, so you can pull downward and exercise your latissimus dorsi, or lower back muscles. Common exercises include the lat pulldown and face pulls. It is just a rope with an attachment point in the middle. Here’s how I made mine.
It has been 5 months since I was able to work out at my community center gym. Today 2020 Aug 17 the Toronto public gyms reopened, but with significant changes. Overall I felt that the City of Toronto did a really good job in infection control and cleanliness, considering pandemic circumstances.
Though I have been strength training at home, I don’t have the weights required to get a good pump and build strength, so it has only been maintenance. Working out at home, which will continue (I will explain) is a bit boring and at times very difficult for motivation. Still, when you have no other options a home workout must do.
Weixin photo from Jianshen Qu Ba, unknown origin, complete article
China is a separate world and becoming even more distant. This is especially true with the internet. Wechat 微信 is part of China’s social media and a very good example. Their information ecosystem, heavily monitored and censored by the government, is often smartphone ecosystem, and not web site based. I occasionally monitor Chinese social media and often read some of their articles.
While the content can be very good, for fitness articles they almost always use white models. I find this very strange. There are more than enough jacked Chinese guys and beautiful Chinese women in Asia. The photos also have no sources.
Sarcopenia, a decline in skeletal muscle with age, is inevitable. I have experienced symptoms of this and have then taken measures, which includes weight lifting. It has helped a lot.
Causes of the loss of muscle mass or strength might include hormonal changes, sedentary lifestyles, oxidative damage, infiltration of fat into muscles, inflammation and resistance to insulin. Some problems stem from the brain and nervous system, which activate the muscles.
Experts say the best approach to restoring or maintaining muscle mass and strength is exercise, particularly resistance training.
