I haven't posted for a while and its just because I've lacked the creativity to write a post. That happens sometimes and that is perfectly okay. However, I pondered and I remembered a while back that I wrote a post about Fitness equipment and gear. That got me thinking about the equipment I mentioned and how I should expand on my knowledge about chest expanders, (haha, get it? Expand). Anyways, carry on reading to hear my knowledge on chest expanding. The original post mentioning chest expanders is linked below if you want to check it out. 

Although chest expanding is no where near as good for your muscles as a fully equipped gym and lifting weights, I can definitely recommend the exercises and piece of equipment to people who are injured, unable to get to a gym or be fortunate enough to have pieces of equipment. Even if you aren't wanting to gain muscle, chest expanding can be an excellent way of increasing your ability to breath and fully open up your chest (like you would when doing yoga). With a standard chest expander, you can usually add springs to the expander in order to make the resistance tougher. Chest expanding will help to tear your muscles so they can repair and grow, however your rate of muscle growth may only be gradual compared to lifting and working out with weights. Chest expanding will also build strength in your tendons and ligaments. Even if you arent going to purely be using this piece of equipment for working out every day, it is good to have one for whenever you want to warm up or cool down.

I use the gold's gym chest expander which my coach gave to me, the only link I could find to the exact one  was to their amazon page, this is in linked in my other blog post about fitness gear. However, there are other alternatives which you can buy. You can pick up cheap chest expanders from sportdirect.com, but I have not tried them so I am unsure of the quality. Where I do my Olympic Weightlifting, we have some metal chest expanders but I am unsure where my coach bought them from. Personally, the metal expanders are not my forte as they can pinch your skin, trap fingers and rip out your hair! The rubber expanders are a lot safer in my eyes, although sometimes metal chest expanders can provide more resistance. I will link below the chest expander featured from sportdirect.com and the gold's gym metal chest expander. The gold's gym chest expander is not the cheapest metal expander you'll find, however if you've got the money I'd recommend buying one.

My coach gave me this slip of paper with exercises to do with a chest expander, I have no idea if they're from a book, whether he found them online or if they're his. Its quite old but i've tried my best to demonstrate the exercises shown. One by one (going along sideways) I'll show demonstrations of the diagrams. Please note that exercises 8 and 9 I have not demonstrated solely because I cannot show them correctly. They are both chest expanding exercises for your wrists, however images do not show much difference between the contraction of muscles with the start and finish images .

The first diagram is blurry, however I have managed to show a better demonstration of the exercise. This exercise simply can help with fully breathing through your chest.

I haven't taken a photo for this exercise because I feel that it is very easy to explain. Just like in diagram #1, the chest expander is stretched across the chest as the person completes a situp. When sitting up straight after completing a sit up, the expander is simply stretched. By not having your feet hooked under anything, the exercise can work your abdominals more.

This exercise is once again very simple to do, so I felt it wasn't necessary to have an image. Exercise #4 is very similar to exercise #1. The only difference is that you don't arch your back when stretching the expander, so you are stood upright when it is stretched.

This exercise is very similar to the standard bicep curl, however without the use of weights. This one is good and can either be completed by sitting or standing.  Just be careful not to let the expander slip from under your foot, otherwise it could hurt if it hit you.

Thank you for reading this post, I hope you enjoyed it. It took a lot of time editing so many images together! Please note that if exercises have been demonstrated incorrectly, that it is my fault and I would appreciate any correction in the comments below.

Due to injuring my ankle recently (being precise, I have Tendinopathy) I have been unable to complete any exercise involving Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting. However, I have still been Weight Training at home as I didn't want to fall behind by not doing any upper body strength exercises. However, I did want to write a post which compared all three of these different ways to build muscle. Please continue reading this post to find out more!

Olympic Weightlifting involves two overhead lifts called the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. The sport uses full body movements which focuses on technique (the way the bar is lifted) and how much is being lifted (usually heavy poundages). The term 'Olympic Weightlifting' is the full name for the sport because it is the type of Weightlifting seen in the Olympic games. Usually,  the poundage used for the Snatch isn't as high as the Clean and Jerk amount. If you'd like to know more detail on what these lifts are exactly, please check out this post of mine linked below.

​Deadlift: The Deadlift movement is very much similar to the beginning of both Olympic lifts. The bar starts on the floor and the lifter picks up the bars to above the knees. Once the bar is past the knees, the lifter drives their hips forward and places the bar back down. Lifters can choose to have their grip on the bar as the same as the Olympic Weightlifting grip, however the hands are closer together (both hands facing the same way, palms inwards). But there is another way of lifting the bar by having one palm facing inwards and one palm facing outwards.

​The sport uses a range of movements depending on which powerlifting event you're doing. For example, the Back squat would involve full lower body muscle use (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings etc), whereas the Bench Press is mainly upper body strength. Then the Deadlift uses mainly lower body strength and some arm strength. Powerlifting is not a sport found at the Olympic games, however there are competitions involving the sport. Powerlifting may seen as an alternative for those who cannot Olympic lift. From looking at people I know who are Olympic Weightlifters and Powerlifters (including myself), I have noticed that poundages when Powerlifting are often higher than Weightlifting poundages. This may not be correct for everyone, but it is something that I have noticed.

Weight Training can be seen commonly in gyms (compared to Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting). Many gyms nowadays have features involving Olympic Weightlifting platforms and equipment, however there are some gyms which mainly contain machines and free weights. This can also be the case for Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting clubs not containing any free weights. I would describe Weight Training to be any sort of exercise involving free weights (Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Barbells that aren't being used for Olympic lifts etc). Weight training isn't a sport which has a specific routined technique, although it can be a method of building muscle to help other sports, maybe even Olympic lifting or Powerlifting. Many may class the Bench press exercise from Powerlifting as Weight Training, as it is an exercise which many may do at the gym but not call themselves Powerlifters if they do not partake in the other two strength exercises which Powerlifting involves.

From my knowledge of Weight Training, here are three exercises which many would class as Weight Training and are different to the other sports mentioned in this post. For each of the exercises, I suggest that a slightly heavy weight be chosen (not too heavy) and that the person should complete 8-12 repetitions of the exercise. By completing 8 to 12 repetitions, the person will be building muscular strength rather than their endurance ability.

​Dumbbell flyes: Dumbbell flyes involves a person either lying completely flat on their back (on a bench) or slightly upright but still close towards the ground. The person should bring the dumbbells out from beside them, so that they're sticking out their chest. Then, the dumbbells should be brought towards them, so that they're chest is more relaxed and that both dumbbells meet above their body. The movement should almost be as if the person is hugging a barrel as the weight may be too heavy to completely straighten the arms (as they would do if the weight was lighter which could perhaps enable them to complete more repetitions if they wanted to improve their endurance). This exercise will help to build muscles in the chest, shoulders and biceps.

​Bicep curls: Bicep curls can be uses with either dumbbells or a barbell. This exercise can also either be completed 
using either two arms or one arm when using dumbbells, however if you're using a barbell, two arms should be used. The bicep curl begins with both arms locked with the elbows facing backwards and should finish with the elbows bent so that the weight is near the upper body. This exercise is easy and ideal to build your biceps.
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Bent-over rows: This exercise can involve the use of either dumbbells or a barbell. This exercise can be completed using either two arms or one arm when using dumbbells, however if you're using a barbell, two arms should be used. The person will bend their body over, so that they're closer to their knees. Whilst their back is flat, the person's arms begin as locked and slowly bend as the weight or weights are pulled towards the chest. This exercise will help to build muscles in the deltoids, latissimus dorsi, biceps and trapezius. ​There is a great challenge online to do with bent-over rows, which is interesting to see the technique of others and how many repetitions different people can complete. If you want to check it out, please click on the image next to this paragraph. I recommend checking out the full website for sport-based fun challenges. See how you rank against others around the world!  Heres a link to the website below as it wouldn't let me link my profile, if you'd like to check it out I'm registered under thisgirlcanlift. I haven't been registered for very long, however I plan on completing more challenges in the future and hope that perhaps I'll be able to create more blog content from what I learn from completing the challenges.

Thank you for reading this post. Its pretty short but sooner or later I'm going to thoroughly explain the Olympic Weightlifting technique which I proudly use and coach. Firstly, I need to hit the books so I can explain precisely without confusing anyone. Please note that I am no expert surrounding these three sporting areas, however I've had 7 years experience of Olympic Weightlifting and 3 years experience of Powerlifting and Weight Training. This entire post is purely based upon opinions and experiences of my own, so please don't take the information provided to heart if it isn't completely correct.