All you have to do is click on the link to be taken directly to the online store where each and every piece of portable fitness equipment can be purchased for an affordable price. Each piece of portable fitness equipment is made by Lifeline USA, located in south-central Wisconsin and offers a lifetime guarantee. Lifeline USA continues to be the industry leader in functional fitness and portable fitness equipment, and is the number one choice among world-class and Olympic athletes. More time is spent on research and development of new portable fitness equipment than any other area of Lifeline’s business. We invite you to try our products. We are confident that you’ll become convinced that "pumping rubber" is better than pumping iron for improving overall functional fitness. Portable fitness equipment is the way to go!
How often are new workouts posted?
The workouts for the week will become available at midnight of each Sunday. That way you can look at the workouts for each day and get any questions answered, exercise form correct, or any other issues or questions answered. In addition, each week of workouts is saved to the archives and can be viewed at any time by online members.
How will I know how to perform each exercise?
Each exercise in the workout for the day is linked to a video clip that shows each part of the exercise. You will know how to correctly perform each exercise for each day.
Are Food Sensitivities Making You Fat?
Should I do a “core” workout?
Although some exercises may not seem like the traditional abdominal workout you are used to, the exercises for each day are the absolute best for true core strength. Working out with Monkey Bar Gym is the best way to achieve a strong, injury-free core. Try doing the Power Wheel exercises used periodically and see if you won’t have phenomenal abs in no time.
What should I do for a warm up for the workout?
The warm up before each workout is up to you. There are warm up options that can be found by clicking on the “Warm Up” link located on the upper left side of the vertical tool bar. Breaking a light sweat and feeling ready to work out hard should be the goal of each warm up. Some good warm up options are jumping rope, jogging, agility ladder drills, some type of moving, and a few light warm up reps of the exercises for the day.
Will I get “big” and “bulky” by working out at the Monkey Bar Gymnasium?
“Getting big” is not the focus of the Monkey Bar Gym. Our philosophy revolves around performance, not cosmetics. Maybe you’ve been working out and overdeveloping your body past the point of function. Too much muscle is just dead weight that makes you slow. In nature, animals that are too fat or too slow don’t make it in the survival of the fittest. The choice is yours now: You can choose to be functionally strong and confident OR NOT. An emphasis on appearance is still being used to sell magazines and other products. People still think that to get in shape you must train as a bodybuilder, using isolated movements. The Monkey Bar Gym is focused on achieving true physical fitness through body weight training. This means, however, that you will gain lean muscle mass by doing the strength exercises for each day. Try one of the workouts and see if you don’t think it will get you in the best shape of your life.
Is the workout of the day enough activity or should I do more?
The workout of the day is designed so that, if done properly at a high intensity level, is more than enough to achieve remarkable fitness results. It is not necessary to do the workout twice in a day if done correctly the first time. If you do have other physical activities in the day, be sure to balance your work and rest days to allow adequate time for recovery. Taking a day off or performing a workout at a lower intensity may be in order.
How do I know what fitness level I am at?
Where you begin depends on your current level of fitness. We suggest you begin at the stability level and work your way up so that you adapt your body to the demands of the exercises. Follow the progressions and proceed to the next level when you can maintain perfect form at the current level.
1. Stability (and alignment)- This level focuses on improving your ability to align your body correctly. It is extremely important that you develop a good base before moving on to the strength level of training.
2. Strength is the second level of training. Strength level focuses on making the same stability exercises more challenging through greater range of motion and added resistance.
3. Power is the highest level. Power level exercises are much faster and more dynamic and thus require much higher levels of both strength and stability. Have you ever heard the statement "Speed without control is a dangerous thing?" Stability and strength are essential to your success at power level.
What if I have a question about the workout?
Each exercise comes with a detailed video clip that demonstrates and fully explains each exercise. If for some reason the workout for the day doesn’t make sense or is too complicated, simply leave a comment on the bottom of the page. Somebody will be checking the comments periodically and will answer any question promptly and efficiently.
How do I view today’s workout?
Once you are an online member of the Monkey Bar Gymnasium, you can access the workout of the day by logging in with your user name and password. You can also click on the section titled “Latest Workouts” located on the left hand side of the page after logging in to the website.
What is today’s workout?
There is a workout posted for each day of the week. The splits are as follows:
Body Power workouts are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
FIT workouts are on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The workout descriptions are very precise and are designed to be as uncomplicated as possible. A “rep” or repetition is the completion of one exercise movement. A “set” is a group of reps. 2 sets of 12 reps of pushups would mean 12 pushups followed by a brief rest and then another set of 12 pushups. The rest time is up to you with less rest obviously resulting in a higher intensity.
What is functional fitness?
Functional fitness is the result of training at the Monkey Bar Gym. Did you ever see those bodybuilding gorillas at the typical gym or on those workout shows on television? They are all about isolating a muscle to increase its size, the opposite of functional fitness. They even tell the viewer to "put your mind in the muscle." This kind of bodybuilding will build individual muscles and is great for posing, but did you ever see one of these guys try to scratch his back, swing a baseball bat, play basketball or even throw a football, all true tests of functional fitness? The reason that these things all look funny is because the human body is not trained for functional fitness by training isolated groups of muscles! The human body is a chain, with all of the links working together to perform everyday tasks, as well as athletic functions. This is functional fitness. Lifeline USA’s portable fitness equipment products promote "closed chain" exercises, where muscles are not isolated, but perform together. This is not functional fitness. For example, we do not condone bench presses done while lying on a bench. These do absolutely nothing for your back, because your back is being supported by the bench. Lifeline USA’s portable fitness equipment products provide the ability to do standing bench presses, where the back, legs and core are all involved in the exercise, along with the chest and shoulders, thereby providing functional fitness. Functional fitness is one the main goals of training at the Monkey Bar Gym.
What makes the Monkey Bar Gymnasium so unique?
Jon Hinds, the owner and founder of the Monkey Bar Gymnasium, brings unparalleled knowledge and expertise to the functional fitness industry. In the mid 1980’s Jon graduated from college, received several certifications in the field of exercise science, moved to California and became the strength coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. He was also the Personal Trainer for many Hollywood stars, including Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, and Bruce Springsteen. But, after several years in Tinseltown, Jon decided to move back to Wisconsin and start his own functional fitness center. The Monkey Bar Gym was the first fitness center in the Midwest that features no weights or machines, but uses body weight exercises and Lifeline USA products. The Monkey Bar Gymnasium focuses on gaining strength through Natural Training!
Monkey Bar Gymnasium Playground Workout
Here Jon Hinds, owner of the Monkey Bar Gym in Madison, WI, is performing various playground exercises. The first is a Power Wheel rollout performed on a playground swing. The second exercise is a Power Wheel pike-up on a swing set. He follows that up with climbs up and down the swing set. Last is jumps on a picnic table. Try this bodyweight sequence next time you are at a playground see how well these exercises work!