The Akis Kritsinelis workout series

Learn from the master...

Akis has very kindly put together a series of videos and comments detailing his various workouts which he employs on a daily basis. We have been asked many times in the past about Akis and his uncanny ability to regularly annihilate his scores.

Simply select a video from the appropriate category below to see the mighty greek in action!

Biceps

Triceps

Finger & Hand

Forearm

Shoulders

Akis Kritsinelis - NSD Power®ball workout series - Biceps

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

POWERBALL BICEPS EXERCISES

Here you may find some powerballing exercises intended for biceps training.

Similarly with forearm exercises, the aim is to make wrist curls with a spinning powerball, under various positions of your arm. Rotating movement should be suspended as much as possible.

For the first exercise (BE1) your upper arm should be placed in an angle ~45 degrees relevant to your body and your forearm should be placed in ~90 degrees angle relevant to your upper arm.

For the second exercise (BE2) you have to bend your body 90 degrees forwards, set your upper arm vertically to your [bent] body and your forearm towards your other arm, vertically to your upper arm (well, if this doesn't make any sense just see the picture! :-)

The third exercise (BE3) is similar to the second, except that your forearm is now facing forwards.

The above are presented in the relevant pictures and videos.

A suggested pattern for biceps exercise would be the following (RH: Right Hand, LH: Left Hand):

BE1 RH: 30 sec, BE1 LH: 30 sec, BE2 RH: 30 sec, BE2 LH: 30 sec, BE3 RH: 30 sec, BE3 LH: 30 sec

All the above without a break of course!

Akis Kritsinelis

POWERBALL FOREARMS EXERCISES

Here you may find some powerballing exercises intended for forearms training.

The exercise schedule presented here is not meant to replace other forms of exercise (weights, grippers or other powerballing exercises); it is just a way to exploit the qualities of powerball in order to train your forearms easily and quickly. And, in case you wonder, your powerball performance should also benefit from these exercises!

The main idea is to make wrist curls with a spinning powerball, under various forearm positions. Rotating movement should be suspended (as much as this is possible since the powerball's gyroscopic inertia will force your hand to a rotating movement to some degree). A very important issue in order to isolate forearm muscles is to keep your forearm steady. So, summing up, the exercises basically involve:

Wrist curls.
Suspension of wrist rotation.
No forearm movement.

The first two exercises are wrist curls in the fashion you do them in the gym using a dumbbell: The first (FE1) is done with the palm facing down (inverted wrist curls) and the second (FE2) is done with the palm facing up (normal wrist curls).

The other two exercises are wrist curls with your forearm bent towards your body (I don't know if there is a corresponding dumbbell exercise): The third exercise (FE3) is done with the palm facing your body and the fourth (FE4) with the palm facing outwards.

The above are presented in the relevant pictures and videos.

The combination / duration / intense of these exercises can be regulated according to someone's personal fitness levels. For example, a "compact" forearms set which I would suggest is the following (RH: Right Hand, LH: Left Hand):

FE1 RH: 30 sec, FE1 LH: 30 sec, FE2 RH: 30 sec, FE2 LH: 30 sec, FE3 RH: 30 sec, FE3 LH: 30 sec, FE4 RH: 30 sec, FE4 LH: 30 sec

The above set should be done without break (each hand will have the opportunity to rest for 30 seconds while the other is exercising so don't grumble :-) and speeds around 9-10k will suffice. The whole set lasts only 4 minutes and will give you benefits which will be felt imminently (provided that you won't give up in the middle of the set :-). If you can do 3-4 sets 3 times a week you will get a very good forearms training. Of course, as mentioned above, there are many exercising schedules that can be formed.

Hope it was useful!

Akis Kritsinelis

Exercising

You should use about 80-90% of your capacity when practicing and feel like your arm is about to fall down! This way, not only will you be improving your powerballing ability but you will also exercise your arms and feel strengthened and "pumped" from shoulders to fingertips.

The frequency and tension of the exercise should be formed according to your temperament and capacity. A general scheme would be to exercise for half to one hour day after day.

I would also recommend that you use two Powerball^®s. One for high scores and another for practice. This is due to the fact that while practicing you will often become exhausted and it may be difficult to always keep a firm grip on the ball. This results to rotor "bumps" and generally improper operation, which may reduce the ball's highest speed capacity (though it does not really affect it as an exercising tool). On the other hand, a ball which is used only for high score attempts, is easier to be held firmly and will progressively be "settled" in such a way that all inner parts co-operate most efficiently hence allowing it to achieve really high speeds.

Hope the above helps a little!

Akis Signature

RPM Sports Disclaimer:
The guidelines given above are to be used only by those persons in full physical health and with existing Powerball experience plus an ability to know when to STOP!
i.e. if spinning at high speed is generating a burn in your arm then this is usually ok... if it is causing sharp pain however, this is not and in such cases we would recommend immediate abstinence until the limb has been given a full opportunity to recuperate