Planks

Planks are the most recognized static exercise for the torso. They should be held for time and can be overloaded with external resistance that is added to the lifter around their mid to upper back. The lifter should create a hard contraction in their abdominals, glutes and hamstrings to remain rigid.

Weighted Planks

These exercises demonstrate planks with external loading to increase the intensity as you get stronger.

Mountain Climber Planks

The lifter will perform an alternating mountain climber movement, while holding a plank. This is a great transitional exercise because it creates a static contraction in the abdominals while engaging movement of the lower body.

Planks on Trampoline

Planks done on a trampoline are an effective way to really activate the abdominals. As the lifter holds the plank position agitation from a partner can be added or the lifter can move into a one arm position. This is an excellent way to start progressing from a conventional plank to more advanced torso training movements. It also improves shoulder stability at the same time.

Side Planks

Side planks should be done with no sagging of the hips, torso or shoulders. The movement should be held for time. Distractions like having the lifter respond to verbal questions or bouncing a tennis ball will increase the difficulty because a coordination between breathing and bracing must be established.

Bench Side Bends

Dynamic side bends can be done on a bench and will target the obliques and quadratus lumborum through a range of motion (ROM). Stability is added to the bracing shoulder with the opposite hand across the chest if there are shoulder issues.

Reverse Crunches

Reverse crunches target the rectus abdominis and posterior fibers of the external obliques. This aids in returning our pelvic alignment back to neutral without the subsequent hip flexor shortening and reinforcement of poor posture (and rib cage depression) typically associated with conventional crunches.

Reverse Crunches with Med Ball

By adding a medicine ball to the movement, it allows us to add some more tension (we don’t need a lot) and engage the hip adductors more.

Side Crunches

Side crunches are done to target the internal and external obliques. I like this exercise because if you do it right, it incorporates the lats isometrically and begins the “reconnection” of the upper and lower musculature, working together.

Bicycle Crunches

Again, bicycle crunches engage the lower body with an abdominal movement. The movement is coordinated transversely (ie. Left shoulder to right knee and vice versa), which is anatomically how the (internal and external obliques) abdominals are orientated.

Sprinter Sit-ups

This movement is similar to the bicycle crunches but done with an arm swing. The head should remain neutral during the movement and the arm and leg swing should be done powerfully.

Medicine Ball Straight Leg Sit-ups

While holding a medicine ball overhead, the lifter will sit-up to a point where there is maximum tension (not all the way up). After reaching this point, slowly lower back down and repeat. The goal is to keep tension on the abdominals throughout the entire movement.

Standing Cable Crunches

The lifter will face away from a cable stack with the rope attachment connected. From their, they will brace and crunch downward. Slowly extend back to the starting position. The weight can be varied according to your strength levels.

Standing Band Crunches

Same movement as with the cable stack, but now an elastic band is used. The band is anchored above the lifter’s head (in the pictures below, the band is tied around a pull-up bar). I like this variation because the tension increases, as leverage improves.

Landmines

Landmines are done by putting an Olympic bar in the corner and loading the end with weight. The lifter will move from side to side while isometrically bracing their abdominals. The lifter should turn and always face the weight during the movement. http://www.AcceleratedMuscularDevelopment.com

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Muscle Exercises

Pushup Plus

The benefit: Besides working your chest as effectively as any exercise, the “plus” part of this movement hits your serratus anterior—a small but important muscle that helps move your shoulder blades. Strengthen your serratus, and you’ll improve your posture and reduce your risk of shoulder injuries—as you build your chest.

Push Up

How to do it: Assume a pushup position with your arms straight and your hands placed slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your head. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Pause, and then push back up. As you straighten your arms, push your upper back toward the ceiling. This extra movement is very slight; you’ll rise up only another couple of inches. Pause for a one count, then repeat.

Barbell Push Press

Barbell Push Press

The benefit: This exercise engages the quadriceps muscles of your thighs to help you generate more force. The upshot: You’ll be able to use heavier weights, while activating a greater number of total muscles.

How to do it: Grab a barbell with an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder-width, and hold it at shoulder level in front of your body. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart [A]. Now dip your knees [B], and then in one movement, straighten your legs as you explosively press the barbell over your head until your arms are straight. Lower and repeat.

Incline EZ-Bar Lying Triceps Extension

Incline ez bar

The benefit: Lying on an incline bench as you do this move allows you to hit your triceps from a slightly different angle than the classic version of the exercise. So it stresses your muscles in a new way, which can spark new growth.

How to do it: Grab an EZ-curl bar with an overhand grip, your hands a little less than shoulder-width apart. Then lie on your back on an incline bench that’s set to a 30-degree angle. Hold the bar above your forehead, keeping your arms straight. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows to lower the bar until your forearms are just past parallel to the floor. Pause, then lift the weight back to the starting position by straightening your arms.

Incline Offset-Thumb Dumbbell Curl

Incline Offset Thumb

The benefit: Lying on an incline causes your arms to hang behind your body, which emphasizes the long head of your biceps brachii to a greater degree than a standard curl. What’s more, using an “offset-thumb” grip also hits your biceps brachii harder. That’s because the muscle has to work overtime to keep your palms facing up as you curl the weight.

How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells so that your thumbs are touching the outside head of each dumbbell. Then lie on your back on a bench set to a 45-degree angle, and let the dumbbells hang straight down from your shoulders. Turn your arms so that your palms face forward. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the dumbbells as close to your shoulders as you can. Pause, then lower the weights.

Bar Hold

Bar Hold

The benefit: Improves your grip strength for exercises like chinups and deadlifts. This helps make sure your forearms don’t give out too early, so you won’t shortchange the rest of your working muscles.

How to do it: Set a barbell on a rack at the level of your waist, and load the bar with a heavy weight. Grab the bar with an overhand grip that’s beyond shoulder-width apart. Dip your knees, lift the bar off the rack, and hold it for the appropriate amount of time for your goal. For maximum grip strength, choose the heaviest weight you can hold for about 20 seconds. To build more muscle, choose the heaviest that you can hold for about 60 seconds.

Cable Face Pull with External Rotation

Cable Face Pull

The benefit: Works your upper back’s scapular muscles and the rotator cuff muscles of your shoulders. Collectively, these muscles, which tend to be weak in most guys, are the key to stable, healthy shoulders and a strong upper body.

How to do it: Attach a rope to the high pulley of a cable station (or a lat pulldown station) and grab an end with each hand. Back a few steps away from the weight stack until your arms are straight in front of you. In one movement, pull the middle of the rope toward your eyes as you flare your elbows out, bend your arms, and squeeze your shoulder blades together. (Your hands should end up in line with your ears.) Pause, then reverse the movement back to the start.

Mixed Grip Chinup

Mixed Grip Chinup

The benefit: To prevent your torso from rotating as you perform this exercise, your back, shoulder, and core muscles have to work harder than in a conventional chinup or pullup.

How to do it: Grasp a chinup bar with your hands shoulder-width apart on a chinup bar. Use an underhand-grip with one hand, and an overhand-grip with the other. Hang at arm’s length, and cross your ankles behind you. Now pull your chest to the bar by bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades down and back. Once the top of your chest touches the bar, pause, then slowly lower your body back to the start.

Single-Leg Side Plank

Single Leg Side Plank

The benefit: The side plank is one of the best exercises for improving the endurance of your lower back. And that’s key, since researchers in Finland found that people with poor muscular endurance in their lower backs are 3.4 times more likely to develop lower-back problems than those who have good endurance. This single-leg version of a side plank provides an even greater challenge because it activates your glutes as well.

How to do it: Lie on your left side with your knees straight. Prop your upper body on your left elbow and forearm, and place your right hand on your right hip. Tighten your core, and then raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. Next raise your top leg as high as you can. Hold the position for 30 seconds.

Lateral Roll

Lateral Roll

The benefit: This is one of the most challenging exercises for your entire core—from your shoulders to your hips. If you think your abs are strong, test them on this exercise to find out if they’re really strong.

How to do it: Lie on your back on a Swiss-ball so that your upper back is firmly on the ball. Raise your hips so that your body forms a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold your arms straight out from your sides. (It helps to hold a pole or broomstick across your body.) Without allowing your hips or arms to sag, roll across the ball to the left as far as you can. Reverse directions and roll as far as you can to the right. Continue back and forth for 30 seconds.

Single-Leg Squat

Single Leg Squat

The benefit: Allows you to train your lower body without weights. And in fact, it’s one of the best exercises you can do. Master this movement and you’ll improve your strength, speed, and balance.
How to do it: Stand on a bench or box that’s about knee height. Hold your arms straight out in front of you and flex your right ankle so that your toes are higher than your heel. Balancing on your left foot, bend your left knee and slowly lower your body until your right heel lightly touches the floor. Pause, then push yourself up. If that’s too hard, note where you start to “collapse” (you can’t control how fast you descend), and pause just above that point for 2 seconds. Then push yourself back up and repeat.

Single-Leg Barbell Straight-Leg Deadlift

Single Leg Barbell

The benefit: Besides targeting your hamstrings, this exercise works your glutes and core. It also helps eliminate muscle imbalances between your legs, reducing your risk of injury. And as a bonus, it can improve the flexibility of your hamstrings, since it stretches these muscles every time you lower the weight.

How to do it: Grab a barbell with an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder width, and hold it at arm’s length in front of your hips. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Now raise one leg off the floor. Without changing the bend in your knee, bend at your hips (keep your back naturally arched), and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Pause, then squeeze your glutes, thrust your hips forward, and raise your torso back to the start.

Cable Pull Through

Cable Pull Through

The benefit: This exercise targets your glutes, which are not only your body’s largest and most powerful muscle group, but typically the most ignored. However, training these muscles will make you stronger in nearly every lower-body exercise, help you jump higher, and reduce your risk of knee, hip, and lower-back injuries.

How to do it: Attach a rope handle to the low pulley of a cable machine. Grab an end of the rope in each hand and stand with your back to the weight stack. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and your knees slightly bent. Without changing the bend in your knees, bend at your hips (don’t round your back), and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Pause, then thrust your hips forward and raise your torso back to the start.

Farmer’s Walk on Toes

Farmer Walk on Toes

The benefit: This exercise not only works your calves, but also improves your cardiovascular fitness.
How to do it: Grab a pair of heavy dumbbells and hold them at your sides at arm’s length. Then rise up on the balls of your feet. Now walk forward (or in a circle) for 60 seconds. If you feel like you could have gone longer, grab heavier weights on your next set.

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Although most people continue to rely on exercises like sit ups and crunches when it comes to training the abdominals, research has proven that these movements place excessive loads on the lower back, leading to a lot of pain for a lot of people. Repeated, loaded spinal flexion is one of the leading causes for disc herniation.

In fact, the traditional old school, slow speed sit up has been shown to place 730 pounds of compression on the spine! Other commonly used ab exercises place over 1,000 pounds of compression on the spine!

Boy, do I wish I knew all this in my teens and early 20′s when I did thousands of spinal flexion exercises per week, eventually leading to two herniated discs.

Not only are you risking long term back problems by doing all those sit ups, crunches, and all their useless variations but you are not even providing optimal stimulus to the abdominals. Research has proven that bracing actually trains the abs much more effectively than spinal flexion.

To properly employ this technique you need to brace your abs as hard as you can like you are preparing to take a punch. You don’t push your abs out and you don’t suck them in. In fact, sucking them in and trying to activate your transverse abdominis is one of the worst things you can do.

You simply want to tighten and flex the abs as hard as possible. Be sure that there are no energy leaks and that your entire core is braced tightly. You can have a partner poke you or lightly whack you with a stick from different angles to ensure optimal bracing.

Never in real life will you consciously flex your spine and contract your abs like you do in a crunch, so why bother doing it in the gym? If you are on your back in most athletic endeavors, it’s usually because someone put you there. It’s usually not where you want to be. So why try to train your abs in that position?

Starting today, you are going to stop wasting your time and destroying your lower back with traditional ab training and instead focus your energy on the exercises listed below and their many variations.

Be sure to train without a belt, brace the abs and contract the glutes as tightly as possible when doing these movements. This will lead to optimal abdominal development and the avoidance of lower back injuries.

• Plank aka Abdominal Bridge
• Side Plank aka Side Bridge
• Bird Dog
• Deadlift
• Military press
• Pushup
• Hand Walking with the Power Wheel
• Farmers walk
• Squat
• Chin Up

By Jason Ferruggia

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Best Arm Workouts

To strengthen your grip, try this plate pinch from Strongman competitor C.J. Murphy: Place a pair of 5- or 10-pound plates together, smooth sides out. Pinch the plates between your thumbs and forefingers. Try holding the weights for 30 seconds. Add plates as you gain strength. And watch your toes.

2. Change Grips

It can help you do more reps. Try a set of barbell curls with a narrow grip. When you begin to fail, slide your hands out farther. “You’ll get more out of your biceps,” says celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson, C.S.C.S.

3. Do Chinups at a Dip Station

Using the parallel bars of a dip station simulates a chinup without lifting all your body weight. Besides your back muscles, you also strengthen your forearms. Grab the bars from underneath and place your feet on the floor. Keeping your body straight, pull yourself up, pause, then lower yourself.

“It promotes better technique and helps prevent injury,” says Chris Jordan, C.S.C.S., of LGE Performance Systems in Orlando.

5. Add Extra Tension to Any Move

At the end of your arm workout, wrap one end of a resistance band around the handle of a dumbbell and place the other end under your foot. Now do a set of biceps curls and overhead triceps extensions to fatigue your arms, says Tim Kuebler, C.S.C.S.

6. Pick Up Drop Sets

Doing five reps or fewer per set with a weight you can lift only five times trains your muscles to grow bigger and stronger, says Mark Peterson, an exercise and sport scientist at Arizona State University. Do three to five sets without rest, reducing the weight by 10 percent to 25 percent each set.

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Maybe you HATE the gym. Or maybe your boss has equipped your car with a phone, fax, and voice mail, and expects you to spend more time on the road – and you CAN’T get to the gym. Or maybe you live in the boonies and the nearest health club is a 45-minute pain-in-the-butt drive away – one way.

For whatever reason, you have a new problem: how to keep your pump without weights. Your solution is right here. Bodyweight training CAN be effective. It CAN be a substitute for weights, if necessary. And bodyweight training can give you the burn without the iron.

Here are the ten best bodyweight training exercises that give you great workouts and great results – without the gym.

1. Supine Pull-Ups (works major muscles in back, shoulders, and biceps)

Use two chairs and a pole – a heavy broom handle works well. WARNING: make sure the chairs are stable and that the broom handle is strong enough to take your weight. You could be SEVERELY injured if the pole were to break or the chairs to slip.

Lie on your back underneath a low bar. Grab the bar with a wide overhand grip. Pull up. Lower and repeat for 6-8 reps.

2. Supine Biceps Pull-Ups (biceps, some back)

Use the same chairs-and-pole arrangement from #1. Sit underneath a low bar. Grab the bar with a reverse grip (palms facing you), hands about shoulder-width apart. Keeping your body upright, pull up until your chin just clears the bar. Focus on the tension in your biceps, trying to relax the rest of your body. 6-8 reps.

3. Push-Ups (chest, triceps, shoulders)

The key when targeting the chest with Push-Ups is the direction in which your elbows travel. As with bench presses, the elbows must move AWAY FROM THE BODY to target your chest, and be kept CLOSE TO THE BODY to target the triceps. Place each hand just outside your shoulders, slightly behind the line of your shoulders. Hands pointing straight ahead, upper body rigid as a board. 6-15 reps.

4. Tent Push-Ups (primarily upper chest)

Assume the position in #3, but walk your feet forward so your body is bent at the waist, and your hips are up high in the air. Bending at the elbows, lower yourself until your nose touches the floor. Push up. Repeat. 6-8 reps.

5. Push-Ups, Triceps Position (you guessed it – triceps, and some chest)

Begin with fingers facing forward in position from #3, hands slightly LESS than shoulder width apart. Lower your body to the floor keeping arms in against your body. Push up. 6-8 reps.

6. Triceps Dips With Chairs

With your hands behind your back, support yourself on your palms at the edge of a chair. Your hands should be touching; your elbows should angle outward. Dipping in this position relieves a lot of stress on the elbow and shoulder joints. Lower yourself, keeping your back close to the chair. Bend your elbows back and slightly to the sides. Keep your body angled slightly forward throughout the motion. Press yourself up until your arms are straight. 6-15 reps.

7. One-Legged Squats (front thighs, glutes, hamstrings)

Stand perpendicular to a wall, about arm’s length away from it. Extend your arm out to the side and place your palm against the wall at just under shoulder-height.

Angle the foot farthest from the wall at 45 degrees. Bend the other leg back.

Keeping your body upright, lower yourself until the non-weight-bearing knee is close to (but not touching) the ground. Support yourself by leaning against the wall. Press yourself back up to starting position. Repeat 6-8 reps.

8. One-Legged Hamstring Bridges

Lie on your back with one leg extended, heel on the ground. Hold the other leg up off the floor. Pushing through your heel, flex your hamstrings to lift your body. Lower and repeat for 8-10 reps. Repeat with other leg.

You can control the resistance and the degree to which the glutes contribute by changing the distance you place your heel relative to your butt.

9. Lunges

Begin the lunge by taking a large step forward, keeping your head up and torso erect. Lower your hips and allow your trailing knee to drop to a point just before it touches the floor – never let the knee touch the floor. To return to the start, push off with your forward leg and then step back when the knee is completely straight. Repeat with other leg, 10-15 reps each leg.

10. Stair Running

Stair running isn’t usually considered a resistance exercise, and in fact, it makes hefty demands on your cardiovascular system. However, it also does an incredible job of conditioning the lower body. If your knees are in good shape, try doing 10-20 one-story sprints, preferably two stairs at a time. WORK UP TO THAT NUMBER SLOWLY! ALSO, BE CAREFUL TO KEEP ONE HAND ON THE STAIR RAIL TO CATCH YOURSELF IF YOU LOSE YOUR BALANCE. Give yourself a bigger challenge by wearing a backpack filled with nice and heavy books.

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Exercises Routine

So much focus and attention is placed on the idea of “weight loss” and “losing weight” that most typical beginners seem to lose sight of the actual concrete goal of achieving a lean, defined and healthy body…

Here’s a hint…

It’s NOT a simple matter of “losing weight.”

In fact, let’s go ahead and remove the term “weight loss” from our fitness vocabulary altogether.

Why?

It’s because “losing weight” is NOT what you should be concerned with!

If you’re reading this article right now, then chances are that you’re looking to achieve at least one of the following goals…

1) Improve your appearance to feel more confident, attractive and sexy.

2) Enhance your overall health to increase longevity and quality of living.

3) Boost your energy levels and mood to feel better about yourself on a daily basis.

Surely there are other reasons as well… but for the majority of you out there, these are probably your primary concerns.

Am I right?

If so, it is absolutely critical that you understand the following…

Losing body weight on its own will NOT allow you to achieve these goals. Instead, all of your focus must be placed on changing your body composition with an effective fat burning routine.

The reason for this is simple…

Your body is made up of various different “types” of weight, all of which contribute differently to your overall appearance and health.

There are very “heavy” individuals who are in excellent health with lean and impressive bodies… and there are very “light” individuals who are in poor health with soft, flabby and out-of-shape bodies.

Your overall body weight is made up of various different components, such as body fat, muscle tissue, water and glycogen. The haphazard approach of simply aiming to “lose weight” is incredibly misguided as it does not take these specific types of body weight into account.

In order to achieve your goal of a lean, energetic and healthy body, your goal is to get rid of the excessive amounts of “bad” body weight while maintaining as much “good” body weight as you can, which is done with an effective fat burning routine.

To put it simply, the underlying goal of your entire program is as follows…

Burn off body fat while maintaining lean muscle mass.

This is truly the only way to get into the shape you desire and to set yourself up for permanent, positive long-term results.

Stop obsessing about the number on the scale!

Instead, start worrying about gradually dropping your body fat percentage while holding on to your lean muscle mass, with an effective fat burning routine.

There are three primary reasons why you should focus on this…

First of all… one very important factor that determines your body’s basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn at rest) is the amount of lean muscle tissue you have on your body. The more muscle you have, the faster your fat burning metabolism operates.

Secondly… maintaining a reasonable level of muscular development will allow you to achieve the shapely and athletic appearance that the majority of you are probably striving for.

A low body fat percentage may be the ultimate goal, but without a decent amount of muscle mass your body will simply take on a small and smooth form without those “cuts” and “lines” that are considered so desirable.

Finally… those who simply place themselves on “crash diets” and attempt to drop large amounts of body weight over short periods of time are inevitably doomed to fail. Such an approach places the body into a starved state and actually programs you to store more fat over the long run.

The body will react to severe calorie deficits by slowing down the metabolism in an attempt to conserve energy, wasting away lean muscle mass, and increasing the production of hormones that inhibit fat loss.

The end result is an unhealthy, out of shape body that, while being temporarily “lighter” than it was before, has now been programmed to store fat and will inevitably end up returning back to its original weight and more.

The way to avoid all of the negative effects listed above is simple…

Structure your “weight loss” approach in such a way that you aim to gradually reduce your body fat levels while keeping your lean muscle tissue levels in tact. This is done with an effective fat burning routine.

An effective fat burning routine is the ONLY realistic way to burn fat, keep it off over the long run, and achieve the kind of lean and athletic appearance that you strive for.

Forget about this obsession with trying to lower the number on the scale as fast as possible, as it is only one small piece of a much larger and more important fat burning routine puzzle.

To equip yourself with the rest of the pieces to that fat burning routine puzzle, go ahead and visit www.HowToBurnFat.com. You can gain instant download access to my renowned body makeover program, “The Real Deal Body Transformation System”, as well as sign up for my free 6-part fat burning email course. By Sean Nalewanyj

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Fitness Exercise

More and more people are now attuned to their fitness needs. Whether it’s an indoor or outdoor exercise activity, they will always take the chance to stay physically fit and healthy.

Outdoor exercises are also popular nowadays. Like indoor exercises, you can get a lot of benefits like:

• little equipment is needed in order to have a good workout; but there are also exercises that don’t require any equipment at all.
• no more obnoxious people or crowded gyms.
• no need to drive back and forth a fitness facility.
• you can enjoy the fresh air.
• doesn’t require special workout outfit or make-up.
• you get a lot of sunshine and vitamin D.
• you can work out anytime and anywhere.

Some of the reasons for preferring outdoor exercises as a fitness routine may not be included on the list but whatever your reason is, there are still other things to think about. Now that you know the benefits, the next step is to learn the different activities fit for the outdoors.

There are seven top outdoor exercises; if you want to get all sweaty, feeling great and worn out, you can check out these exercises.

Lunges – this kind of exercise should be done in perfect form so that all your leg muscles, as well as your buttock muscles will work with every motion. You can also include some variations like standing lunges, alternative, elevated, walking, and rear lunges.

Push ups – this is truly an effective exercise for your upper body but very few people do this now because they prefer press machines. The push up is a productive exercise that doesn’t require any equipment. The basic movements include standard, wide, and close grips. By doing the three basic movements alternately, you can stimulate the muscles on your shoulders, chest, and triceps. You can achieve easier movement by elevating your hands; for harder movement, try elevating your feet. If you’re brave enough, you can try clapping and bounce push ups.

Squats – doing squats the proper way can provide incredible power. Its effectiveness has been lost due to inappropriate form, improper instruction, and laziness. You can do variations like one leg, standing, pile, wide-stance, and overhead squat. By doing repetitions, you can feel your legs getting tired which means its taking its effect.

Step ups – if you do this exercise properly, then you’re doing a brutal exercise. A bench will do as your equipment, and all you have to do is to step up and down. Just make sure that your head is up at all times and your back is in a straight position. This is also a great cardio exercise.

Chin ups – also called pull ups; use a tree branch or any playground equipment that allows you to pull yourelf up and down. You can repeat this exercise as many times as you like.

Uphill sprints – try this exercise only if you can do a 100 meter dash. This is carried out by running uphill. Find a decent-sized hill and run up fast. Then walk right down. Just keep on repeating.

Duck walks – walk like a duck; squat down and stay put, then start walking. Repeat as necessary.

Doing outdoor exercises the right way is hard, but the benefits you can get can’t be easily ignored.

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Gym Exercise

When you are committed to getting yourself in shape there are several options you can choose. Most individuals feel exposed when they go to gyms or fitness centers so they decide to spare no expense in setting up a home gym. The important thing to realize when you have a home gym is that you will be in charge of your exercises and unless you hire one there will not a be a personal trainer. That means you have to be aware of the home gym exercises that will give you a total body workout. So what are these exercises, well read on…

There are at least three areas you should concentrate on those are cardio, flexibility, and strength training. This is the same whether you are male or female. The repetitions you will do and the amount of weight you use will be determined solely on your body type. Most women tend to use 3 to 5 pounds in weights when they first begin strength training, while men are normally around 10 pounds. Keep this in mind because you do not want to injure yourself when doing home gym exercises. So now that we know the three areas to concentrate on and the pounds required when you first begin your home gym exercises lets look at each one individually.

Next let’s touch on flexibility. Flexibility exercises in your home gym are best done with things like yoga that teach you how to stretch your muscles and body. There are of course other programs that teach this, including Pilates. These programs are a step-by-step process that walks you through exercises. It is wise to start out with a beginning level program before moving up to more difficult exercises to give your muscles and body a chance to learn how to stretch and become more flexible. Flexibility helps to keep the blood flowing through your body. The more blood flow the more oxygen you receive and the better your body will feel. It will help your heart as well as help you breathe better and relax.

The third area of home gym exercise is the strength training. This is where exercise machines such as the bowflex come in handy or even dumbbells. Weights help enhance the strength in your arms, legs, and other muscles to keep your muscles toned and your bones strong.

The above information about home gym exercises will help you to keep in shape and workout at home. Home gym exercises should be preceded by a slow warm up and then a cool down period to help your muscles and body exercise.

Home Gym Exercising Tips

In order to build muscle and reach your fitness goals with your home gym, you can find comprehensive workout programs based on your individual home gym fitness goals and access to strength training equipment in your home gym. These programs can be found online on videos or DVDs. You can also download your home gym workout to your mobile device or MP3 player.
A lot of people think that they need to spend hours in their home gyms every day to lose body fat, but that is not true. Gaining lean muscle by working out in your home gym increases your resting metabolic rate (RMR) much faster than just cardiovascular exercises alone. Strength training combined with metabolic conditioning is the best way to transform your body using your home gym.

Here are some good tips for developing and maintaining a solid workout program in your home gym:

Mix up your home gym workout for more muscle. Keep your body guessing as to what you will do in your home gym and you’ll progress faster. Make sure to vary the type of home gym exercise that you do, the length of rest periods, sequence of exercises, number of repetitions,
training loads, distances, etc.

Train in your home gym as if life is a sport. That means exercising in your home gym for real world fitness and making sure that you follow a well-rounded home gym fitness regime. It’s great to have big muscles but if you can’t run a mile something is wrong. A healthy lifestyle requires a balance of mental toughness, agility, stamina, strength-endurance and physical strength.

Be consistent and persistent when working out in your home gym. Following the world’s best training program only one day per week is a lot less effective than doing a moderate program three times a week. Work out in your home gym at least three times per week to maximize your results.

Read more other articles about: Loose Weight Fast or Bodybuilding Training

exercises for leg

Many of us take our legs for granted. Most times, it is when we cannot use our legs that we realise their importance in our lives. Our legs carry us everywhere and take us anywhere we want to go. Having healthy legs means being able to do whatever you want to and this is why it is important to have strength in your legs. And the good news is that the leg muscles are the fastest to respond to whatever conditioning you give it, thus through proper and regular exercise, you may get to see your legs trimmed and toned, and stronger and healthier in as little as ten days.

One of the greatest myths to do with leg exercise is that if you exercise your legs, you will end up with tough, bulky, masculine legs. This couldn’t be further from the truth, not to mention impossible! When you exercise your legs, they will get stronger, and this means that they become toned, thus giving you lean and beautiful legs, as opposed to bulky and masculine. So go ahead, don’t be afraid to work out your legs. You can opt for cardio training, which a wonderful way to burn fat and calories while at the same time, trim and tone your legs. However doing cardio exercises alone will not define or shape your legs. To do this, you need to target specific muscles through exercises that can get your muscles to work harder. Here are some exercises that can get you started. Try to fit in these routines into your everyday schedule and you will soon see how fantastic your legs can be!

Strengthen your legs: six simple moves

1) The lunge

Lunges are one of the most favoured exercises with trainers all over. Do you know why? It’s because lunges can work all the leg muscles through one simple move. No fancy footwork or equipment needed. How do you do a lunge? First, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Then with your right foot, take a giant step forward. Now put your arms on your hips to balance yourself and slowly lower your body. Go down until your back leg forms a right angle at the knee. Now remember to use your leg muscles and slowly raise your body back to the starting position. Do this for three sets of 30 repetitions for each leg. Keep in mind that you have to keep your upper body aligned over the bent knee. And go slow so that you can get maximum benefit.

A word of caution to those with bad or sore knees. You can modify the lunge by taking a smaller step forward. And only go down to as low as you’re comfortable with. Do not push yourself and put extra strain on your knees. Although lunges are the greatest exercise ever, they can be especially challenging for people with bad or sore knees, who may decide to skip them entirely. Don’t fret. There are other exercises out there that can help to strengthen the legs without putting too much of a stress on your knees. Below are some moves that you can try. Or as an alternative you could talk to a trainer or a professional so that you too can find a way to tone and strengthen your lower body and your legs.

2) Plies for your thighs

Wait, come back! Don’t run away just because it sounds foreign. And no, you don’t have to know ballet to do this move. Plies are a great way to work out and tone your outer and inner thighs. As plies places less stress on joints, you can pick the intensity of your workout. Start by standing with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Then take a small step out with both left and right foot and turn your feet outward (think ducks).put your hands on your hips or hold on to the back of a chair to support yourself. Now slowly lower your body down about six inches and slowly come up again. You can do this for three sets of 30 repetitions each. Remember to move slowly so that you force your thigh muscles to work minus the help of momentum, thus making them stronger. Another good thing about plies is that you can modify them almost endlessly. Feel free to drop down more (or less) depending on what you need and what you can do. Or put your feet closer or maybe even further apart. Or you could even work out your core muscles by doing plies like a ballerina – with one arm curved over the head and the other in front of your body.

You could even try this out for a greater challenge. Perform one full set of thirty repetitions and on this last repetition, hold your lowered body in this position for about 15 seconds. After 15 seconds, gently pulse your body up and down (only for a few inches) for about 30 seconds. This will force your muscles to work harder longer and will define and tone them faster.

3) Heel raises

If you’re always on the go, heel raises is the perfect move for you. It can be done almost anywhere, and it will not be so obvious that it will attract the attention of others. Heel raises target your calf muscles, which for most people is a great problem area. However, calves can respond very well to conditioning. As a matter of fact, you can see the difference in just a few days, which is great news for all! First stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. You can place your hands on your hips to balance yourself. Now all you have to do is to simply raise your body up and stand on tiptoes. Now hold for a few seconds, before lowering your body slowly back down again. Do this for three sets of 40 repetitions. You can even do this while standing in line at the supermarket and no one will even bat an eyelid. How great is that? Exercise on the go!

4) Calf Raises

Work out your lower legs with calf raises, probably one of the best ways to firm up your calves. Stand straight up, then slowly lift your body as if you are standing on your tippy toes. Slowly lower yourself and repeat. You should feel a strong burn in your calves within 20-25 reps.

5) Squats

Great for toning your thighs, squats can be hard to do if you’re just getting started. Take it easy at first to make sure you don’t hurt yourself!

Again from a standing position, lower yourself down as if you were going to sit down in a chair. Using your thighs, slowly return to a standing position. Keep your back as straight as possible the entire time.

6) Hip Swing

Another great upper leg exercise. This time, lie on one side, supporting yourself with the lower-side arm. Raise the high-side leg (if you’re lying on your right side, raise the left leg) and point the toe away from your body. Slowly swing the leg forward until you can’t move it without your hips moving, then slowly swing the leg as far back as possible. Repeat several times, then flip over and repeat with the other leg.

Once you find that you can do the move easily, you could graduate to a bigger challenge. You could try standing on the edge of a stair or a sturdy elevated surface. Then let your heels hang off the edge of the stair or the surface. Now, slowly raise and lower your body. Do this for three sets of 25 repetitions. This will demand greater work from your calves and you can feel this almost immediately. You can even try this move at work by taking the stairs, and instead of stepping fully on the step, try only halfway. This will demand extra work on your calves and will make your muscles work harder. Now, great looking legs is no longer a problem.

Article you may be interested in reading: Six Pack Abs or Arm Muscle

arm muscles

Building arm muscle is one of the hardest things to do because fat manages to hide in your arms despite the fact that they are used all of the time. The keys when learning how to build arm muscle are persistence and time.

As with most attempts to build muscle, building arm muscle takes the right combination of exercises and diet. Nutrition plays a key part in building arm muscle so you need to make sure to be eating a balanced diet rich with whole grains and non fat proteins from fish and chicken.

Drinking plenty of water is important. Increasing your hydration levels automatically help you to build arm muscle. Remember that building arm muscle takes time and you need to resist the urge to build up the weight too fast or exercise too much in a day. Arm fatigue and injury to your arms, which is counterproductive when learning How To Build Arm Muscle.

When considering how to build arm muscle you need to know what the make up of the arm is. The arm is made up of forearms, biceps and triceps. Knowing the make up of the arm is an important step in learning how to build arm muscle.

Triceps
When trying to build arm muscle the triceps are important because the tricep, which is located under the back half of your arm and makes up half of your arms whole size, so building your triceps is an important part of how to build arm muscle.

Tricep dips will help you build arm muscle. Exercises such as lying barbell extensions, Close grip bench press, triceps dumbbell extension, triceps push down and triceps dumbbells are some of the vital workouts will help you to build arm muscle.

Start with overhead dumbbell triceps extensions with 8 to 10 repetitions. Once done, immediately follow it up with the dips exercise and continue repeating as much as you can. Here, again you will see the muscle rising and the end result is an increase in your muscles. Remember this exercise may take lesser time but is extremely strenuous. Triceps are larger than the biceps and you shouldn’t neglect to work on them. Unfortunately many people tend to do that.

Biceps
Biceps are the muscle that generally end up getting all of the attention where arms are concerned, because they are the vanity muscle of the arm. When considering how to build arm muscle, building the bicep is an important part. Some of the exercises that will help develop the biceps are standing dumbbell curls, dumbbell hammer curls, incline dumbbell curls and preacher curls and Dumbbell concentration curls.

Using dumbbells, do standing curls for 8 to 10 repetitions. Once done with the standing, change to the sitting position and repeat. This will definitely enhance the biceps, thereby increasing your arm muscles. The combined effect of these exercises, blow-up the bicep arm muscles and helps building the muscles.

Forearm
The forearm will benefit from all the arm exercises you do, whether they be the exercises that you’re doing to target the triceps or the biceps. This doesn’t mean that when trying to properly build arm muscle you should ignore your fore arms. Some of the exercises that you can do to work on your forearms are reverse curls, barbell wrist curls, dumbbell wrist curls, barbell reverse wrist curls and dumbbell reverse wrist curls. These work outs are very good when you are looking to build strong forearms.

Push-ups and push downs are also a great way to build up all of the muscles in your arm and can not only be added into any gym work out, but are good because you can perform them anywhere.

Another important thing to keep the arm muscles increasing along with the workouts is a proper diet and nutrition program. You can also try out the Narrow grip chin ups and close grip barbell press which can work as good aids for developing the bicep and triceps areas.

Few do and don’ts to augment the building up process:

• Never exert training for the arm muscles. Because your arms already undergo physical exertion in your routine life and so it’s possible that you may exert your arm muscles. Best way is to keep these workouts for the end.
• Another way to build the arm muscles is by getting the best from every rep. This way you increase the number of fibers concluding in the overall growth of the muscle.
• Very important is to keep the weights in control during the positive and the negative part of the lift!! Ensure the weight you are handling is apt for your muscles. Performing the lift as swiftly as you can while sustaining the weights, is the right way to getting your muscles bigger!!
• It is time you realize that each muscle comprises of many small muscles. So work on both the triceps and biceps to get those big arms.
• Never work on only one muscle. Because this can cause injuries to your ligaments. Trust me ripped arms look cool but injured ligaments aren’t that cool.

Follow these directions and you’ll not only learn how to build arm muscle, but you will build arm muscle.

Read more other articles about: Six Pack Abs or Put On Weight