Archive for the 'EXERCISES' Category

Chest and Back Exercises for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Lifters!

Practice chest [Chest developing exercises] and back exercises before you work on any other muscle groups. Try to raise the amount of weight you lift in each exercise by about 5-10 percent every week. Do the remaining lifts in your workout in any order you wish.

Here are some suggestions for beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters:

Beginners: Practice total-body workouts 2-3 times in a week. Once you complete the chest and back exercises, attempt to do any one set of 8-12 repetitions which are given below:

• Leg curls
• Dumbbell biceps curl
• Squat or leg presses
• Seated alternating dumbbell press
• Crunches (15-20 repetitions)
• Cable triceps extension

Intermediate lifters: If you are an intermediate lifter, then divide your program into two workouts, one for your upper body and the other for lower body. Alternate between the two programs and take one day break after each workout program.

Upper body workouts: After the completion of chest and back workouts, select one workout each for your biceps, triceps and shoulders. Practice 2-3 sets of shoulder exercises and 1-2 sets of the arm exercises.

According to the new long term study, healthy seniors who are physically active and exercise for more than 60 minutes each week can lessen their chances of disability as they age.

The researchers looked at 805 adults between the ages 50 and 72 at enrollment and followed for them for 13 years.

Each year, participants answered survey questions about their overall health and vitality and rated themselves on their ability (or inability) to do tasks such as dressing, eating and reaching.

Participants also reported their level of activity and were considered “active” if they exercised vigorously — for example, running, brisk walking, swimming, biking and hiking — more than 60 minutes per week, or “inactive” if 60 minutes or less per week.

After 13 years, the overweight active seniors had significantly less disability than the overweight inactive (average disability score 0.19) and normal-weight inactive seniors.

The researchers concluded that being physically active, regardless of body weight, helped lessen disability.

For more information, visit: ScienceDaily

For a beginner, the very first day in the gym is awkward enough. Beginning a workout program without knowing what you are doing makes it even worse.

Here are the common 10 mistakes that you should know about immediately:

1. Holding your breath:

This one may certainly look like a no-brainer. Don’t forget to breathe when you lift. Whenever you feel that the activity is new for you, you will concentrate more on doing it correctly. During this, you forget the natural things that you need to do. For lifting, the breathing pattern is exhaling on the positive phase and inhaling on the negative phase. Holding your breath causes your blood pressure to raise. If you hold your breath for even a longer time, it may cause fainting.

2. Spotting incorrectly:

Hanging around the gym long enough, you will eventually be asked to spot someone or you may need spotting yourself. If you think you’re going to require a spot, then ask for it. Gym rats are always more willing to help and it’s better to ask earlier to be spotted than screaming loudly when you get in trouble.

3. Exercising a wrong form of bench pressing:

Don’t pick your feet up from the floor when you bench despite of what it looks like just because someone else is doing it.

Somebody tells you to continue with your feet up, so don’t bend your back while you are doing this movement. But, if you have to bend your back then your benching way is beyond your abilities.

Prefer lighter weight so that your feet are always steadily planted. This prevents you falling from the bench and injuring yourself or others.

It is perfectly possible to reduce body fat simply by exercising, but it requires little time and effort. Remember that one pound of body is equal to 3500 calories. Following these simple routines for two to three times a week will ensure a fat-free body.

Slow running:

Run slowly for 5 minutes. Split this into three 30 seconds parts in which bring your heels up to your backside and knees up to your waist height.

Step-ups:

Stand by keeping your feet shoulder-width apart about 1ft from a rock or a bench with your hands on your sides.

Keep your upper body straight and step forward with your left foot onto the rock/bench.

Then bring your left foot to the starting position, followed by your right.

Begin this slowly and then pick up the tempo. Hold weights in your hands to increase the difficulty.

Do 3 sets of 40 seconds each, resting for 30 seconds between each set.

Squat thrust:

Begin with the press up position by keeping your feet together and extended behind you.

Bring your feet towards your hands in a single jumping motion, then comeback to the starting position.

Have you ever experienced tightness in your hips? Sitting for a longtime near computer or during long journeys in flights can make you to experience tightness in your hips.

These tightening effects of hip flexors can cause problem, but you can easily get rid of these effects with simple hip flexor exercises.

Practicing hip flexor exercises and working on these muscles to keep them strong is very essential, as they are very helpful in your regular standing, walking and also moving activities of your body.

So it is very essential for you to practice these hip flexor exercises in your daily routine to avoid tightening of hip flexors.

Hip flexor exercise 1: (Lying side wards and back kicks)

First, position yourself to lie on any one side of your body with your hips and shoulders stacked over each other and your legs angled slightly forward.

By Keeping your waist long and pelvis in stable position, try to swing your top leg in forward and backward directions at an extended level of your hip.

Do you have leg hurts after bicycling? Don’t worry. Here are simple leg stretches to help you fix the problem.

Usually stretching after a tough ride does not reduce soreness the next day. But if you do stretching after each workout, you will notice a great improvement in your range of motion. Along with this, you can ride for longer and harder with less soreness.

Here are 3 stretches after a cycling workout:

[Do each exercise one to three times]

1. Quadriceps stretch:

• Stand on your right leg by holding a tree, wall or chair with your right hand for proper support.
• Bend your left leg behind you so that you can grip your left ankle.
• Hold the pose for 30 seconds, and then switch to another leg.

2. Hamstring and gluteal stretch:

• Sit on the ground by keeping your left leg straight and right leg bent so that the sole of your right foot is pressed against the inside of your left leg.
• Bend forward at the waist and lean over your left leg.
• Hold the pose for 30 seconds and then switch to another leg.

Are you ready to attain ‘toned’ look for your body?

Here are some tips for your workout routines for toning, which can help you to achieve your goals by reducing your excess body fat.

It also helps in toning your body muscles.

Difference between toning and building muscle mass!

Workout routines for toning your muscles are quite different from working out to build muscle mass and also to increase the endurance and power of your muscles. The term ‘toning’ is often misunderstood by many of you.

A toned look is something more than a temporary effect of weight training. When blood flows to your body muscles, then every thing tightens up to expose better muscle definition.

Actually toning is more about losing excess body fat to expose your actual muscle. A perfect toning can be obtained when you effectively lower your body’s fat percentage to a specific level, so that your muscles can be exposed out.

Start workout routines for toning with simple stretches!

Certain simple workouts for stretching can be helpful in your regular workout routines for toning your body muscles. Some of those stretching techniques include:

Do you think strength training routine is something like running on a tread mill or riding a stationary bike regularly? If yes, then you are in a wrong impression of strength training.

Strength training routine is more about improving your resistance towards building muscle mass and also strength.

It is always recommended that every individual must practice regular strength training exercises.

If you find very less time for performing strength training exercises, then don’t worry as strength training exercise hardly needs to be performed only two or three times in a week with each session not lasting more than an hour, according to American college of sports medicine (ACSM).

For getting better results, an effective strength training exercise must be done for two or three hours in a week.

How beneficial is regular strength training program?

The most important benefit of a good strength training routine is if you develop regular strength training habit, you will be less prone to all kinds of health problems, which can be helpful for you to lead a happy life.

• A good strength training routine will help in your day to day activities around your house and also in your yard. It also keeps you independent in many ways, which is an essential aspect for older people.

Do you spend most of your time in front of computer? Then you might be experiencing severe stress in your shoulders.

Shoulder stretches can make you to feel good, if you are experiencing any stress in your shoulders, due to the lot of time spent hunching over computer.

Shoulder stretches also help you in your walking exercise that is in a good posture with shoulders bent back in a relaxed way with your chest open. Some of the important shoulder stretches are given here. Try to practice these workouts and notice the difference.

Simple workout for your neck:

You can perform this stretch for your shoulders at any time of your work to relieve from the stress in your shoulder. Take one of your arms and try to suspend it by your side. Now twist it, so that your palm is facing out, away from your body.

With the other hand, grasp your head and try to pull your ear towards shoulder. You can repeat the same procedure on the other side. Practice this stretch in slow and gentle way. Stop doing it whenever you feel discomfort [Simple neck exercises].

Do you know how beneficial it is to practice regular physical activities? The benefits of exercising mainly depend up on how effectively you involve your body in regular physical exercises.

These regular physical exercises mainly help you to reduce the stress, help in your weight control, and also improve good and healthy eating habits.

If you follow regular exercises in your daily life perfectly, they can serve you with enormous health benefits.

Exercises mainly improve your stress filled moods!

Whenever you feel stressed out with your regular busy schedule in work, spend sometime in practicing certain workouts at your gym or simply go for a brisk walk, which can help you to calm down your stressful mood.

These exercises mainly stimulate various chemicals in your brain, which are responsible for leaving a feeling of much happiness, so that you can feel more relaxed.

You can avoid various chronic attacks on your body!

Combating chronic diseases is one of the most efficient benefits of exercising. If you are worried with your heart disease or searching for a better way to prevent several chronic diseases, then practicing regular exercises, which suits to your age and also other health conditions can be very beneficial for you.