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After the abdominal muscles are prepared, the obliques are the next step. The obliques are several groups of abdominal muscles on either side of the main body. The external obliques are at the top and the internal obliques are at the bottom. Training them with functional exercises includes flexion, twisting, and other rotational movements. In order to properly exercise the lateral muscles, however, it is important to remember that most oblique exercises also involve the other abdominal muscles, especially the medial transverse muscles. Therefore, you need to engage certain areas of the abdominal abs in a conscious manner. Lateral twists The basic exercise for the abdominal obliques is the lying lateral twist. Begin with lying on your side with your arm bent at the elbow to support your head. Extend the elbow toward the leg slowly, performing a purposeful contraction of the abdominal obliques. Prone lateral push-ups This exercise is fine for developing the neuromuscular links between the abs and the brain. Lying on the back, pull your left elbow in a slow tempo towards the opposite knee. Perform 12-15 reps on each side, and try to achieve a special burning feeling. Lateral push-ups on a fitness ball The advantage of this exercise is that you achieve a wide range of motion by bending your body slowly and controlling each movement over the ball. As you lift, feel your side abdominals twist and stretch as you descend. Place your arms behind your neck and do not move them apart. Cross contacts Make sure that your legs are straightened up while you are lying on your back. Place your hands on the back of your head and lift your head and shoulder blades slightly. Then do a twisting motion, extending your legs with the opposite arm straight. Perform the same movement for the other side. Repeat at least 20 times. Lift your hips Make sure you are lying straight on one side. Your feet should be lying on top of each other and your free arm fixed at the waist. You need to lift your torso so that your body line is completely straight at peak amplitude. At the apex, pause briefly to emphasize the work of the obliques. As you lower your torso, your thighs are only gently touching the ground and the muscles are not fully relaxed. Developed obliques provide the framework for your abs and make them look amazing, so if you really want to have a great abdomen, you should work both your abs and obliques.

Sooner or later, every athlete gets injured, especially runners, and most injuries occur in the ankle joint, the medial and lateral parts of the foot. What are the possible causes? Too much training, weight, and the distance you are running. It may be too hard on your feet because we have been walking in shoes all our lives and most of us lead a 'lazy life' and that's why your ankles and feet don't develop properly. So if one day you just start running a lot of miles, your foot muscles will be overloaded leading to all kinds of injuries and inflammation. Obviously, you need to train your feet in order to be able to do any exercise safely and without any impact on your health. So, let's take a quick look at some exercises for your feet muscles. Warm-up exercises Sit down and focus on your toes. Lift your big toe up. At the same time, press the remaining 4 toes toward the ground. Hold this position for 5 seconds. Now hold your thumb and lift the other 4 toes. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times for each foot. Knot Take a medium-thick rope, about one meter long. Put the rope on the floor and sit on a chair in front of it. Use your toes to clasp the ends of the rope. Try to tie a knot. Do the exercise for 5 minutes. Note: This is a difficult exercise. Knee Writing Place a piece of paper on the floor. Sit in a chair and put one foot on the paper. Hold the pen with your thumb and index finger. Try to write any word, such as 'mom'. Do this exercise for at least 3-5 minutes. Note: This exercise is very difficult. Do the exercise for 3-4 minutes. Rolling Style Sit in a chair keeping your back straight. Place a tennis ball under your feet. Roll the ball back and forth. Don't forget to keep your back straight. Do this exercise for 2-3 minutes. Repeat with the other leg. Towel Sit on a chair and place a towel under your feet. Grasp the towel with your toes. Your heels should be flat on the floor. Bend and unclench your toes and slowly pull the towel toward you. Switch feet and repeat the exercise. Perform 2 sets of 10 repetitions. You can perform more if you want. Toe Lift This exercise can be performed anywhere, even in the office when you are working at your desk. Sit with your feet flat on the floor. Raise your toes so that the arch of your foot is curved. Slowly lower your toes, keeping the arch of your foot so that you feel the tension in the arch of your foot. Hold this position for 5 seconds, then relax your foot. Repeat for each foot 5 times. Having strong legs will allow you to perform many exercises safely, so don't underestimate leg training and do it at least a few times a week.

СWorking on the core muscles is not only essential for good looks, but also for your health. In this article, we will talk about core muscles and how to develop them. So without any further ado, let us begin. Core Muscles: What Do They Consist of? To put it simply, core muscles consist of two main groups, which are central and peripheral. The central muscles resemble a sac that protects internal organs by covering the abdominal cavity. In other words, we need these muscles to keep the vital organs safe. In fact, if we didn’t have these muscles, a slight kick in the abdominal area would cause significant damage to vital organs. Central muscles can be divided into several parts, which are: Front - abs Lateral parts - oblique muscles and the surrounding muscles Back - the muscles that support the spine Upper wall - diaphragm Lower wall - pelvic floor muscles The second group of core muscles, the peripheral muscle group, consists of the trapezius, the latissimus dorsi muscle, the pectoralis muscle, the buttocks, and the muscles of the shoulder girdle. These muscles are essential for our posture and back health, which means that developing those is rather important for everyone who wants to be healthy and look beautiful. Both central and peripheral core muscle groups are extremely significant for our health, posture, as well as the way we look. Therefore, in the next paragraph, we are going to talk about the best exercises for strengthening these muscles. Best Workouts for Strengthening Core Muscles So we made it pretty clear that developing core muscles is important for pretty much everyone. So what exercises can you do to strengthen these muscles? Well, here they come: High plank Supine toe tap Hollowman Bird Dog Crunches Bicycle crunch Superman Warrior crunch Supine leg lifts Elbow to knee Bridge Mountain climber V-sit V-ups Side plank Plank shoulder taps Turkish get-up Elbow plank twists As you can see, there are many workouts that will no doubt help you develop core muscles and eventually become healthy and fit. So why don’t you grab your fitness mat and try at least some of these useful exercises to see their effectiveness yourself? Wrapping Up Not only are core muscles essential for beautiful abs, but also rather important for your back health and posture. Furthermore, these muscles protect your internal organs, which is a pretty important feature. Therefore, if you regularly train but you always avoid core exercises thinking they are not as important as the workouts for your legs or arms, you better stop doing that because core muscles are perhaps the most important muscle group in your body.

Gorgeous abs are perhaps the biggest dream of all fitness enthusiasts as well as professionals. However, not many people know how to get abs and pretty often make a lot of mistakes while trying to work on their abs. Therefore, in this article, we will talk about abs and how to get them quickly and stress-free Your Abs Are What You Eat Not many people know it, but your diet is extremely important for achieving relief abs. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you have to starve yourself or follow weird diets, but working out is definitely not enough to achieve such a goal. The thing is to build muscles you need protein, which means that you have to include more protein into your diet. At the same time, high qualities of sugar and Natrium (salt) provoke swelling that sort of hides the relief of the muscles even if you don’t have much belly fat. Thus, to get the six-pack, you have to make your diet healthier as well as drink enough water, and together with exercising, it will help you get the body of your dreams. Don’t Overestimate Your Abilities Many people think that the more they exercise and the less they eat - the better. Obviously, it’s not true. You have to adequately evaluate your abilities and consider those while working out and dieting. Trust us, starving yourself and exercising for 3 hours every day won’t bring better results. It will only damage your health, both physical and mental. So don’t worry if you cannot see the results after a few weeks of training and healthy dieting, just keep going and you’ll surely reach your goal. Core and Back Muscles Are Essential Probably 90% of people who would like to get abs usually forget about the core muscles and work only on their abs. This is a huge mistake. As a matter of fact, to have relief abs, you have to work on your core muscles simply because these muscles are close to each other, moreover, abs are a part of the core, so it’s impossible to get relief abs without working on the core. Therefore, working on your core will significantly boost the entire process. In addition to that, you shouldn’t forget about the back muscles. You see, our posture heavily influences the way our belly looks. You have probably already seen skinny people with weird and unproportioned bellies. Well, that happens because they have weak back muscles and their spine is curved in the way that makes their bellies sort of come forward. So in order to avoid that, make sure to strengthen your back muscles too. Best Workouts for Abs To wrap up, we would like to list some of the best workouts for abs, core, and back. So here they come: Plank Diagonal twists Deadlift Pushups Bent-over row Plank push-ups Pull-up Crunches TRX suspension row Leg lifts from lying position Lat pulldown Final Thoughts A stunning six-pack is the biggest dream of many fitness enthusiasts and, luckily, it’s totally possible to make it come true. So consider the things we talked about in this article and start moving toward your goal now.

The quadriceps is a large and strong muscle that acts as the primary extensor of the knee joint. Because the knee joint carries most of the body's weight, the quadriceps is the main muscle of the lower thigh. Weakness of this muscle, in fact, would simply make it impossible for people to maintain an upright posture. Quads are made up of the four coronary muscles: the straight, inner, outer, and middle muscles. In spite of this, during various exercises, the load falls completely on this muscle. Sure, strengthening your quads is important, so let's give a quick look at a few of the best exercises for them. Barbell and Dumbbell Lunging You can do lunges in many different ways. You can do this either with a barbell, or dumbbells, while walking around the gym, or from a stand-up position. Let's consider a variation where the athlete stands in a position using a barbell or dumbbell. This position is similar to the squat position with a barbell on your back. Take a step forward with your right foot. The lunge should make the thigh of the working leg to be parallel to the ground at the low point. Simultaneously, the knee of the left leg almost touches the floor, also forming a 90-degree angle. Back to the previous position. Change legs - take a step forward with your left leg. Leg Press The leg press takes as much of the work out of your back and hips as possible. At the same time, it allows you to train with a much heavier weight than a deep squat. In order to place the load on your quads, your feet should be shoulder-width apart while doing the leg press. Just follow the right workout technique. Press your back and head firmly against the bench, with your legs almost completely straight and resting on the frame and your hands firmly gripping the handles. Bending the knees, form a straight angle between the thighs and calves. Lower the legs back to the previous position. Single-Leg Squat Make single-leg squats if you can't go to the gym to train with training machines. It is a perfect way to get your quads workout done. Because it allows you to load your legs without using extra weight. Start in a standing position, extending one leg slightly forward. While squatting down, extend the leg forward and straighten it. Get back to the previous position. Repeat at least 10 times for each leg. Kick Squat Standing with feet shoulder-width apart and toes slightly to the side, place your hands at your waist or cradle them in front of your chest. Focus on the center of your feet. Squat down horizontally at the hips, remembering to keep your back straight. Stand up shifting your weight to one side. Lift your knee to a horizontal position and make a kick with your foot. The kick should be done in one movement. Squats With Fitness Ball Position your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart with your toes out to the sides at a 45-degree angle. Grasp the fitness ball, keeping a tense and natural bend at the waist, straight shoulders, and neck. Holding the exercise ball, raise your arms up to shoulder height. As you inhale, begin to bend your knees to your sides, making sure they don't stick out past your toes. Your hips should go down first. Your weight is on your heels. Bring your back slightly forward as you squat down and extend your arms to lift the exercise ball over your head. Perform 30-50 repetitions. Final Thoughts Every person dreams of having beautiful legs, and luckily, getting great quads isn't that hard if you know what to do. So why don't you try these exercises?