VIDEO
Side Plank Leg Lift
- Core
- Arms
- Legs
- Abs
- Hips
Level:Advanced
Trainer:Nikki Adams
Equipment:Bench
Start from a side-plank position with your elbow on the mat and your upper leg on the chair. Holding the bodyweight on your upper leg and elbow, begin lifting your lower leg up and down, contracting your gluteus and abs.
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Blog
Many people want to have beautiful thighs. Unfortunately, to keep them in good shape requires long and hard work. Here are some exercises that are sure to help you work out your thighs.
Cross Lunges
This deep stretch will improve your thighs and give you energy. Spread your legs and point your feet outward. Bending your knees, lower yourself into a squat position. Put the palms on your hips above your knees to deepen the squat and stretch further. Jump up and put your feet in front of each other, straightening and crossing your legs as you land. Get back to the position from the start and repeat the actions with the opposite leg. Repeat this exercise as many times as possible, alternating between the two legs, for at least 40 seconds.
Knee Squats
Knee squats together are better to strengthen the inner thighs, quads, and hamstrings than regular squats. And to avoid wasting time, you can work your arms at the same time. Stand up straight with your feet together. Pick up some dumbbells, bend your arms at the elbows, and bring them into contact with your shoulders. Perform squats with your knees bent and your hips pulled back as if you were going to sit on a chair. Keep your feet together throughout the exercise holding the weight on your heels. Now extend your arms upward. Return to the start without transferring the weight to your toes. Do 10 repetitions.
Elbow Plank Leg Lift
Add leg lifts to the regular elbow plank to improve hip work. Lie on your side, and bend your right arm at the elbow leaning on it. Stretch your leg so that your body is in a straight line. Try to lean only on the outer edge of your right leg. Place your left hand on your hip. Feel your spine stretching and the tension in your abs, then raise your left leg slightly to your hip. Slowly put it back down. Without bending at the waist or leaning on your shoulders, place the weight on your elbows. Do about 15 reps on both sides.
Leg bend swing
This is one of the most popular exercises for strengthening the hips and thighs. It is suitable for everyone, requires no additional equipment, and does not involve the spine. This combination works the posterior, anterior, lateral, and medial thighs. Start doing the plank with your palms under your shoulders and your knees under your pelvis, keeping your back in position. As you exhale, push up on your heels; do 20 reps on each leg for four sets.
Side push-ups
If this is your first time doing this exercise, you don't need any dumbbells - learn the leg movements first. Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, run hard to the left and place your right hand onto your right leg. Lower your hips as far as you can and lean on your heels. Point your toes forward and bend your leg at a 90-degree angle. Push off with your left foot and get into a courtesy position: left foot back, right foot forward. Raise your arms with weights upward, pointing your feet up. Keep your hips and legs tense. Do not return to the start for the repetitions, but go straight from squat to side position. Perform three sets of 10 reps each, then switch sides.
Final Words
If you know that beautiful thighs are a reality and you have these exercises, then why not try and make your body better?
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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.
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Many people mistakenly believe that developing shoulder muscles is not important. Well, obviously, it’s not true. So why is it important to work on the shoulder muscles and how to improve them is the topic of this article.
What Are Shoulder Muscles?
Shoulder muscles are basically the muscles that provide shoulder movement. These muscles are voluntary, meaning we control their work. The main functions of the shoulder muscles are the following:
Holding the shoulder joint and its bones in place
Allowing your shoulder joint to rotate
Providing the ability to move your arms forward, up, and down
Shoulder joint protection
As you can see, these muscles are extremely important for performing basic things such as lifting objects or holding something. In addition to that, these muscles are rather important for certain sports that require lots of jerky movements in the shoulder area. For example, dancers, basketball players, tennis players, swimmers, and others. All in all, shoulder muscles do a lot of work, which is why we have to develop them.
Why Do I Need to Work on My Shoulder Muscles?
We have already partly answered this question above, but we’ll give you a more detailed answer just to make things clear. First of all, strong shoulder muscles are a must for many athletes, dancers, and fitness enthusiasts who actively involve arms and shoulders in their activities. The thing is, these muscles are rather fragile, and jerky movements can lead to an injury. At the same time, if one works on these muscles regularly, they significantly lower the risks of possible injuries. But what about people who are not professional dancers or athletes? Well, even if you are not a pro athlete, you still need to go to the gym at least a few times a week to maintain your health, and simple workouts can also cause an injury if you have weak shoulder muscles. So as you might have already understood that working on the shoulder muscles is a must for everyone.
Exercises for Improving Shoulder Muscles
So what workouts can you do to improve your shoulders? Well, why don’t you consider the following ones:
Push-ups
Barbell overhead press
One-hand push-ups
Half-kneeling landmine press
Dumbbell shrugs
Arnold press
Sideways dumbbells
Push press
Barbell press
Wide-grip seated row
Final Thoughts
Stronger muscles minimize the risks of having severe injuries while working out or even doing your regular chores. So no matter if you are a pro athlete or dancer or just a regular person, you should consider working on your shoulder muscles.
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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.
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The pectoralis major muscle is one of the most difficult muscles to train, but it can be trained. In this article, we will look at the pectoralis major muscle and how to train it.
The development of the chest muscle is an indicator of how hard you are working on your body. This muscle group is one of the largest and most complex muscles in the human body. A good workout requires a combination of basic and isolation exercises. This is the only way to make your muscles perfect.
Exercises with barbells are good for building muscle mass, while exercises with dumbbells and equipment are good for improving form and detail. It is not advisable to use very heavyweights in the beginning. It is much better to get a feel for the muscles needed when working the chest, arms, and shoulders. For example, classic push-ups from the floor will help you feel the pectoral muscles and understand how they work. For proper training, you should use different chest dumbbell exercises to work the muscles from different angles.
Dumbbell Bench Press
Place dumbbells next to your arms. Start by getting into the correct posture. Press the back of your neck, back, and pelvis against the bench. Press your heels to the floor and open your legs 60 degrees. Once you have learned this posture, sit down and take a dumbbell and place it on your lap. Lie down and pull the dumbbells up to your chest. Keep the dumbbells parallel, extending the arms at a slight angle to your elbows. Lower the weights gently and begin the chest exercise by moving your elbows up and down. When you feel your pectoral muscles stretch, return your arms to the position you started from.
Hammer
Start in the correct posture. Sit on the edge of the bench and place the dumbbells on knees. Lie down so that the back of your head, back, and buttocks are pressed firmly against the bench. At the same time, shift weight from your hips to your chest. Lift arms in front of you, maintaining a 90-degree angle. Place your palms so they face each other and bend your elbows slightly. Inhale when bending your arms and pulling the dumbbells toward your chest. As you exhale, relax the hips and focus on tensing your pectoral muscles. Repeat. It is important to concentrate on your pectoral muscles because the 'hammer' puts extra tension on your triceps. This exercise is performed slowly and requires a lot of concentration. This exercise is ideal for beginners or players recovering from chest, shoulder, or elbow injuries.
Dumbbell Press
Lie on a bench so that your neck, shoulders, and hips are in close contact with the surface of the chair. Make the feet close to the floor, holding a dumbbell in each hand at chest level, one hand on the other. Secure the dumbbells behind your head, concentrating on stretching your pectoral muscles. This only works the shoulders. Apply maximum tension on the lower amplitude and return the arms in the same trajectory. Since this dumbbell chest exercise is a supplemental exercise, it makes sense to mix it up with the basic exercises. It also stretches the pectoral muscles and helps to shape the chest. Make sure your head is supported in this position.If not, you may injure your neck muscles or cause nerve compression. Work with dumbbells smoothly and avoid sudden jerks or extreme weights.
Also, remember that while warming up before a workout can help build endurance and recovery, it should not be relied upon exclusively. Proper sleep and nutrition are the most important factors in achieving gym results.
Chest exercises can help improve your sense of security and overall health, so be sure to at least train these muscles.
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