VIDEO
Plank Leg Lifts Variation, Side Elbow Plank Leg Lifts Variation, Bridge Variation
- Core
- Arms
- Legs
- Abs
- Trapezius
- Gluteus
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Nikki Adams
Equipment:Bench
Plank Leg Lifts Variation, Side Elbow Plank Leg Lifts Variation, Bridge Variation
- Core
- Arms
- Legs
- Abs
- Trapezius
- Gluteus
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Nikki Adams
Equipment:Bench
1.Start from a high-plank position with your hands on the mat and your legs extended. Kick your left leg up. While lowerring it back on the mat, lift your hips and sueeze your gluteus. Repeat the same action beginning with the right leg. 2.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 abs. 3.Lay back on a mat with your shoulders on the mat, your knees bent, feet on the wall, and your palms on the mat. Start moving your gluteus up and down in a smooth and slow tempo.
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Blog
Trapezius muscles are often underestimated, and many people don’t pay much attention to them while working out. However, it is a huge mistake because these muscles are extremely important for the right posture as well as back health. So in this article, we’ll talk about trapezius muscles and how to develop them.
Why Do I Need to Work on Trapezius Muscles?
The trapezius is a part of the upper back which helps us to maintain the right posture. The muscle group consists of three different parts, which are top, medium, and bottom. Together with the muscles of the neck, the trapezius is responsible for the right posture. The upper part of this muscle is responsible for the rise of the shoulder as well as the ability to lift arms. The lower one - is for lowering shoulders and arms. At the same time, the middle one is needed for blade movement. As you can see, this muscle group is responsible for many basic functions, which is why developing the trapezius muscles is extremely important for everyone, especially for those people who have some problems with their posture.
How Often Should I Do Trapezius Workouts?
Ideally, you have to include at least 2-3 trapezius exercises in each workout session. At the same time, you have to work out 3 times a week. In some cases, it’s better to have 4 training sessions per week. In case you have some issues with your posture and you cannot keep your back straight because your spine muscles (especially trapezius) are weak, we recommend doing at least a few exercises for trapezius muscles every day.
Who Needs Trapezius Exercises the Most?
Of course, everybody needs to straighten their trapezius muscles, but, obviously, some people need it more than others. So who are those people? Well, here is a short list of those you must pay more attention to their trapezius muscles:
Office workers who work long hours at the desk
People who have posture problems and struggle to keep their back straight
Athletes and fitness enthusiasts who lift heavy weights
Boxers, volleyballers, basketballers, and other sportsmen who actively involve their arms in their sports activity
Dancers and gymnasts who need strong and developed back muscles
Do you belong to any of these groups? Then you better start working on your trapezius muscles now.
Best Workouts for Trapezius
Last but not least, we would like to recommend you some trapezius workouts, so here they come:
Shrug
Deadlift
Shoulder blade squeeze
Barbell row
Upright row
Reverse dumbbell flyes
Chin-up
Pull-up
Push-up
Lat-pulldown
Rear delt cable raise
High pulley cable row
Overhead farmer's walk
Y raise
Rope rear delt pull
Wrapping Up
Trapezius muscles are super important for your back health, so no matter what your occupation is or how often you work out, you still need to find at least a few minutes for some exercises for the trapezius.
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In the initial stages of training, while people focus on working the chest, arms, and back, the calf muscles are often neglected. As a result, exercises to strengthen the calves are delayed or rarely performed, resulting in a lack of progress. The calf muscles, like the deeper muscles of the back, get little rest during the day because they must support the weight of the body, help maintain balance, and stabilize the joints when walking. This means it is at a lower level of development and the approach to working with it should be different.
Thus, we decided to share some exercises for strengthening your calves. Let’s check them out.
Calf 45
Of all the exercises intended to develop the calf muscles, this exercise is one of the most challenging. It involves changing the angle of the legs, which involves not only the calves but also the soleus muscles. To perform this exercise, you will need the Gackenschmidt's Machine. Depending on the design, you will stand in front of it or not. Set an appropriate working weight. This is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the working weights from the previous two exercises. Then adjust the weights according to the load. Then lower the heel and stretch the calf as much as possible. Lift with the toes. Hold under extreme tension for 1-2 seconds.
Dumbbell Calf Raises
This exercise is designed for all levels of athletes and is considered a basic exercise to build calf muscles. Start with standing on a wooden block. You can do this in Smith by placing a step platform under your feet and placing a barbell on your shoulders. Hold your body in a straight position. If you need extra weight, you should take dumbbells or kettlebells. Next, lower your heels under the bar and stretch your ankles as much as possible. Stand up on your toes in a powerful impulsive movement. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and pull your calves up. Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position.
Squat Calf Raises
This exercise is great for lazy workouts and will be a great option for beginners. Sit on the seat of the training machine. Place your toes on the support step. Bringing your heels down to the floor as far as possible, lower the lever with the soft stop to your knee and lock it.
Leg Press
Lie down on a leg press machine. Find a platform where your legs are straight. Fix the speed. You only need to do two movements. Removing the platform from your foot, squeeze it with your toes. Return your toes to their original position.
It is important to know that posture has a much greater impact on the development of the shin and calf muscles than movement. Flat feet, if not taken into account and compensated for, can also prevent the shaping of the calves. To improve the calves without exercising, the selection of the proper footwear and a corrected gait is necessary.
Well-trained calves will help you perform certain exercises better as well as make your legs look great. So take another look at these exercises and be sure to try them next time.
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Fit and strong arms is the goal of every fitness enthusiast. The thing is our arms are always the center of attention because it’s pretty difficult to hide them under clothes throughout most of the year. So how to make sure your arms look good in any clothes? Well, this is exactly what we’re going to talk about in this article. So without any further ado, let us begin.
Do Not Expect Immediate Results
Most people believe that a month of exercising is enough to see drastic results and therefore if they don’t see any progress, they simply give up. Of course, it’s not the best strategy. In fact, you shouldn’t expect immediate results. You have to move towards your goal gradually and patiently. The thing is, because of our anatomy, growing arm muscles is pretty challenging, especially if you want to get rid of the fat in the triceps area. So take baby steps and do not give up if you don’t see the result after just a few weeks of training.
Always Warm Up before Training
Many people underestimate warming up, thinking it’s not necessary. Obviously, it is wrong. You have to warm up before doing any type of exercise to avoid injuries, especially if you do not do sport regularly. So how to warm up before an arm workout? Here are some simple warmup exercises:
Arm rotation (2-3 minutes)
Arm stretches above your head
Scissors exercise
Wrist rotation (2 minutes)
These simple exercises will help you warm up and proceed to more challenging workouts for arms.
Do Effective Exercises
Not all the exercises can actually help you achieve your goal, which is why it is important to select those workouts that actually work. We recommend the following exercises for developing arm muscles:
Lateral raise
Push-ups
Plank
Dumbbell row
Plank to push-up
Incline bicep curl
Underhand seated row
Prone dumbbell spider curl
Diamond press-up
Javelin press
These workouts will surely help you work on your arms, so make sure to find out more about them as well as try them.
Stretch After Your Workout
Stretching is extremely important for pretty much all muscle groups and arms are not an exception. It helps to relieve muscle tension as well as prevent muscle soreness. So after you are done with the strengthening exercises for your arms, make sure to stretch for at least a few minutes. You can do the following stretching exercises:
Eagle arms
Standing bicep stretch
Reverse prayer
Horizontal arm extensions
Assisted side bend
Overhead triceps and shoulder stretch
Fingers up and down stretch
Cross-body shoulder stretch
These simple stretches will surely help you reduce or even avoid muscle soreness after working out, so give them a try.
Final Thoughts
Strong and fit arms is perhaps the biggest dream of all fitness enthusiasts and not only. Luckily, regular training can help you quickly achieve this goal. So why don’t you start moving towards your dream now?
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Relief of the biceps is one of the main goals of everybody who does sports and works on their body. At the same time, it’s pretty hard to develop these muscles because of a wide variety of reasons. In this article, we’ll talk about biceps and how to develop these muscles. So let us dive in.
What Is Biceps?
The biceps is the muscle of the upper arm that consists of two parts, which are the long head and the short head. The muscle is connected to the bone with the proximal biceps tendons in the shoulder joint and the distal biceps tendons in the elbow joint. To put it simply, the biceps is a big muscle that is situated in the upper arm from the shoulder to the forearm. The main function of the biceps is to extend and flex the arm at the elbow. It also helps rotate the forearm and hand. So basically, this muscle allows us to lift objects, hold heavy things, and do many other daily things.
Tips on How to Grow Biceps?
Certainly, everybody dreams of relief biceps muscles, but achieving this goal is not that easy. In fact, except for working out, you need to do a lot of other stuff to grow biceps muscles. So here are some tips and tricks on how to grow biceps fast and stress-free:
Eat more protein. For building any muscle, our body needs amino acids and the best way to get them is to eat more protein.
Exercise regularly. In order to succeed in any area, you need to practice regularly. The same goes for developing bicep muscles - you need to work out regularly.
Consider having your thyroid checked. If you eat protein and exercise but you still see no progress, you might want to visit a doctor and have your thyroid checked because there might be some hormonal issue.
Don’t be upset if you don’t see immediate results. Growing biceps takes quite a lot of time, so don’t be upset if after a few weeks of training you see no result. Just continue moving towards your goal, and soon, you’ll reach it.
Make sure you do the right workouts. Not all arm workouts are aimed at the biceps, so you have to ensure you do the right exercises. If you have any doubts, you can always consult your personal trainer or check out this information on the internet.
These simple tips will help you reach your goal faster, so make sure to use them.
Best Workouts Biceps
To wrap up, we would like to provide you with some basic biceps workouts. So without any further ado, here they come:
Barbell curl
Standing dumbbell curl
Cable curl
Zottman curl
Chin-up
Barbell bent-over row
Reverse-grip bent-over row
Underhand seated row
EZ-bar preacher curl
Twisting dumbbell curl
Cable hammer curl
Inverted row
Hammer curl
Meadows row
Concentration curl
Seated cable row
Incline dumbbell curl
Final Thoughts
Gorgeous relief biceps is a dream come true for many men and women. But why dream of it if you can make it real? Explore the biceps workouts in the video section and make your dream of having developed biceps come true.
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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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