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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.

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?

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.

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.

Believe it or not, wrist muscles are extremely important. In fact, developed wrist muscles allow you to correctly do such exercises as planks, push-ups, handstands, as well as various workouts with dumbbells. In other words, most sports require strong wrists, and if you want to succeed in gymnastics, martial arts, CrossFit, or climbing, you have to make sure you have strong wrist muscles. But how to achieve that? Let's talk about wrist muscles and how to develop them in more detail. Why are wrist muscles so important? Not many people know about the importance of wrist muscles, yet strong wrists are significant in fitness and many other sports. The thing is that developed wrists and joint mobility are significant for avoiding injuries. For example, such sports as tennis, volleyball, CrossFit, boxing, gymnastics, archery, basketball, canoe, and even bowling have a rather serious load on the hands and wrists. Therefore, one wrong move can cause significant damage to the muscles and tendons of your wrists and hands. At the same time, developed and stretched muscles lower the chances of getting severely injured or injured at all. So this is the main reason why working on wrist muscles is so important for pretty much everyone. Do I need to develop wrist muscles if I don’t do any sports? Of course, now many of you can come to the conclusion that they do not have to work on their wrists because they don’t do any sports or do those sports that do not require strong wrists. Well, this is, obviously, not true. Perhaps everybody needs to work on their wrists, especially people who work long hours on the computers. The thing is typing and mouse clicking is not particularly good for the health of our wrists because of the positions of our hands during those activities. Moreover, some people even struggle with carpal tunnel syndrome, which is often caused by typing. However, typing is not the only thing that can cause this syndrome. Pianists, guitarists, as well as other people whose work involves repetitive movements of the wrist, are in the risk group. Certainly, this is a rather unpleasant disease but you can lower the chances of getting it by regular exercising. So the answer to this question is: yes, you do need to work on your wrist muscles even though you don’t do any sports. Best workouts for wrists Now as we know how important it is to work on your wrist muscles, let us take a brief look at the best exercises for developing these muscles. So here they come: Dumbbell rows Holding dumbbells Wrist stretching Hand rotation with dumbbells Tennis ball squeeze These simple exercises will help you strengthen your wrists and hands and therefore help you maintain your wrist health, so make sure to give them a try. Final thoughts As you can see, strong wrists are not only important for athletes, but also for regular office workers, musicians, and pretty much everyone. So why don’t you start working on your wrists now?