VIDEO
Shoulder Touches
- Biceps
- Trapezius
- Upper Back
- Shoulders
- Obliques
- Chest
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Brad Cooper
Equipment:No Equipment
Shoulder Touches
- Biceps
- Trapezius
- Upper Back
- Shoulders
- Obliques
- Chest
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Brad Cooper
Equipment:No Equipment
Start in press up position and make sure your hands are directly under your shoulders, your feet are in the line with hips. Keeping your hips as still as possible, lift one hamd and tap the opposite shoulder. Get back to the starting position and repeat with the opposite hand.
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Blog
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.
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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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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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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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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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