VIDEO
Bird Dogs
- Core
- Upper Back
- Shoulders
- Gluteus
- Quads
- Hamstrings
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Brad Cooper
Equipment:No Equipment
Bird Dogs
- Core
- Upper Back
- Shoulders
- Gluteus
- Quads
- Hamstrings
Level:Intermediate
Trainer:Brad Cooper
Equipment:No Equipment
Do a tabletop position standing with your hands and knees on a fitness mat. Place your wrists below your shoulder and knees below your hips. Stretch your right arm forward and the left leg behind. Maintain a flat back and your hips align with the floor. Try to repeat the same actions with the opposite arm and leg.
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Blog
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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People often underestimate hamstrings. Often, focusing on training the quadriceps and calves, hamstrings seem less important. However, you should remember that neglecting any muscle has aesthetic and medical consequences that can be avoided if you work it properly. The reason you shouldn't ignore these muscles is not just about the symmetry and appearance of your body. Hamstring weakness is one of the most common causes of injury in most professional athletes.
The best way to strengthen your leg muscles is to work them out properly. So let's have a look at the exercises.
Barbell 90
The main advantage of this exercise is that you don't need much equipment, just a simple barbell. Starting in a standing position and holding the barbell on your shoulders, keep your back straight. While bending your knees slightly, tense your hips, and bend forward 90 degrees. Then return to the starting position inhaling. Except for hamstrings, this exercise will also strengthen your hips and back.
Hyperextensions
Hyperextensions are a great workout for your hamstrings as well as the lower back and glute muscles. Sit on the hyperextension training machine comfortably with your heels pressed against the platform at the bottom of the trainer. Place your arms crossed in front of your chest or behind your head. Slowly lower yourself down until you inhale and feel the stretch in your lower back and leg muscles. Without stopping at the bottom point, straighten up to the starting position and exhale. Return to the beginning position then. Maintain your head in line with your torso, keeping your back straight throughout the exercise.
Tights Up
This exercise can be done on the playground with two pull-ups or simply by placing your feet on a chair or bench. We will present a variation of the home exercise.Choose a sitting position on the floor with your feet on a chair. Lift your torso with your hands so that the tights are in the air. Bending your knees, raise the tights so that your body is paralleled to the floor. Perform 7-8 repetitions.
Single-Leg and Dumbbell
The exercise requires a good sense of balance and gives you good results. With a dumbbell in your hand, bring one leg back and keep it on the floor until the end of the exercise. Then return to the previous position. Repeat this exercise several times before you have tired.
Final Words
Hamstrings may look insignificant, but that has nothing to do with the fact that you can skip working these muscles. As a matter of fact, stronger hamstrings prevent you from many injuries. Therefore, don't delay and start exercising these muscles now.
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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.
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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.
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Upper back muscles are extremely important for the right posture, yet many people completely forget about these muscles while working out, which is a big mistake. So why are these muscles so important, and how to train them? These are the questions we will attempt to answer in this article.
What Is Upper Back?
The muscles of the upper back consist of two main parts, which are the trapezius and latissimus muscles. Apart from that, many experts also involve the back bundles of deltas in the upper back muscle group since they are involved in most workouts for the upper back muscles. At the same time, referring to these muscles as a part of the upper back is incorrect from the anatomical point of view.
The main function of the trapezius muscles is to provide the movement of the shoulder blades as well as make it possible to raise arms and lift objects. These muscles are also rather important for our posture as well as the ability to keep our back straight. At the same time, the latissimus muscles are located on both sides of the back. They resemble wings in shape and occupy almost the entire back area. These muscles are needed to pull the arms back as well as bring the shoulders to the body.
Why Do I Need to Develop My Upper Back?
So we have already figured out that the upper back muscles are responsible for the right posture as well as the ability to raise arms and lift objects, but who needs to work on their upper back? Well, a strong upper back is perhaps one of the main goals for everyone. In particular, among the people who need to work on their upper back are:
Office workers who work all day at the desk
Professional dancers and dance enthusiasts who need a strong back and perfect posture
Athletes who actively involve the neck, shoulder, and back muscles while doing their sports activities
Fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders who strive to grow muscles and harmoniously develop all muscle groups
People who want to have a nice posture
So do you belong to any of these groups? We bet you do. So make sure to add at least a few upper back exercises into your workout routine.
Best Exercises for Upper Back
To wrap up, we would like to provide you with some useful workouts for your upper back, so without any further ado, here they come:
Reverse fly
Bent over barbell row
Barbell high rows
Single-arm dead stop row
T-pulls
TRX row
Upright row
Single-arm landmine row
Y-pulls
Face pull
Seated row
Hang clean
Renegade row
These simple exercises will help you develop your upper back muscles quickly and stress-free, so make sure to give them a try.
Wrapping Up
Developed upper back muscles are essential for the right posture as well as for avoiding injuries while doing other sports activities. So no matter if you are a professional athlete or not, you still need to work on these muscles.
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