Theathens Directory

There are many different types of exercises for different parts of the body. Following are some different types of exercises for upper body strengthening.

1. Bicep Curl

This exercise is done with bars or free weights. First, grasp the bar with a closed grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Stand erect with feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Then after that, raise the bar in an arc by bending arms at the elbow moving upward to the front of the shoulders. Ensure that you don’t swing the bar. Lower the bar slowly with control until the arms are fully extended. The whole exercise should be done in slow process.

2. Hammer Curls

For this if you have dumbbells then it’s good. In this first grasp the dumbbells with a closed, neutral grip with the palm of the hand facing the outer thighs. Make sure that you are standing erect with feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Your arms should be fully extended with dumbbells hanging at the sides.

3. Overhead Press

First, in this type of exercises place the bar on rests at a height at which when you slightly bend your knees. The bar is level with the top of your shoulders. Then bend knees to step up to the bar and grasp bar a little wider than shoulder width with palms facing away. Make sure the bar should rest on your collar bone (clavicle). Always keep your upper back straight. Always keep a slight curve in your lower back.

4. Lateral Dumbbell Raise

For this dumbbells are required. Once you have them start. Grasp dumbbells with palms at sides and facing in. Then bend your elbows slightly. Keeping your elbows bent at the same angle, slowly begin to raise the dumbbells to the side. After that stop the dumbbells as they reach shoulder level (palms should be facing the floor). Once this is done, then slowly lower the dumbbells to the start position.

5. Flat Bench Press

This exercise can be performed using dumbbells. Your beginning position should be lying face up on a bench with feet flat on the floor. Your eyes should be below the edge of the bar. Then grasp the bar with a closed, grip, and remove the bar off the shelf. Lower the bar slowly and with control to the chest keeping the wrists straight.

By: Jesse Miller

About the Author:

Create a video blog…instantly.

When burning calories or fat, most people would do isolated exercises to obtain that goal. They would do bicep curls, sit-ups, crunches, etc. Those are good supplementary exercises. In order to get more bang for the buck, you should do full body exercises. For many of us, non-impact or low-impact type of movements are necessary because of joint aches and other ailments.

* Mountain Climbers

These are great non-impact full-body exercise that significantly boosts your metabolism. You do this movement by being on all fours. Then, you shuffle your legs towards your chest like you are climbing a mountain. Keep your hip steady and your hands in place. Keep your back steady also. You want to be only moving your legs. You want to move your left leg towards your chest while your right leg is straight. Then, you move your right leg towards your chest while your left leg is straight. After a few seconds, you will feel your metabolism getting boosted. If you want to make these more challenging, then shuffle your hands with your feet as you do the movement.

* Lunges

These are a great non-impact exercise that can be done with dumbbells or just your bodyweight. It is important to do good lunges by having proper mid-foot balance and keeping your knees behind your toes. Also, it is important to master the basic fundamental lunge before doing the more compound and complex movements. You should extend your left leg forward by firmly planting your left foot on the ground (mid-foot balance). Then, you lower until your upper left thigh is parallel to the ground (your left leg forms a right angle). You can keep your hands in front like you are in a boxing stance. Later, you can do arm curls with light dumbbells to make it a compound movement. Also, you can do reverse lunges with tricep extensions. There are so many variations to the lunges that it is a great full body exercise that is non or little impact.

* Sit-thrus

These are one of my favorite full-body exercise. It is similar to do a break dance move. You start off almost like a mountain climber. Then, you sit thru by shifting your weight towards the left side by raising your left arm off the floor and pivoting off your right shoulder. Keep your shoulder compact and tight to your body. You will do the same on the left side. Later, as you master this movement, you can extend the leg as you do the movement (and tighten up your abdominal).

These are great full-body exercises that do not impact your joints as much.

By: Pascasio JR Felisilda

About the Author:

body exercises

One Muscle at a Time
Try lifting a heavy box sometime by just using one muscle. It is impossible because many muscles are required to lift, carry and move a box. To create movement, your body works in muscle combination’s. In this example, the muscles of the upper and lower body must coordinate their efforts to efficiently lift the box. The latest trend in fitness training is Exercise Combinations (EC’s). The nice part about EC’s is they use one exercise to work multiple muscles versus using one exercise to work one muscle. This makes EC’s more time efficient and effective at building a really strong body. EC’s better prepare your body for hard work and play because they provide gains in strength, balance, stamina and flexibility.

The Limiting Factor
Your heart along with the rest of the cardiovascular system is always going to be the limiting factor when it comes to working and playing hard. Your muscles can only function if they have an adequate blood and oxygen supply. If your muscles run out of oxygen, they quickly become inefficient and fatigue sets in. To create a strong body that can go the distance requires training your heart and the rest of your body simultaneously. Exercise Combinations have become very popular in the athletic world because they can be designed to mimic a specific sport. They have also been used by nurses and firefighters alike to mimic lifting and the carrying of patients and victims. EC’s create a high demand on your heart providing the necessary cardiovascular training benefit.

What Are Some Good Exercise Combinations?
Simply, exercise combinations are single muscle exercises that are combined to form more dynamic whole body exercises. They are excellent strength, balance and stamina builders. Let’s take a look at three good examples:

1. Lunge and Twist/Press Here is an excellent EC that uses lower body, upper body, core and cardiovascular components. Perform a walking lunge with a medicine ball or dumbbell in your hand. Either press the weight or do a left/right turn as you perform the lung. Make sure to breathe properly because this EC creates a high demand on your cardiovascular system.

2. Squat, Hammer Curl and Press Again, this EC works the upper body, lower body and cardiovascular system components. Take two dumbbells and let them hang at your sides. Perform a squat making sure to limit your knee bend to 90 degrees. Keep your head up and back straight. After return to the starting position, hammer curl to the shoulder and then military press overhead rotating the weights until your palms face forward. Make sure to keep your elbows slightly bent at the top. Return the weights to your shoulders with palms facing inwards. Reverse hammer curl to the starting position. Make sure to breathe properly because this EC creates a high demand on your cardiovascular system.

3. Squat Thrust and Push-ups This EC provides a high cardio, core strength and upper body demand. Stand with your feet hip width apart. Place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Thrust your legs and feet backwards landing in a push-up position. Perform a push-up and then immediately thrust your legs and feet back to the starting position. Stand-up straight and prepare to place your hands on the floor again and repeat.

Add several sets of these Exercise Combinations to your current workout and see how easy it is to supercharge your body.

Copyright (c) 2006- 2009 by Sequoia Health and Fitness, Inc

By: Woody McMahon

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

What if I told you that you could get in the best shape of your life even if you didn’t have time to exercise, even if you were busy, and even if you didn’t know where to start?

There are many exercises that can give you results, but if you want fast results, it’s best to focus on the very best exercises for total body fitness. Although these exercises are well-known, you might not have realized their importance in developing an enviable physique, whether it means increased endurance and heart function, tight and sexy thighs, butt and legs, or muscular arms. Or you may not know how to incorporate them into your routine – until today.

Squats: The squat is one of the most basic all-around fitness exercises that you can do, and it is one of the best. It works several body parts at once, including your core, quads, hamstrings and calves. No matter what you do, you should incorporate squats into your routine. If you train for strength, squat using a barbell or holding dumbells in your hands. If you want to train for endurance or cardio, use body-weight squats. Pushups: This exercise is no secret, but not enough people take advantage of it. Many women and even men still have weak, flabby arms and chests. The best way to develop them is by starting to incorporate daily pushups into your routine. They work the chest, shoulders, triceps, back and abs (core). The key with pushups is to incorporate different kinds of pushups into one routine. If you cannot do a standard “full” pushup, start with the “modified” version on your knees. Then work your way toward doing regular pushups. EVOLUTION OF THE PUSHUP: Wall pushup: Stand facing a wall. The farther your feet are from the wall, the harder it will be. Lean in toward the wall. Counter Pushup: Pushup leaning from the edge of a counter. Knee Pushup: the standard “modified” pushup on your knees Feet Elevated: you’ve now reached the regular pushup level, congratulations!
Other pushups that rule:

Wide Hands – Place hands on the floor at a greater distance apart (past the shoulders). This works even more back muscles.

Close Hands – Place hands on the floor closer to each other (maybe a foot apart or less). Very difficult. Feet Elevated – Place your feet on a chair or other object and push up from the ground. More difficult. Handstand Pushup – This is my favorite pushup EVER and the ultimate exercise to build strong shoulders. If you’re a man, you need to be able to do this one.

Go to a handstand, your feet against the wall, then lower your head to the floor and push up. If you can do a few of those, you’re good. To help you succeed in mastering this pushup, you can first use your toes to help you “crawl” the wall, or have a friend hold your feet and help you through it. At first, your goal should be to simply stay in a handstand with your feet facing the wall.

Walking or Running Hills: You want extreme health, a fit body and a healthy heart? Try walking or running up hills. This is one of the best exercises for overall fitness. So go find hills in your area, and dare to walk the hell out of them!

Pullups & Chinups: Many women lack upper body strength. Unfortunately, this can lead to injuries and lack of ability, as many common movements such as lifting a box (or a child!) require strong upper body muscles.

It’s wise for all women to strengthen these muscles by working on the two best exercises for them: pushups and pullups. Just because pullups and chinups are hard, it doesn’t mean women can’t do them! In fact, you should be able to lift your own body with your arms. In nature, this sort of movement is very basic and in fact a matter of survival.

For men, the benefits of pullups and chinups cannot be emphasized enough: you will build a strong back and enviably muscular arms.

For women, I would set a goal to do at least 1 complete pullup and 2 complete chinups, with a future “ultimate” goal to do at least 3 pullups and 5 chinups.

To get started, use the assisted pullup machines at the gym, or follow the following routine:

Hang for 30 seconds or as long as possible in the position of having pulled your body up all the way from a bar. You can use a chair to get in that position. When you feel you can’t hold yourself any longer, lower gently in a slow and controlled manner. Do this 5 times. Get on a chair and check out what kind of a bend you need in your arms before you can successfully pull yourself up. Then do it five times from there. Improve from there. Hang from a bar and see how far you can pull yourself up 5 times in a row.

Do these three exercises 2-3 times a week and make sure to warm up properly beforehand (by doing some jumping jacks for a few minutes, for example).

For men, a good benchmark for strength would be to be able to do a few series of 5 pullups with 10% of your weight attached to your body (as extra weight).

The Plank: This is a powerful isolation move used in Pilates and Yoga and it works the abs, back, arms and legs as well as your internal abdominal muscles, which is your core strength!

To do it, lie face down on mat with your elbows resting on the floor next to your chest. Go to a pushup position while resting on your elbows or hands. Then squeeze the abs and keep your body in a straight line. Hold in this position for 30-60 seconds, then slowly lower yourself to the floor and rest for 15-30 seconds. Repeat as many times as you can. Start by doing the plank on your knees and gradually work your way up.

So there you have it, 5 powerful exercises that every man and woman should include in their routine for functional fitness and increased strength.


For more information please visit: http://www.FredericPatenaude.com

By: Frederic Patenaude

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

If you are willing to improve your body shape and to gain power in your chest and arm muscles, you will have to commit for working out some upper body exercises on regular basis. Some of the upper workouts are very simple and can be done at home without needing any exercise machine or equipment. You will also not need an expert’s advice to do these exercises such as regular push-ups and pull ups.

The Easiest Upper Body Exercises

Push-ups are an effective exercise that will help you to improve the strength of your arm muscles and the shoulders. This exercise will also help in the growth of chest muscles and will tone up your abdominal muscles. Push-ups also help to increase strength in your triceps, chest and shoulder muscles. You can include this exercise in your regular upper workout. Some of the popular variations of this exercise are diamond, elevated and wide grip push-ups. Pull ups will help you to strengthen your biceps and forearm muscles. Pull ups also offer a good workout for your upper back muscles. Chin up, wide grip and close grip pull ups are some of the best exercises to improve your upper back and Latissimus (Lats) muscles. Other sets of exercises that will help to improve your arms muscles are press ups. Bench press ups are considered to be one of the best exercises to get big arm muscles. While these easier upper exercises can prove to be a good warm up for a while, you can increase the intensity of these exercises by introducing some weight. However, weight exercises are a bit complicated and if you are a beginner, it would be better to start with a workout without weights for the first few days.

Always Warm Up!

Some of the easiest warm up exercises that may help before you engage in your workout are running, swimming and walking. You may use your treadmill or recumbent bike machine to warm up. If you have proper instruction and equipment facilities or if you are a member of a regular gymnasium, you may also opt to perform chest fly, pec-dec, bench press and resistance band chest press exercises.

In order to improve your arm muscles such as biceps, triceps and forearms muscles, some really effective exercises that will help you are reverse curls, dumbbell curls, free weight pulley exercises and seated dumbbell curls. Dumbbell back extensions will also help you to improve your arm and back muscles.

These exercises are meant to improve your upper body also help you to improve the balance and precision of your entire body. There are many exercises that will help you improve the coordination between different parts and muscle groups of your upper body. Your upper body also includes the abdominal muscles. By regularly working on your abdominal muscles, you can develop six pack abs on your body that will increase your attractiveness. Good shaped and healthy abdominal muscles also confirm that you are in healthy shape and there is no extra shed of unwanted fat on your body.

Some of the best upper body exercises to help you maintain your abdominal muscles are abs crunches, bicycle crunches and ball abs crunches. Some other easier exercises to strengthen your upper body are dumbbell shoulder shrugs, one arm dumbbell rows, bent barbell rows, back extensions, dead-lifts and kickbacks. These upper body exercises help you to improve the muscles of your shoulder, arms, chest and upper back making you healthier and stronger than ever!

Visit the “Workouts” page our website for free effective printable upper body workouts that have been proven to give maximum results to your fitness goals.

By: Saleh Omari

About the Author:

Kansieo.com

Different exercises concentrate on building different muscle groups of the body. Some exercises are aimed at the arms or legs and some aims at the chest or back. The upper body workout includes those exercises, which make your body to work on your chest, back, arms and the shoulders.

Here are some of the very basic rules, which you must keep in mind, before you actually carry out the upper body exercises:

A.The beginners should perform 1 set of 13-15 repetitions.

B.The professionals must perform 3 sets of 12-14 repetitions.

C. Take a break of 48 hours in order to help your muscles relax and recover.

D.You must warm up your body before you start with your weight training session.

Its better to see your doctor if you have any medical conditions before starting with the workout
Here are some of the very basic, simple, easy and effective exercises that actually concentrate on your upper body:

1.Bench Press:

a.Lie on a ball with your abs contracted
b.Hold weights straight up your chest
c.Keep your elbows slightly bent
d.Keep your elbows bent and lower your arms
e.Lower them to a level where elbows are just below the shoulders
f.Slowly contract your chest and push your arms up
g.Repeat this movement for 13-15 repetitions

2.Push Ups:

a.Place your body in the push up position on the floor
b.Keep your hands wider than your shoulders
c.Rest on knees or an exercise ball
d.Slowly bend your elbows and lower your body into a pushup
e.Hold your abs tight while your elbows making an angle of 90 degrees
f.Try not to sag
g.Push yourself back to the starting position and repeat it for 15 times.

3.Back Extension:

a.Lie on the floor with your face down
b.Hold your hands behind your back
c.Slowly lift your upper body few inches above the ground
d.Keep your neck and your head in alignment
e.Now lift your feet and keep your legs straight
f.Hold your body in this position for 3-5 seconds
g.Lower and repeat for 13 reps

These three exercises are the most effective and easy workout exercises that help to concentrate on your upper body. These exercises, if done along with the above stated rules, will give you best results for your upper body muscles and shape.

By: Jesse Miller

About the Author:

Kansieo.com