Posts Tagged ‘weight lifting’
Leg exercises: Cables, Lunges and Squats
Leg workouts are always tough. Anything that involves heavy squatting then doing anything else afterwards is generally not too pleasant. Because the legs are made up of such large muscles, and because so many lower body exercises are compound exercises, it is not difficult to work the legs hard. The best leg workouts I’ve had have consistently been those where I used a variety of exercise movements and equipment to work to fatigue from every angle. The have also been some of the hardest workouts I have ever made it through. If you’re interested in real weight lifting, then this article is for you. Perform the following leg workout for maximum results.
For 5 minutes get the blood flowing with some moderate cardio work. Push it a bit at the end to really get your muscles warm and push your heart rate up.
Cable Squats
If you’re new to the cable/ weight stack apparatus, take a minute to find the right amount of counterbalance weight. If the machine is adjustable, move the pulleys and handle almost to the floor. During the squat, grip the handle or bar close to your chest, and allow the weight stack to counter balance as you flex your knees and push your hips back and down. As you lower your body, keep your weight evenly distributed between legs, and centered through your heels.
The narrower the stance, the more the quads get worked. Stand Shoulder width apart. To really target your vastus medialis (inner quads muscle), do a set or two while squeezing a small, inflatable ball between your knees.
Try reverse lunges to really hit the hamstrings, leg by leg, while putting only minimal stress on your lower back.
Between barbell squats, calf raises, and plyometric lunges, and work with resistance bands, my legs felt like jelly as I left the gym.
Sidesteps with Resistance Band
If you do this one right, it should make your gluts and outer thighs burn. The emphasis on the medial and lateral quads muscles is what qualify these a part of my best leg workout. Grip the handles of a resistance band and step on the center. Start with your feet about hip width apart. Keeping the band pulled tightly for resistance, lower your hips into a semi-squat. Pick up your right foot (the band should come with it) and take as large a step as possible to the side. Follow with your left foot. For one set, take 10-15 steps to the right; then retrace your steps moving to the left. Try to keep your knees bent and move at a pace where you constantly feel resistance.
Plyometric Lunges
Any type of lunge is a great leg workout, as long as you focus on keeping your knee behind your foot and not letting your legs “wobble” back and forth. Plyometrics are included for their capacity to develop explosive power and general athleticism. Granted, they aren’t up there with barbell back squats but they certainlly pack a punch. The idea is simple: start in a regular lunge. From the lowest position, jump up and switch your legs (moving one forward and the other back). Land in the opposite position to the one you started in, and lower yourself again into a squat. Concentrate on good form and upper body posture throughout the movement.
The best leg workout you’ve ever had should start off with a few sets of each of these exercises, for versatile, compound lower body movements. If you find yourself wanting more, try upping your squat weight, or using a band with more resistance for your side steps. Even if you won’t call it the best leg workout of your life, I’m betting that your legs will concede it’s a good one.
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Weightlifting Fitness – Is It For Me?
Weightlifting and the applying of weightlifting exercises getting greatly popular and used at this time. Both men and women read weightlifting, fitness magazines trying to find solutions for the extra pounds, the flabby skin and the beer belly. A flat six-pack abdomen certainly looks great. Weightlifting seems to be a viable solution to lots of fitness and overweight problems, yet not all the advice and suggestions available in magazines are efficient and practical. Well, we may wow as much as we like when seeing bodybuilders giving out their workout tips in weightlifting fitness magazines. Yet, the tips provided by one publication or another can seldom get you the same professional results. If we train like pros why can’t we get the same results then?
The problem is that muscle stimulation can be achieved in lots of ways, but even if you develop a considerable muscle mass, you will still be far from the weightlifting, fitness look you see advertised in magazines or on the Internet. The truth is that many of the muscle iron-men are taking steroids despite their very claims that they don’t. If it’s not steroids, then it’s hormonal manipulation by the over-stimulation of testosterone or some other supplement that boosts up muscle mass by working against metabolism. Don’t take everything you read for granted, find out about the weightlifting fitness mechanisms by consulting other materials too.
A further issue that shatters the credibility of magazines and other weightlifting fitness publications is their support for bodybuilding supplements advertised as intense muscle boom accelerators. Most magazines are biased, as they are usually owned and financed by supplements producers. There are lots of materials that could reveal you the relationship between weightlifting fitness supplements, their manufacturers and the publications that support them.
Business sales come with great looks. It is for the common reader to appreciate or discard the various types of information available in magazines. Weightlifting, fitness results can actually be appreciated according to individual physiognomy, health condition and personal needs. It is essential to adapt to these criteria no matter whether you want to lose weight or build muscles. Emotional health, diet and lifestyle also have their relevance for how quickly you can get in a great shape.
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