| Weight training can be a fun and energizing way to | | | | sets. You will definitely feel a "burn" in the abdominal |
| maintain strength, lose weight, and keep a healthy, | | | | muscles on each set. Keeping your arms crossed on |
| good-looking body. Listed below are a few tips on | | | | your chest with your hands on the opposite shoulder, |
| setting up a great muscle-building, fat-burning workout. | | | | you should lift only your head and shoulders up off the |
| The 640+ muscles of the body are divided into upper | | | | floor. This technique will not cause the typical pain in |
| body muscles and lower body muscles. The upper | | | | your neck or back. |
| body has a greater number of muscles but they are | | | | Stretching is extremely important, both before and |
| smaller than those of the lower body. The largest | | | | after a workout. It avoids injury and helps release |
| muscles are contained in the lower body and | | | | toxins caused by the stress of working out. So make |
| subsequently, there are fewer of them. | | | | sure that you stretch to keep from aching after a |
| To work each group properly for maximum results, | | | | workout and you'll increase the likelihood that you'll be |
| we need to work them a little differently. Let me | | | | back for more. |
| explain. An "exercise" is a series of movements that | | | | Below is a list of the most common exercises used to |
| either pushes or pulls a weight through a range of | | | | tone and strengthen each muscle group. Start out |
| motion. A "repetition" is one complete movement | | | | slowly using 1-2 exercises each for the various |
| through that particular exercise. A "set" is a grouping of | | | | muscles. As you progress, add more exercises for |
| repetitions. So, each exercise is done in repetitions | | | | variety and challenge. |
| which are part of a set. You can work each of the | | | | EXERCISES FOR THE UPPER BODY |
| muscle groups one at a time, doing one set per group, | | | | Chest/Shoulders: Front deltoid raise, lateral deltoid raise, |
| and rest for 30-60 seconds before repeating the | | | | Bent rear deltoid raise, Dumbbell shrug, Upright row, |
| routine. This series is called a "circuit." | | | | Bench press, Flyes, Inclined press, Dumbbell pullover, |
| While all sets of exercise will be done in repetitions, the | | | | Parallel dip, Cable crossover |
| amount of repetitions and sets can change. For best | | | | Back: Chin-up, Lat Pull-down, Bent barbell row, Bent |
| results, each body part should be exercised 2-3 times | | | | one-arm dumbbell rows, Seated cable row |
| a week but NEVER on consecutive days. The | | | | Arms: Biceps curl, Preacher curl, Machine curl, Cable |
| muscles require at least 24-48 hours of recovery time | | | | curl, Triceps dip, Triceps pressdown, French curl |
| for optimal performance. | | | | EXERCISES FOR THE LOWER BODY |
| Upper body muscles need to be trained at 8-15 | | | | Legs/Buttocks: Squats, Lunges, Leg press, Leg |
| repetitions per set for a total of 2-3 sets. Lower body | | | | extensions, Leg lifts, Leg curls, Calf raises |
| muscles are trained at 8-15 repetitions per set for a | | | | Abdominals: Abdominal crunches in all 10 variations, |
| total of 3-4 sets. Circuits can be repeated 3-4 times. | | | | Abdominal flexor machine, Leg lifts, Leg scissors |
| The lower body muscles are worked harder because | | | | 10 CRUNCH VARIATIONS |
| they are larger and can adapt to a higher load more | | | | 1. Knees bent, feet flat on floor |
| rapidly than the upper body muscles. | | | | 2. Knees bent and out to sides in a frog-leg position, |
| To set a good training weight load, men should do 75% | | | | soles of feet flat together |
| of the absolute maximum that they can handle for 1-3 | | | | 3. Legs at 90o to body, knees bent, calves parallel to |
| repetitions in each exercise. Women should only use a | | | | floor |
| weight that is approximately 60% of her maximum. | | | | 4. Legs at 90o to body, knees bent and out to sides in |
| It's really hard to overtrain your abdominal muscles | | | | a frog-leg position, soles of feet flat together |
| since you use them all day in twisting, turning, and other | | | | 5. Legs at 90o to body, toes pointing to ceiling |
| torso movements. So, your abdominal muscles can be | | | | 6. Legs at 90o to body, toes pointing to ceiling with legs |
| worked 4-7 times per week. Studies have shown that | | | | spread wide |
| using a variety of crunching exercises is the best | | | | 7. Left leg straight and held 3" off ground, right leg bent |
| workout for the abdominal muscles. Do the 10 Crunch | | | | to chest |
| Variations listed and you'll have rock-hard abdominals. | | | | 8. Right leg straight and held 3" off ground, left leg bent |
| Do 1-2 sets of 10 repetitions for each of the 10 | | | | to chest |
| crunches and you'll hit every abdominal muscle. | | | | 9. Turn on left side, do side crunches |
| Remember to focus on proper form and the intensity | | | | 10. |
| of the exercise instead of the number of repetitions or | | | | |