Hot answers tagged exercise-technique
9
Don't "Stretch"
Doing static stretches before working out is not good. It cools you down and relaxes you, which is the opposite of what you want while you're exerting yourself. What's worse is that by stretching your muscles, you decrease the amount of force that your muscles can exert, and make yourself vulnerable to injuries like muscle pulls.
Static ...
9
First, congrats on your progress. I bet you look much better than before, and your looks will continue to improve while you lose more weight.
Getting abs to show though, is rather hard. In fact, surprisingly hard.
As a comparison, I am 176cm also. I got my weight down to 68kg before all abs started showing when contracting them. In order for me (and you) ...
8
It sounds like you want to start incorporating muscle-ups and weighted pull-ups whenever possible. I don't think kipping pull-ups are really appropriate for a number of reasons, but if they float your boat (and you have a healthy, strong, flexible shoulder girdle), rock 'em.
Upper-Body Pulling Power
Power is not a common goal for upper body pulls, though ...
7
The basics of getting abs
Abs come from low body fat and large core muscles. Ultimately weight doesn't matter, though checking your weight can help with achieving the low body fat.
To get abs, you need to first need to cut enough fat that your muscle tone becomes visible. This is best achieved through the combination of healthy, disciplined, and ...
6
KL,
Your pectoral has two portions and two muscle groups: the upper portion and the lower portion, the pec major and the pec minor. So to effectively target both portions and both muscles, here are two simple stretches that you should try:
Corner stretch for the entire lower and upper chest and mainly the pec major
This corner stretch to mainly target ...
4
I do barbell rows overhand, like exrx recommends and like Arnold does and like this StrongLifts-doing guy does. I think underhand would turn them into curls when they're challenging.
StrongLifts specifically recommends against the underhand grip.
4
Back squats are a great start, but I would also suggest doing front squats because it's feasible to go much deeper with them, and going very deep (ass to calves) with a front squat uses your hamstrings more than the back squat to just below parallel. The deadlift works your lower back more, so by adding both front squats and deadlifts you're approaching the ...
4
The first thing to realize is that if you have good knees, full depth squats are safe as has been stated on multiple occasions including a link to the kinesthetic breakdown of a squat. A squat and squat jump are two very different exercises though. A proper squat is much less impact on the knees than say running or jumping. Although there is some research ...
4
I do aquatic HIIT intervals with different variations on running.
I don't use a floatation device, although you can use something like the Aqua Jogger .
I don't use resistance cuffs, or resistance bands, although you can.
I do make forward progress.
I alter my motions to pull in various muscle groups. The water provides resistance so I can target ...
4
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
This is a fairly good catalogue of exercises, organized by body part, with animated gifs showing proper form.
You can also look up exercises by name on youtube, you'll usually find videos of people performing them (although not necessairly with good form).
3
What should I be focusing on when doing a situp?
The primary thing you should focus on is contracting (tightening) your abdominals as you bring your chest to your knees.
Are there ways to reduce strain on muscle groups that should not be getting strained?
I never do the traditional sit-up anymore because it puts so much strain on other areas, and ...
3
I had read to use both mouth and nose, but found that whereas the nose is good at filtering air, it's not very good at filtering the water droplets splashing around. Water up the nose isn't nice.
I ended up buying Total Immersion's "O2 in H2O, A Self-help course on breathing in swimming" and it teaches in with the mouth, out with the nose.
3
The Knee
The knee joint bends. To avoid bending it in the interest of injury prevention is folly, since we know from experiment and experience that the dangerous exercise regimen is in fact the one that does not use the knee to its full capability. Like anything else in our body and mind, it's Use It Or Lose It.
The half-squat-half-deadlift, whether single ...
3
For bodybuilding and muscle growth, you want to keep your rest periods relatively short. This approach differs from strength training and power-oriented Olympic weightlifting, in which rest periods of three, five, or even ten minutes is called for between max effort sets.
Rippetoe and Kilgore recommend very short rest periods to optimize muscle size:
If ...
3
It can be done. Don't heel strike, ever, that's what's going to kill your knees, regardless of the surface you're on. Make sure you land on your forefoot or midfoot (forefoot if it's more of a run, midfoot if it's more of a jog), with your body weight over top of your feet. If it's behind your feet, your knees suffer.
To make it easy to not heel strike, ...
3
I personally prefer NOT to use a flotation device, but I am kind of fluffy, and prefer to turn my hands horizontal and use them to generate lift, more than to generate forward motion. There are many different waist or upper body styles.
You should mostly use the regular running motion, it cannot be identical, but the goal is to keep it the same, as best as ...
2
The problem is, I am not that fat to remove fat from other part of my body
Don't worry about that. Your body knows itself better than you do, and it is very good at what it does. If it needs to burn fat for energy, it won't deprive an area of essential fats when it could go across the street to an area with an abundance of fat. That's probably a bad ...
2
I have been an amputee since 1982. I don't think jumping or hopping is a great idea for regular exercising. Often times I was too lazy to use my crutches around the house and would hop on my left leg. I developed severe osteoarthritis in my good knee and recently had to have a total knee replacement. It is all good now and feels better than it has in years, ...
2
I am an above knee amputee, and have been for 8 years. I came looking for more exercises to do, but can give some advice as well.
Swimming is an excellent exercise, for all the reasons mentioned. The only caution I give is to make sure you work out a plan for getting in and out of the pool before you commit to it. The pool I use has a lift, but I prefer not ...
2
It's fine to lean over. Depending on other factors, you may lose a few watts of power if you are at an extreme lean, but since you aren't racing or anything like that, it's pretty much a non factor.
What is going to be important is your seat height, and to some extent the position of the knees over the pedals. When you have the pedal at the very bottom of ...
2
I would look at some of the stretches used for swimming, and while the pectoral muscles play some part in posture, one of the major causes of slouching/rounded shoulders is over development of the front deltoid compared to the rear deltoid. This is extremely common in swimmers, and can often be seen in people that emphasize front muscular development and ...
2
I have no idea of cricket (other than some scenes from British movies that didn't help me in any way understanding the rules) and I'm not sure what a bowler does so I don't know how these translate but I do some gripping exercises for martial arts and use basically homemade tools for this.
The easiest to build is a tennis ball. I have one in my office and ...
1
I never performed that specific exercise, but it is listed on ExRx's database here, with alternative technique here. Generally, I trust that website (it is recommended by the ACSM, so it's not just your average website).
To answer your specific points:
1) Both can be used but I'd say that facing the machine is better. It probably makes the resistance ...
1
Squats, lunges, and deadlifts are all great at targeting the buttock (if done right).
"Doing them right" entails:
1) Proper warmup and activation
2) Proper form
Most people have "sleepy butts" (from sitting all day) and need to activate their glutes before they can use them. If they don't do this and lack the proper activation, other muscles (like ...
1
The website ExRx (http://www.exrx.net) has a long list of exercises and descriptions, which you can sort by muscle group. Here's there list of exercises that work the butt (gluteus maximus): http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor169231
Doing anything on that list should help work that area.
1
I would bring a notepad and pen to class, and ask the coach either during rest periods or after class. I might ask for a copy of his class plan, if he has one and it doesn't contain confidential information like students' conditions.
Failing that, exrx.net is the best source for finding the names for resistance training, followed by wandering around the ...
1
The standard advice, "Abs are made in the kitchen", is bogus.
Do you really want ABS? Abs that will show even when you are 12 -14% BF?
If so, you need to build them up. Make them grow so that even if you are not losing body fat, they still become more visible (this is the smart way to do it).
For this to happen, you need to lift like an athlete (using ...
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