Friday, June 25, 2010

Fitness Friday...my faves

Today I am giving my favorite exercises...I see these every week, in variations to keep it fresh.

Legs: Lunges. Walking lunges in particular. Add in a dumbell and your butt will tighten up in no time. Pop lunges, reverse lunges, smith machine lunges...you cannot go wrong and these should be part of your leg workout each and every time.

Chest: Dumbbell Bench press. You know that little pooch of skin that sticks out on the side of the bra, near the armpit...yup you know it...this exercise helps. Go heavy (I pressed 50 pound dumbells this week for 8 reps), use a spotter and watch those pecs tone up. You will not bulk up, unless you're shootin some funky meds...women are not built to get huge.

Shoulders: Plate raises. Those little muscle fibres twitch away on this one. No need to go heavy, it's not a cabre toss, no momentum should be used to raise that plate up.

Triceps: Dips with bench and ball. Add a plate (10 pounds?) onto your thighs, prop those legs up on a bosu ball and dip away. You will hate/love these.

Back: Lat pull downs. Vary the grip (narrow, wide, palms turned in) and vary the pull to the front, back or alternate. So many choices!!! Did you know V-taper backs make your waist look really small? Get pulling!

Biceps: Spider Curls. I love the extension at the bottom of this one....ahhhhh and then a strong curl to the top. Slow down, explode up and hold.

Abs: hanging leg raises. For all the moms out there carrying some baby weight in the lower abs, this will help tighten that area. Go slow...feel the burn on these.

Tell me, what are some of your favorite exercises and why?

3 comments:

  1. I have a love/hate relationship with all of my exercises! The harder the better...at least that's what I say AFTER I'm done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Cheryl! One of my favorites that I just learnt is doing abs with a partner. One person is standing and the other is lying down. Then you put one foot in the other person's legs and cross your other foot across. The person on the ground comes up does two punches to hit the persons hands and goes down to the ground. Great ab workout for sure...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Squats are one or my all time faves! and lunges. We lunged for 10 mins uphill today. My butt is SORE. But I love it~!

    I am going to have to get you to show me smith machine lunges - don't know that version. And spider curls? Don't know that one either!

    ReplyDelete