There are several ways that you can concentrate on your chest using Dumbbell Presses. Each of these different ways allows you to strengthen your chest muscles and surrounding muscle groups. One of the easiest ways to use Dumbbell Presses is to use the Ball Incline set up.
The Ball Incline Dumbbell Press allows you to use an exercise ball to steady and support your spine allowing you to exercise your chest without compromising your back. Settle the middle of your back into the ball with your feet flat on the floor in a semi squat position. Once you feel full stable and comfortable you can then use the weights. Bring your elbows down so that the weights and your wrists are level with your shoulders, then using your arms push the weights up above your head with your arms and elbows locked before you bring them back down and repeat. No matter what weights you are using it is always best to have a buddy with you which are often called ?spotters?. These spotters are people that are with you to help you if you need it whilst you are using the weights. During this particular exercise your spotter should hold the ball steady for you if you need it and/or be there to help you if your arms get tired.
Another technique is the Seated Dumbbell Press which concentrates on your shoulders and chest. Always ensure, specifically when dealing with weights to have a spotter with you for your own safety. Sitting on a bench with a straight back make sure that you have chosen weights that are manageable and not overboard. Choosing weights that are manageable is important for your own safety, lifting weights that are too heavy for you will rip your muscles and damage them. Ensuring your form is correct is also important as incorrect form can damage other muscles. The spotter can tell you if your form is incorrect or slips at anytime. As before make sure that you keep your arms locked and straight when lifting.
The other technique is to use a Flat Dumbbell Press to exercise your chest. Using a bench which is in the flat position and dumbbell weights that are not too heavy, you need to keep your feet flat on the floor and when lifting lock your arms. Ensure that your wrists come in line with your shoulders before you push up in your lift this makes sure that you are exercising your chest fully. Each movement needs to be controlled and done slowly, your spotter will be there to talk you through each lift so that you are minimizing your chances of hurting yourself if your chest gets tired or you need to change the weight amount on the dumbbells.
As with any kind of exercise making sure that you stretch before and after the exercises is important as this too minimizes the changes of any muscle strain injuries which can occur if you do not stretch before and after. Your spotter can also help you with this.
Posted in Video on May 19, 2012
Video: This exercise targets your oblique muscles.
The Arnold presses will also help build the strength in your shoulders. Over time you will start to see the definition in your shoulders. If the Arnold presses are done correctly you will feel the burn in your shoulders. The burn lets you know you are working your shoulders correctly and they are burning the calories. These presses will also be felt in your triceps.
When getting prepared to do Arnold presses you will need an exercise bench that has a back on it and a set of dumbbells. It is best to start this exercise with light weights until you get the hang of it.
Grab a dumbbell with light weights for each hand. Then sit on the bench with your feet flat on the floor. The feet should be placed evenly with your shoulders. Sit straight up and press your back against the back support on the bench.
Once you are sitting properly lift the weights toward your face. You will lift the weights so they are almost aligned with your shoulders. The palms of your hands will be pointed towards your body. Your elbows will be pointing toward the floor while your arms are resting by your torso. This is your starting position for Arnold presses.
While exhaling, start slowly raising the dumbbells into the air. While you are raising the dumbbells you are going to rotate your hands. Keep rotating your hands until your palms are facing the wall in front of you. Your hands should be totally rotated by the time you have the dumbbells above your head. Your arms will be straight up and down when the dumbbells are in the correct position. Now hold the position for a couple of seconds then start inhaling.
As you are inhaling start bringing the dumbbells back down to the start position. While lowering the weights you will once again rotate your hands. Once in the start position your palms will be pointing your body. This is now considered one complete repetition. Do the recommended amount of repetitions for your work out.
Remembering to rotate your hands while doing the Arnold presses might take some time. You will get it after a couple sets of repetitions though.
If you have lower back problems it is recommended you always do this exercise while sitting down. If your back does not have any problems, then once you have the routine down; try the Arnold presses standing up.
Remember the burn is how you know the shoulders are getting the proper work out. This is also a sign that you are burning off the calories to obtain the definition in your shoulders that you have always wanted.
While still concentrating on the shoulders get ready to push them to the limit of no return. The front plate raises are going to help you intensify the burn and keep the calories burning away. This exercise will help complete the work out for concentrating on the shoulder area and building your strength up.
Posted in Recipe on May 17, 2012
Ingredients
1 lb sirloin steak (sliced into 1/2 inch strips)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cups broccoli (fresh uncooked)
1 green bell pepper (sliced into strips)
1 red bell pepper (sliced into strips)
5 gloves garlic (sliced)
1 tbsp olive oil
Preparation
In a large skillet, add the olive oil and add the garlic and steak. Once steak is nicely browned, add the rest of the ingredients cook on med to high heat and stir fry for 3-5 minutes. Remove, serve, and enjoy!
Posted in Recipe on May 16, 2012
Ingredients
2 – 8 ounces packages fat-free cream cheese
4 ounces smoked salmon, flaked
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Dash of Tabasco or hot sauce
Directions
Mix flaked salmon in a bowl with fat-free cream cheese, chives, dill, hot sauce and lemon juice. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let flavors mix. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with fat-free crackers. (Best with the cracked black pepper kind)
Posted in Video on May 15, 2012
Video: A fitness professional goes through a workout that targets your triceps.
Do you say “I want to lose my belly fat?” Do you have unsightly love handles? Do you even have a pot belly? Well, you don’t have to suffer any longer. You can have a flat stomach and no longer have to say I want to lose my belly fat.
There are several reasons why you have accumulated fat in your belly. The trick to “I want to lose my belly fat” lies in controlling the intake of the products which add to your belly fat while taking the precautionary measures that allow you to lose all of your belly fat fast. You can get slim and slender.
There are several substantive suggestions I have to the dilemma “I want to lose my belly fat.”
1. Do sit ups. Sit ups and crunches are the easiest and probably the most effective way to lose belly fat fast. You will achieve the desired results in no time. All fat is just stored energy. Therefore, in order to lose belly fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume. In order to get the best results, you need to do sit ups which are the single most effective exercise. They work on almost all body types.
2. Next, cut out the fried stuff. In order to get washboard abs, you need to cut out some kinds of foods. Fried foods will put on belly fat faster than any other kind of caloric intake. Fried foods mostly contain empty calories which are poor in nutrient value. They only provide you with calories which add to your belly fat.
3. Don’t snack between meals. Snacking is one of the best (or worst) ways to stack up that belly fat. And, late night eating is the worst kind of snacking. When you consume your calories during the day, you have a chance to burn them off. But, when you eat at night, you go to sleep and that food just sits in your stomach. Additionally, when you eat at night, you tend to engage in mindless snacking. You’ll start out with a whole bag of chips and after an hour of television, half is gone. When you snack, you are not being mindful of your food which leads you to have to say “I want to lose my belly fat.”
4. Burn it off. As I mentioned earlier, belly fat is unused energy. It accumulates in the form of fat in the stomach area. If you want to get rid of belly fat, you have to burn off more calories than you take in. All kinds of aerobic exercise is good for burning belly fat. This can include walking, running, cycling, or working out on a cardio machine at the gym. But even working basic activities like taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work or parking in the furthest lot when going to the mall can help.
If you find yourself saying “I want to lose my belly fat,” follow the four suggestions in this article and you will soon find yourself with the flat stomach that you have longed for.
People are obsessed with diets. They are constantly seeking the right diet to help them lose weight. There are currently eight popular diets that have worked effectively for many people and providing more options for dieting.
1. Atkins Diet focuses on controlling the levels of insulin in the body through the food consumed. It is based on the consumption of proteins in the diet to reduce the levels of insulin in the bloodstream. The increasing of the proteins leads to weight loss in many people.
2. Zone Diet creates a nutritional balance with 40carbohydrates, 30fats, and 30protein. The focus is to control the insulin levels that will result in weight loss. The diet consists of unrefined carbohydrates and fats including nuts, olive oil, and avocado.
3. Vegetarian diet concentrates on eating non-animal based foods except for eggs, honey, and dairy products. Vegetarians have a lower body weight; suffer from less diseases, and longer life spans, according to current studies. Since the meat products have been removed from the diet, vegetarians consume less fat according to the studies.
4. Your Vegan diet is more a philosophy and way of life since the diet does not include any animal-based products including eggs, honey, dairy, and meat products. The concept of the diet is based more on environmental and ethical reasons versus health related issues.
5. Weight Watchers Diet focuses on weight loss, exercise, and a support network or group. Dieters have the ability of meeting in person with the groups or using online services for support. The diet reduces the types of foods consumed while increasing the levels of exercise.
6. South Beach diet focuses on the levels of insulin and refined carbohydrates in the diet. The foods consumed are low in fat as a method of controlling the insulin, which leads to weight loss and better health.
7. Raw Food Diet involves eating foods and drinks that are not processed but are only in their original form and organic. There are four types of raw foodists, raw vegetarians, raw vegans, raw omnivores, and raw carnivores. The belief of consuming the food in the raw form is the food does not have additives or extras that will cause health related issues including weight gain.
8. Mediterranean Diet is a diet from Southern Europe that focuses on the eating habits of citizens of Crete, Greece, and southern Italy. The concentration is on a lot of plant foods, fresh fruits as dessert, beans, nuts, cereals, seeds, olive oil for the main source of dietary fats, cheese and yogurts for the main dairy foods, moderate levels of fish, consuming less than four eggs a week, limited amounts of the red meat, and limited amounts of wine. The Mediterranean Diet consists of fat with the saturated fat less than 8of the caloric intake.
There are benefits of each type of diet. Depending on the personal life style, there is a diet available for everyone.
This exercise is aimed at the Tricep muscle, and there are a few variations and ways of executing the exercise. The benefits of using this exercise are that you will build up muscle, mass and strength, while at the same time burning off fat!
You can also adjust the weights used to suit personal preference and fitness levels.
The first exercise we will discuss is the Low Cable Tricep Extension.
Choose the weights needed, and position yourself face up on a row machine seat with a rope attached to it. Ensure that your head is facing the attached rope.
Take hold of the rope ends, with your palms facing together in a neutral grip.
Bend your elbows until they are at a 90-degree angle with your upper arms at 90 degrees to your torso.
Tip: Make sure you keep your elbows tucked in and your upper arms pointed towards the ceiling, while at the same time ensuring that your forearms face towards the pulley over your head. This will now become your starting position.
Keep your upper arms and shoulders static throughout the exercise, and as you exhale, stretch your lower arms out until they are vertical and straight. The forearms are the only part of your arms / shoulders that should move throughout the movement. Make your Tricep contract hard for the count of 3.
As you inhale, return slowly to your starting position.
Do the required number of repetitions of the same movement.
Another variation of the same exercise can be conducted while in the sittingor standing position. This will sometimes help to lessen possible back strain, and if you are recovering from a strain or injury, it is a good way to get back into the Cable Tricep Extension exercise.
Use a bench or a seat that has back support. Sit or stand on the seat or bench, and position yourself so that the back support reaches to just below your shoulders.
With the cable bar situated behind your back or neck, take an overhand, narrow grip, with your elbows positioned overhead.
Stretch forearms slowly until they are straight overhead. Lower arms slowly until they touch the back of the shoulders.
Do the required number of repetitions of the same movement.
Tip: In order to maintain full shoulder flexibility, let the rope or cable attachment pull your arm back.
Yet another variation of the Cable Tricep Extension, can once again be performed while standing. This version of the exercise is probably the least aggressive.
Stand facing your rope or pulley equipment, with the desired weights attached.
Taking hold of the bar in a wide grip, with your palms facing downwards, push the bar down until your arms are extended.
Slowly let your arms rise until they reach chest level.
Do the required number of repetitions of the same movement.
These are just 3 ways in which the Cable Tricep Extension can be utilized. There are many more, all of which benefit arm and chest strength.
Diets are a craze that never seems to slow down. There has always been one new diet after another with the promises of losing weight quickly with the newly formulated plan. Some work and some do not. There are pills, drinks, and meals to lose weight. Women have always been concerned about their diet and even more are obsessed with the weight loss aspect of the diet. Many want a fast solution to their weight issues.
The fact remains that for any diet to work a person needs to change how they approach food. By this it is meant, how is food consumed? How is food prepared? For a diet to really work, a person needs to change how they cook their food, how they eat their food, and how they use their food. Many people have unhealthy eating habits so they have gained weight. They need to change their eating habits to lose weight and to keep it off.
Learning to change the eating habits is only half of the dieting system. The other half is implementing exercise. Yet this article is about the right diet of foods for extended weight loss. So keep in mind this is only the first half of the weight loss solution.
There are foods that need to be removed from the diet in order to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight. The food that fried should be avoided as much as possible, the added fats in the food are stored in the body and turned to fat when you do not burn the additives.
Eating foods high in protein such as whey, lean beef, chicken, tuna, turkey, salmon, and eggs help with weight loss when added to the diet. The fatty acids in the fish are beneficial for a healthy diet including stronger bones, teeth, nails, and hair.
Remove dairy products that are high in fat content. Try to replace the fattening foods with a low fat dairy product to limit the consumption of the fat in the dairy products. This also includes limiting the intake of the high fat snacks, which add pounds and inches.
Add essential fatty acids foods that include nuts, seeds, and flax oil to your diet. They are great sources of the essential fatty acids that are needed by the body to function properly. Eat the nuts and seeds as a snack instead of the chips or other unhealthy snacks.
Add water to your diet. You should consume at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. The water helps to hydrate the body and to flush out harmful toxins. Water will also help to make you feel fuller and eat less too.
Add a good quality multi-vitamin to your daily diet. The vitamins will help your body with the essential nutrients your normal diet does not contain.
Changing your eating habits to a healthier diet will help you lose weight and maintain the desired weight you want to have.
