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Leg Raises

Leg Raises

Leg-RaisesLie face upwards on the floor, and raise your legs until they are perpendicular to the floor. Try to lower the legs as slowly towards the floor. The best results are achieved by keeping the feet together, and tensing your core. It is always preferable to press the lower back flat on the floor when lowering the legs, sometimes this is not always possible if your core muscles are not sufficiently developed yet. Therefore, in order to alleviate pressure on the lower back muscles caused by arching, it is recommended that the palms of the hands are placed behind the lower back for support.

 


Chest Warm Up

Chest Warm Up

warm up chestThis warm up helps to mobilise the chest muscles because this area is a large muscle mass it is important to do this properly. For the first part of this warm up stand tall, holding the arms straight out to the sides so that they are parallel to the floor. Cross the arms in front of the chest and then swing them outwards to the starting position. Repeat for about 15-20 repetitions. The second part of the warm up crosses arms in front of the chest just as before but this time throw the arms backwards and upwards, so as to bring the shoulder blades together. Repeat for about 15-20 repetitions


Jumping Jacks

jumping-jacks

Jumping Jacks

jumping jack, is a great physical warm up exercise performed by standing with your feet together and your hands by your sides. Simultaneously jump to a position with the legs spread wide and the hands move your head, sometimes in a clap, and then returning to a position with the feet together and the arms at the sides. The process should be preformed quickly and without pausing. Repeat the movement at a comfortable pace in order to warm up the body.

My recommendation is that Beginners should perform 2 sets for 30 seconds, Intermediate should perform 3 sets for 45 seconds and advanced should perform 4 sets of 60 seconds

This will improve cardiovascular health and work your abs, arms, back, shoulders, gluten, and legs. It also burns calories and increases your heart rate, relieve stress, improve blood flow, and overall fitness.


Using the bodies own weight!

As a personal trainer A great many of my clients have failed to realise how effective exercises which only uses the bodies own weight, that is until I put these exercises into their workout routine. I feel that this vastly overlooked method has a lot to do with a great many fitness magazines, showing a great many images in their publications of people using weights in a gym.

One of The main benefits of using the bodies own weight to exercises is that no equipment is needed, and the exercises movements, can be done anywhere and a great many cane be incorporated into a workout routine. So technically your own body weight can make workouts just as hard as using dumbbells, kettle bells, bar bells, and any other gym equipment that one can think of. An example of just a few of the more popular exercises that my clients use are listed below

Squats. This exercise will target the quadriceps, and will engage the core and every muscle in the lower body including the glutes, hamstring and calves.

Push Up. This exercise will target the pectorals major, the front deltoids and triceps, it is surprising to find that 75% of the bodies weight is lifted when a standard push up is preformed. it is important to tighten the Gluteus maximus and abdominals in order to engage the core 

Triceps Dips. A great deal of women seem to find the area at the back of the arms a constant bug bear to tone up, because of the so called “bingo wings”. Triceps dips will target this area

Pull Ups. Over all this is one of the best core exercises that you can use in your workout, as Pull ups target your latissimus doors muscles, as well as the core, biceps, middle and upper back.

The Plank. With this exercise the elbows are positioned directly over the shoulders, the stomach muscles and glutes are kept tight throughout the duration of the exercise

There are many more exercises so why not Just explore and have a go!


Jumping Strides

strideJumping Strides

As a precursor to a workout jumping Strides should be used to warm-up the body, this is achieved by raising the heart rate, and pumping more blood through the body. Jumping Strides are a good exercise for strengthening, sculpting and building several muscles/muscle groups, including the quadriceps (or thighs), the gluteus maximus (or buttocks) as well as the hamstrings. A long stride emphasizes the use of the gluteals whereas a short stride emphasizes the quadriceps. The stride is a basic movement that is fairly simple to do for beginners. A stride can be performed using bodyweight alone. However, weight trainers may seek to increase the difficulty using either dumbbells or kettlebells held in each hand, or a barbell held atop the neck and shoulders. Grip strength may be an issue with the dumbbell stride so practitioners may prefer the barbell stride.