How To Do Stomach Planks

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Allright, here's the situation: hitting the books during the last leg of the fall semester has you nailed down to your desk all day long. But you also need to do some exercises. So today I'm going to show you stomach planks. This exercise has many benefits including:

• strong abdominal muscles
• improves posture
• easy to learn

This simple exercise can be done at the start of your day, so let's get started with them.

How To Do The Stomach Plank Exercise

The only thing that you need for this exercise is a flat, horizontal surface that is free of foot traffic. Lie face down on the floor. Your body weight's going to be supported on your elbows and the balls of your feet. Make sure that your body is in perfectly aligned i.e. don't arch your back or dip your stomach toward the floor. Now tighten your abdominal muscles. Tighten them as much as you can and hold this position for a thirty second count. Now relax your muscles. Take a twenty second break then tighten your ab muscles for another thirty seconds. You should begin to feel the effects in your gut after three repetitions. Repeat this until you've completed ten planks and then you're done.

Do you need some advice for getting into shape after stuffing yourself during Thanksgiving break? No problem! Check out the articles on this blog for weight lifting and fitness tips.

"Great Chest and Whole Bod Workouts: How To Do Stomach Planks" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Weighted Step Ups

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Today I'm going to show you how to do steps ups which are very useful fitness exercise. Step ups are low impact plyometric exercises that build functional strength, endurance and burn body fat. Stair climbing is an example of this low impact exercise. But we're going to go one better. That's where weighted step ups come in. Some benefits of this exercise include:

• neuromuscular coordination
• enhanced grip strength
• enhanced shoulder strength
• refined core and back muscles
• strong legs

This is a must learn exercise, so get ready because we're going to get started right now.

How To Do Weighted Step Ups
You'll need a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells or buckets and aerobic steps or low flat bench for this exercise. To prime your muscles and assist with familiarization of the exercise, grab a pair of light weight dumbbells. This is the start of your warm up set. Make sure the bench or steps can support your body weight as well as those of the dumbbells. The height of the steps should be 1.5 feet - 3 feet.

Take one dumbbell in each hand and hold them at your sides. Pull your shoulders back. Now, take a breath and bring your right foot onto the platform, followed by your left. Once both feet are on the platform, step back down beginning with your right foot, then your left foot. That's one repetition. Then step up leading with your left foot, followed up by your right. Step back off the platform with your left foot leading. Once you're firmly back on the floor, you've completed your second rep. Do this for a total of ten reps. After you've completed the warm up, grab a heavier pair of dumbbells to begin the real work.
Choose weights that are heavy enough to challenge your body, but not so heavy that you'll lose balance. Perform ten reps for a total of three sets then move on to another exercise e.g. box jumps, lunges, etc. Each week increase the weights by 10 - 20 pounds.

If you perform weighted step ups on a regular basis, you'll notice improved strength and endurance. This has practical applications i.e. functional strength gains for areas such as carrying objects up and down flights of stairs, across long distances, etc. 

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Weighted Step Ups" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts How To Do Barbell Ab Rollouts

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Last week, as part of my ongoing campaign to increase your knowledge of abdominal exercises, I introduced you to knee ab rollouts. This time I'm going to show you how to do barbell ab rollouts which are a more advanced version of the previous exercise.

How To Do Barbell Ab Rollouts

You'll need an Olympic bar and a pair of weight plates (10 lb or 25 lb plates) for this exercise. Place the barbell on the floor just in front of your feet. Now bend down and grasp the bar with both hands. Make sure that your knees are slightly bent. Next, roll the barbell away from your body so that your arms are fully extended. This action positions your body parallel to the floor. Now use your abdominal muscles to reverse direction. As you roll back, you'll return to the initial position. That's one repetition. Repeat this nine more times, take a short break. That's your first set. Repeat this exercise for a total of five sets. After that you can do other exercises.

Performing ab rollouts alongside dragon flags, dumbbell side bends will help strengthen your abdominal muscles. This has many benefits including good posture, minimizes chances of back injury, and aesthetics.

Chemical Romance's "Sing It Out Loud" encourages you to be assertive, the same concept applies to physical fitness. If you want to become stronger and healthier, you've got to forge ahead even when your own body wants to quit. Keep at it and you'll see results.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Barbell Ab Rollouts" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Knee Ab Roll Outs

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Today I'm going to introduce you to the ab rollouts. Ab exercises are fantastic because they strengthen your abs which in turn improves posture and minimizes back trouble. Ab rollouts are good because they do this with the use of barbells, ab rollers, dumbbells or Swiss balls. This class of exercises is key to strength training, so now is the time to learn them.

Before we get started I want you to know something. If you're overweight and hoping this exercise is going to get you a six pack, forget it. For all your training, if you've got a lot of body fat, you won't be able to see your six pack. For people in the high body fat category, you'll need to incorporate cardio exercises into your workout routine (e.g. elliptical machine, stair climbing) to burn off the excess calories.

How To Do Knee Ab Roll Outs

You'll need a pair of flat plate dumbbells (five pounds each) for this exercise (you can also do the exercise with an ab roller). Get down on your knees and place the dumbbells on the floor just in front of you. Make sure there is approximately one centimeter space between the dumbbells. While keeping the dumbbells on the floor, grasp one in each hand. Roll outward so that your arms are extended in front of you. Now, use your ab muscles to roll the dumbbells backward until the dumbbells are touching your knees. That's one rep. Perform this exercise for twenty reps then stop for fifteen seconds. Repeat twenty more reps then go again. Take another short break and do another twenty rollouts. After you've completed three sets, you're done with this exercise.

Performing ab rollouts in conjunction with side bends, hanging obliques, bicycle crunches, etc. will give you incredibly powerful abs. This will have carryover advantages to your deadlifts, push ups, and even chin up exercises.  

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Knee Ab Rollouts" copyright 2011 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.