TeamFLEX Newsletter

Weight Loss Spotlight

Exercise Description

Exercise: Leg Extension

Description: Leg extension work you quadriceps muscles and the exercise is called leg extensions because of the motion this muscle is responsible for, the extension of your leg.

Exercise: Leg Curl

Description: Leg curls are performed by contracting and curling the back of your leg, your hamstring muscle. Your hamstring is your walking muscle and the curl is basically the same movement but in extreme, that the hamstring performs when you walk.

Exercise: Calf Raises

Description: The calf raises can be done seated or standing. With your feet placed shoulder wide apart, role up on your toes evenly and your calf muscles will automatically contract. When coming back down from your toes again, make sure you flex your feet deep enough to get a full stretch in your calf muscle before you repeat the lifting movement.

Exercise: Abductors

Description: Your gluteus maximus muscles are your abductor muscles. When pushing your legs apart, focus on using only your gluteus maximus and keep your upper body posture. Keep your posture like if you were actually sitting on a chair. Straight back, legs in a 90 degrees angle with feet on the floor.

Exercise: Adductors

Description: The opposite of abducting is adducting meaning bringing your legs together using your inner thigh muscles or your adductor magnus muscle. There should be a nice angle of 90 degrees between the joints involved like your ankle, your knee and your hip joint. Again, the position is like if you were sitting on a chair.

Exercise: Squat

Description: The squat exercise is a basic movement that requires a proper form in order to support your knees. Stand with your feet parallel and shoulder wide apart. When bending your legs, keep your lower back straight and look up to the ceiling to protect your spine and neck alignment. Let the legs, especially your quadriceps muscles, your hamstrings and your gluteus muscles do all the work. Come down to a almost 90 degree angle between your hip joint, your knee joint and your ankle joint like if your were sitting on a chair. Pay extra attention to how far forward over your foot your knee is going. When coming back up, keep looking to the ceiling and push with your gluteus and hamstrings to get up. You can free squat or perform the squats in a Smith machine with an attached barbell, which gives you a little bit more support and balance and is also more suited for beginners.

Exercise: Leg Press

Description: The leg press exercise is basically an upside down squat performed in a leg press machine. What you want to keep in mind is to keep your knees stabile and not to wobble form side to side with your legs. Push your lower back all the way down on the back supporting seat and hold onto the handles with both hands. Your feet should be placed parallel and shoulder wide apart on the platform for proper form. When starting the exercise lower the platform by bending your legs to a 90 degrees angle again between your hip, your knee and your ankle joint. Then push back up again, keeping your back and neck to the back support through the whole exercise. By placing the feet in different positions you will work different muscles. Wide stand with the feet will work the inside of your legs and the gluteus muscles more and a narrow stand will work your quadriceps muscles and vastus lateralis muscles, your inner thigh muscles more.

Exercise: Hyperextensions

Description: This exercise work your back muscles and you have to pay close attention to the position of your head while doing hyperextensions. You want to keep your spine straight and your neck and head in line with the spine. You will be able to do this by keeping your chin to your chest when lifting your body upwards from the starting position. Keep your hands across your chest or for an easier version cross your fingers behind your back.

Exercise: Lat Pull Down

Description: The lat pull downs work the big back muscle latissimus dorsi. The latissimus muscle goes from your center lower spine like a v-shaped muscle upwards inserting on both sides into your shoulders. To perform a lat pull down the correct way, seat yourself with your legs in a supportive stabile position, grab the bar with both hands and make sure that your hands are in a wide enough position. Then perform the exercise in two small steps first, to do it correctly. Start with your arms extended, pulling your shoulders down and then contract your latissimus muscle to bring the bar down. Your arms are not actively involved in the movement. Your arm muscles are just working as a secondary supporting muscles.

Exercise: Chest Press

Description: To work your chest you need to be able to isolate the chest muscles so that the arms are not doing the work instead. By keeping your elbows at shoulder height through both the positive and the negative face of the exercise, you will force your pectoralis muscles to work as the primary muscle.

Exercise: Triceps Push Down

Description: The triceps muscle consist of three smaller muscles hence the word tri. They run from your elbow to your shoulder on the back of your upper arm. In a triceps push down you have to role your shoulders back, sit in your knees, tuck your arms into your body and move only your forearms from thereon. Starting in a 90 degrees angle between your shoulder joint, your elbow joint and your wrist, you extend your arm downward at the same time as you twist your elbow inwards very lightly. Make sure you get a full extension in the triceps. Then returning to the starting face just moving only your forearms back to the starting position.

Exercise: Biceps Curl

Description: Your biceps muscle is running opposite your triceps muscles on your front upper arm. The biceps muscle is the muscle that is making your arm bend. By contracting the biceps muscle you will bring the forearm closer to your upper arm shortening the distance between the both. On the extension face lengthening the muscle again, go really slow and resist the weight of the dumbbell and stretch out the biceps muscle completely.

Exercise: Seated Row

Description: The rowing muscle is a small muscle located on both sides of your spine, between your shoulder blades called the rhomboid muscle. When you contract your rhomboid muscle, your shoulder blades get squeezed around your spine. To work the rhomboids you need to sit with your chest on the pad of the machine, reach for the handles and start squeezing your rhomboid muscle around your own spine and that way bring the bar of the machine closer to you.

Exercise: Shoulder Press

Description: Shoulder presses are mainly working your front deltoid muscle. Keep your elbows slightly forward through the whole exercise, both through the lifting face and the lowering face. Extend your arms fully on top of the exercise. When in the lowering face of the exercise do not let your elbows go below the height of your chest before you push up again.

Exercise: Rear Delt Raise

Description: With dumbbells in your hand position yourself with your feet in a shoulder wide stand, your shoulders pushed down from your ears, extending both arms holding the dumbbells to your sides. Lower the dumbbells and let them meet in front of your body, leaning forward keeping your back straight. Then, use your rear deltoids or shoulders, to bring the dumbbells back up again, keeping your elbows higher then your hands through the whole movement.

Exercise: Ab Crunch

Description: To work the whole body and not the abs do not make any sense since this is the main muscle holding your whole body together. The easiest and most effective sit ups are the basic version with your feet on the ground, your lower back pushed down, your hands supporting your neck and keep your neck straight leaning into your hands looking up to the ceiling. When lifting your shoulder blades off the floor, by crunching your abdominal muscles, bringing your ribs closer to your hips, you contract the abdominal straight muscles. If you perform a regular sit up but instead of going straight up and down, you reach from side to side, letting the opposite elbow and knee meet on top, you will exercise your oblique abdominal muscles as well.