Best Weight Loss Exercises . Whether you are running outside or on a treadmill, it simply is the best exercise because you are burning calories, as well as strengthening your legs and heart. Running will get you nice and lean. For those with bad knees, the elliptical machine is a good choice. However, most important is choosing a cardiovascular modality or modalities that you enjoy. Types of cardiovascular exercises include jogging, sprinting, power walking, cycling, hiking, swimming, spinning and aerobics classes. Whatever your weight loss exercise of choice, the key to efficient weight loss is to avoid your body adapting to your weight loss program, whether it is your nutritional or exercise program: vary the mode, vary the place you train, vary the workout, vary the time of day, vary the intensity of the workout, vary the duration, vary as much as you can. The body senses stress and adapts as quickly as possible, your body starts to adapt to your exercise routine. When begins to adapt, you stop seeing results. You burn less calories and tax your muscles inefficiently. It doesn’t take long for you to start questioning little to no weight loss from your 4. However, once the training parameters change, the body must re- adapt, thereby accelerating your progress. If possible change your exercise routine every three to four weeks. Here’s a run down of the some of the best weight loss exercises. Click here to calculate how many calories you will burn based on your body weight and exercise duration. Running. Running (treadmill or outdoors) – the best weight loss exercise. Running is one of the most efficient methods of burning calories. For every mile you run, you burn approx. Highest calorie burn and cheap as chips. All you need is a pair of quality running shoes. Plus, if you stick with it, you’ll get hooked, making weight loss and weight maintenance easy. Check out a beginners running plan and how to run to get started. Elliptical Trainer. If you can’t run this is an awesome piece of machinery. The elliptical trainer combines the cardio of running with resistance and it is low impact. Another positive is that burning the equivalent amount of calories as running feels easier on the elliptical. Great weight loss exercise. Compare the elliptical trainer with the treadmill. Weight training versus other types of exercise. Strength training is an inclusive term that describes all exercises devoted toward increasing physical strength. Cross- Country Skiing Cross- country skiing (machine or outdoors) is a fantastic endurance sport, calling on every major muscle group. Again it is a combination of resistance and cardio exercise. If you’ve got snow I suggest you ski. Rowing. Cardio and resistance training in one fierce calorie- burning workout lasting between 2. Best used for interval training. Just make sure most of your power driving the stroke comes from large muscle of the thighs – not the upper body (a common mistake). Step Aerobics Step Aerobics targets legs, hips and glutes. It is an intense calorie- burning exercise. Calories burned during this weight loss exercise depends on speed and step height. Bicycling Bicycling (stationary or outdoors) targets thighs and calf muscles. Effectiveness for weight loss depends on speed and resistance/ incline. However, pear- shaped women beware of high resistance, as this will increase muscle mass in your thighs and exacerbate your problem area. Swimming Swimming – excellent full- body weight loss exercise. Tired of going to the gym and lifting weights to tone muscles? Try these 8 effective Calisthenics exercises at home to lose weight, tone abs, legs & belly.
Step-Up With Bicep Curl Works quadriceps, hamstrings, butt, abs, biceps. Stand with left foot on a sturdy bench or step, a 5-pound weight in each hand.Water supports the body. Thus, less stress is placed on joints – low- impact. Brilliant for those with injuries. Jumping Rope Jumping rope is a seriously simple, but effective weight loss exercise. Ten minutes of jumping rope burns the rough equivalent of running an eight- minute mile. This weight loss exercise also improves cardiovascular endurance, coordination and agility. Racquetball/ Squash. The high- intensity makes racquetball a great weight loss exercise. Rock Climbing Rock climbing is a weight loss exercise that combines cardiovascular exercise with resistance training. This weight loss exercise burns A LOT of calories, esp. Push yourself – everyday. Too often, one spots people “working- out” at the gym, but who are mostly in conversation with someone (sometimes even on the phone!), concentrating on television screens more than their work out, seem completely unfocused and are not even sweating. To do it right you must focus on the exercise you are doing and constantly push yourself harder, increasing the level of difficulty as you get more fit. If you did level 7 on the elliptical cross- trainer last week and found it easier, your body is not working as hard and you are burning less calories. Weight loss stops. Thus, increase the cross- trainer to level 8 this week. Never stand still. There is nothing permanent except change. If you are not going forward, you are heading backward. Top 5 Best Back Exercises. Nothing is more impressive than being able to bang out 3. Nothing LOOKS more impressive than being able to hit an impressive front or rear lat spread with confidence. Furthermore, how many women do you know who can finish a set of 1. Trust me, there aren’t many. The reality is that we can accomplish all of these things with intense free weight back training. Your back muscles comprise the second largest set of muscles, after the legs. Therefore, putting some serious effort into training your back will pay off huge dividends whether you are looking to burn a large number of calories, better fill out your shirts, condition your body for functional strength, or even to fix your posture from focusing too long on chest training. Strong back muscles will allow you to: Pick up anything heavy off the floor or ground, working in unison with the legs. Burn nearly as many calories as you would when training legs. Move your body more easily through space, specifically when pulling yourself up. Protect yourself from muscle imbalances that occur from overtraining the chest. Row a boat faster than any of your punk friends. Anatomy of the Back. For this discussion we are going to focus on the mid to upper back only. I won’t be talking at all about the lower back or glutes, as this is a discussion in and of its own. You can find out a bit more about lower back and glute training in the post about the top 5 best hamstring exercises. I will focus more on lower back in a separate article at a later date. There are two main muscle groups that are visible even when our shirts are on. These are called the latissimus dorsi and the trapezius. The latissimus, or lats, are the muscles that run from the armpits to the waist. This is what you see when people flex their backs as with a lat spread bodybuilding pose. The trapezius, or traps, are the muscles that start in a point at the base of the skull, sit to either side of the neck, above the shoulders, and extend in a diamond shape to a point in the middle of the back. A muscle called the levator scapulae works in conjunction with the traps and lats. Trap are what cause some big dudes to appear to have no neck. This is also how you can tell if someone is really serious about their training. Typically if someone has completely flat traps it means that they probably do not engage in significant free weight complex exercises like deadlifts, bent over barbell rows, cleans, and definitely not barbell shrugs. The Smaller Muscles of the Back. Some of the smaller back muscles include teres major, teres minor, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, and rhomboideus (rhomboids). These are considered secondary muscles and are sufficiently stimulated when you train the larger latissimus dorsi with both vertical and horizontal movements. The serratus is another back muscle that wraps around the body and it also visible from the font. If you desire to train the serratus directly, which many people do, the best exercise for that is probably dumbbell or barbell pull overs. In the past when I trained 4 days a week I often included pull overs on back day. Functions of the Back. Contrary to what you might think when you picture a row, the function of the lats is to pull the arm down toward the pelvis. When the arm is in a fixed position such as with a pull up, the lats serve to bring the body up towards the arm. The function is the same, but the motion depends upon the position of the arms and torso. Lats also function to stabilize the torso during many movements, including the flat bench press and overhead press. Your traps function to facilitate scapular elevation (shrugging), scapular adduction (rowing) and scapular depression (pull downs). Often they work in conjunction with the lats and the other small muscles, especially when rowing or pulling down. Top 5 Best Back Exercises. Update: Deadlifts. Because I have received so many comments ripping me for not including deadlifts on this list, let the record show that I did indeed mention deadlifts right here at the top of the list, but decided not to include them in the list because they are already in the top 5 best hamstring exercises. Deadlifts are probably the 3rd best back exercise after barbell rows and pull ups, so include them in your back workout as you see fit. Similarly, you could include good mornings in this list. To reduce the angst of hardcore weightlifters, I have revised this list to include deadlifts as the #5 best back exercise. My original comments regarding deadlifts are as follows: Of course deadlifts are part of this list, but I intend to target exercises that train the upper and mid back directly. For more information on deadlifts and other lower back exercises, see my post about the 5 best exercises for hamstrings. Barbell Bent Over Rows – Horizontal training. Bent over rows with a barbell is arguably the most important back exercise you can do for pulling strength and thickness in the upper body. This is a compound movement that works everything from traps to lats to lower back and hamstrings. Using proper form, bent over barbell rows will help you stand apart with thickness and strength, from the people who only do pull ups, chin ups, or (God forbid) pull downs. To set up: you should start by standing on a box or platform with the loaded barbell. This is necessary to avoid the plates hitting the floor when you use 4. Your stance should be shoulder width for conventional barbell rows. Now, keeping your knees slightly bent, your head up, and your back straight, bend over until your upper body is lower than 4. My goal is always to get as close to parallel with the floor as possible. The weight should be hanging straight down from your arms at this point, directly below your chest. You should have a pronated grip on the bar; your palms should be facing towards you. Feel free to use a bit of chalk if you are rowing really heavy. NO STRAPS! To row: to start a row, use your back muscles to pull the bar straight up to touch your chest. The elbows should be tucked in, head up, back straight, and you should NOT bounce. Lower the weight under control and repeat. Variations: close grip, wide grip, medium grip, two arm dumbbell rows, supinated rows (palms facing away). There is also a machine called the T- Bar that can be used for rowing. Old school lifters might even put one end of an Olympic bar in the corner of a room, and use the other end as a T- bar and a neutral grip cable attachment as the handle. The following is the best video that I could find on You. Tube for a demonstration of barbell bent over rows by someone who doesn’t look like a complete puss, although I don’t advocate putting the bar on the floor between reps: UPDATE: Since writing this article I have embraced barbell rows with a pause on the floor. I don’t recommend either variation over the other, but I do recommend trying them both. As with all exercises, you should probably use the variation that you hate most, but I don’t fault anyone for using the variation that they like most. You should also watch this video just for fun: Bent Over Rows by Chrissy Zmijewski. She has some good points, but I believe in going deeper than 4. Pull Ups and Chin Ups – Vertical training. Pull ups and chin ups are a true measure of strength. They are one of those exercises that can be used to gauge a person’s physical strength relative to their body weight. For example a powerlifter might be able to bench press 6. Meanwhile a 1. 75 lb guy can only bench 3. So let me ask you, who is really stronger? Better yet, which person’s strength would you wish to have? Sorry, but I’d rather be the smaller guy. To set up: stand on a box or a platform if you need to, or just jump up, so you can reach the bar. Pull ups are typically harder than chin ups, but I recommend you switch off between the two. Pull ups use a pronated grip (palms down, or in this case palms facing away), while chin ups use a supinated grip (palms up). Hands should be just wider than shoulder width for a medium grip pull up, or just inside shoulder width for a medium grip chin up. To pull up: the goal is to pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Keep your head up, possibly looking at the ceiling, and get that chin over the bar, pause just long enough to get a full contraction. Lower yourself back down so that your arms are about 9. If you can’t do a pull up, most gyms have assisted pull up machines. Start there and work your weight towards your first bodyweight pull up. If you can do more than 1. You can do this by hanging a dumbbell between your legs or ankles, or by using a belt with a chain to suspend the weight between your legs. Variations: wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip, neutral grip (palms facing each other), pull ups, chin ups, towel pull ups to blast your grip and finger strength. Many people do lat pull downs on machines or with cables, but I’m telling you not to. Stick with free weights! Here is our friend Scott Herman to show us how to do an interesting variation – tennis ball pull ups. Barbell Shrugs – Upper back. Shrugs are specifically a traps only exercise. The lats don’t come into play at all. You can go pretty heavy on shrugs. I built a decent set of traps back in the day by working up to 1. Olympic bar. To set up: unless you feel like deadlifting the weight off the floor, your best bet is to unrack the bar at thigh height from a platform, squat rack, power rack, or whatever else you can use. This is one of maybe 2 exercises for which I condone using straps. You want to avoid using an alternating grip if possible, and sometimes using chalk just doesn’t cut it if you are using heavier weight than you typically deadlift. To shrug: take a pronated grip on the bar just outside your hips and unrack the weight so that it hangs to mid thigh. Always stand straight with your head up, and knees just barely bent. Try to touch your shoulders to your ears by shrugging straight up, as high as you can. Hold for half a second to really get that contraction.
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