Crunch Competitors: 7 New Moves to Tone Your Tummy

While crunches can help you to tone up and improve your overall wellness, they are a little bit, well, dull, aren’t they? Instead of performing crunch after crunch, why not kick your weight loss wellness up a notch with some new tummy-toning moves?

 

1. Dumbbell Push-Up Row: Fitness expert Kenny Thapoung outlines, ‘Place a pair of dumbbells about shoulder-width apart on the floor. (A) Grab the handles and position yourself in a push-up position. (B) Lower your body to the floor and then press back up. (C) Once you’re back in the starting position, pull the dumbbell in your right hand up toward the side of your chest. Pause, then return the starting position and repeat with your left hand. That’s one rep. Try to prevent your torso from rotating each time you row the weight.’

 

2. Dumbbell Curl to Squat to Press: ‘(A) Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang at arm’s length next to your sides with your palms facing forward,’ Thapoung instructs. ‘(B) Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the dumbbells as close to your shoulders as you can. Immediately push your hips back and lower your body into a squat, until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. (C) Stand up and press the dumbbells over your head. That’s one rep. Return to the starting position and repeat.’

 

3. Cross-Behind Lunges: Thapoung directs, ‘(A) Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them at arm’s length at your sides, your palms facing each other. (B) Step forward and to the side so that your lead foot ends up in front of your back foot (like a curtsy). Lower your body until your front knee is bent at least 90 degrees. (C) Pause, then return to the starting position and repeat with your other leg.’

 

4. Resistance Band Bent-Over Row: ‘Grab a resistance band and step on it with one foot (use both feet for more resistance),’ Thapoung suggests. ‘(A) Hold the band in each hand at arm’s length, about shoulder-width apart, and then bend at your hips and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Your knees should be slightly bent and your lower back naturally arched. (B) Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the band up to your upper abs. Pause, then return the bar back to the starting position.’

 

5. Dumbbell Squat Thrust: Thapoung notes, ‘(A) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides holding a pair of dumbbells. (B) Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body as deep as you can into a squat. (C) Place the dumbbells on the floor, then kick your legs backward into a pushup position. (D) Kick your legs back to the squat position. Stand up and jump. That’s one rep.’

 

6. Overhead Split Squat: ‘Hold a pair of dumbbells directly over your shoulders, with your arms completely straight,’ says Thapoung. ‘Squeeze your abs tight for the entire exercise. (A) Stand in a staggered stance, your left foot in front of your right foot. (B) Push your hips back and bend your knees so you lower your body into a squat. Pause, then push yourself back up to the starting position. Perform the prescribed number of reps, and then do the same number of reps with your right foot in front of your left.’

 

7. Planking Frog Tucks: Thapoung asserts, ‘(A) Start in a pushup position with your body straight from your shoulders to your ankles. (B) Bring your right foot forward and place it next to your right hand (or as close as you can). Try to prevent your hips from sagging or rising. Return your leg to the starting position and repeat with your left leg. That’s one rep.’

Categories: Cross-Behind Lunges, Dumbbell Push-Up Row, dumbbells, palms facing, position, pushup position, resistance band, Resistance Band Bent-Over Row, shoulder width, starting

Sculpt A Better Bottom Today With These Exercises

We’re always complaining about how backsides, but how much are we really doing to improve them? Nowhere near enough. Almost every time you’re standing on your feet, you’re working your glutes and hamstrings, but most people spend too much time sitting down to really see any sort of benefit from this easy and necessary action. Your glutes are the most powerful and largest muscle group in the body, as well as being responsible for burning calories and boosting your metabolism, so it’s a shame that so many people aren’t putting them to good use. If you neglect them for too long, your bum becomes slack and difficult to tone up.  There are loads of ways to tone up this area of your body and with some easy move too; here are some of the best ways to tone up and really see results soon.

Facedown Hip External Rotation

This move may look easy but it’s actually one of the most challenging and effective moves for targeting your external hip muscles which have a major impact on your glutes. You begin by lying facedown on the floor with your arms folded under your head and your legs extended straight behind you. Bend your right leg, knee pointed out, and place your foot on the back of your left knee. Keep both of your hips on the floor and contract your right bum cheek and lift your right knee a few inches off the floor, without raising your hip. Pause and then return slowly to the starting position. Complete 10 to 12 reps on each side.

Dumbbell Straight-Leg Deadlift

Focus on your form here and this will be your new BFF when it comes to glute-boosting workouts. Grab a pair of five to eight-pound dumbbells and hold them in front of your thighs keeping your feet hip-width apart. Bend at your hips to lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor, keeping your weights close to your body. Return to standing and keep the weights close to your body at all times. This is one rep – complete 10 to 12 of these.

Dumbbell Bent-Knee Deadlift

This is a real challenge for your glutes, so try increasing the weight when you’ve practiced this for a while so as to boost your metabolism. Begin with a pair of 10 to 15-pound dumbbells on the floor in front of you. Squat, keeping your chest up, and grab the dumbbells with an overhand grip. Your arms should be straight and your lower back slightly arched, but not rounded. Tighten your glutes and stand up with the dumbbells, straightening your legs and thrusting your hips forward, whilst pulling your torso back and up. Slowly lower the dumbbells to the floor. That’s one rep – complete 10 to 12 reps for a set.

Sideways Band Shuffle

This is great for toning up your saddlebags, by enlisting your smaller glute muscles and tightening them up. Place a resistance band loop around your ankles and stand with your feet hip-width apart, keeping your hands on your hips. Step your left foot to the left and place as much tension on the band as possible, then bring your right leg to the left. Do all reps to the left, then repeat on your right side.

 

Single Leg Hip Extension

Lie face up with your arms to your sides and your right knee bent, with your left leg straight and raised a few inches off the floor. Lift your left until it’s in line with your right thigh and push your hips upwards, forming a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Pause and lower to your starting position. Do all reps then switch legs.

Categories: dumbbells, exercise, feet hip, fitness, floor, glutes, hip width, left, pound dumbbells, rep complete, starting position, weights close

Six Abdominal Exercises that Target all the Right Muscles

If “getting amazing abs” was high on your list of New Year’s resolutions this year, you may have already started cracking on with a few crunches. However, this may be a waste of time, as there’s more to abdominal wellness than doing just one exercise. If you want to flatten that tummy, you need to start doing multi-muscle exercises that target all the regions of your core—your upper and lower abs, obliques, transverse abdominis, and lower back muscles. By doing this, your abdominal wellbeing will be fit and fabulous in no time and, thanks to the Women’s Health Big Book of Abs, we’ve got the blueprint to help you do it.

 

1. Dumbbell Pushup Row: According to the instructions in the Big Book of Abs, ‘Place a pair of dumbbells about shoulder-width apart on the floor. (A) Grab the handles and position yourself in a pushup position. (B) Lower your body to the floor and then press back up. (C) Once you’re back in the starting position, pull the dumbbell in your right hand up toward the side of your chest. Pause, then return the starting position and repeat with your left hand. That’s one rep.’ Each time you row the weight, try to prevent your torso from rotating.

 

2. Dumbbell Curl to Squat to Press: The Big Book of Abs detail, ‘(A) Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang at arm’s length next to your sides with your palms facing forward. (B) Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the dumbbells as close to your shoulders as you can. Immediately push your hips back and lower your body into a squat, until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. (C) Stand up and press the dumbbells over your head. That’s one rep. Return to the starting position and repeat.’

 

3. Cross-Behind Lunges: ‘(A) Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them at arm’s length at your sides, your palms facing each other,’ says the Big Book of Abs. ‘(B) Step forward and to the side so that your lead foot ends up in front of your back foot (like a curtsy). Lower your body until your front knee is bent at least 90 degrees. (C) Pause, then return to the starting position and repeat with your other leg.’

 

4. Resistance Band Bent-Over Row: The Big Book of Abs instructs, ‘Grab a resistance band and step on it with one foot (use both feet for more resistance). (A) Hold the band in each hand at arm’s length, about shoulder-width apart, and then bend at your hips and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Your knees should be slightly bent and your lower back naturally arched. (B) Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the band up to your upper abs. Pause, then return the bar back to the starting position.’

 

5. Dumbbell Squat Thrust: ‘(A) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides holding a pair of dumbbells,’ the Big Book of Abs advises. ‘(B) Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body as deep as you can into a squat. (C) Place the dumbbells on the floor, then kick your legs backward into a pushup position. (D) Kick your legs back to the squat position. Stand up and jump. That’s one rep.’

 

6. Overhead Split Squat: The Big Book of Abs outlines, ‘Hold a pair of dumbbells directly over your shoulders, with your arms completely straight. Squeeze your abs tight for the entire exercise. (A) Stand in a staggered stance, your left foot in front of your right foot. (B) Push your hips back and bend your knees so you lower your body into a squat. Pause, then push yourself back up to the starting position. Perform the prescribed number of reps, and then do the same number of reps with your right foot in front of your left.’

Categories: book, Dumbbell Squat Thrust, dumbbells, Overhead Split Squat, palms facing, position, pushup position, resistance band, Resistance Band Bent-Over Row, shoulder width, Squat

How to Get Your Blood Pumping Without Doing Any Cardio

If you want to improve your cardio fitness but don’t like going on a treadmill, there is another way. You can boost your wellness and wellbeing through a weight-room cardio workout. Lifting weights can get your blood pumping, and using total-body resistance moves that wear out your muscles can be a fantastic way to tone up and raise your heart rate at the same time.

 

Circuit training is one of the best ways to do this, as it is done at a fast pace and includes only short rest breaks, so that your heart starts pounding and keeps up a good pace in the metabolic cardio-boosting zone. Do the exercises with a set of dumbbells (around five or ten pounds each to start with) and do as many reps as you can within a minute, moving on to another exercise without stopping.

 

A great move to try is a squat to overhead press. You do this by holding a pair of dumbbells at about shoulder height, with your feet hip-width apart. Lower into a squat while pushing your hips back and keeping your chest upright. Your knees should be above your toes but not over them at the front as this is very bad for the knees. Push through your heels and return to a standing position with the dumbbells pushed up into the air overhead. Then lower the weights to your shoulders and sink down into another squat. This is one rep.

 

A bent over wide row can also be great for your cardio fitness. Lean slightly forward and hold a dumbbell in each hand, with your feet a little wider than hip distance apart. Hold your hands at your chest and then push out with your hands (not down) and then pull back into your chest as if rowing a boat.

Categories: blood pumping, Cardio, cardio fitness, chest, dumbbells, fitness, nbsp, Squat, Weights

Why Kettlebells Beat Dumbbells Every Time

There is no end to the wellness benefits of kettlebell training, especially if you want to improve your fitness in an effective and affordable way. A kettlebell is an all-around tool that can actually do the job of almost any fancy piece of exercise equipment, and the dynamic nature of the kettlebell will give your wellbeing everything it needs – providing an all-in-one workout of a lifetime that combines both strength and cardio aspects.

 

For those of you who’ve never seen it, the kettle bell has a unique shape. The bulk of the weight is massed into a dense ball, and it also has a handle for easy lifting. Thus, the kettlebell is somewhat different from a dumbbell, allowing your body to perform a multitude of ballistic and grind exercises in a natural, fluid motion. True, you can use a dumbbell in place of a kettlebell for a number of typical kettlebell exercises, but doing a snatch or a swing becomes noticeably more cumbersome when you do this. Since it doesn’t have a handle, the dumbbell doesn’t become an extension of your arm like the kettlebell does. With a kettlebell, you can use a loose grip so that you provide more momentum and give the kettlebell a wider swing. With dumbbells, on the other hand, you force your arms into more use than necessary because the bulk of the weight is on the sides and not massed into a ball.

 

Moreover, the handle of the kettlebell means that you can easily pass it back and forth between your hands, which enables you to keep your exercise set going for longer periods. This provides you with an even more intense cardio session. The ball has an offset weight, which means more muscles are forced to stabilise. This allows your body to take each exercise through a longer range of motion, which will improve your flexibility as well as the strength of your deeper stabilizing muscles. Still, the benefits of a kettlebell workout don’t end there. With a kettlebell in your hand, you routine can provide you with:

 

• Increased endurance

• Rapid fat loss

• Muscular strength without the added bulk

• Increased core stability

• Saving the money you would have spent on a gym membership

• A stronger back

• Rehabilitated shoulders

• Flexibility

• Mental toughness

• Decreased musculoskeletal pain

• Twice the results in half the time you would spend at the gym

• It’s a full-body and very balanced workout

• A fun way to workout, which increases motivation

• A very strong and firm rear

• A transportable device that can be used almost everywhere.

• A social activity that can be shared in a group setting

• A way to target every single muscle group in your entire body

 

The benefits of the kettlebell workout have long been studied, and so you can be safe in the knowledge that – providing you’re using it right – you are doing an effective routine for your wellness. Researchers from American Council on Exercise undertook one such study, which showed the effectiveness of kettlebell training for burning calories. According to the researchers, participants who did kettlebell snatches for intervals of 15 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest burned the equivalent amount of calories as they would if running at a six-minute-mile pace. I wouldn’t be able to run that fast, would you? For the study, the subjects were required to perform about six snatches every 15 seconds of work for 20 minutes, which led to an average calorie burn of 20.2 calories per minute! And that’s without adding on the after-burn effect that intense interval training has on your metabolism.

Categories: Benefits, body, dumbbells, exercise, kettlebell, kettlebell training, kettlebell workout, kettlebells, nbsp, Workout