Tag Archives: Triceps

The 5 Best Moves Every Woman Needs for Strong, Toned Arms

Women often neglect strengthening their arms simply because they don’t know which exercises to do, but building arm strength is important for a number of reasons. A woman with strong arms can help…

1. Prevent osteoporosis

2. Strengthen the spine

3. Improve posture

5 More Reasons Women Should Lift Weights

Plus, who doesn’t love toned arms?! Allow me to take you through my five best arm exercises for women. All you need for this routine is a pair of dumbbells and a few short minutes in your living room, hotel room, or wherever you may have a few spare minutes!

dempsey triceps

OVERHEAD TRICEPS EXTENSION

— Begin standing with your feet shoulder distance apart.

— Hold a dumbbell with both hands in a heart-shaped grip (it should feel like you’re cradling the dumbbell).

— Bring the dumbbell behind your head, bending your elbows.

— Engage your core and extend your arms straight, reaching the dumbbell overhead.

— Slowly return to the starting position. This is one rep. Complete 8-12 reps. (more…)

Keep the Tits in Dietitian! The 12 Most Commonly Misspelled Words in Health and Fitness

Early in my career, someone told me that I could spot a missed comma from a mile away. And she’s right! I love long form text and a red pen and fixing all of those little mistakes. Most of my editing these days doesn’t involve ink of any kind, but my job is still necessary. The ironic part is that as I’m writing this post, I’m scared to death I’m going to miss something and be called out for it. Murphy’s Law, I guess.

As the editor of a health and fitness site for almost seven years, I make a lot of the same corrections repeatedly. These repeat offenders make me crazy. I respect spelling and can’t usually find any good excuse for misspelling a word, especially one that is published. Within your own industry though, I can’t think of many excuses for misspelled words that are going to fly.

With that, I share the dirty dozen, 12 of the most commonly misspelled words in health and fitness. Each of these letter combinations gets abused on a frequent basis, and I think it’s time we all agreed to put it to a stop.

common-misspellings-healthClick here to embed this graphic

Also Read:

10 Foodie Reads for Kids: Official Reading & Eating List

The Dos and Don’ts of Gym Etiquette

24 Low-Calorie Snacks Under 200 Calories

Jersey Shore’s JWOWW Shares her Bikini Body Workout Secrets

Spring is here, which means it’s time to get in bikini shape now. No one knows that better than the cast of the Jersey Shore, who spend their summers on national TV in skimpy outfits.

While Snooki is making room for her expanding baby bump, Jenny “JWOWW” Farley has been sporting a more fit and toned body recently, which she credits to spending quality time in the gym with her juice head gorilla boyfriend, Roger. Wanna know how she does it? Here is her beach body workout she swears by, with just 3 exercises for every body part.

For flat abs that rival The Situation‘s, try:

1. The Bicycle Crunch
2. The Vertical Leg Crunch
3. The Exercise-ball Crunch

Firm up your arms with these three tricep exercises:

1. Triceps kickback
2. One-arm Triceps Push-ups
3. Skull Crushers

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Get Sexy Arms By Christmas With this Weekly Yoga Routine

Christmas parties and other such holiday events bring our favorite dresses out of the deep corners of the closet and revive them back to life, but often these dresses are of the sleeveless variety. From the candy-devouring weeks before and after Halloween, to eating our way through November, our bodies can become puffed, plumped and primed for baggy sweatshirts, rather than our sleek holiday get-up.

If you work hard and follow this plan starting right now, you will be showing off your sexy guns by the time you grace your first Christmas party. The only downside is that you will make your friends envious as you parade around looking fabulous.

For the best results, couple this daily yoga routine with a low-fat diet.

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600 Second Body Blast is Fast and Effective

The following 600 second body blast workout was designed to target the entire body while increasing the heart rate at a rapid pace. This is a short, but perfect little workout for the holidays due to the lack of time, unpredictable weather, and the versatility to be performed at home- and to get a jump start on that New Years resolution!

600 Second Body Blast Workout (each exercise appears below for easy instruction)

Jumping squat thrusts (90 seconds): This exercise increases your heart rate while challenging your upper and lower body. Try to perform this movement for 90 seconds straight.

Bicycle crunches (90 seconds): This exercise targets your entire core region while helping improve your stamina and endurance. The hip flexors are also isolated. Try to perform this movement for 90 seconds without stopping.

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Sneaky Ways to Squeeze in Stretching

If you’re anything like me, stretching is your least favorite part of a workout (even though you know you need to do it and it feels good!). Working on your flexibility is so important for injury prevention, improved circulation, alleviating muscle soreness and more! So, if you’re like me and have trouble finding time to stretch, try these three sneaky ways to squeeze stretching into your everyday routine. By working flexibility training into your usual routine, there are no excuses!

1. The great shower stretch. Stretching after you workout is so great because your muscles are warm. You know when else your muscles are warm? In the shower! Tack on a few extra minutes in the shower each morning to do some neck rolls, forward bends or even some chest or back stretches. Not only is it good for you, the warm water makes it feel fantastic!

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Housework Can Be a Workout

You know those days where it seems like you’re being pulled in a million directions and you can barely feed yourself properly and shower, let alone squeeze in a workout? Or after a particularly stressful week, all you want to do is lie on the couch and veg, although your house is a disaster zone? Been there, done that, too. But instead of choosing between chores or a workout, why not combine them?

Turning housework into a workout is a way to kill (or clean) two birds with one stone. All it takes is a good attitude (especially if you dislike cleaning!) and a nice variety of different types of activities to keep your heart rate up and your muscles challenged. Below are three cleaning activities, what muscles you’ll work when doing them and how many calories an average 150-pound person can expect to burn in 30 minutes. (more…)

Use Your Body Weight as Effective Fitness Equipment

Body weight exercises are an effective and inexpensive way of working out. By using only the resistance of your own body, you can gain strength, endurance and inner peace. Body weight exercises are great because you can get an effective workout anytime, any place, with no equipment. Walking, swimming, dancing and yoga are all considered body weight exercises. While I encourage you to explore those, here are a couple specific body weight exercises to try out:

The Superman Lie on your stomach with your arms and legs outstretched, with a neutral spine so your elbows are by ears. Contracting your lower back, gently lift your arms and legs off the ground, hold for a few breaths, and slowly release them back to the floor. Repeat. This exercise works your lower back and core. (more…)

The Benefits of the Classic Push-Up

The push-up is one of the best exercises for the body and is a great tool for determining a person’s upper body strength- so much so that the military uses them as a part of their physical fitness testing.

The primary muscle group that the  push-up engages is the pectoralis major and minor (chest muscles or “pecs”). It also targets the triceps, deltoids (shoulders), and entire core region (abdominals and lower back) making it one of the simplest, but most effective exercises for the body, as it incorporates so many muscle groups.

There are several different variations of the push-up, which target a vast variety of different muscle groups. Generally, the arm and hand position of the push-up will change to target different muscle groups or increase the intensity. (more…)

What Workout Is Best For You?

Finding the right workout routine is kind of like dating. You have to keep trying something new until you find the right one. There are all kinds of different workout routines out there today and not every one of them satisfy everyone’s needs. The workout routine that your best friend uses may not work for you; every “body” is different and may rely on different movements or style of routine to achieve the desired results.

As a personal trainer, I recommend trying a handful of different routines and pick the one that you feel works the best. After a few months, try another handful of different routines and go from there. If you’re having trouble finding new routines, any personal trainer or fitness enthusiast should be able to point you in the right direction. Below is a list of different workout routines and examples that may help.

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How to Eliminate Arm Fat, or “Bingo Wings”

Have you ever heard the expression “bingo wings”? This is slang used to describe the fatty tissue or excess skin under the arm (triceps) that flaps back and forth, if you will, when a member of a Tuesday night bingo club wins and shakes the winning bingo card over-head. I understand that it is not a flattering term, but it does do an outstanding job explaining the situation or problem.

The problem area is known as the triceps brachii muscle. The triceps (used in both singular and plural) is a three-headed muscle that each of which come from different origins, but join together at the elbow. Extending the forearm and adducting the shoulder are the two main functions of the triceps brachii.

Below are several ways to help firm up those so called “bingo wings.” I recommend performing two to three sets of 15 repetitions at a medium weight for the following exercise routine. Good luck! (more…)