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Bench presses - both dumbbell and barbell - work the chest muscles but not always to the extent you would think. Especially if your shoulders and triceps have a tendency to overpower the chest muscles. This is where an exercise like a squeeze press would be a great addition to your workouts. The chest muscles are worked when adduction takes place (the arm moves closer to the mid-line of the body). By squeezing two dumbbells together it puts the chest in constant adduction throughout the exercise. If you want a quick demo of how this would feel - place your hands together in front of you and squeeze them hard. You should feel your chest muscles kicking in. Key Points
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These are one of my favourite triceps exercises as they force the triceps to do a lot more work than the equivalent dumbbell or barbell versions you see many people do. At the top of the movement, a dumbbell or barbell would "sit" directly down onto the arms so the triceps would get a momentary rest. Due to the position of the kettlebells, this means the weight is constantly engaging the triceps muscles to stop the arm bending. Therefore working the muscles harder. Key Points
It's all too common to see people using momentum or half reps when bicep curling. Partial reps can have a place in a workout. However, if you're doing it all the time.. That's not partials, that's ego lifting. The deadstop variation can be an ego killer if you're not used to it as a lighter than normal weight will be required. However, I've seen people improve their arms by lifting that little bit lighter and going for a greater range of motion. Key Points
21's are traditionally done by performing the bottom half of a bicep curl (7 reps), then the top half (7 reps) and then the full reps (7). This is a one way to switch it up to give the muscles a new stimulus: You start by performing the full 7 reps first. Then complete 7 half reps from the bottom. Then finish off with 7 half reps to the top. And whilst these are called "21's".... because of the 7,7,7 reps - there is no reason why they cannot be done with other rep schemes. For example, if you want to do 5, 5 and 5. Or 10, 10 and 10... there's nothing stopping you. Key Points
Not enough people do facepulls. Period. Facepulls and their variations are in most of my client workouts because they are a great way to strengthen the upper back and rear shoulder muscles. Which helps to undo some of the damage from sitting at desks, watching TV, too many pressing exercises in the gym, and general life which results in that rounded shoulder posture. Whilst I'm demonstrating this exercise with resistance bands, you can also perform this on a cable machine using the rope attachment. I generally recommend keeping the reps higher for these exercise. If the weight is too heavy, the focus shifts from the working muscles onto not letting the cable machine / bands face plant you into whatever they are attached to. Key Points
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AuthorThis is my, mostly, Personal Trainer musings and information which I hope you'll find helpful! Archives
May 2021
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