All individuals, whether you are younger, may be in your 20s or older in your 40s or 50s must make it a habit to set aside some time during the day for performing exercises using weights for at least 4 days in a week. Your muscles need to be worked often, in order to help you perform your daily activities easily every day, since you would be losing muscle as you grow older with each passing day. By going for a walk or jogging or running, there is not going to be any muscle gain for individuals. Hence, it becomes all the more important for you to realize the importance of keeping your muscles strong and healthy, so that you can be fit enough to perform various day-to-day activities that can help you boost your confidence levels, apart from reducing the risks of any injury occurring to your body.
Following are some of the exercises that individuals can do at the gym to keep themselves strong and healthy.
1. Suspended Push-Ups:
Suspended Push-Ups can be referred to as the modern version of the regular push-ups that have been performed by individuals over the years. By doing this exercise, your shoulders and chest are targeted primarily, thereby helping you gain strength in your shoulders and chest. It helps you achieve a higher range of motion than what is achieved when an individual performs a regular push-up on the floor.
Equipment Required:
• Pull-Up Bar
How to do this exercise?
• First, you can start by fastening the TRX to the Pull-Up bar.
• Hold on to the handles by keeping a firm overhand grip and bring yourself up to get in to a push-up position.
• The core must be kept stiff and you must start bringing yourself down on to the floor.
• Your elbows are to be kept tucked nearer to both your sides. In this way, the elbows are able to come to a 90 degree angle with the torso.
• Now, you can stop and later push yourself back to the top on to the starting position.
You can try and do about 2-3 sets comprising of 5-6 reps each. You should try and keep your core tight at all times while doing this exercise.
2. Pull-Ups:
This is one of the commonly performed compound exercises for your upper body. It is one of the multi-joint exercises that can be performed by individuals that help them build functional strength. All you need is only a pull-up bar to perform this exercise. By doing this exercise, you would be able to increase the strength in your back muscles such as lats, traps and dorsal spine. Apart from that, you can increase the grip strength that can help you lift weights. Lastly, your forearms and shoulders are also worked with performing pull-ups regularly.
Equipment Required:
• A Pull-Up Bar
How to do this exercise?
• Start off by holding on to a pull-up bar by keeping your palms down.
• You must start hanging on to the pull-up bar by keeping your arms straight while keeping your legs away from the floor.
• Begin pulling yourself to the top as your elbows are being pulled down to the ground.
• Now, you must start and go completely up till your chin goes past the bar.
• You can now start lowering yourself till the arms get into a straight position.
You can try and do about 4-5 sets comprising of 4 reps each.
3. Skull Crushers:
This is one of the well-known exercises that help individuals to build strength on their triceps, by which it would become much easier for individuals to perform their various functional movements every day. Moreover, it would also help individuals to improve their pushing movements, as they help them get ready to load weight using their elbows which are kept in a bent position.
Equipment Required:
• A set of dumbbells or a Barbell
• A weight bench or an exercise mat.
How to do this exercise?
• Start by lying down on to a bench and grab a set of dumbbells in your hands and hold on to them at a position over your chest, while the palms are kept facing each other.
• Keep your feet flat firmly on the ground and start bending the elbows and lower the dumbbells slowly on to both the sides of your head. You have to make sure that your upper arms do not move while you are performing this movement.
• Now, you can start reversing your motion by returning to your starting position.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do about 2 sets comprising of 8 reps each.
4. Close-Grip Bench Press:
This is one of the compound exercises that works your upper body and helps individuals by adding to their muscle strength. It is also one of the variations of the bench press that helps individuals to strengthen their triceps muscles. Apart from the triceps, this movement targets your shoulder as well as your chest muscles.
Equipment Required:
• A Barbell
• A Flat Bench
How to do this exercise?
• Start by lying flat onto a bench and keep a firm grip at around shoulder width.
• After locking your arms, start lifting the bar by taking some support from the rack and hold on to the bar at a position that is straight above you.
• Begin to breathe in and start bringing the bar to the bottom a little slowly on to the chest. You must keep the elbows nearer to the body at all times till you complete performing the exercise.
• Now, you can start breathing out and start pushing the bar upwards using your triceps muscles. Keep your arms locked while you are at the top of your movement.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do about 3 sets comprising of about 8 reps each.
Image Source: www.breakingmuscle.com
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
