All posts filed under: Strength Training

woman does lunge modifications

The Best Lunge Modifications for Bad Knees

Written by Lindsay Tigar

Although a seemingly simple and effective full-body move, the lunge is often difficult to perfect—especially if your knees are sensitive or recovering from injury. It’s really all about form. As personal trainer Dani Singer explains, most people either place their knees in vulnerable weight-bearing positions, move too fast, or up the intensity before they’re ready. Other parts of your body contribute to this misalignment. For example, weak hips or quads may force you to place more stress on your legs. The good news is that there are ways to improve lunge form and make the move more comfortable for your knees. Try these lunge modifications for bad knees in your next strength training session. Go one-fourth of the way down. You may start out feeling strong in your lunge form. However, according to Singer, the closer you inch toward the ground, the more likely you are to lose your posture, which may force unnecessary pressure on your knees. To alleviate this try going only one-fourth of the way down, working within a pain-free range. From …

woman has neck pain during ab workouts

How to Relieve Back and Neck Pain During Ab Workouts

Written by Lindsay Tigar

If you’ve ever had to tap out of your Aaptiv core workout because of back or neck pain: Listen up! Neither back nor neck pain are particularly uncommon. In fact, both are triggered by any number of causes—from how you sit to how you lift weights to how you perform your ab routines. Don’t let your back and neck quit on you before your core does. We asked trainers to share their best tips for alleviating back and neck pain during ab workouts. Work your abs from low to high. If you often find yourself dealing with a tired neck before you even reach the halfway point of your core routine, consider changing up the order of your moves. According to Exercise Physiologist and Author Jerry Snider, how you set up your workout defines how effectively your body moves and resists injury. To prevent back and neck pain during ab workouts, he says to work from the lower abs to the upper abs. “Begin with exercises like leg raises, then end with crunches while holding your legs …

man does lazy workout

How to Work Out When You’re Feeling Lazy

Written by Lindsay Tigar

You know you should work out. After all, it helps you stay fit, energetic, and positive. But sometimes fitness feels like so much, well, work. Some days you’re amped to push yourself to your limit. But other times you wish you could maintain your cardiovascular health without working up a major sweat. Well, we have good news. There’s a slew of workout moves and tactics that trainers recommend for those days when you simply can’t give your all. Employ lazy workout moves on days when you’re too busy or too tired to go all out—after all, a low-intensity workout is still better than skipping your daily workout altogether. Just remember, lazy workout moves shouldn’t be your regular routine. But they are perfectly acceptable for those afternoons when you just can’t (but you gotta anyway). Apply the ten-minute test. Physical therapist Lauren Lobert, D.P.T., O.M.P.T., C.S.C.S., says that there’s a thin line between exhaustion and laziness. Sometimes your body truly needs a rest day. Other times, you may have had one too many margs the night before. …

man does wrist and arm stretches

5 Wrist and Arm Stretches for Weight Lifters

Written by Kevin Gray

Flexibility isn’t just important for gymnasts and dancers. We can all benefit from strong, pliable muscles, even if those muscles are primarily used to get through the daily rigors of life. But, one group that often overlooks flexibility is weight lifters. It’s understandable, because, after all, weight training constricts the muscles, while stretching elongates them. But, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. When stretching for strength training, people tend to focus on the big muscle groups, like the legs and back, while ignoring equally important areas like the hands, wrists, and arms. Here we break down wrist and arm stretches you should include in your strength training routine, plus why weightlifters should stretch. Stretching Improves Lifting Stretching can actually help to improve one’s lifting by increasing range of motion, thus allowing you to better execute a lift. This applies across the entire body. At best, not doing wrist and arm stretches might create some discomfort when lifting, and hinder range of motion. At worst, it could keep you from even being able to properly …

woman does shoulder exercises

Try These 6 Shoulder Exercises for Sculpted Muscles

Written by Jenn Sinrich

On the laundry list of things Michelle Obama has taught us, one is the importance of strong arms and shoulders. But fitness pros agree that shoulder exercises for this area of the upper body are often neglected by mainstream exercisers. The focus is more on cardio and strength training more obvious areas, such as the major arm and leg muscles. What’s more, those who do shoulder exercises tend to focus too much on the front deltoids. They often neglect the medial and rear deltoids. According to Roger E. Adams, Ph.D., Houston-based dietitian, nutritionist, and founder of Eat Right Fitness, this can cause the front to be overdeveloped or overtrained, which can lead to an imbalance in how the shoulders move. To make sure you’re working out all areas of your shoulders to the max, we asked top workout pros to share their go-to shoulder exercises. Lateral Squats to Overhead Press You know the importance of squatting to build leg muscle. But it may not be the first exercise that comes to mind when considering combos to …

man does inner thigh exercises

The 6 Best Inner Thigh Exercises to Tone Muscle

Written by Jenn Sinrich

The inner-thigh region is one of the most commonly neglected muscle areas, according to experts. “Most of our day is spent going in forwards or backwards motions, so we seldom develop strong inner thighs. They only really come to play when we make lateral or side-to-side movements,” says Roger E. Adams, PhD, Houston-based dietitian, nutritionist, and founder of Eat Right Fitness. The good news, however, is that anyone can tone or strengthen this area, as hard has it may seem. The secret is knowing the right moves to help target and fine-tune inner thigh muscles. To help you tighten this area, we asked top trainers to divvy up their best inner thigh exercises. Lateral Lunges Also known as side lunges, this inner thigh exercise is a great starting point for muscle toning. “It incorporates integrated movement into the training of the adductors and hits the glutes along with the adductors to give you a calorie burn,” explains Cary Raffle, CPT, an orthopedic exercise specialist in New York City. “It’s also quite versatile, since you can …