VIDEO

The hamstrings are often underestimated. Usually, training focuses on the quads and calves, but the hamstrings seem to be less important. However, it should be remembered that neglecting any muscle has aesthetic and health consequences that you can avoid by working with it well. The reason you shouldn't forget about these muscles isn't just because of the symmetry and the look of your body. A weak hamstring is one of the most common causes of injuries most professional athletes have. Best Workouts for Hamstrings The best way to strengthen your hamstrings is, of course, exercising. So let’s talk about these workouts. Barbell 90The main benefit of this exercise is that you don't need lots of equipment, just a barbell. Start in a standing position with a barbell on your shoulders, keeping your back straight at all times. Bend your knees slightly, stretch your glutes, and bend forward 90 degrees. Then inhale and return back to the starting position. In addition to the hamstrings, this exercise will also strengthen your glutes and back. HyperextensionHyperextension is a great exercise for the hamstrings, as well as the muscles in the lower back and glutes. Sit comfortably on the hyperextension machine with your heels firmly resting on the platform at the bottom of the machine. Cross your arms over your chest or behind your head. Smoothly lower yourself down until you feel a stretch in the muscles of the lower back and hamstring while inhaling. Without delay at the bottom point, straighten to the level of the starting position, exhaling. Then return to the starting position. Throughout the exercise, keep your head in line with the body, keep your back straight. Tights upThis exercise can be performed on two horizontal bars on the playground, or simply put your feet on a chair or bench. We will describe the home workout option. Sit on the floor with your feet on the chair. Raise the body on your hands so that the tights are up in the air. Bend your knees and lift your tights up so that your body is parallel to the floor. Do 7-8 reps. One foot and dumbbellsThis exercise works well but requires a nice sense of balance. Take dumbbells in your hands, take one leg back and do not lower it to the floor until the end of the exercise. After that get to the previous position. Repeat this exercise a few times until you are tired. Final Word Hamstrings might seem insignificant but it doesn’t mean that you can skip working on these muscles. In fact, strong hamstrings will protect you from many injuries. So do not hesitate and start working on these muscles right now.

Of course, everyone who is familiar with running knows the importance of strengthening the ligaments of the foot and ankles. Another thing is that sometimes it is hard to spend 5-10 minutes on training for ankle exercises: we dress, tie our laces - and run out into the street. That’s sad. After all, the good condition of the elastic ligaments reduces the risk of pain in the feet. And strong ankle muscles improve the power of the lower back and even the shoulders while running and just walking. Best Exercises for Strengthening Your Ankles Of course, there are plenty of good exercises that will help you work out your ankles, so without any further ado, let us have a look at those. Stretching towardsSit on the floor and straighten your legs in front of you. It is important to ensure that your thumb, little toe, and heel remain in the same direction as you pull the foot over. Only under this condition the muscles will be strengthened and stretched in a balanced way, which will prevent collapse on the outer or inner part of the foot while walking and running. When pulling the foot away from you, try to stretch your toes, as if you are making them longer and do not twist them under the foot. Repeat 15 times. RollingFrom a seated position with your feet in front of you, pull your feet as close to you as possible. Put your knees sideways, keeping your feet together. Keeping this position of the legs and resting with your hands on the floor, lean your body forward and raise your pelvis above the floor, trying to stay in position for a while. If you feel the potential in yourself, you can roll left and right, touching your feet with your palms. Ups and downs exerciseTraditionally, they are offered to be done on stairs, but slow doing on a flat surface will give an excellent result. Rise on your toes as high as possible, keep your heels in weight, and then bend your knees, pushing your heels forward. Place your heels on the floor, and only then straighten your legs. It is very important to make sure that your knees and ankles do not roll or fall. Dumbbell squatsSquats are good for developing your ankles and combined with dumbbells or a barbell (if you're already trained enough), this exercise becomes even more effective. Start with those dumbbells that you can lift 15 times without having to put them on the floor. For beginners, a weight of 2-3 kg is suitable. Bodybuilders need to lift more weight to build leg muscles. Perform squats as follows: stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms with dumbbells at your sides and if you are doing an exercise with a barbell, hold it on your chest or behind your head. Sit down, bending your knees and lowering your buttocks to the floor. Keep your back straight and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. The knees should always remain directly over the feet; do not push your knees further than your toes. Push yourself back to the starting position. Do 2 sets of 10-15 squats. LungesKeep your torso straight and your shoulders back. Step forward and lower yourself until both your knees are at the 90-degree angle. Make sure that your knees do not protrude over your toes. Do two sets of 10 repetitions for each leg. Final Word Strengthening ankles is extremely important for both professional athletes and sports enthusiasts, so no matter if sport is your life or you work out just to keep in shape, you still need to work on your ankles.

The path to beautiful abs should not start with the question 'How to strengthen abdominal muscles?' The thing is that the visual image of a flat stomach depends on the percentage of body fat. This means that the way your abs will look not only depends on the number of crunches you do but on the quantity and quality of your food. So today we are going to talk about the tips for getting gorgeous abs. Abs vs Food Nutrition is extremely important for getting abs. In fact, your coach will probably give individual nutrition recommendations after testing, but there is one universal rule that everyone should follow - eat healthy food. In particular, you should avoid eating bakery, sugar-containing foods, and salty snacks. On the contrary, you have to eat more vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts and seeds, as well as meat or other high-protein foods. Getting Started Before starting a workout, it is important to obtain data on your body condition. This means that the best place to start is fitness testing. Your trainer will ask you some questions in order to learn about your lifestyle, test your ability to move, and measure you. Then the coach will recommend the activities that will be safe and effective for you. Popular Abs Workouts It is believed that the best ab exercises are the training of the rectus abdominis muscles, which perform the function of flexing the body and keeping it upright. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. You also want to work on the deep muscles, which are part of your core and include the muscles of the abdomen, back, thighs, and buttocks. Their function is to help the body maintain posture and balance in an upright position. As a matter of fact, if your core is not strong enough, you will most likely experience discomfort while doing other exercises. Strengthening the core should be your top priority and you can do that with the help of TRX loops, plank and its variations, as well other bodyweight exercises. Exercises for Strengthening Core and Abs As we have mentioned above, to have gorgeous abs, you have to make sure you not only work on your abdominal muscles but on your entire core. So here are some exercises for improving all these muscles: Diagonal twists Plank Pushups Plank push-ups Crunches Leg lifts from lying position Wrapping Up As you can see, getting gorgeous abs is totally possible if you know how to work on them. Healthy nutrition and regular exercises will help you sculpt the body of your dreams, so do not hesitate and start going toward your dream now.

The quadriceps is a large and strong muscle that plays the role of the main extensor of the knee joint. Since the knee joint carries the bulk of body weight, the quadriceps is the main muscle of the lower part of the thigh. In fact, if this muscle was weak, people simply would not be able to keep an upright posture. The quadriceps muscle consists of the following parts: straight, internal, external, and middle. Despite this, the load during a variety of exercises falls entirely on this muscle. Workouts for Quads Of course, it is very important to strengthen your quadriceps, so let us take a brief look at some of the best exercises for these muscles. Barbell and dumbbell lungesLunges can be done in different ways - with a barbell, dumbbells, walking around the hall, or from a standing position. Consider options in which the athlete stands in one place, using either a barbell or dumbbells. It is similar to the position when squatting with a barbell on the back. Step forward with your right foot. The lunge should be such that the thigh of the working leg at the lowest point is parallel to the floor. At the same time, the knee of the left leg almost touches the floor and also forms a right angle. Return to the previous position. Swap legs - lunge with your left leg forward. Leg pressThe leg press eliminates the work of the back and buttocks as much as possible. At the same time, the simulator makes it possible to work with a much higher weight than in squats. In order for the load to fall on the quadriceps, you need to press when setting your feet shoulder-width apart. The execution technique is the following: the back and head are tightly pressed against the back of the simulator, the legs are almost completely straightened and rest against the frame, the hands firmly hold the handles. Bend your knees to form a right angle between your hips and lower legs. Return the legs to the previous position. One leg squatsCan't go to the gym? Squat on one leg. This is a great exercise for the quadriceps, with which you can load your legs without using additional weights. Start in a standing position, slightly extend one leg forward. Squat down, extending the leg forward and straightening it. Return to the previous position. Do at least 10 repetitions for each leg. Kick SquatStand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly turned to the sides. Place your hands on your belt or hold them near your chest. The emphasis should be on the middle of the foot. Sit down in a horizontal position of your hips, do not forget to keep your back straight. Stand up and shift your weight to one side. Raise your knee to a horizontal position and kick. The kick should go in one motion. Fitball squatsPlace your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, turn your toes to the sides at 45 degrees. Take the fitball, keep tension and natural deflection in your lower back, your shoulders should be straight as well as your neck. Take a fitball and raise your arms to shoulder level. Along with inhaling, start to bend your knees to the sides, making sure they do not protrude over your toes. At the same time, your buttocks should go down first. The center of gravity lies on your heels. While squatting down, slightly get your back forward, with outstretched arms and raise the fitball above your head. Do 30-50 repetitions. Final Thoughts Everyone dreams of beautiful legs and, luckily, getting gorgeous quads is not that difficult at all if you know what you are doing. So why don’t you give these exercises a try?

Before choosing the best exercises for the deltoid muscles, you should learn their structure. These muscles consist of three parts, and in order to achieve good results, you need to pay attention to each of them to ensure their harmonious development. And in this case, there is a whole set of exercises aimed at parallel and sequential working out of all ligaments of deltoid muscles. Best Exercises for Deltoid Muscles In order to have strong deltoids, you have to regularly train them, which is why we suggest you take a look at these exercises for deltoid muscles. Sideways dumbbellsIf you are interested in building the back delta of the shoulder, then this workout is what you need. This exercise extensively involves not only the deltoid but also the trapezius muscles. Take the dumbbells with a neutral grip and lean forward slightly, keeping your back straight, and the dumbbells should now be raised to the ear level. To do this, you need to bend your elbows and take the starting position by slowly lowering your arms. Front liftThrough this exercise, you can achieve excellent upper muscles and the muscles of the trapezium. Take the dumbbells while being in a sitting position. Lower your hands. Now you should lift the dumbbell to the point parallel with the floor. At the same time, the arm remains straight. When you reach shoulder level, stop. Lower the dumbbell in the same way. Do the same with the other hand. Lifting sidewaysExperts recommend carrying out these exercises for effective pumping of the lateral deltoid muscles. The effectiveness of the exercise depends on the correctness of the exercise, therefore strictly follow these instructions: Stand up straight with dumbbells in your hands. Now slowly lift the dumbbells. Once the dumbbells are at your shoulder level, you should stay in this position. After that, slowly lower our arms, thereby returning to the starting position. Barbells pressTake the shell on your chest, bring your elbows forward, tighten your abs, buttocks, and legs. Lift the bar up, lower it back and repeat. When the bar passes your face, do not lift it upper, but put it to yourself: this way the bar will go along the optimal trajectory. If at the top point the projectile remains in front of the body, and not above it, the load on the lower back increases. Therefore, try to take the barbell behind your head. Do three to five sets of six to eight reps. Handstand push-upsThis exercise movement itself repeats the barbell press up in a reduced range. Stand in a handstand with your feet on the wall. Bend your elbows, lower yourself and touch the floor with your head. Put yourself back and repeat. Place your head on the floor more carefully (careless movements can damage your neck). To make the exercise easier, place something under your head, such as a rolled blanket or several thick books. To complicate things, place firm support under your arms. Perform as many times per set as you can. Do 3-5 approaches, depending on how you feel. Wrapping Up Developed deltoid muscles will make you look athletic and simply stunning, so if you dream of a beautiful body, make sure to do some of these exercises.