Continuing with the theme from my last post, here are five exercises that you should include in your lower body workouts (but not at the same time):

1. Deadlift: Although this exercise strengthens pretty much the entire body, I recommend including it as a hip dominant exercise in your lower body routine.

2. Squat: One of the best overall strengthening exercises for the lower body.

3. Split Squat: Great unilateral exercise for strengthening the legs and improving stability at the hip. (back foot can be on the ground or bench as shown)

4. Glute Bridges: With the prevalence of hip flexor tightness and subsequent inhibition of the glutes, this is a great exercise to activate and strengthen this muscle. (can be done single leg as shown or double leg)

5. Multi-Directional Lunge: This is a great multi-funtional strengthening exercise that can be used as a great dynamic stretch as well.

(Bonus) 6. Romanian Deadlift, Single Leg: Because I’m partial to RDL’s, I couldn’t leave this one off the list.  Great hamstring/hip movement.

deadlift, glute bridge, lower body exercises, rdl, split squat, squat Hide

Maintaining muscle balance and posture should be at the forefront of your exercise routine. Including the following five exercises in your routine will help combat common postural and muscular balance issues.

1. Push-Ups: Most individuals performing the majority of their pressing movements with their backs pinned to a bench.  This restricts protraction of the scapula and may result in underdevelopment of the serratus anterior.  Including push-ups in your routine will promote a better balance of the muscles that act on the scapula.

2. Prone Cobra: This is a great postural exercise that helps knock out several common postural faults, including excessive internal rotation of the humerus, forward head posture, and thoracic kyphosis.

3. Face Pull: A functional external rotation exercise that helps correct muscle imbalance between the internal and external rotators of the humerus.

4. Wall Angel: This is another exercise that is helpful in maintaining the integrity of scapular muscular and posture.

5. Dumbbell External Rotations from Knee: This is a great exercise to help isolate and strengthen the external rotators of the humerus.  It is particularly useful for those who spend a lot of time doing bench presses and its variations.

face pulls, muscle balance, posture, prone cobra, push-ups Hide

What I am about to share is pretty basic knowledge for those in the fitness industry. However, I realize not everyone who exercises (strength training specifically) puts in a decent amount of time educating themselves on how to go about it (hence the reason I have a job!).  So, for those who are not up to speed on the training effect of a specific repetition bracket, let’s get you caught up.

First, what is a repetition?  A repetition is the act of performing a given exercise.  Take push-ups for example.  When you lower yourself to the ground and push yourself back up, that is a repetition.  Repetitions influence the adaptations you get from an exercise session.  Generally speaking, the training effect for a given repetition bracket is as follows:

• Rep Bracket: 1 – 5
• Training Effect: Increase in muscular strength

• Rep Bracket: 8-12
• Training Effect: Increase in muscular size

• Rep Bracket: 15+
• Training Effect: Increase in muscular endurance

While this is a very basic understanding of repetition brackets, it is a good place to start….especially if this idea is new to you.  Armed with this information you should be in a better position to train for your goals and achieve better results in the gym.

repetitions, Strength Training Hide