Hi! My name is Shane Piccolo and I’m a fitness instructor at Lakeview Health. While there are many exercises out there to choose from, below is a breakdown of my top five!
#1. Pull Ups
Pullups are a great exercise to challenge your upper body against its own resistance. By varying the distance between your hands, and their direction, you can manipulate the amount of tension on your lats and your biceps. If you want to increase the number of pullups you can perform, vary your grip, use a resistance band only after completing as many bodyweight repetitions as you can, and also just hang from the bar. You can only do pullups if you can hang on the bar.
#2. Lunges
Lunges are my choice for the best lower body exercise I perform. Direction will alter which muscles act as the primary mover, and allow you to move in all planes. Adding weight, elevating your back foot, or jumping will mix up the exercise for even more gain.
#3. Single Arm Overhead Press
Overhead Presses are great because the movement is done frequently in your life. Being able to lift something over your head is very important in your life. I mix it up with a single arm variation because of the core engagement factor. Stabilizing with your obliques will help build a solid foundation to build your strength around.
#4. Pavlov Presses
Pavlov Presses are another exercise I use to target my obliques. The new fitness term is anti-rotation. Preventing the rotation the band wants to put on your body will cause your internal obliques to fire. A strong internal oblique will help keep your spine health and free of injury.
#5. Dead Bugs
Dead bugs are an exercise you may look at and say, “Really?” This exercise is very challenging for anyone who has a back injury. The action of contracting your abdominals while your leg and arm extend will help strengthen the core in an important way. For added variation and difficulty, a stability ball can be placed between your hands and knees so you can push against it while you extend.
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