Build Beautiful Legs: Hamstring Work

Leg day is my favorite workout day because it hurts so bad, but you feel like you've really worked hard for days after. When you work your leg muscles, it is really important to work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves to get great muscle definition overall. Today, we are focusing on just a couple of exercises for your hamstrings.

Barbell Straight-legged deadlifts

There are a few important things to note with the straight-legged deadlift. You start the position with a straight back, looking down, with legs straight, and a barbell straight in front of you. Slowly lift up still keeping the back and legs as straight as possible. Keeping the back straight really allows the focus to be on the glutes, and keeping the legs straight allows the focus to be on the hamstrings. Note that you should try to keep a slight looseness in the knees so the joints aren't locked up. Lower back down and repeat. I try to do about 3 rounds of 15 with challenging weights.

Hamstring Curl

I love to show a lot of body weight exercises that you can do anywhere, but this is a machine exercise. To make it a body weight exercise, sit on a chair with your legs in front of you (you can use ankle weights if you have them), and try to put something heavy on your laps to keep your thighs down on the chair. Whether you are on a machine or not, slowly lift your lower legs (below your knees) up and back down. This puts the emphasis on your hamstrings and you should really feel it. Watch the video above for a better demonstration. I do about 3 rounds of 15. Make sure the weight is fairly challenging.

Hamstring Stretch

Of course, when you are done with several rounds of all that, you should make sure you really stretch out those muscles. Above is a great stretch that should help. Bring one knee in front in a low lunge, and lean back with your butt going towards the back knee until the front leg is straight. Really push into that front leg by flexing the toes and bringing the chest towards the knee. That should feel very good. Hold for about 30 seconds and switch sides.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Friday Inspiration: Do not be Afraid to Try New Things

It is easy to stay in your comfort zone, but you really don't achieve much in life or with your body if you stay with what you know. The depth of your growth usually occurs at the end of your comfort.

So what am I trying to say? With exercise, with relationships, with work, with travel, and with all of your experiences, do not be afraid to leap. The worst is that you fail and gain experience. Go for the seemingly ridiculous. As the saying goes, "Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains 3 phrases: could have, might have, and should have." Deep.

Have a lovely weekend, readers. Do something you haven't done before.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Stretch, Stretch, Stretch it Out!

I don't think we place as much importance on stretching as we should. Stretching in itself is not some tree-hugging "let me just sit here and breathe" type of activity. If you exercise intensely and regularly, stretching can be pretty painful. That should tell you that your muscles get tenser and tenser and need a release, however painful or boring it might seem.

So Apparently, Stretching Makes Sex Better

I have nothing further to say...lol.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Have You Been Ignoring Your Core?

Everyone wants abs, right? Or at least everyone working out does. Now, the mistake a lot of people make when trying to work on their abs is that they tend to go hard on the crunches and the sit-ups without very much cardio, and then get worked up when there are little or no results. Are you one of those?

The core is our center. It’s where our strength comes from for most exercises. It’s where most of our balance comes from. And so it is very important to build a strong core besides just building abs. But as you do regular cardio to burn fat, and do exercises to strengthen your core, you will notice that your abs become more defined.

So if crunches are not the way, how do you strengthen your core? By activating your core with every exercise you do! Rather than spend time on the floor straining your neck going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth (this has me tired already), tighten your core when you do other exercise that work on other muscles. What exercises, you ask? Well, I’ve been waiting to tell you a few :)

Running/Elliptical: When you go running or use the elliptical, there is the tendency to just be thinking about getting through it. In fact, most people do not run with the right form because they are so focused on the finish line. But that is a topic for another day. Where does your strength come from when you do these upright cardio exercises? Your first response might be “the hips”, but in reality, it should be the core. Squeeze as you lift each knee. Squeeze as you push forward. Propel forward from your core. You should literally feel your core muscles working as you do these cardio exercises.

Planks/Pushups: When you do exercises that require holding your body up on the floor, e.g. planks or side planks, try to use your core to hold your body in a straight line. It may be a good idea to do this in front of a mirror the first few times to make sure you are straight and holding your core tight. Remember: butt neutral (not high in the air and not sagging towards the floor), core tight, and elbows under shoulders.

Squats/Lunges: This sounds strange, right? But when you do your squats and lunges, you are supposed to keep your upper body as upright as you possibly can, while making sure your knees stay behind your toes. To keep your upper body upright, you use the strength from your core. This is why the stronger you get, the straighter your body can be. So tight tight tight as you go down.

Chest Press/Weightlifting: A lot of the weight lifting we do comes from not only having strong arms and shoulders, but having a strong back and core. As you do chest presses, use your core to push your lower back into the bench while you lift. This activates your core muscles.

Stretching/Yoga: Of course this should be intuitive. As you do yoga, the power to keep yourself upright in most of those poses comes from your core. The more you do the poses, the more you strengthen your core. And you know it is uber important to stretch after every workout. Now you have even another great reason to do so.

Are you going to engage your core today?

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: martamontenegro.com

Preventing Post-Exercise Soreness

For those who have recently started working out, the excitement of exercise is sometimes trumped by the muscle pain you feel the next morning. I have had several readers ask me the infamous question: "How do I get rid of post-workout muscle soreness?"

There are two types of muscle pain, and they should be treated differently. There is the pain you feel during or immediately after your workout. That pain is either your muscles telling you they have done some hard work, or your body telling you you might need to slow down. Then there is the more popular pain; the one that slaps you in the face when you wake up the next morning (or sometimes, even a couple of days later). This type of pain is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

DOMS is caused by tiny tears in your muscle fibers when you have really pushed your body hard, or when you do something new and different. As you keep doing the same exercises more, your body gets used to it and you start to notice less pain. However, if you switch up your exercise routines a lot, you don't give your body adequate time to get too used to anything. This is not a bad thing because to stay fit and lose weight, you usually need to switch up your exercise routine consistently. 

So it's a Catch-22, right? If you don't work hard, or if you do the same things over and over, you'll end up not getting sore. However, you need to work hard and switch your exercise up to reach your goals. So what do you do? The good news is that there are steps you can take to lessen or prevent the pain.

Warm Up: It sounds cliché, but warming up is really important to protect your muscles and joints, and to avoid getting too sore after your workout. What is the best way to warm up? Do something very similar to what you would be doing during your workout, but just do it slower and with less force for about 5 to 10 minutes. For example, if you'd be running, walk for a few minutes first. If you'd be kickboxing, start with very light punches and kicks. It is important to use the same muscles you'd be using so that the body gets used to the motion.

Cool down: This is the same theory as warming up. It gives your body a chance to slow down and get back into the regular motion. Also do it for about 5 to 10 minutes, possibly longer if you worked out for a couple of hours.

Stretch: You have heard this a lot, but stretching help reduce the pain as it is actually part of the cool down process, allowing your muscles to relax. It is like a mini-massage to ease muscle tension. When you workout, you put a lot of tension on your muscles, and so stretching just helps remove some of that tension. You've probably noticed some things called foam rollers at the gym. These are great to help relieve muscle tension. If you have the money and time to get a massage, go for that instead :)

Ease into a routine: Most folks that want to lose weight are tempted to just jump in and do as much as they could possibly do. However, it is important to give your muscles time to get used to activity, especially if you're been pretty sedentary. If you hurt yourself, you can't work out anyway, right? 

However, even with these, if your are experiencing pain that lasts longer than usual, the procedure is to ice it, and then call a doctor. Contrary to popular belief, indirect ice (frozen veggies, etc.) works better on muscle pain than heat.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: TheKoiExperience.com