Archive for category Exercise of the week
Increase Your Grip Strength While Building Your Lats!
Posted by J Baker in Exercise of the week on July 25th, 2009
This week’s exercise of the week is towel pull-ups! With this new move you can use your towel for more than drying off after a shower.
How to do it: Using a mid to full sized towel, wrap the towel around the pull up bar. It is best secured by wrapping it around two close neutral grip handles so that the towel is balanced. Grip the towel on either side and begin your set.
The Benefit: The addition of the soft towel to the movement forces you to recruit all of the flexor muscles in your forearm to perform an isometric contraction. In this case you are holding on much tighter than you would to a traditional pull-up bar. In time, you will see that adding the towel to even a few sets per workout will boost your grip strength for difficult movements like dead lifts.
Try this: If you are not ready for full pull-ups, add the towel to the lat pull-down. Simply remove the bar from the cable and feed the towel through the caribeaner. Perform the movement holding the towel. You will need to lower the weight at first until you improve your grip strength enough to move more weight.
“Supine Biceps Curl”
Posted by J Baker in Exercise of the week on July 8th, 2009
Having trouble isolating your biceps?
A supine biceps curl takes advantage of the ground to isolate the biceps. If you have ever seen anyone in the gym performing curls with their back against the wall, they are trying to take momentum out of the movement by using the rigidity of the wall to prevent any type of swinging movement or “cheating”
Equipment: For this exercise you will need a mat, an EZ handle attachment, and a single adjustable cable unit.
Set-up: Adjust the pulley so that it is only a few notches from the bottom setting (if possible). Position the mat directly in front of the cable unit. With the feet flat on the floor positioned shoulder width apart, lie down with your back on the mat and a 45 degree bend in your knees. From here, grasp the handle so that there is tension on the cable and the cable itself travels between the knees.
Movement: Perform a regular bicep curl remembering to keep the triceps in contact with the mat.