Just Fitness

It’s important to do lower body training because the largest body muscles are located at our bottom. They are essential in movements we perform in day-to-day activities or in sports such as running, swimming or cycling. Well-trained legs not only give us a strong back and core but also provide the stability we need for good athletic performance.  You can easily use a  bench  to perform some leg and glutes exercises at home to get these big muscles moving. Step Up Pick one foot, press through the heel as you step onto the bench. Bringing the other foot up to stand on the bench. Return to the starting position by stepping down with one foot first followed by the other foot. Grab a dumbbell in each hand with your arms fully extended at your sides and palms facing inward to increase the difficulty level.  Muscle worked: Glutes and hamstring Single-leg Squat Extend your arms for balance. Roll your shoulder blades back and keep your back straight. Raise the non-s...

If you want to take your workouts to the next level, start with your middle. Your core contracts first in every exercise and then the energy is transferred to the limbs.  In order to prime your core muscles, so they fire better during your other workout, you need to train your core first. By training your torso when your muscles are fresh, you will achieve the fastest gains. Performing classic ab moves like crunches and knee-ins at the beginning of your workout to warm up the muscles, you will be able to lift more weights, work more muscle and burn more calories later on. Sharing four ab warm-up exercises that you can do on a  bench . Elevated Bicycle Crunch Lie on the bench with face-up, place your hands by your ears. Keep your legs out straight and elevated. Bring one knee up as you bring the opposite elbow to touch that knee. Contract your abs tightly as you come up with an exhale. Alternate with the other side. Alternating shoulder to knee crunches work all the m...

A well-trained butt and toned legs aren’t just nice to look at. Many suffer pain from lower back and leg pain from sitting all day.  The hamstring muscles are connected to the bones at the bottom of the lower pelvis. Tight hamstring muscles can lead to the locked pelvis and cause stress on the lower back, which would inadvertently cause pain in the spine and contributes to poor posture. With consistent hamstring exercises and stretching, many backs and leg pain will effectively dissipate. Hip and hamstring exercises can help lengthen and loosen back muscles, relieve nerve compression that causes pain. You could use your bench to finish these four exercises at home without going to a crowded gym. Let’s face it, the gym is packed with people and you probably don’t want to wait your term.  Hip thrust Many would agree that the hip thrust is the best glute development exercise. The size and appearance of your glutes will change dramatically because this exercise stren...

Ever find your shoulders aching and paining after doing some heavy lifting, like rearranging furniture or lifting boxes? it’s probably because of the lack of flexibility in your shoulders.  Shoulders are probably the most neglected muscles groups in your body, they are the main stabilizer when we throw, press or bringing elbows to our body. With our tendency to sit in a forward hunched position, it can ruin our posture and create an overly dominant frontside of the body. Working out your rear shoulder will counteract this influence, pulling the shoulder back into position for improved posture. A well-rounded shoulder exercise that includes both of your front and back shoulders will increase your strength and also decrease the amount of load your shoulder joints have to bear to make your shoulders more flexible, coordinated, and conditioned to handle stress. Deltoid and Trapezius You probably will be surprised that a lot of shoulder exercises involve your back. The trapezi...

A balance ball trainer helps you coordinate muscles and nerves to balance on the type of unstable surface you can easily encounter in real life. Why do the upper body exercises on a balance ball trainer?  Your body will never get bored because these exercises will constantly keep you on your toes, and as long as your muscles don’t get bored, your body will change.   The  balance training  workouts will enhance whatever fitness routine you may be done by adding a cross-training element. Not only will you improve your balance, but you’ll also increase your strength, especially core strength, and tone up a variety of muscles. Try these five fun upper body exercises on a RitFit  balance ball trainer  with resistance bands! Side Raise on a Balance Ball Trainer Stand on the balance ball trainer with bands in each hand. Maintaining a slight bend in the elbows, raise your arms out to the side until they are parallel with the ground. Pause, and th...

Your muscles broadly fit into two categories: stabilizing muscles and movement muscles. As the name suggested, stabilizing muscles stabilize your body while movement muscles move your body. Stabilizing muscles such as your deep abdominal and back muscles stabilize your spine in very position including standing, kneeling, seated, side-lying, face down or up.  Weak postural muscles cannot support your body and as a result, you might develop chronic pain. By focusing on your core muscles, you’ll stabilize your spine so you can move safely and build strength within your torso muscles, specifically your deep postural muscles. What Does Balance Training Improve? You’ll strengthen your core muscles You’ll improve your posture. Good posture requires strength. You’ll sharpen your nervous system You’ll fine-tune your sensory system You’ll decrease your changes of injury. Improving your balance skills is not that hard and you can perform balance and stability training ...

Strong arms  are important for almost every upper body movement and your triceps are often the heavy lifters. The  triceps  are essential for building upper body strength and helping with movement in your shoulders and elbows. Increasing triceps strength brings stability to your shoulders and arms, and you will have shapely, toned arms to go with your tight top.  The best way to build strong, firm triceps is to choose the exercises that hit all those muscle fibers from every angle. Sharing four effective bench tricep workout with you that you can train at home with a bench! 1. Tricep Kickback As an isolation exercise, dumbbell kickbacks allow you to train the triceps without involving other muscles and activate about 88% of your triceps. Bodybuilders and aspiring trainees who need to develop the size and appearance to fit a standard would benefit a lot from this exercise.  2. Skull Crusher Another isolation exercise to maximize the t...