alt

Photo edited via canva

What's good Hive!

It's Monday and some of us would are definitely caught up from the Joy of the weekend making defining Monday as 'Monday Blues'. Of course it's the start of the week and we should put some energy to it so we can last the whole week ahead of us!

From my last week’s post, I talked about the basic fundamentals of working out and if you body-weight exercise. These workouts can help you jumpstart your fitness routine, establish your strength, increase your energy and can activate your muscles very well, moving forward to the next, is similar but more advanced.

Today I’ll be sharing to you guys some of the best Weight lifting exercises that you can do to gain more muscle and gain more strength!

When you decide to start and apply for a gym membership, know that there are two types of exercises that you can do Compound and Isolation Exercises.

Compound Exercises are workout routine that can target 2 or more muscle group at the same time performing a single exercise, and on the other hand Isolation Exercises, are workout routine targets a specific muscle group with different exercises.
To see an example:Compound exercise - Barbell Squats, uses different muscle groups on your Leg and lower body but also engages and affects glutes, core muscle and lower back.

Isolation exercise - Bicep Preacher curl, is just one single plane movement which only focuses entirely on your Bicep.

Compound Exercises for Starters

If you do an Endurance sports such as Basketball, Boxing, Triathlon, etc. I would highly recommend doing some Compound exercise on your off day when you’re not doing the sports. Why? Such sports above, uses almost all muscle groups almost all at the same time, and as I’ve send above, doing Compound exercises, uses different muscles all at the same time as well, this means during your off-day from those sports, you're stressing them out by strengthening them, this will help you increase your over all performance, prevents you from injury and will definitely establish your Strength!

First things first, I’m one of those gym enthusiast who would prioritize safety and injure prevention, most of the time before doing any of these exercises make you of the following:

When it is your first time to do a specific exercise, ALWAYS start by trying it out with no weights and just the bar and try and perform the exercise slowly.
Remember for every specific exercise, you should keep in mind the proper form especially when lifting with heavy weights, Always protect your spine by keeping your back straight, You can do this by “Chest Out, Butt Out”, and this is not an exaggeration, if you try and do this you would not this that you would be straightening your back and you will engage more to the specific muscle group, and maintain that form as much as possible.
Remember all workouts are Push/Pull, Proper breathing exercise is also needed. Inhale when the you’re about to feel the pressure, Exhale as you relax.
Never lock your joint. One mistake that can result to injury is locking in your joint as you’re holding a rep, suggestion, reduce the amount of flexion as to not aggravate your joints.
Never Ego-lift, this means if it’s too heavy don’t force it, start from the 40% weight of your own weight, if it’s too heavy go for 30%, and gradually increase the weights per sets. Trust the process, Always remember Haste makes Waste.

Now moving forward, here is the list of Compound Exercise that can help you Increase your Strength and your overall performance:

Benchpress

alt

Photo by Michael DeMoya on Unsplash

Engaging Muscle Group: Chest, Anterior Deltoids,Triceps

How to:

Lie down on your back, finding you hands position slightly wider than your shoulders.
Arch your lower back to get a neutral spine position.
Make sure you fully grip on the bars and wrap around your thumb on the bar.
Inhale as you pull down the bar on the middle of your chest
Exhale as you push the bar upward.
Try and not to lock on your Elbows on this exercise and leave an ample room for extension.

Do 10/12 repetition x 4/3 sets, and gradually increase weights as you progress.

Dips

alt Photo by Gordon Cowie on Unsplash

Engaging Muscle Group: Chest, Anterior Deltoids, Triceps, Core

How to:

Position yourself with your hands aligned under your shoulder
hold the bars, close the wrist with full grip, make sure you're engaged with your wrist
Keep your forearm at a vertical angle as you ascend and descend.
Exhale as you descend, make sure your elbow is at 45 degree angle, inhale as you ascend and it is okay to lock in your shoulders before going back down.

This is one of the hardest to master even for me, try and do 5-6 repetition x 3 sets and increase your reps as you progress.

Barbell Deadlift

alt

Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

Engaging Muscle Group:Thighs, Hamstring, Lower back, Traps, Forearm, Core

How to:

Place your thumb on the out most part of your thigh aligning to the bar and find the most comfortable position.
Make sure your chest is outwards and butt outward engaging on your back and core muscle
Inhale as you Raise the bar to a standing position, while squeezing inward your glutes.
Exhale As you descend, your knees slightly bend inwards, with a straight arms downward, and straight back.

Do 10/12 repetition x 4/3 sets, and gradually increase weights as you progress.

Barbell Bentover Rows

alt

Photo by gymguider.com

Engaging Muscle Group: Lats; Traps; Rhomboids; Lower Back, Core
How to:

First, find your bent position where your Popping your chest outward engaging to straighten your back, your knees slightly bent forward.
Back at 30-45 degrees position
your arms should be straightly aligned to your shoulder
Fully Grip the bar, engaging your wrist.
Inhale as you Pull the bar towards your torso, and exhale as you slowly put it back down.

Do 10/12 repetition x 4/3 sets, and gradually increase weights as you progress.

Pull ups

alt Photo by Gordon Cowie on Unsplash

Engaging Muscle Group: Lats; Traps; Rhomboids, Bicep, Core

How to:

Position yourself with an overhand grip to the bar slightly wider with a full range of motion
For Beginners, I suggest do the Hold Position, where you are just hanging to the bar, and practice to pull your full weight using your should muscle and lats. do this 30-45 seconds with 3 sets and until gradually increasing your strength where you can pull your self up.
Once you are able to pull your self up, chest inward, using your arms and back muscle. you can further do the hold position until you gain more strength.
Inhale as you pull your self up, and Exhale as you pull yourself down.

Do 6-8 repetition x 3 sets, and gradually increase your reps as you progress.

Military Press

alt

Photo by musqle.com

Engaging Muscle Groups: Anterior Deltoids; Upper Pectorals; Triceps, Lower back, Core

How to:

First establish the mid point between you and the bar on the rack position on your mid chest as the starting point.
Hold the bar slightly wider than your shoulder, you should find the comfortable position
As you hold the bar, removing from the rack, raising the bar upward
Make sure to secure a straight back position and engaging to you core muscle as well and maintain position until the exercise is done.
You can either square up your feet or close together as long as you get a hold of your base muscle, or on a sitting position with your back lying on the back rest.
Inhale as you the bar goes down up to your chin level, Exhale as you push the bar upwards.

Do 10/12 repetition x 4/3 sets, and gradually increase weights as you progress.

Barbell Squats

alt

Photo by Sven Mieke on unsplash

Engaging Muscle Group Thighs: Hamstrings; Lower Back; Traps, Forearms, Core

How to:

First, Find the middle point between you and the barbell.
Go under the barbell to pick it up from the rack, making it rest on your rear shoulder muscle.
Once you have securely set it in place, raise your body and take two steps backwards, standing position, two feet pointing 70 degrees outward, legs spread roughly at the same level of your shoulders.
Make sure you’re very well engaged with your spine, remember “chest out, butt out”, Inhale as you descend to as if you’re going to sit on a chair.
Try to do the full range of motion, exhaling as you starting to ascend.

Do
10/12 repetition x 4/3 sets, and gradually increase weights as you progress.

And so that ends my workout post for the day, and it's time for you to practice them well, always keep a proper form, never haste your strength and body building, never injure yourself and always try to eat better. Stay #alive and #thrive!

Cheers!

Tag someone you want to encourage to do Workout with you! 🤗

Did you miss some of my fitness post? I gotchu! You can revisit it here! Enjoy! 👇

Body Weight Exercises That You Can Do Almost Everywhere | Home Workout Routine

Actifit Report - Workout: Chest Day Saturday!

Manpo-Kei - 10,000 Steps a day Marketing Strategy

Fitness: Promoting a New Lifestyle to Create a Better Self

And before I go, I have reached my #Actifit 10K daily activity today, I did some Walking, Compound Exercises: Barbell Squats, Bentover Row, Pullups, Dips!

ACTIFIT

@actifit, is a social cross-chain platform initially relied on Steem blockchain and expanded to the new fork Hive blockchain, Actifit App Let's you monitor and track your daily fitness activity, it's a #move2earn platform that rewards you every step of the way! You can download the mobile app on Andriod and IOS sign up here!
#movetoearn #aliveandthriving #alivesocial

Follow me


	Hi! This is sensiblecast / mebu (on discord). If you have reached this point that means you've read my post! and for that, THANK YOU! Feel free to comment down below for any suggestion or reaction, or anything you want me to discuss! 🙂 This will help me create better content than the previous one. Til next time see yalls!