Mark, Author at Body Building and Fitness News Blog

Medicine Ball Rotational Throw

Stretching and strengthening your External Oblique muscles tends to go against the traditional way in which you throw items. Normally, when throwing a medicine ball you would use your arms and your shoulders to create the power. However, the Medicine Ball Rotational Throw makes full use of your External Oblique muscles (situated either side of your abdominal muscles). There are two particular variations for this exercise. In the first instance, stand a relatively short distance away from a wall with

How Exercise Helps You Fight Stress, Anxiety, and other Mental Illnesses

Jennifer Carter, Ph.D., a sports and counseling psychologist at the Ohio Center for Balanced Living, suggested that in rehab for men, walking through a therapy session is the best way for the patients to calm down and open up. That’s not the only benefit, however. Carter further explained that strolling through the therapy session also brings numerous mental health benefits to psychotherapy patients. Unfortunately, though, psychology graduate training programs seldom teach their students how to utilize exercise to change a

The ultimate tips on how to boost your brain health

We learnt the basics of our brain functions when we were in the 5th grade and were highly fascinated by what we had just learnt. There are certain things that we still do not know, or may have forgotten about the most wonderful and incredible part of our body. The brain is the only organ in the body that can control cognition, motor skills, sensory skills, and every other bodily function. Without any questions being the smartest organ in the

Functional Fitness Transitioning from a Passionate Enthusiast Subculture to a Mainstream Lifestyle

With its dynamic nature, the fitness industry has been witnessing a revolutionary transformation on the back of development and inception of various trends with manufacturers vying for dais positions. That said, the speedily trending concept of functional fitness has witnessed significant momentum in recent years. The transition from being a passion for many to more of a mainstream activity, functional fitness has been hitting minds of several individuals, on the back of various health benefits it offers. With several years

Seated Barbell Shoulder Press

The Seated Barbell Shoulder Press is another great way to focus on developing your front deltoids and the fact that you are seated means the focus is wholly on upperbody strength and deltoid muscles. For this exercise you will need a barbell press station, which is effectively a padded seat next to the rack of weights. The starting position for the exercise is seated on the press station with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your lower back

Cable Front Raise

The Cable Front Raise is a very good exercise for developing your front deltoids which can be carried out using one arm at a time or using a double grip – both arms. When doing individual arms simply stand next to the cable machine with the machine set at the lowest point. Using a top grip where your fingers point downwards, simply lift your arm as it remains straight until you are level with your shoulders. Pause for a second

Cable Rear Delt Fly

While many people carry out various exercises to improve their deltoid muscles, there can be a tendency to ignore the rear deltoids. The Cable Rear Delt Fly is an exercise which focuses specifically on the rear deltoids. As the name suggest, this involves a weightlifting cable machine which you should set about shoulder height. The reason you set it at shoulder height is to ensure that the main focus is on the rear deltoids and not the traps or lats.

Cable Side Lateral Raise

As you might’ve noticed, many of the deltoid exercises incorporate cable machines found in your local gym. The Cable Side Lateral Raise is an extremely good way to place pressure on your shoulder muscles to develop and enhance them. So, the starting position is sideways on to the cable machine with the cable itself held in your left hand. Place your right hand on the cable machine and lean out as you pull the cable further away. It is important

Rope Face Pulls

This exercise is known as Rope Face Pulls and while it may sound a little gruesome, it is nowhere as difficult as it might sound. This is a perfect way to exercise your shoulders and in particular your deltoids. To carry out this exercise you will need a cable machine and a rope which goes through the cable machine handle – giving you two ends of rope to grab hold of and pull. The main body of the cable machine

Lateral Raises with Dumbbells

This exercise will improve the lateral deltoids and while fairly simple it will surprise many people to learn that this exercise is not always done in the correct manner. Known as the Lateral Raises with Dumbbells exercise you simply stand as normal with a dumbbell in each hand held via an over the top grip. It is essential that the dumbbells are not too heavy as you need to maintain straight arms when lifting both dumbbells at the same time.