Step 1: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and make a slight bend in your knees. This area tends to be underworked because people like to favor the biceps, and stronger forearm muscles help to stabilize the elbow joint, reducing the risk of injury-especially if you do activities outside the gym like golf or tennis. Hammer curls hit the brachioradialis, the main forearm muscle. Keep your abs braced like you’re about to take a punch to the gut, and squeeze your glutes. Technique tips: Don’t allow your lower back to sag toward the floor. Slowly lower until your chest is just above the floor to begin the next rep. Brace your core, squeeze your legs, and press your upper body off the floor until your elbows are completely extended. Step 2: Tuck your tailbone under so your pelvis is perpendicular to the ground. Flex your feet so your toes are on the ground and your heels are in the air. Place your hands under your body, about shoulder-width apart. Step 1: Lie on the floor on your stomach. If you want to make pushups more difficult, elevate your feet on a chair or bench. That will reduce the amount of bodyweight you have to lift. If they’re difficult for you, you can put your hands on a bench or a chair so your upper body is on an incline. I also like programming pushups for women because they are so easily scalable. You don’t need any equipment and it strengthens your entire upper body and core, and the closer together you place your hands, the more emphasis you place on the triceps. Pushup ExerciseĪs mentioned above, pressing/pushing of any kind will engage your triceps, but I like to use the pushup whenever possible, because it gives you so much bang for your workout buck. Choose a weight that’s challenging but allows you to perform smooth reps. Technique tips: Try not to move any part of your body other than your shoulders and elbows. Hold the end position (your upper back fully contracted) for a second and then return to the starting position. They should finish at your forehead or jaw. Step 3: Pull the handles toward your face. Step away from the machine so your arms are extended and take a staggered stance. Step 2: Hold the handles in each hand with your thumbs facing each other. If you don’t have a cable station, attach a band to a sturdy object instead. You can use a rope attachment or two single-grip handles. Step 1: Set the pulley on a cable machine to eye level or above. The face pull focuses on the rear delts and upper back, improving posture so that your shoulders, arms, and chest all look more prominent. The deltoid muscle has three heads-front, middle, and rear-and most shoulder exercises hit the front and middle while the rear delt (on the back of the shoulder) gets neglected. Many people fail to train all the parts of the shoulders evenly, and that can lead to imbalances that cause injury. Don’t allow the dumbbells to float away from your body at the top of the movement. Squeeze your butt as you press and think about keeping your ribs pulled down and core tight. Technique Tips: You may feel yourself arching your back to get the weights up. Keep everything engaged through the entire set. As you bring the weights down, don’t relax.
Step 3: Slowly bring the weights back down to collarbone level. At the top, ensure you’re completely locked out by bringing your head through so your ears are next to your elbows. Step 2: Engage your core and use your shoulders to press the weight over your head. Bring the dumbbells to collarbone height, with your elbows in front of your body, palms facing forward. Step 1: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with a slight bend in your knees. You can throw them into any upper-body workout, or use them to start off an arm day.
If you don’t already have a day dedicated to shoulder training, or do a few shoulder exercises during the week, add shoulder presses into the mix. When you do them standing, your core also gets activated. An overhead press activates muscle at the shoulder joints and the elbows, so it works the triceps as well as the deltoids, and lets you handle heavier weights-another factor in recruiting more overall muscle. Plus, shoulder work contributes greatly to overall upper-body strength.īecause it’s a compound movement, a dumbbell shoulder press works a lot more muscle than just curls or extensions alone. Having round, smooth caps on top of your toned arms gives the entire arm a more complete look. When a woman sees another lady with great arms, what she notices first are her shoulders.