Muffin Top. Saddle Bags. Love Handles. Flat Butt. Bye Bye Arms. Back Rolls. Thunder Thighs. We all have one or more problem areas that we wish would go away. Losing weight in general will just make us a smaller version of ourselves. So, unless we specifically target these muscles in our problem areas, they will always be there. There is no way other than muscle targeting that you can target a specific problem area. Spot reducing fat in one specific area is impossible. That is why we must lose fat in general by having a calorie deficit and then target specific problem areas by building the muscles. I particullary want to shape and tone my Triceps (goodbye, bye bye arms!), Obliques (not lovin' those love handles), Latissimus Dorsi (Rolls belong at the bakery, not my back!) and Adductors (wouldn't mind a "thigh gap"). I have provided a muscle chart below so you can relate to the muscles I just mentioned . Plus, you can pinpoint which muscles you need to work for your problem areas.
Image from
www.fitness4her.com
How do we know what exercises will help these muscles? It's called Muscle Targeting. I could already tell that some of the at home dumbbell training moves I am doing were targeting these problem areas. I can feel the muscles sore the next day and over the past few weeks I have seen the difference in those areas. There's a better way to know what exercises to do to target an area rather than gauging your soreness and guessing which exercise helped. BodyBuilding.com has an awesome muscle targeting chart to tell you exactly which exercises you need to do.
Click here to get to the chart. While this is a great chart, it definitely does not include all of the exercises possible to target that specific area. Some exercises may also require a gym machine which I personally don't have access to. In that case, just try googling things like " adductor exercises" or "adductor swiss ball exercises" . I have a swiss ball at home so I found an exercise using that rather than the adductor machine.
Below, I will show you the exercises that I am currently doing at home to target my problem areas:
Adductors:
Exercise: Adductor Squeeze
Latissimus Dorsi:
Exercise: Bent Over Dumbbell Row
Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.MQh90j4r.dpuf
Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
Obliques:
Exercise: Dumbbell Side Bends
Exercise : Russian Dumbbell Twist
I do this exercise with my 10 pound dumbells. It is tough! I do multiple sets of 20 and my heart rate gets up really fast. I love doing these because I can really feel it.
Triceps:
Exercise: Dumbbell Tricep Extensions
To perform a basic dumbbell triceps extension, hold a dumbbell in your
hand, extend your arm straight above your head, then bend your elbow so
the dumbbell is close to your ear
(your elbow pointed to the ceiling). Extend your arm, raising the
dumbbell up toward the ceiling. Repeat lowering and raising.
I use 10 pound dumbbells. It should be hard to do! I normally do 2 sets of 25. I may be moving up in weight soon.
These are some good muscle targeting exercises. However, I do many other exercises than these that also help these muslces and the surrounding muscles. I do squats for my quadraceps and my gluteus maximus. I do dumbell curls, dumbell flys and other exercises as well. I just wanted to show you a few that you could do if you are targeting the same areas as I am. I hope this helped!
Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.MQh90j4r.dpuf
Bent Over Row
Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.zvqEb2gW.dpuf
Bent Over Row
Start by standing with your back straight, your core braced and your shoulders pulled back.
Lean forward from the hips, not the waist. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart with your knees slightly bent holding the dumbbells just outside your knees.
Pull the weights up to your sternum allowing your wrists to turn naturally during the movement squeezing your sholder blades together at the top of the move.
Lower the dumbbells slowly back down.
- See more at: http://www.supplementwarehouse.co.uk/blog/exercises/whole-body-beginners-dumbbell-workout/#sthash.zvqEb2gW.dpuf
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