Muscle Building?
by Craig on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | 3 Comments
I have been fairly out of shape for about 2 years. At my job, I sit at a desk all day and don’t really get an excerise to speak of. I have made it a goal of mine to start working out. I have a lot of flab on my arms, where my tri-cepts are, and my chest. I have alot of flab on my chest that I want to tone up but I’m not sure what work outs work that area. What are some good chest work outs that tone that area?
Butterflies are excellent chest exercises. If you can get on a bench that will incline and decline, you can adjust the height to work different areas of your pec muscles. For instance, raising the seat back will work your upper pecs..flat will work overall and declined will work the lower side of your pecs and lats. Low weights with high repetitions will tone your muscles rather than build. If you want to build, high weight with low reps. I want to be toned and not built, so I do 15lb butterflies @ 20 reps for 3 sets each. To burn fat, you need to get some aerobic exercise in and get your heartrate up for an extended time. Try starting with 30 minutes on an eliptical machine, working your way up to greater lengths of time. It’s low impact and won’t cause joint jarring; you can adjust your resistance. Once you learn to keep your balance on it, you can take your hands off the bar and move your arms as if you were running. This raises your aerobic workout benefits. Start slow on whatever you choose to do and work your way up.
A good tricep workout…standing with one knee on the bench, bend forward and brace yourself with that hand. Now, put your free elbow at your side, elbow bent with your hand toward the floor, bending only from the elbow, push your hand back (up toward the ceiling) and then back to the bent position. Remembering low weight/high rep tones…Try starting w/10 pounds.
Toning is done with aerobic exercise. Start running to burn off the fat. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t target a certain area for fat loss – fat is lost from all parts of the body as you work.
Muscle building comes with heavy weights.
- Chest : bench press/incline, pullups, chinups, pushups
- Triceps : Dips, throw back dumbbells while lying on stomach, throw up dumbbells from back while seated vertically
*muscle building is not for losing flab, only building mass
*a good frame comes with movement exercise (running, swimming, etc) AND muscle development
you need Cardio to get rid of the flab (Running is the best. THen you start out on the weights