Strength exercises at home: how to strengthen each muscle group

Any action we take, getting out of bed, waiting for the bus, sitting down, reading while holding the book in our hands, having a cup of tea, painting a picture, going on an excursion… everything requires strength to a greater or lesser degree.

The main person in charge of reacting and transmitting forces is the locomotor apparatus. When we train it we can better relate to the environment.

Strength exercises: advantages of practicing them at any age

Most machines don’t get better with use. An old city bike doesn’t turn into a racing bike with 18 or 27 gears no matter how fast we put it; a pocket calculator, does not become a supercomputer no matter how many mathematical problems we solve with it.

The human body is different.The muscles are renewed every five years and if I dedicate myself to sports training, legions of novice cells are created and ensure the replacement. Without doping, the number of these cells can be perfectly doubled after prolonged efforts.

As scientists, doctors, and weightlifters all know, the more muscles are used, the stronger they become and that is not only applicable to a young body.

In 1990 a group of scientists from Tufts University (USA) showed that people of both sexes of ages between 86 and 96 years old, improved their strength and balance in 8 weeks supervised trainingregardless of how they had treated the body until reach that moment.

Since then other studies have shown that Training with weights or weight machines helps to restore the loss of bone density, reduces arthritis of the joints, including knees, and moderates insulin levels in diabetics.

Naturally, you don’t have to wait until you’re eighty to train with weights and improve your fitness. Actually best resultsalways for people who have never exercised before, They are obtained when we start practicing with weights from the age of thirty or forty.

What happens if the muscles are not used?

Disused muscles don’t stay the same lack of activity leads to wasting and atrophy.

Hard work does not wear them out, on the contrary, they become not only stronger, but bigger. It’s a surprising result, something that scientists don’t fully understand. Somehow muscle cells feel how they are used and they reshape themselves to better cope with the job.

This effect, as tested with astronauts, It only happens when we are in the gravitational orbitnot when we get out of it.

The body of all animals does hard work that goes unnoticed: it animates with the gravitational force.

The gravity is not only a force, it is also a signal, a sign that speaks to the body and tells it how to act. Communicates to our systems and devices how they should be to function more effectively.

It automatically provides the resistance force that keeps muscles and bones in shape.

In a zero-gravity environment, muscles atrophy because the body perceives that it doesn’t need them. Those of the hip and back, which are the most used to counteract gravity, can lose muscle mass at a rate of 5% per week. Losses in the bones go at a rate of 1% per month.

Why do strength exercises?

A babywhen you are awake move their limbs in the cradle, investigating the limits of his movement without knowing it. And when we give her the finger of one hand, she clings to it tightly. It’s his way of feeling the body.

That’s how we do it, even when we grow up, because the easiest way to feel the body is by force.

What has a positive part: when we finish a workout with weights we feel invigoratedcapable, full of confidence and with the most marked figure.

AND a refusalwhich can work against us by mistaking the effect for the cause: wanting to feel stamina, self-confidence, and ability through strength exercises alone, without realizing that with an excess of training we lose sensitivity, dexterity, expression, perception capacity and we are filled with strength, but brute.

It is what has given force a bad nameconsidering it in some circles as a lack of intellect and being associated with violence.

The ideal strength for an individual is the one that allows us to endure and move our own body, which will be useful to us in the face of any setback (for example, avoiding the impact of a fall, carrying the shopping bag or pushing a revolving door).

Therefore, beyond that controversial issue, If strength exercises are performed in moderation, they have great advantages:

They lighten the burdens of everyday life. A friend told me that she needs help to release the parking brake on the car every time her son or another man has taken it. Being able to move that brake is essential for her.Improve physical health and not only increase muscle strength but that of tendons and ligaments.improve flexibility of the joints.reduce fat and increases muscle mass.They lower blood pressure.produce positive changes in cholesterol.They improve glucose tolerance.They form and shape the figure of the body visibly. Even after the first day of training we can see how our muscles have grown and the flabby meat turns into tight muscle.

This last quality it becomes a danger, when the force is not at the service of an activity or health but of what can be seen. Who only has the measure of himself in what is seen and not in what is felt, ends up a slave to what seems to be and distances himself from what is.

The hard breakeven is found between being strong and being strongbetween feeling good and looking good. It is the harmonic point in which we know how to apply different degrees of strength depending on the activity we perform.

We can exert powerful force when we need it, but also have dexterity and know how to use fine mechanisms of the body: the ability to thread a thread in the needle to sew, fix a clockwork or write a letter.

have the sensitivity to adapt to the environment and knowing how to perceive our needs and those of our peers. No force can equal that of the perception and expression of feelings.

In this regard let us remember the words of Gandhi: “The most powerful force available to the world and the humblest is love.”

Two ways to measure excess weight training are breathing and voice.

When when performing an exercise or finishing it breath does not go through the diaphragm to the belly we must decrease the weight we use or the repetitions.

we will too when we have a hoarse or irritated voice (darkened) after training.

Golden rules when using weights in strength exercises at home

If you are over 35 years of age or have an injury or physical difficulty, consult a doctor before starting the program. Use suitable footwearespecially if you train standing up. Use weights that are in good clamping conditionsespecially if they are adjustable weights.keep your back straight when you lift the weights. Watch when you move them, leave or pick them up: it’s all part of the training.Begin by doing one set of 10 to 15 repetitions. of the exercise for each muscle. When you gain strength, do two or three batches resting one minute between exercises. Less repetitions and more weight, more muscle volume.Breathe out when you make the effort to lift the weight. Don’t breathe quickly: it will cause you to hyperventilate. Do not hold your breath when working with heavy weights: it can raise your blood pressure, make you dizzy and lose control over the weights.visualize internally the work that the muscles do while training with weights: increases the effectiveness of exercise and physical strength.Do not exercise the same muscles more than three times per week.Don’t try to lift more weight than you can.If you feel pain, immediately stop doing the exercise for a few weeks or try it with less weight. If it persists, see your doctor. From time to time visit a teacher to show him what you do and Avoid the vices of the practice.

How to optimize strength training sessions

Preheating. You start by warming up the body and never exercising directly with weights. For 5 or 10 minutes jump rope, run with or without displacement, do an athletic march.progressive rhythm. We start little by little and add rhythm, for example with music. At the end of the weight-bearing exercises, we walk, gradually slowing down, and when we notice that the pulse returns to normal, we stretch, ending with a relaxation exercise on the floor, feeling the weight of the body and breathing.To prevent injury and intensify and increase the benefits of strength and aerobic exercises, warm-up, cool-down, and relaxation are essential.

Strength exercises at home for each area of ​​the body

Triceps and shoulder extension

Open your legs wide and turn both feet to the right, slightly bending your right knee and leaning your torso towards it, resting your right elbow on your thigh. The left arm stays close to the body, straight, holding the weight at hip height. With the elbow fixed at the side, drop the forearm and the weight until they form a 90 degree angle and return to the starting position. You will have to work to keep your elbow close to your body. Perform one set of repetitions with each arm. Throughout the exercise keep your spine straight.

Work the biceps with the weights

Standing with your legs slightly bent, bend at the elbow and raise the dumbbell in your right hand, gradually turning the hand and dumbbell in the direction of the biceps. While he lowers his right arm, he raises his left, and vice versa. With this alternation he repeats the exercise. Focus on keeping your elbows fixed. You can also stick your back to a wall so you don’t move it.

Gain strength in the upper and middle back

Bend the trunk at the hip joint, forming a straight line with the trunk and head. Drop your arms with the weights, perpendicular to the ground. Raise your arms crosswise and lower them again. You can also bring the weights backwards or upwards, but always keep your back straight and push your abdomen towards it.

Exercise for strong thighs and buttocks

Standing with weights attached, arms slightly bent at the elbow and feet hip-width apart, take a long step forward and when foot is on the ground, allow knee to bend until thigh is parallel to the ground. Return to the starting position and perform the movement with the other foot. Repeat the process several times.

Strengthen chest, shoulders and arms

Lie on the floor with your feet more than pelvic-width apart. Support yourself on the palms of your hands and the balls of your feet to raise yourself up to stretch your arms. The back should be straight and in line with the legs and head: all three are…