Don't Turn To Bodybuilding To Lose Weight Article Ii

Fact is, if you start a sound weight training program you will lose unwanted fat and gain wanted muscle.

Staying motivated is probably the most difficult part of the program. If you have never praticed Yoga or meditation, you should by all means start. There's tons of information on the Internet concerning these subjects.

In my last article, "Dont't turn to bodybuilding to lose weight", I said I would continue with some warm-up routines. If you haven't had a chance to review this article, please do, it's the beginning of my program. So here is some more warm-up routines.

(1) Shoulder Stretch: Grasp the ends of a towel and stand erect with your arms straight and the towel resting across your upper thighs. Slowly move your hands upward and to the rear, "dislocating" your shoulders and allowing the towel to come to rest across the backs of your thighs. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement 5-8 times.

(2) Head Circles: Stand erect with your feet set shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips. Relax your neck and drop your head forward to your chest. Move your head to the right in a circle to the side, back, left side, and again to the front. Continue this circular movement for 3-5 repetitions. Reverse and do the same number of reps in the opposite direction.

(3) Calf Stretch: Stand about two feet away from a wall facing toward the wall. Place your feet about shoulder-width apart, keep your torso and legs in one straight line, and reach forward to place your hands on the wall at shoulder-height and shoulder-width apart. Try to move your heels toward the floor to stretch your calves. If you can comfortably place your heels on the floor in this position, you should move your feet about 6-8 inches more away from the wall. Hold this stretched position for 30-60 seconds.

After you have completly warmed up using the warm-up exercises in my last article and these three above, you are ready to begin your weight training program.

We'll Start with the Biceps: There are two muscle groups on the front of the upper- arm, the biceps and brachialis. The brachialis lies beneath the biceps and triceps, and is most easily seen as a band of muscle lying between the biceps and triceps in a side and back arm veiw.
Standing Barbell Curl
You will put emphasis on the following: it stresses the bicep muscles and also places significant stress on the powerful flexor muscles on the inner sides of the forarms.

Starting position: Take a shoulder-width under-grip on a moderately weighted barbell, with your feet set about shoulder-width apart, stand erect with your arms hanging straight down at your sides and the barbell resting against your upper thighs. Press your upper arms against the sides of your torso and hold them in this position throughout the movement. Moving only your forarms, use biceps strenth to move the barbell from the starting position across your upper thighs in a semicircular arc to a point just beneath your chin. For the first part of the movement you should keep your wrists straight, and at the finish of the movement, you can flex your wrist. This will put strain on your forarms, which is a good thing. Lower the weight slowly back the the starting point and repeat the movement. Perform this movement for 6-10 reps. Tip: If you have trouble with your body moving back and forth, try standing with your back against a wall. There are about 30 variations of bicep exercises. I'll cover some of these in up-comming articles.

Note: I will cover Chest, Back, Legs, and a lot of Tips in my next article Nr III, be sure and watch for this one, to continue your fitness program on losing weight.