The GYM Workout (3)

■ Chest

Range-Limited Bench Press:  Lie on the flat bench with a rolled towel across your chest.  Grip a barbell so your upper arms are parallel to the floor and your forearms are not quite perpendicular to it.  Plant your feet squarely on the floor and tighten your abdominal muscles.  Lift the bar off the stanchions, then slowly lower it towards your chest.  As soon as you feel the bar lightly touch the towel. Push the weight up until your arms are almost fully extended.  Repeat.

■ Buttocks, quadriceps, hamstrings

Wide-Stance Leg Press:  Lie on your back in the leg-press machine with your feet slightly more than hip-width apart and your toes and knees angled outward about 45 degrees.  Bend your knees and lower the weight until your thigh are almost parallel with the foot platform.  Now use your heels to lift the weight.  Push upward until your knees are almost straight.  Once you reach the top of the movement, bend your knees again and lower to the starting position.

■ Back

Front Pull-Down:  Grip the pull-down bar so your hands are slightly more than shoulder-width apart.  Sit, wedging the center of your thighs snugly under the leg pads.  In a fluids, even motion, pull the bar down past your face until it reaches the top of your chest, and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull.  Hold for a moment, then allow the weight to slowly pull your arms up. - Liz Neporent   

Jump-Start your workout

A full-body dumbbell program for summer-sport muscles

Like combat training and diet soda, sport-specific weight lifting should simulate the real thing.  Using dumbbells instead of a barbell lets you do exercise that mimic the jumping motion you use in sports like basketball, volleyball, and tennis.  Try a full-body dumbbell workout.  You can hit every major muscle in your body without leaving your garage. (Warning:  Don’t do these if you have back or knee problems.)

One Arm Dumbbell Snatch

With your right hand, grab a dumbbell that’s half the weight you usually use for a dumbbell shoulder press (you’ll probably start with 15 to 25 pounds).  Keeping your back slightly arched and your right arm straight, stand with your feel shoulder-width apart and behind your legs until the dumbbell is hanging between your knees [A].  press your feet into the floor and jump.  When your feet leave the floor, shrug your shoulders [B] while keeping your right arm straight.  Use your momentum and bend your elbow [C] to lift the dumbbell in a straight line over your head, then land with your knees bent [D].  Lower the dumbbell back to its starting position and repeat.  Do three sets of two to six repetitions with each arm.

 

Trimming Tools

Keep your muscles awake with this fat-burning program.  Do four sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise.  Rest 60 seconds between sets, 3 minutes between exercises, and a day between workouts.  Do this routine 3 days a week.  It will take you only 15-minute workout.

1.  Uneven-step squat

Day 1:  stand with a barbell resting on your trapezius, with your left foot on an exercise strip and your right foot to the right of the step.  Lower your body until your right thigh is parallel to the floor.  Pause, then return to the starting position.  Do one set this way, then switch sides.  Day 2:  same as Day 1, but explode upward so that the foot off the step leaves the floor.  Day 3:  same as Day 2, but move from one side of the step to the other—moving one foot from the step to the floor and back.

2.  Walking jerk lunge

Day 1:  stand holding an EZ-curl bar overhead.  Step forward with your left leg so that it’s thigh is parallel to the floor and your knee is over (not past) your toes.  Bring your right leg even with you left, then repeat the lunge with your right leg.  Alternate legs until you complete the set.  Day 2:  same as Day 1, but hold the bar at your collarbone and press it up as you lunge forward.  Lower it as you bring your feet together.  Day 3:  raise the dumbbells (held with palms facing you)  out to your sides as you lunge;  lower them as you step together.

3.  Baseball swing

Day 1:  stand holding a 5-pound plate or dumbbell with both hands, your arms in front of you at chest level.  Swivel your torso to the right as far as you can, then to your left as far as you can.  Continue this movement for 10 seconds, then increase your speed for 20 seconds.  Day 2:  same as Day 1, but move the weight in a sideways figure-eight motion.  Day 3:  Same as Day 2, but sit on the floor with your legs bent and feel flat, and lean back from the hips at a 45-degree angel.