Fitness, The Key To Happiness | Teen Ink

Fitness, The Key To Happiness

April 8, 2014
By vinny8 BRONZE, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
vinny8 BRONZE, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Being exceptionally fit is being muscular but it is very rare in today's society. Many people do not fit into the exceptionally fit category due to many reasons. Lack of motivation to be healthy is a major reason, others may be very motivated, but do not use the right techniques to gain muscle mass to become fit. There are many ways to work all of your upper body in order to get people to look at you and immediately think, wow.

Working your chest muscles is quite easy. Many people use a bench press in order to help themselves to gain strength and size, but this may lead to plateaus over time. According to Alex Savva, a writer for the world leading muscle growth site, bodybuilding.com, working out on a bench press is a very good exercise to a certain degree. It is a mainstream exercise. A good alternative to this is doing an 180-Degree Twisting Dumbbell Bench Press. This exercise is done by doing a normal dumbbell press with a 180 degree turn while elevating, and turning back while declining. This increases the Pectoralis Majors work capability, causing an increase in muscle size and strength.

Another major muscle group that is important to exercise is the back.The back is made up of many muscles that are all equally important to train. The lat pulldown machine is a very useful resource to help train the lats. To do the lat pulldown, you first set the amount of resilience weight you would like to use, next you would take the pulldown bar and hold it with a wide grip. This wide grip helps focus the exercise on your lats. Lean back slightly, and pull the bar to your chest. While doing this be sure to pinch your back together. According to muscle and strength magazine if you lean back too far you will not get any benefit from the exercise. Doing the lat pulldown will enhance your strength in the lats.

The arms are equally as important as the other two muscle groups. Arms are trained in nearly every exercise possible while working the upper body. Biceps and Triceps are just a couple of major muscles that make up the arm.To train the biceps, many people use dumbbells to curl. To curl, take dumbbells, and hold them by your side, next raise the dumbbells until your forearm touches your chest. When this happens, slowly bring the dumbbell back to the starting position. To work the triceps, a common exercise is the tricep extension. This is basically a reverse curl, except in the tricep extension, you lean forward, and while doing this make sure that your upper arm is level to the ground. Raise the lower arm up until it is also level with the ground. If you are doing this right, the workout world says the arms should feel swollen, tight and exhausted. This is a great exercise that many bodybuilders use in order to gain strength.

If there is one rule about being fit, it is to never skip leg day. Many people underestimate the importance of leg day. The legs are made up of 13 muscles. These muscles are very important to train, if they are not trained properly the body will not be proportionate. Training the legs can help in speed and power. Some of the major leg muscles are the quadriceps and the calves. To work the quadriceps, simply take a seat at the quadriceps machine, (it looks like a chair with a bar) push up with your legs, and go to town. Lift the lower leg up with any amount if resistance you may need. By doing this you are compressing and contracting your quadriceps with each repetition. To ensure that the muscles in the leg will not be pulled or strained, make sure to stretch the legs before you work them. To stretch your quadriceps simply stand on one leg and pull the other leg up so that the foot touches the glutes. Working the calves is just as easy if not easier than working the quadriceps. A great exercise for working the calves is called calve raises. To do this go to a smith machine, hold onto the bar, and simply push up with your toes until you are in the standardized tippy-toe position. This will work the calves very efficiently.

With proper nutrition and a steady workout schedule, everyone can be fit. All it takes is a little motivation. If the whole world stuck to a workout plan, after a couple months of elbow grease the population of the world will be on the verge of a healthy lifestyle. This would bring confidence and happiness to the people of the beautiful planet we call Earth. When we are healthy,we are happy.

"Arm Workouts." – Tricep, Bicep & Forearm Workouts. Workout Box. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Savva, Mark. "5 Must-Do Chest Exercises." Bodybuilding.com. N.p., 26 Sept. 2013. Web.
06 Apr. 2014.
"Lat Pull Down Video Guide." Muscle & Strength. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.



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