An effective workout routine is built on a few solid exercises, according to celebrity trainer, Harley Pasternak. Pasternak, who has trained celebrities like Rihanna, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Halle Berry, and Jessica Simpson, said that having a few exercises in your routine that target multiple muscle groups are essential to a great exercise regiment. Pasternak told Insider that exercises, like “the Harley” and the dumbbell stiff-leg deadlift target muscles on the back of the body that are often overlooked in strength training and can help improve posture.
Pasternak, who is the author of The Body Reset Diet , said that he named an exercise after himself that targets the upper and lower body at the same time. To perform “the Harley,” lie on your back with your feet on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and hips in the air. Your arms should be extended out in front of you with dumbbells in each hand.
Hinge at your elbows to bring the dumbbells to either side of your head, he said, while simultaneously lowering your hips to the ground before driving everything up again. He said this move is a combination of an aligned hip thrust and an aligned dumbbell tricep extension, meaning it targets the glutes and triceps at the same time, saving you time in your workouts. Lying on your back also keeps your heart rate low, he said, allowing you to do more repetitions without getting tired.
Pasternak said that muscles on the back of our body, like the triceps, glutes, and back muscles, are often underutilized in our daily activities, as well as in strength training. He said under working these back muscles can often lead to rounded shoulders and bad posture, which can be worsened by over-exercising muscles like the chest and biceps. Weak back muscles also make it more likely for you to get injured, Pasternak said.
The single-arm dumbbell row mainly targets the upper back muscles, he said, and is performed using a bench. To perform the movement, place your left knee and left hand on an exercise bench. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and extend it towards the ground.
Contract your back towards your spine as you draw your elbow towards the ceiling, and then back towards the ground. Repeat the same thing on the other side of the body, he said. The dumbbell stiff-leg deadlift is a move that targets your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles, Pasternak said.
Stand feet shoulder-width apart with dumbbells in each hand in front of your thighs. Keep your chest and head up, as you move your hips backwards, and bring the weights towards your feet until you’re unable to. Then, contract your glutes and hamstrings to bring your hips forward and stand straight up, he said.
Pasternak said this is another great exercise for posture, because it targets muscles on the back of your body in one continuous movement. He said it can also be combined with the dumbbell row into one exercise. While reaching down for the deadlift, he said to perform a row with both arms before coming back up again.
To perform the dumbbell curl press, Pasternak said to hold your dumbbells at your side with your palms facing each other and curl from the elbow to bring them to your shoulder. You then drive the dumbbells up to the ceiling and bring them back down, he said. This move targets both the bicep as well as the top of the shoulders, Pasternak said.
“Just from daily function, we tend to do a lot of things like grabbing and pulling, whether it be opening a door or picking up groceries. We don’t do a lot of overhead stuff every day, but, from an aesthetic perspective, it’s a short sleeve shirt kind of exercise,” he said. Pasternak said the lateral lunge exercise targets the glutes, quads, and inner thighs.
Stand feet shoulder-width apart with a dumbbell in your right hand. Step to the left with your left leg and slowly bend your left knee, bringing your dumbbell down towards the inside of your left heel and back up again. Repeat this with your right leg and dumbbell in your left hand, he said.
Strengthening these lower body muscles is important, he said, because they are our physical foundation and carry most of our muscle mass. .
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/build-muscle-exercises-everyone-should-have-in-routine-celebrity-trainer-advice
