Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘lunges’

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Weighted Bar

Posted by terrepruitt on January 20, 2011

Look what my parents bought me for Christmas.  Yup, I asked for dumbbells, but I did it at the last minute so then gave me cash instead—WAIT!  I just realized that.  Hmmm?  Maybe I’m onto something . . . .  Sorry, I digress.  Anyway . . .they gifted me more than plain dumbbells cost so I got a weighted bar too!  Yay!  I just got it and I can’t wait until my toe is  COMPLETELY  healed so I can really use the bar.

A weighted bar can be used in so many ways.  It can be used as you would use dumbbells.  You can use it for bicep curls, bent over rows, dead lifts, lunges, triceps extensions . . . . pretty much like dumbbells.  The length adds to the effort of   having to keep it stable.  So, I can use it now, sitting down, but since it does add an additional balance element to it,   I need to wait until my toe is healed (and I can actually balance my foot) before I start adding that extra weight.

One reason wanted this was so that I could do Good Mornings, because that is one exercise that needs a bar.  Holding the bar over your shoulders just makes more sense.

For now I am able to still do Nia in my classes, but I am limited until my toe heals.  I am not doing much with weights at the time being.  I am very excited to really get to work with my bar, though.  So stay tuned.

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Quadriceps

Posted by terrepruitt on February 20, 2010

I subbed a Nia class in another part of San Jose today and so I had a different group of participants, and the routine we did today has a lot of bows in it.  Watching the class do the bow stance made me think of how a bow is somewhat of a lunge. Reminded me how we really do work a lot of muscles in our Nia workouts with all of the different exercises we do.  The bow stance is one of Nia’s 52 Moves.

Did you know you Quadriceps are made up for four muscles?  Maybe, but since we always say, “quads” we might be thinking of them as one muscle.  Of course, when we stop to think about it we understand that “quad” means four so it makes sense that quadriceps is four muscles.

Basically they work together.  It is not as if you can work just one.  Our quads extend the leg and flex the thigh.   They move our thigh towards our chest and kick our foot out (as an example).  Quads would be included in a “Push” workout.    Lunges and squats target the quadriceps.

I am pretty sure you knew that the quadriceps were four muscles, but I thought I would just remind you.

Posted in Muscles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Core Muscles

Posted by terrepruitt on February 16, 2010

You can look up “core muscles” and find that different people include different muscles in the group considered the “core muscle group”.  But unless you are going to get that specific and train just one muscle in the group then you really don’t need to figure out which person is right.  It would serve you just as well to do a variety of exercises that strengthen your “core” and more than likely you are going to be working the various different sets that the different people are including in the “core muscle group”.  What can help is to think of the “core” not just as the abdominals.  That is very limiting.  If you think of the core as center from which you need to be strong and stable then you will possibly have a larger picture of what the core is and understand that it is more than just your abdominals.

You need a strong center to be stable and balanced while you are manipulating your limbs.  If you keep that in mind you might realize that it is the back of your body as well as the front AND extending further down your legs than you first might have realized.

Doing a variety of crunches and sit-ups, including V-sit-ups and side crunches, will work your abdominals.  Wood chops help with the entire trunk area.  Push-ups are great because they require you to keep your abs tight for a great workout of them.

Bridges (lying on the floor and pushing your pelvis up), work the lower back muscles as well as the hips and glutes.

Lunges are great because they work your quadriceps and glutes.  If you put some trunk twist into it with or without a weight you are adding another dimension to it and getting your trunk area.

Squats can help as they get the quads and glutes too.

Exercises that require you to balance yourself are going to help you with all those stabilizing muscles.  These will strengthen your “core” as well as keeping it trained and at the ready for you when you need them to stabilize you.

So, do you really need to know that in a squat you are using your multifidus and quadratus lumborum (among other muscles) or does it just help to know that if you do them you are strengthening muscles that will assist you in having a strong a stable core?  I believe it is good just to think about the “core muscles” as being the groups and groupings of muscles from the top of your chest down to your knees, front and back.

Posted in Core Muscles, Muscles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Hamstrings

Posted by terrepruitt on November 14, 2009

Not the string you use to tie up a pig or a ham, but the muscle group.  There are three muscles that make up the Hamstrings; the Semimembranosus, the Semitendinosus, and the Biceps Femoris.

These muscles flex the knee bringing your foot toward your buttocks, extend the thigh, and rotate the hip/leg.

I have been thinking about my hamstrings A LOT the past few days because of a recent workout where I did a few exercises that really worked my hamstrings.  There are a lot of gyms in San Jose but where my friend and I were is a tiny gym that does not have a lot of machines, but you don’t need machines to really work the back of the legs.

We did some deadlifts, hamstring curls, and worked with a kettlebell, not to mention our warm up lunges.  So, yes, I have been thinking about my hamstrings a bit.

I wanted to point out that the hamstrings are three different muscles and remind you of that.

Posted in Hamstrings, Muscles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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