There are many muscles in our body, and the small ones mean no less than the ones you use to push, pull, and squat. You are approaching imbalances and injuries by not paying attention to the smaller muscle groups.
The exercises below will help you strengthen them and develop joint mobility.
Moreover, they will suit absolutely everyone: both experienced power sports athletes and beginners, and even those who do not play sports at all, but want to reduce the risk of injuries in everyday life, improve posture and make their body flexible and healthy.
You can do all these exercises separately on different days or do them together in one workout. Repeat each of them 1-2 times a week. For weight-bearing exercises, gradually increase the working weight, and for bodyweight movements, increase the difficulty or number of reps per set.
1. Buttock L-bridge
Most often, in the gym and in everyday life, the hips move back and forth. For example, during walking, running, squats, lunges. Movements in the front plane - from side to side - are much less common. As a result, the muscles responsible for abducting and adducting the legs are less developed than those that flex and extend them.
The gluteal L-bridge is aimed at working out the middle muscles of the buttocks, which are responsible for moving the leg to the side. Strengthening these muscles will help you increase your performance in squats, deadlifts, and lunges, and will take some of the load off your lower back.
In addition, the exercise will show if you have hip mobility issues and help increase your range of motion.
- Lie on the floor on your back, bend your legs and place your feet, put your hands with palms down.
- Tear the pelvis off the floor and lift it as high as possible, straining the buttocks at the top point.
- Lift one leg off the floor, bend it at the knee at a right angle and pull the knee closer to the body.
- Keeping the tension of the gluteal muscles, move the raised thigh to the side, as if you are going to put it on the floor. Hold for a second, return to the starting position and repeat.
- Try to keep the pelvis in place, do not allow it to twist and tilt.
- Make the movement slowly and under control, keep the tension of the gluteal muscles.
- Do three sets of six reps for each leg.
2. Lifting in the side bar with legs on the elevation
People like to do crunches and stand in a classic plank in an attempt to pump up nice cubes. At the same time, the oblique muscles of the abdomen are often overlooked. Moreover, girls are afraid to make body turns so as not to spoil their waist.
However, this is an important part of the muscle corset, which stabilizes the body in various exercises.
Lifting in the side plank works well on the oblique muscles of the abdomen, and also strengthens the inner part of the thigh, which will have a positive effect on your scales in the squat.
- Find a low support, lie on your side and place one hand on your forearm.
- Put the upper leg on the support, slightly bending it at the knee. Straighten the lower leg.
- Leaning on your elbow, rise into a side plank and connect your legs.
- Drop back down and repeat.
- Do three sets of 10 times on each side.
3. Reverse bar on two benches
Strength training often neglects the small muscles of the neck and upper back, so despite heavy deadlifts and weighted pull-ups, people end up injuring themselves in everyday life from simple movements or suffering from neck and shoulder pain .
This exercise will help strengthen the neck flexors, the rhomboid muscles that lie under the trapezius, the small rear deltoids, the middle part of the trapezius, and the teres minor, part of the rotator cuff of the shoulder.
- Place two benches or two chairs (if you do it at home) shoulder width apart.
- Sit on the floor between the benches, put your shoulders on them so that the edges are under your armpits.
- Raise the pelvis so that the body is stretched in one line from the knees to the top.
- Pull your neck up, press your elbows on the benches so that your chest comes forward.
- Keep your hips high, don't let your pelvis sag.
- Hold this position for 15 seconds, then rest for a minute and repeat two more times.
To increase the load, move the benches a few centimeters further apart. Even a small change will make the exercise much more difficult.
4. Traction on the block with lifting hands
This exercise also helps work weak back and neck muscles, improves posture, and strengthens the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder for joint stability in various exercises.
- Sit on a low support or get down on one knee in front of a block machine and grab a rope handle. Straighten your back, hold the handle in your outstretched hands. If you are working out at home, you can take a band expander and hook it to something low off the floor.
- Pull the handle up to eye level while spreading the ropes to the side.
- Raise your arms to full elbow extension, then lower them back down and repeat.
- Keep your elbows wide and maintain a neutral back position: do not slouch or bend at the waist.
- Lower your shoulders, do not pull them up to your ears.
- Perform the movement slowly and under control.
- Do three sets of five times with 1-2 minutes of rest in between.
5. Rolling the medicine ball on the back
Strength exercises for the upper body often lead to the fact that the shoulders are fixed: the muscles become stiff and clogged, so you can't even just put your hands behind your head. A lack of shoulder mobility will prevent you from doing many exercises, such as deadlifts, kettlebell squats, and medball throws.
In addition, an imbalance in the body increases the risk of inflammation and pain.
Rolling a medicine ball will help stretch stiff and strengthen weak muscles that are left unstressed in most strength exercises.
- Lie on your stomach and take a medicine ball in your hands. To begin with, a light projectile is suitable (from 1 to 5 kg, depending on your level of training).
- Hold the medicine ball in bent arms next to your head, elbows wider to the sides.
- At the same time, lift your legs and arms off the floor with the medicine ball and place the ball on your upper back. Take a short pause and return to the starting position.
- Keep your chin tucked in and your neck straight. The neck can automatically stretch forward, towards the floor. This is a compensatory movement that should be avoided.
- Keep your elbows wide at all times. If you do bicep curls instead, you won't get any benefit.
- Perform three sets of 10 times with 1-2 minutes of rest between them.
6. Transferring the disk (pancake) from hand to hand
This exercise will also help you develop shoulder mobility and free movement.
- Lie on the floor on your stomach, take a small pancake weighing 1.25 kg or a bottle of water. Extend the arms with the disc forward.
- At the same time, raise your legs and arms, bring your right hand with the disk behind your back in a circular motion, and transfer the projectile to your left hand.
- In the same circular motion, return the left hand with the disc to the starting position and repeat.
- Do not lower your feet to the floor until the end of the approach.
- Do 8 times on one side, rest 1-2 minutes and repeat on the other side.
- Do 2-3 sets.
