There’s no shortage of exercises you can do to target any muscle you want to work. Just turn to Google and you’ll find lists of腹肌的最佳动作and videos of morelunge variationsthan you knew existed and don’t forget all the Instagram stars posting challenges for you to try.
It’s not bad to have options … but all of these exercises can make it seem like the only way to work out is to do complex moves that have you flipping upside down, hanging from one leg, holding a kettlebell and doing a fusion yoga-boxing-cycling maneuver.
It doesn’t need to be — and it shouldn’t be! — so complicated.
“The more complicated an exercise, often the less muscle engagement you have, and that decreases the effectiveness,” says Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and author of “Beat the Gym.”
When we favor these moves, we tend to forget about “old-school” exercises like the pushup or squat, which have been standards for years because they work.
荷兰说：“简单的东西有效 - 但是您需要正确地做到这一点。”“仅仅因为它们很简单，并不意味着您不必专注于肌肉。”
Try these five underrated exercises that are more effective than we tend to think. You may be surprised at how hard they are when you perform them properly.
1. SQUATS
“The squat is a functional movement,” says exercise physiologist Fabio Comana, a faculty instructor for theNational Academy of Sports Medicine. “We do it all day,” he says. Think about picking up your kids or lifting heavy groceries, sitting in a chair and standing up or hovering over a public toilet. They’re all squats.
Since we squat so often in daily life, we should squat at the gym, too. Plus, contrary to what you think, squats strengthen the muscles aroundyour knees and lower back.
Nail it:Start off with your bodyweight until you perfect your form, then add weight. In both cases, follow Comana’s instructions:
- Engage your abs, which will stabilize your low back and help prevent back pain.
- 把你的屁股,先要在臀部,then bend your knees to lower toward the floor. Allow your knees to travel forward. It’s OK if they move past your toes, but don’t go too far — your torso and lower leg should be parallel.
- Lower as far as you can without compromising this alignment, making sure the arches of your feet don’t collapse inward.
2. PUSHUPS
“Pushups have all the criteria of an amazing exercise,” Holland says. “You can do them anywhere, anytime, you can modify them in infinite ways, they work for everyone from beginner to advanced, they work multiple muscle groups at the same time and they’re super effective.”
似乎还不够，荷兰补充说，许多人倾向于关注他们可以举起多少，但是在练习的负（降低）部分期间，他们倾向于使用重力和动力，而不是控制运动。俯卧撑迫使您移动更慢，有助于建立更多的力量。
Nail it:To get all the bang out of your pushup buck, there are a few key things Holland recommends:
- Go slowly to maximize your muscle engagement. He lowers on a count of 3 or 4, then presses back up on a count of 1 or 2.
- Perform pushups, not pulses. Rather than banging out tons of reps where you only lower and raise an inch or two, focus on getting a good range of motion. Start at the top with your elbows almost locked and lower until your chest is about an inch or two away from the ground. Then push back up.Thatis a real pushup.
- Knee pushups count and they help increase that range of motion. Once you can do 10 good knee pushups, try doing one or two regular pushups. Keep adding more as you gain strength, and soon you’ll be able to do a set of 10.
3. GLUTE BRIDGES
If you stopped doing glute bridges because you don’t feel them in your glutes but rather in your hamstrings, low back or front of your thighs — you’re not doing them correctly. That’s no reason to abandon this exercise because, when performed with good form, it’s an effective way to build a stronger butt.
“Glute bridges are to the lower body what pushups are to the upper body — an essential strengthening movement,” saysJonathan Ross, author of “Abs Revealed,” and creator of Funtensity. “They teach the body to move with your booty as the ‘boss’ of all lower-body movements.”
Nail it:罗斯建议将自己从垫子上剥落，而不是一次抬起所有东西。他通过将桥分为四个步骤而与客户获得了成功：
- Tilt your hips to eliminate the space between your low back and the mat.
- Then, lift just your butt cheeks off the mat — do not lift your back yet!
- Now lift your lower back.
- Lastly, lift the middle of your back off the mat, which puts you at the top of the glute bridge.
- Return to the starting position, reversing through all four steps one at a time.
Do your glute bridges like this for a week or two, then return to your normal pace. “By then you’ve retrained your body so this new technique of using your glutes should be automatic,” Ross says.
4. CRUNCHES
We know what you’re thinking: Are you crazy?!? Crunches are horrible for your back!!!
But not only can crunches help with back pain by strengthening your abs, a study by the American Council on Exercise found they aremore effective than other exercises. Researchers placed electrodes on the abdominal muscles of 30 men and women and had them perform 13 different ab exercises. Only five exercises — including crunches on an exercise ball and vertical leg crunches — generated more activity in the rectus abdominis (aka six-pack) than other exercises to be statistically significant.
Nail it:Be sure you do crunches and not sit-ups, Holland says. That means:
- Don’t place your feet under a bar or other brace, which can cause you to use momentum and your hip flexors, possibly leading to pain or injury.
- Place your hands behind your head or, to make it easier, across your chest.
- Look toward the ceiling and imagine you have a tennis ball under your chin to help keep it off your chest.
- With each rep, only curl up a couple of inches so your shoulder blades come off the ground.
5. JUMPING JACKS
Do you loathe when your group fitness instructor tells you to do jumping jacks as part of your warmup? We get it — this old-school move gets your heart pumping and you panting. That’s exactly why you should do them!
“Jumping jacks feature rapid, big, range-of-motion movement in both the upper and lower body, so almost everything is working,” Ross says. “Plus there is a little coordination involved, which heightens mental engagement.”
To make jacks even more effective (plus also more fun), try Ross’ “funky jacks”. “Doing these gets you to pay attention, and the novelty makes you put more energy into it,” he says.
Nail it:To dofunky jacks, mix up your arm and leg patterns, alternating between some or all of the following:
- Perform a basic jack, but alternate lifting one arm at a time.
- Give yourself a squeeze: As you jump your legs like normal, alternate between opening your arms to opposite sides and then crossing them in front of your body, almost like you’re hugging yourself.
- 在两臂向左移动时，然后向右（而不是上下移动）时，执行正常跳跃插孔的腿运动。这样，您必须抵制旋转躯干的冲动。
- Rather than moving your arms and legs up and down along your sides, lift and lower them in front of and behind you. You can either move the opposite arm and leg together (i.e. your right arm goes forward as your left leg goes backward) or move the same arm and leg together (i.e. your right arm and leg both go forward as both the left arm and leg move backward)
- 假装您握住跳绳，并用弯曲的肘部以无限符号的形状移动手臂。然后将侧面跳到一边，向左向右，然后向右跳，将脚隔开。
Originally published September 2017
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