Stretching videos

A poor person like me can’t afford a gym membership. Nor can I afford a trainer, who is normally provided with a gym mebership. And without a trainer there is no one around to help me with the new exercise routines and to show how it’s done, right? Actually, wrong. Internet is a great gadget. If I have a question about anything I go to my MSN list and talk to my friends about any doubts and problems I may have. Or I lookup information on other blogs, google or forums.

But what about routines that are not easily explained in words, like stretching? A big advantage of a trainer is that he can actually SHOW you how to do something. An article can only show a few pictures that are often very confusing and depressing…

But keep your head up, o bodytweaker! The great information age has arrived! Now you don’t even have to have a trainer to see how something is done right. Just look it up in video directories! God bless internet!

Jokes beside, here is a list of great video sources and some samples where you can get cool new workout ideas from:

  • Google Videos – a great source of videos. Doesn’t have a lot, but quite enough. :-)
    1. Golf stretching video 1 and video 2
    2. A woman stretching in sitting yoga position
    3. Another woman performing leg stretching on a railing
    4. Lower body stretch
    5. 3 women performing stretching on the beach. Hot!
    6. 30 min. Video of a marathon preparation class: stretching.
    7. A 4 min stretching video with expalnations. 5 star!
    8. A woman performing deadsplit
    9. Cycling stretching exercisses. Very useful!
    10. 5 stretches routine. Rather exotic (tai-chi like) stretches. Cool!
    11. Abdominal stretching to tighten up stomach
  • ExpertVillage.com – this is a huge resource of how-to videos. not only stretching, but strength training, aerobics, etc! Just visit and look for yourself! Few samples:
    1. Beginner gymnastics stretching.
    2. Angela Joyce performing back stretching. Check out her other 15+ stretching videos on the same site. On your place, I would bookmark that page. Very useful!
    3. …Heck, here is a whole list of hundreds more videos: http://www.expertvillage.com/category/health-fitness.htm
  • YouTube – the good ol’ youtube has also some stuff to offer.
    1. Stretching video 1.
    2. Stick stretching.
    3. …wow! this flexibility inspires a lot! also check out her other videos like this one of the splits.
    4. Towel stretching, a good idea.
    5. …etc.

    There are a lot of more videos, but I think these few are a good start and give a good idea of how a stretching routine should look like.

    There are also ton of material about yoga, strength training, endurance training, etc. Just look at those websites and use their search functionalities.

    Strength Training – Save Your Bones

    According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 28 million US citizens suffer from this desease. 80% of them are women. This has been recently linked to the fact that women are physically less active especially when it comes to strength training.
    Osteoporosis is a desease of bones in which the bone density is reduced and therefore the bone becomes less stable and breaks with minimal “effort”. The most affected bones are the vertebral column, hip and wrists. Severe pains as well as bent stature are the results of osteoporosis of the vertebral column.

    Osteoporosis isn’t something old people get either. More and more people show tendency to develop osteoporosis in their 40′s and even 30′s.

    So how can you reduce the risk to suffer from this desease? Strength training. When you work out with weights your bones naturally become stronger.

    The problem is that women try to avoid dumbbells, because they don’t want to build muscle mass and to look like men. What women don’t realize is that they have 10 to 30 times less hormones needed to build muscle than men. This means that if you did work out with the same weights a man does, and eat as much as a man does, you’d still develop 10 to 30 times less muscle mass.

    You don’t have to lift the same weights nor eat as much proteins though. This means that the muscular mass you could develop is close to zero. Women can’t get huge muscles “by accident”. It requires very big weights, enormous dedication, scientifically designed diet, huge ammounts of protein and sometimes even chemical hormones to get any closer to a muscular body.

    On the other hand strength training can give you a toned body, help you burn fat and make your bones stronger. Keep pumping!

    Triceps Workout

    The triceps. Triceps take normally 2/3 of your upper arm’s muscular mass. For some reasons though, many people pay more attention to biceps when it comes to judging someone’s physique. If you do want huge upper arms though, hit your triceps twice as hard as your biceps :)

    You’ll need:

    • A bench-like structure. I use a plastic box for that.
    • Two adjustable dumbbells. For triceps beginners you’ll need at least 39 lbs (approx. 17 kg) per dumbbell.
    • Maybe a pair of old gloves.
    • A bodytweaker’s let’s-suffer mindset.
    • At least 30 minutes of your time.

    Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions

    This exercise isolates triceps completely if you’re doing it right. No other muscle shall be working. You start with your arms in vertical position, then you slowly bend your arms at your elbows. You keep your upper arms vertical and bend your elbows until your forearms are horizontally positioned. Keep in mind that you don’t move your upper arms at all. You may want to take less weight, but do this one correctly.

    3-4 sets of 15 reps each shall be enough

    Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension

    As in the other exercise your triceps shall stay completely isolated when doing this exercise correctly. You do one arm at a time. You use your arm, that’s not working, as a support for your working arm. Holding your working arm just below the elbow ensures that its upper arm stays firm and you use your triceps only.

    3-4 sets of 15 reps each

    Standing Bent-Over Dumbbell Triceps Extension

    No other muscle group is as easy to isolate with dumbbells as your triceps. In this exercise, if done correctly, you also work only on your triceps. It’s pretty easy to start moving the weight with your shoulders/back, so it’s a nice idea to take less weight, but do this exercise “by the book”. Usually I take the same weights as in other triceps exercises above.(I used less weight on these photos because it’s a pain to hold a 40 lbs dumbbell horizontally waiting for the camera to take a shot ;) )

    You shall keep your upper arms and your back in a fixed horizontal position. Concentrate on doing this exercise with your triceps only.

    4-3 of 15 each

    Triceps are the extensor muscles of your upper arm. It sounds important and believe me it is, strong triceps can come in handy in many situations. Besides ripped triceps just look awesome when wearing a shirt without sleeves ;)

    There are many other triceps exercises you can do at home. I’ll post some of them at a later date. Enjoy!

    Note: A real bodytweaker takes less weight, but does the exercise correctly
    Cost: 0$ for looking good in a sleeveless shirt

    Next