In the spirit of ‘The Basics Always Win’, I will offer my list of the five best exercises for beginners.
Those of you who are new to lifting and fitness in general can use this as a baseline to get your fitness journey started in a safe, healthful manner instead of succumbing to a lot of what I call ‘fitness fiction’.
As always, consult your primary care provider before starting any fitness regimen. This article and oregonsportsnews.com is not a substitute for sound medical advice by a licensed physician.
This list is for beginners, novices and newbies.
The push-up. One of the foundational exercises. There are at least 3 angles to attack those pecs. The push-up is great. Recruiting the chest fibers and working them is essential for pectoral hypertrophy.
Bench Press. The grandaddy of em all. Perfect for size and strength for the chest.
Cable crossovers. Using a workable weight, you can light up your chest and do it as safely as possible (Slow is smooth, smooth is fast). This exercise works wonders.
Pec-Deck or seated machine fly. This exercise is almost a combination of the other three. Use a workable weight and a good controlled motion to get the job done.
Lying dumbbell flye. Using a good combination of form, a workable weight and a desire to “get it in”, this exercise just may be your go-to chest exercise.
Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps
Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.
MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.
MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.
JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.
Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).
YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.
SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.
Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.
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