By: Callie Hickman
This #WorkoutWednesday is short and sweet! Lauren and I are going to show you two chest and back moves that are excellent for muscle definition and posture:
Seated Cable Row
This exercise works your trapezius muscles, latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, deltoids, biceps, biceps brachialis, and forearm flexors. Basically, it works your arms and upper back! Here’s how you do it:
- Choose your desired weight and sit down on the bench.
- Place your feet on the foot supports and bend your knees slightly.
- While keeping your back straight, bend toward the machine at your waist and grasp the pulley handle.
- Lean slightly backward to where your body is in an upright position and pull the pulley handle toward your stomach (Squeeze your shoulder blades while trying make the pulley handle reach your stomach)
- Slowly extend your arms until you reach the starting position.
- Repeat.
*Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps. If you want to keep your heart rate up, I highly suggest performing exercises to work your core in between sets.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Flyes
The main muscles you will target with this exercise are the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor (aka, your chest!). Here’s how you do it:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and lie on an incline bench that is set to an incline angle
- Extend your arms above you with a 25-30 degree bend at the elbows (rotate the wrists so that the palms of your hands are facing toward each other).
- As you breathe in, start to slowly lower the arms to the side while keeping the arms extended to where your arms will be by your side with palms facing the ceiling.
- Exhale and bring the dumbbells back up to the starting position by reversing the motion Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
*Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps. Again, if you want to keep your heart rate up, I highly suggest performing exercises to work your core in between sets.Stay tuned for next week’s post!
