This is for all those Fathers Out There!

Through many years of observation, during my workouts at the gym, I have discovered that men love to train two body parts: their chest and their biceps. You can see the same person at the gym all week long and each time you see them they may be doing a different exercise, but I can almost guarantee you it is for one of those body parts.

The bad thing about concentrating on one specific body part all the time is that you disturb the muscular balance in your body. For example, if you only train your chest, then the chest muscles–pectoralis major and minor, become very tight. If these muscles are tight all the time, (because of their insertion / attachment to the shoulder) it results in rounded shoulders. In return, if your shoulders become rounded, pulled forward, the back muscles become over stretched and weak. Weak back muscles and a forward posture lead to a kyphotic hump in your thoracic spine. Not a very pretty picture and often very painful after a period of time.

In this blog, I am challenging everyone to do new exercises. Don’t find yourself in the gym day after day, and week after week training the same muscle. Train so that your muscles are well balanced.

Challenge 1:

Chest press / Seated Row
Machine Chest Press for the Chest:

1.Sit on a chest press machine, keeping your back flush against the back pad, head up, chest up, and shoulders back and down.

2. Pull your abdominal muscles tight.

3. Under complete control of the weight you have chosen, push the weight out while focusing on bringing your elbows together and extending your arms straight out. Do not lock your elbows.

4. Stopping just before your elbows are locked out, reverse the motion back to the starting position, very slowly for the eccentric contraction.
5. Keeping control of the weight, stop when your elbow joints are in line with your shoulder joints, then begin pushing back out.

6.Do 12-15 reps. Muscles Benefited: Pectoralis major and minor, triceps, and deltoids.

Challenge 2:

Seated Rows
Seated Row Machine for the Back:

1.Sit on the rowing machine with your chest against the pad, head up, shoulders back and down, and the natural arch in your spine / low back should be maintained throughout the exercise.

2.Keep your abdominal muscles tight.

3.Under complete control of the weight you have chosen, pull the weight back while focusing on bringing your shoulder blades together.
4.Stop once your elbow joints are in line with your shoulders. Reverse the motion back to the starting position.

5.Begin to lower the weight slowly to get the eccentric contraction. Stop just before your elbows become completely straight and locked out.

6.Do 12 – 15 reps. Muscles Benefited: Deltoids, erector spinae, latisimus dorsi, rhomboids.

These two exercises are performed as a circuit. Do three to four rounds of the circuit during your workout. Remember it is all about balance and alignment throughout the body.