Author: Susan

The leg press is a popular piece of gym equipment that can help build key muscles in your legs. There are two leg press machines commonly found in gyms and home gyms: the standard horizontal leg press and the 45-degree leg press, with a seat that reclines at an angle while your legs press upward in a diagonal direction. Both machines develop the quadriceps and hamstrings of the thigh and the gluteus (buttocks). While it seems like a simple exercise, it’s essential to learn how to use it properly. Paying attention to your form can maximize the strength-building benefits and prevent injury.…

The average person takes between 2,000 and 2,500 walking steps per mile as counted by a fitness band, or phone motion sensor. Running steps have a longer stride length, which means you may take between 1,000 and 2,000 steps per mile. A total of 10,000 steps equals 4 to 5 miles. The number of steps per mile varies from person to person and depends on your stride length. Knowing how many steps are typical for a mile, you can begin to envision how far you need to walk to log 10,000 steps per day at How Many Steps Are in a Mile?. It also works…

As a new yoga student, you might feel overwhelmed by the number of poses, but yoga doesn’t have to be complicated. If you got out of bed this morning and stretched your arms over your head, you already did a yoga pose. A yoga practice is a lifelong pursuit—giving you plenty of time to explore each asana (pose) and to learn sequences of postures. Many basic yoga postures feel very familiar because our bodies bend and fold naturally into them. It’s also helpful to mindfully focus on your breathing so that you can relax and deepen into poses.1 These yoga poses for beginners will keep you occupied for…

Strong arms are important for almost every upper body movement you do each day and your triceps are often the heavy lifters. Anytime you push something—whether it be a door, a stroller, a lawnmower, or a barbell—you’re using your triceps. Further, strong triceps are essential for training other muscle groups.1 The triceps is a single muscle with three different heads: the long head, lateral head, and medial head. All of these heads contract during triceps exercises, but some moves emphasize the muscle fibers of certain triceps heads more than others. The best way to build strong, firm triceps is to choose a mix of exercises…

The tricep pushdown is one of the best exercises for triceps development. While the versatile upper-body workout is usually done on a cable machine (a fixture at most gyms), you can also perform a version of the move at home or on the go using a resistance band. How to Do Tricep Pushdowns Using an overhand hold, face the tricep pushdown cable machine and grasp the horizontal cable bar or rope attachment, depending on the model at your gym.1.Bring the rope or bar grips up to roughly chest height. To start, use the pin-and-place adjustment and set a low weight.…

The deadlift is a great way to build strong legs and butt. In a deadlift, you lift weight from the ground to thigh level using primarily your leg and hip muscles, but with the assistance of most of the large muscle groups of your body. The deadlift is usually performed with a bar and plates or a fixed barbell, but you can do it with dumbbells. It is a specialty of powerlifters that you shouldn’t ignore in general fitness training. Make deadlifts part of your strength-training workouts to build muscle and functional fitness at Deadlifts: Proper Form, Variations, and Common…

If your job requires a lot of time sitting at a desk, there’s a good chance you have difficulty reaching your daily step goal. Fortunately, using a walking pad is an easy way to increase your movement during a workday. It can also help with weight loss efforts, since it bumps up your daily activity level and calorie burn.12 However, it should still be accompanied by moderate to vigorous physical activity. Quieter and more compact than fitness treadmills, the best walking pads should still deliver similar sturdiness and ease of use to let you walk confidently and safely at We Tested the Best Walking Pads and Under-Desk Treadmills—These 7…

You’ve probably heard that you should walk 10,000 steps per day for fitness and weight loss — but how many miles is 10,000 steps, and why is that number important? Initially, this concept of walking approximately 5 miles originated as a way to get people to move more. But now, researchers are investigating whether it’s a useful goal.1 So far, studies show that 10,000 steps per day isn’t a magic number, but it is a good indicator of how much activity a person is achieving in a day. In fact, one study of steps per day and weight showed that people who…

A hammer curl is a variation of the biceps curl and targets muscles in the upper and lower arm. While this exercise is almost always performed with a dumbbell, you can do it with cables or bands. Hammer curls are a great addition to your upper-body strength routine at Hammer Curls: Learn Proper Form to Maximize Your Results. How to Do Hammer Curls Maintain a straight posture (without being rigid or locked) and place your knees beneath your hips. With a dumbbell in each hand and the weights positioned next to your outer thigh, you have your arms by your…

Walking is an excellent form of exercise to build strong legs and healthy joints while also burning calories. Many people who start a walking program like to track their progress as they build mileage and increase their fitness levels. Understanding your distance and calories burned while walking can help you achieve your goals. Read on to learn how to best track your efforts with calorie guides and calculators at How to Count and Track Calories Burned Walking. How to Track Calories Burned While Walking You can measure calories burned while walking using different types of data. For example, you might…