Article source: Health and Beauty WeChat Official Account
Original title: Exercise at home for 5 minutes a day, super simple muscle training for upper body & lower body!
Author: HB
Do you feel that muscle training is too tiring, and you can’t stick to it every day? Good news is coming! HB brings simple muscle training that can be done at home, 5 minutes a day, three times a week, you can have model-like muscles!
If you want to make your movements more beautiful even when you are older, then we need to start muscle training from now on.
Many people think that muscle training is too hard and stay away, but in fact, it only takes 5 minutes a day to do easy training and it can be effective. And you don’t have to do it every day, interval exercise works better.
Associate Professor Ronki Ogasawa of Nagoya Institute of Technology explained: “Adding a load to the muscles increases the function of mTOR, which is required for protein synthesis. This enzyme makes protein synthesis more efficient for the next 2 days, whereas daily muscle training can lead to increased protein synthesis. It doesn’t work well. So if you want to build muscle effectively, training every 2 to 3 days will keep your muscle synthesis efficient at all times.”
The frequency of muscle training is high, the efficiency of protein synthesis will decrease. A single session of muscle training can maintain protein synthesis for 24-48 hours, so don’t do it every day.
Muscles that you don’t normally use work better. Not only the hip and thigh muscles needed to walk, but also the chest and upper arms.
Muscle training must be done until the muscles are fatigued, so an action must be repeated continuously. For people who are new to muscle training, maybe 15 reps is the limit.
If you insist on muscle training for a period of time, even if you stop for a few days, starting again will not affect the effect. “After 6 weeks, 3 times a week, even if you take a 3-week break and then restart your training, you can immediately catch up with the results of continuous training.”
Muscle training of the upper body can effectively improve the sagging of the chest and upper arms, and look younger. People who are just starting out can start with “casual push-ups”. Although it is simpler than the normal push-up, Associate Professor Ogasawara said: “Although the intensity of the movement is low, if you continue to do it when you feel very tired, it will have the same effect as high-intensity muscle training.”
This muscle training works the upper body muscles such as the chest and upper arms. Sedentary jobs generally involve leaning forward, which can lead to rapid muscle loss in the upper body. The less muscle mass in the upper body, the more it will appear aging.
Keep the stretch from the knees to the neck and tighten the underarms for better results. This will not only tighten the upper arms, but also exercise the torso. Doing this 15 times should feel exhausting.
The bending degree of the elbow can determine the size of the load. If you can’t do 15 “free push-ups”, you can do it with a chair. If you feel that 15 times is too easy, you can do it in a normal push-up position without your knees touching the ground.
In this experiment, young men were asked to do bench press three times a week for 6 consecutive weeks, and the changes of the pectoralis major and triceps were observed by MRI. Associate Professor Ogasawara said: “The muscle load increased by bench press is 75% of the maximum weight. This is about the level of 15 repetitions that people who are just starting to feel exhausted.” (MRI image courtesy: Associate Professor Ogasawara)
Kneel on the ground with your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor, tightening your armpits. Keep your knees, armpits, and neck in a straight line, using your abs.
While bending your elbows, slowly lower your chest down for 1 second. At this time, pay attention to the muscles on the back of the upper arm and the pectoralis major.
If you open your armpits when doing push-ups, you can only exercise the pectoralis major and other chest muscles. And clamp the armpit to exercise the upper arm.
If you can’t do “random push-ups”, you can put your hands on a table or chair, and it is easier to do them in a raised position. On the contrary, if it feels very easy, then straighten your knees and do it like a normal push-up.
If you want to walk briskly all the time, the muscles of the lower body are very important. What we recommend women do is “sprint in place.” It can effectively exercise the large muscles in the back of the thigh and the gluteus maximus in the buttocks. Even if this part is strong, the legs will not be thick. Associate Professor Ogasawara said: “I heard that the model’s legs look slender and hamstrings.”
The legs are wider apart and the chest is as close to the front knee as possible for better results. This can fully stretch the gluteus maximus and hamstrings, and the load is relatively large.
“The intensity of muscle training is the load that you feel a little bit hard. If you don’t want to be that hard, then you need to stretch the time of each movement, which also works well.” In the sprint movement, extend and bend the knee for 3 seconds each. , the greater the strength.
Stand with legs wider than shoulders apart. The heels of the steps are fully on the ground. If you are shaking, you can hold your hand against a wall or the back of a chair.
Put both hands on the knees of the forward leg, and bend the knees for 1-2 seconds by leaning forward with the upper body. Stretch your lumbar spine, paying attention to the inner thigh and butt muscles of your front foot.
Unlike stretching the Achilles tendon or the front of the thigh, focus on the buttocks and inner thighs.
As you lift slowly, without relying on inertia, press your front foot against the floor and slowly extend your knee, returning to movement 1.
The closer the chest and knees are, the greater the stretch in the hips and glutes and hamstrings on the inner thighs. The greater the range of motion, the heavier the muscle load, and the better the muscle training effect. While doing the movement, pay attention to feel the stretch in the muscles.
Squats work the quadriceps on the front of the thighs. However, if you practice too much, the muscles on the outside of your thighs will expand, making your thighs look thicker. The sprint movement is mainly to exercise the muscles and buttocks on the back side, so that the whole leg looks more slender.