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What exercises are there for improving body strength and shape

Mandeep Dhamrat	03:45:48 Friday 26 March 2004
Could you tell me any helpful exercises that will help my body strength and shape? (e.g exercises for legs, chest shoulders such as press ups etc)?(p.s i'm 14 years old)
Improving muscle mass is possible through the use of exercise machines, free weights or just from the resistance of your own body weight. Regardless of which method you employ the results will depend mainly on your effort and dedication. 14-15 years of age is a great time to start a workout program. But weightlifting is a long-term investment. If you don’t treat it as one, you will achieve little. Working out should not be done more than 2-3 times per week so that your body can recover. Muscles are actually built up during recovery not while you are working out. Each of your workout sessions must concentrate on 1-2 specific muscle groups like shoulders, arms, legs, back or chest. Exercises for the stomach like sit-ups can be done daily or at every workout session. For developing muscle mass, use weights that will let you do not more than 12-15 repetitions. Complete about 3-4 sets for each particular exercise. Do not rest more than a couple of minutes between sets. Familiarize yourself with a few basic exercises for each muscle group. For example, one of the exercises for chest development is the bench press. As the name implies, you lie on your back across a bench with your feet planted firmly on the floor. While keeping your body flat on the bench, you raise the dumbbells/weights by extending your arms upward. Doing pushups is an alternative that lets you use the weight of your body for resistance. There are a variety of exercises for the shoulders as well. The front raise consists of standing while holding dumbbells in front of your thighs (palms must be facing in). You are supposed to raise the weights up without bending the elbow until your arms are parallel to the floor. I don’t want to get into more exercises because there are too many of them. This does not mean you shouldn’t look into it. It is crucial that you educate yourself on proper technique. When working out, you should never make violent or quick movements both when expanding and contracting the muscle. Concentrate on controlling/localizing your motion so that you are moving the weight strictly with the particular muscle. by Expert 19:21:44 Monday 29 March 2004