Sports & Fitness: Performance Training, Rules & Recovery

Elite athletic performance and general fitness are sustained through structured hypertrophy strategies, sport-specific conditioning, and rigorous adherence to injury prevention protocols.

What Muscle Is Used to Do Situps?

The situp has largely been supplanted by the crunch in recent years. Most people performed the situp to work the muscles of the abdomen — and the crunch more effectively isolates those muscles. So for bodybuilders, eight-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger recommends crunches over situps in "

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Determined to lift some weights

Deadlift vs. Squat Muscle

Because of the amount of muscle each lift recruits, the deadlift and squat are two of the best measures of raw strength. In fact, they are two of the three lifts performed in powerlifting competitions. You might think of the deadlift as a squat in which you hold the barbell. Even the "Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding"

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What Does a Straight-Arm Pulldown Work?

The straight-arm pulldown isn't seen that often in the gym, but those in the know rely on it to add back width. It is an isolation movement, meaning that only one joint is mobile, and while it works several of the same major muscle groups as the pullup, it removes biceps from the equation.

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woman training in the gym

Do Deadlifts & Overhead Presses Work All Muscles?

For a balanced physique, you need to perform exercises that promote growth in all the major muscle groups. According to "Strength Training Anatomy," the deadlift utilizes more muscles than any other single-movement lift, which is why it's one of the three powerlifting competition lifts.

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058 Young Asian female doing her leg raise exercis

Exercises to Strengthen Inner Thigh Muscles

The inner thigh muscles that close your legs together--or adduct them--are actually several muscle groups working together. These muscles include the obturator internus, the pectineus, the gracilis and the adductors brevis, longus and magnus. Together, these are the hip adductors. According to "

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Dumbbell Shrugs

Lower Trapezius Exercises

Most people know how important pectorals are to the front of their body. They would never slack on chest day, or just not include one in their routine at all. But few people realize how important traps are, and if they do, they tend to focus only on the upper portion that's visible in the mirror from the front.

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