This exercise is a convenient alternative to the traditional barbell row. The main target is the upper back, or scientifically, the latissimus dorsi. The "lat" muscles function to pull things. So whenever you open a door, your lat muscles are allowing the movement to take place.
Assisted pull-ups, as the name implies, allow you to perform pull-ups with help. In this exercise, the help is in the form of heavy duty rubber bands. This version of the pull-up is a great alternative for those who are unable to perform a traditional pull-up.
The contralateral superman exercise is ideal for working the lower back (erector spinae muscle). This exercise also works the hamstrings, butt, and shoulders. Some experts maintain that traditional supermans overload the spine in a potentially unsafe manner. Thus, contralateral supermans are usually the recommended alternative. With this technique, there is a reduced load on the lumbar spine. The following are instructions for contralateral supermans:
The reverse barbell shrug is an excellent way to work the trapezius muscles. This exercise is sometimes referred to as "behind-the-back shrugs." The reverse shrug minimizes the momentum that can be generated with traditional shrugs to the front of the body.
The towel crunch is similar to the traditional abdominal crunch. The purpose of the towel is to stabilize the head and provide comfort. It also takes away the tendency to want to pull the chin forward into the chest, which compromises the cervical spine.
The obliques are used to assist with rotation of the torso, as well as basic abdominal contractions. This exercise is great if you want to target the oblique muscles. Unlike traditional abdominal exercises, the oblique twist works other muscle groups as well.
The double crunch exercise involves two movements: a traditional abdominal crunch and a reverse crunch or knee-in. The reverse crunch portion of this exercise is supposed to target the lower portion of the abdomen. However, it is important to note that whenever the knees move toward the chest from a supine position (on your back), the hip flexors are the prime movers.
The vertical leg crunch is similar to the traditional abdominal crunch. The difference is in the positioning of the arms and legs, as well as the range of motion (the upper back comes higher off the ground). Listed below are instructions for performing the vertical leg crunch:
If you are ready to take your ab workouts to the next level, this exercise is for you! The plate crunch can be used as a progression to the traditional workout ball crunch. The range of motion is virtually the same. However, a bar plate is placed behind the head to increase difficulty.
If you are looking to add excitement to the traditional abdominal crunch, consider rope climbers. In this exercise, the abs go through a similar range of motion as the classic ab crunch. However, two things make this exercise unique. The first is the "rope-pulling" motion. The second is the range of the upper back and shoulders. They come up a bit higher than in the crunch.
If traditional supine bridges become too easy, you can try to progress to the one leg version. This exercise is going to work your glutes like none other. Your hamstrings and lower back are also heavily engaged during this exercise. The single leg bridge requires an advanced level of fitness. This is generally true in cases where one leg is being used to support the majority of your bodyweight. Another factor that makes this exercise difficult is that it is perform using a Swiss ball (unstabl...
As much as streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify have dominated the music industry, radio is still alive and well. And why wouldn't it be? Free music, 24/7? It's a great deal. That's why it's so cool that your iPhone can instantly tune in to your favorite radio station, even one across the country.
So, you undid something you typed on your iPhone. Maybe you used the new gesture in iOS 13 to do so. Maybe you shook your iPhone, on purpose or accidentally, to trigger the traditional undo method. Either way, you want your text back, or to redo your edit, and you aren't sure how to do it. Luckily, it's as easy as a swipe.
Christmas music makes the holiday season just that much more enjoyable. And the folks over at Google must be feeling the holiday spirt since they are making Michael Bublé's Christmas album free for a limited time. The Grammy Award winning artist debuted his Christmas album in 2011, and it went on to top the Billboard charts and snag a nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
When it comes to the holidays, there's definitely no shortage of ways to geekify your experience. You can make your own nerdy ornaments with a Weeping Angel tree topper, or go with traditional decorations that are mathematically perfect.
So you've chosen the ideal Christmas tree for your place and decorated it so that it's mathematically perfect, but something's missing. It's not quite complete without a topper, but all of the traditional ones are soooo boring. What's a geek to do? If you're a fan of the newer Doctor Who show, Cynthia has the perfect solution for you with her DIY Weeping Angel tree topper, which you can make out of an old Barbie doll, some modeling clay, a plastic bottle, and spray paint. The first step in th...
Most cars made in the last ten or fifteen years can be unlocked with a keyless remote, and once you get used to them, unlocking your car with a traditional key feels like a pain. The most common reason they stop working is just because the battery needs replacing, but when they're broken for real, a new one can cost a small fortune. So before you go out and buy one, try this quick fix that worked for Redditor diggalator, and cost absolutely nothing. Basically, he pried the remote apart and to...
BUD switches (short for Block Update Detector) can be triggered without levers, buttons, tripwires, or any other traditional switches. Instead, they're triggered by changes in block status. That is, placing a block, destroying a block, hoeing grass, clearing snow, etc.
Traditional Aboriginal didgeridoos are made from trees that have been hollowed out by termites. Finishing work to smooth out surfaces and decorate the didgeridoo would soon follow. Lucky for you, you don't have to spend lots of money or find a hollowed out tree to create a didgeridoo!
It appears there are endless things you can do with Coke. The Nokia Coke-powered phone is not in production, but certainly an interesting idea. Designed by Daizi Zheng, the Coke phone is an eco-friendly solution to charging your cell.
Trout tickling is the mystical art of rubbing a trout's underbelly until it goes into a lax, trance-like state. The fish is then scooped out of the water and thrown onto land. Similar to catfish noodling, the sport is lauded for its lack of equipment or tools of any kind, as used in traditional fishing.
Korean artist Osang Gwon creates more than just alluring paper-made girls. Gwon has moved past traditional papercraft, taking volumes of photographs of his subjects and constructing sculptural forms from the carefully arranged 2D images. Gwon shows in galleries, and has done commissioned projects for both Fendi and Nike.
Old Hard Drive + MP3 player = Music This equation just doesn't make sense. If you're an iPod addict, the HD element is redundant! Well, take a second look at what constitutes a speaker and what a hard drive is made of. They are more alike than you'd think.
This one starts out pretty tame with the water prank. But rest assured, the second round pen prank satisfies. We very much appreciate the 'safety' of adding water to the pen body in case the flame gets out of control. Nobody laughs at third degree burns.
This video tutorial teaches how to cast off, knit stitch, pearl stitch, and end off on a pocket knitter. Those who want to learn how to use a pocket knitter instead of traditional knitting needles will learn how to do the same basic knitting stitches with the pocket knitter. Use a pocket knitter.
Julia Child and Graham Kerr demonstrate two recipes for bread and butter pudding - one with cinnamon and sugar and the other with dried fruits. The recipes are lower in fat than traditional recipes. Graham and Julia have a clever comraderie, as well. Serve with whipped cream. Make bread and butter pudding.
Sometimes a person can feel life is getting you down - you don't feel productive, or there's not enough hours in a day to do everything you need. You might not feel motivated to get up in the morning or to go to work anymore, and sometimes one might ask oneself "Is this all there is to life?"
Rick Stein creates a Spanish dish with traditional salt cod. Battered fish with a Mediterranean flair from the BBC cookery show "Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape."
Take It On
The first day of Hanukkah is here, the day you start lighting the candles of the menorah. So, why not ditch the wax and light the "lights" this year?
Breaststroke is a traditional stroke popular with people who like to swim for fitness. It is the slowest stroke, but that does not mean it cannot be swum powerfully and at speed. Follow along in this how-to animation to learn the basics of doing the breaststroke.
Ink & Paint was originally intended to provide a place for the sharing of graffiti and street art related news and the spreading of the street art culture. However in recent months I have noticed a distinct lack of "lowbrow" art in the WHT community. Don't get me wrong though, I'm a HUGE nerd. I love null byte, I love the Minecraft world, and all the tech posts that are becoming increasingly more common. It's awesome. However the nerd in me and the artist in me both want to see more comics, s...
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: * FINNESKO [n/pl.] A finnesko is a boot made of tanned reindeer skin, with the reindeer's fur on the outside. It's an especially good, warm boot for subarctic regions. These boots originate from the Sami, indigenous people from the cultural region of Sápmi, located across four countries in the Arctic Circle; Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. This area is also referred to as Fennoscandia.
Christmas just wouldn't be the same without cookies. Besides the gifts, it's the one thing that keeps the family (not to mention Santa) coming back each year. As with any family gathering, there's bound to be some chaos this holiday season, but as long as you've got a good supply of Christmas cookies, there should be peace and harmony.
This is the Windows OS counterpart to my tutorial on how to burn the new XDG3 formatted games on Xbox 360. Microsoft invented a new disc format system to trump piracy, it's called XDG3. XDG3's standard is to burn a whole extra gigabyte of data to the disc, to allow more content, but more importantly for stopping piracy. This extra gigabyte of data makes it impossible to burn or rip a game the traditional way. So how on earth can we burn our fully-legal back-ups that we should rightfully be ab...
REAPHOOK n pl. -S an implement used in reaping 67 points (17 points without the bingo)
PC Gamer represents all that was awesome about games journalism in the '90s, now sadly diminished. Brilliant, funny, full of integrity, and solid print sales were always present, and with the tragic exception of the latter, still are. Video game magazines were hit harder than nearly any other magazine vertical when the internet began its uncoordinated, but inevitable assault on print media. Magazines are now struggling to find their place in a world filled with more competitors than paying cu...
MACHZOR 73 points (23 points without the bingo) Definition: mahzor; a Jewish prayer book [n]
ARGs have taken the concept of video games to some odd and wonderful real-world places. Socks, Inc. might not be the first ARG, and LittleBigPlanet might have defined the sock-puppet-based game archetype, but it is the first game to combine ARG and sock puppet elements into one package.
Angry Birds might be the most visible video game franchise in the world today. It has sold 100 million units, as many as all the Sims games put together. It has been incorporated into board games, birthday cakes, and Israeli sketch comedy shows. And yet, this piece of seeming mass-media whoredom is an indie game. Wha?
