3 Forgotten and Obscure Muscle Building Exercises
We all have our favorite exercises, and for many of us they will tend to be the same ones. On chest day at the gym, when you have to make reservations ahead of time to get in your work at a bench, or the crossover machine, just about everyone does all the popular exercises for any given body part.
Don’t get locked into the same old exercises time and time again. Here are some obscure movements every serious trainer should know.
Some are just variations of tried and true exercises, while others are totally unique. I will continue by going over them with you by body part.
Chest: Low cable crossovers are great to use in the development of the lower chest. Rather than fixing the handles at the top of the machine, hook them to the bottom pullies. Slightly leaning, bring the handles in a sweeping arc motion directly in front of the lower chest. Done correctly you will feel this burn your lower pecs.
Back: Lat shrugs are a truly unique exercise you may have never encountered in the gym before. To do this exercise lay face down on an incline bench. Grab 2 dumbbells off the floor. Now, rather than do a typical shrug movement, squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold for a certain amount of time, 3 to 4 seconds usually. The effect is an amazing pump and great fatigue on the lats.
Traps: Armpit rows are a great exercise to superset with any kind of shoulder shrug for an awesome trap burnout. After doing a set of shrugs grab a pair of dumbbells that are about a quarter of the weight heavier than the ones you shrugged with. Now, pull each one straight up, trying to stuff them in your armpits. Armpit rows are superior to upright barbell rows because they put your arms in a much more powerful pulling position.
Give these 3 exercises a try in the next few weeks at the gym and see if you find a new favorite exercise to add to your arsenal. They might be obscure but they are all proven muscle builders. So have fun with them.
3 Forgotten and Obscure Muscle Building Exercises by Maureen Kurman
