Helpful Terminology

This movement may be performed either seated or standing, and can utilize dumbbells (or other weights such as barbells or kettlebells). Dumbbells and kettlebells allow for a more natural shoulder position. From a standing position with dumbbells, stand with your feet under your hips and the dumbbells next to your shoulders with the hands facing forward. Take a deep breath in, engage the quads, glutes and abdominals, and press the dumbbells straight up until they touch at the top. Lower the dumbbells down, maintaining control the entire time.

Sit on the edge of a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and the arms fully extended, with your palms facing your body. Maintaining little to no movement in the upper arms, curl the arms up, turning the palms away from each other as you do then slowly return the dumbbells to the starting position.

Stand holding a pair of dumbbells with your feet together. Keep your shoulders back and down and your head up. Take a step backward with one leg, landing the ball of your foot on the ground, bending both knees and lowering your back knee to the floor (if you can do it with control). If not, stop before you lose control. Stand back up, driving through the mid-foot and heel of your front leg and the ball of the foot of your back leg. Return to a standing position and do the same thing on the opposite leg. For the safety of your knee, the knee of the front leg should stay over the ankle, and should never track out past the toes and should not fall inward. If this happens to you, try to lighten up the weight or use no weights at all.

With your palms facing away from the body, grab a pull-up bar with your hands (about shoulder distance apart). Hang from the bar, staying active in the shoulder girdle. Pull yourself up towards the bar until your chest almost touches the bar. Maintain a neutral body position throughout this movement, engaging the abs, glutes and quads the entire time. There are many variations of the pull-up, so feel free to experiment.

Hold a dumbbell (or a plate or kettlebell) over your head with two hands and lunge forward, alternating legs each step.

Pick up a pair of dumbbells and stand with torso vertical, with the arms slightly bent and the palms facing in. Without swinging the dumbbells, and with hands tilted slightly forward, lift the dumbbells until your arms are parallel to the floor. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position. You may perform this standing or seated. Always choose a weight that allows you to maintain proper form.