My take on fitness

Deadlifts

• The Deadlift, a great compound lift which is good for building strength and improving posture whilst working several parts of the body.

• Most people complete this lift with a slight bend at the knee, primarily targeting your lower back. As an alternative, try keeping your legs straight and work your hamstrings and glutes that little bit harder.

• With so many variations out there (sumo, Romanian, dumbbell, barbell, straight leg etc), I’d say the Deadlift should be included in your routine at least twice a week.

Squats

• The Squat is another great compound lift that works several parts of the body. Squats are good for fitness, performance and mobility.

• To get a deeper squat, have your feet pointing out slightly, like at a 30-degree angle.

• The Squat also comes in many different variations. If you’re new to it, start off by doing body weight squats at home. If you’re a bit more experienced, give the front squat a bash and feel those quads burn. The front squat also works your abs more than the widely favoured back squat.
  

Military Press

• The Military press, one of the original bodybuilding competition moves. Great for working your core & obliques. Alongside working several parts of your upper body.

• I would recommend starting with the overhead press first, the same lift but with your feet wider apart. Then eventually move to military press - feet together. This puts more emphasis on your core muscles as they are needed to stabilize the body.

• The military press can also be done with kettlebells, dumbbells or seated at a smith machine. However, I find the barbell easier to work with as your left and right arms move at the same time.

Lateral Raise

• the Lateral Raise is a great move for building shoulder size, strength & mobility.

• If done correctly it can also work your core, upper back, arms and neck muscles. For the best results aim for a controlled movement on this lift.

• In my gym I see that Lateral raises generally take a back seat to front raises but this exercise is key when building a bigger frame or that much sought after V-body shape. For maximum impact try completing this move on the cable machines or seated to isolate the muscle.

Dumbbell Chest Flye

• The Dumbbell Chest Flyes are a great exercise for building chest strength as it isolates the muscles in that area - if done correctly that is.

• To ensure your chest is doing the work here and not your arms, make sure your arms have a bend in them. Don’t straighten or lock them out.

• The Chest Flye sometimes takes a back seat to other popular chest exercises - such as the Bench Press - but adding this to your routine will help isolate the chest muscles and help you achieve that much sought after defined bod. Try this move on the cable machine - it helps increase tension on your chest throughout the full movement.

Bent Over Row

• The Bent Over Row is one of the original big muscles moves. It helps build strength, size and improves posture. The move targets different areas of your back, although this is dependent on how much you flex forward from your hips.

• When completing this move, if you can’t pause when the bar reaches your sternum then the weight is too heavy. A nice, controlled movement is key.

• There are a few different variations of this move out there - you can use dumbbells instead of a barbell which helps bring balance to your body. You can also complete the one arm dumbbell row on a bench and to increase the intensity; try a muscle round, 6 sets of 4 with a 10-sec rest in-between - its harder than it sounds!