The Chest Fly exercise can help you build both size and strength in your chest, or help tone it depending on weight used, repetitions and number of sets. It is quite a challenging exercise when done properly. The key to this exercise is using proper form by keeping your arms essentially straight through out the entire range of motion.  However, most people will bend at the elbow too much and not feel the stress in their chest or work the muscles as effectively as possible. This is a good exercise for both experienced weight trainers and beginners in the gym.

Many people have been injured while doing their favorite aerobic activity. The most important thing is that you give your body proper time to heal from the specific injury whether it is  a sprained ankle, damage to the knee joint, broken toes, or even shin splints. If it is a serious injury from a pain and/or mobility standpoint always consult with a doctor.  They will guide you regarding when to begin rehabbing and/or exercising again. Remaining positive though is the goal as most people who take a break from aerobic exercise or weight training exercise, realize even more results after starting up again.

For most people aerobic exercise injuries are the result of bad posture, and for aerobic exercise this is generally related to your lower body form. Standing flat footed, knees bending in during squatting or lunging movements, and rounding of the lower back rounding are the leading causes of how we might get injured while doing aerobic activities. Following are some tips to strengthen our lower bodies.

Try walking backwards on a treadmill. This is going to give you a great workout for your glutes and hamstrings while also strengthening the muscles in your feet. Make sure that as you walk backwards you're extending back far, standing tall, while making sure you are stepping back an equal distance with each leg. Also try walking sideways on the treadmill (changing directions halfway through your workout) to exercise your adductors (inner thighs) and abductors (outer thighs), while also strengthening the muscles in your feet. Another good idea is using the elliptical backwards (same principle) or just doing any of the treadmill exercises listed above on the ground. Challenge your muscles with different movements like these to strength and stabilize the lower body areas most prone to injuries.

How Often Should You Work Your Abs?

Many people work their abs every day, and some work them multiple times per day.  This is not usually the best way to exercise your abs (abdominal muscles). Treat your abs like other skeletal or core muscles and work them a maximum of every other day for the best results (tight abs, smaller waist line). Perform two to four different exercises, with two to three sets of each exercise. Do your ab exercises slowly and to the point of fatigue. In other words, proper form that focuses on those muscles.  Some good exercises include variations of crunches, leg lifts, and twists.

Your rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that act together to stabilize the shoulder joint. It is called the 'Scapulohumeral' area of the human body (that attaching to your scapula and humerus bones), and hose muscles being your teres major, teres minor, deltoid, supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis muscles. How does one  properly train or exercise your rotator cuff?

Most of the muscles in your Rotator Cuff musculature are used for internal and external rotation (turning your arm/palm in and out). This all has to be done when griping something. In other words, your rotator cuff muscles are worked when you exercise your grip. Most injuries to your rotator cuff occur when there are quick, explosive shoulder motions. Rotator Cuff injuries also often occur because of improper lifting techniques/form. If you are involved in a sport where you want to make sure you do not hurt your rotator cuff, work on your grip.

When you exercise, utilize your hands a lot. Don't wear those wrist straps that help you lift more (back exercises, shrugs, dead lifts, etc), but instead workout using your natural grip ... Hold the  weights so that your forearms also get stressed/tired. The more you grip things strongly and stress your muscles, the harder your rotator cuff muscles have to work. This leads to strengthening the musculature and preventing injury! Use your grip as much as you can when you exercise so that you won't tear your rotator cuff, even if you just hold weights for a prolonged period of time.

Can Fat change to Muscle?

It is a common fallacy that working out with weights (or doing resistance exercises) will result in your body fat turning in to muscle. Muscle and fat are two totally different kinds of body tissue. When you perform weight training exercises, you will build some muscle over time, but that muscle will take the place of fat that you lose. When you first start a weight loss diet program/routine/diet, you may want to concentrate on cardio exercise, along with your healthy eating, and then add a weight training program later on down the road.

However, If you prefer, you can start weight training right away. Just don't neglect the cardio and healthy eating if you are trying to lose weight or body fat.