Sunday, July 20, 2014

What are you leaving out of your exercise routine?

All to often we focus our exercises on muscles that give us that sexy factor and ignore the ones that actually provide our bodies with improved health, performance, and decrease our risk for injury. For us guys we tend to focus on chest, arms and abs, women tend to focus on abs, legs and glutes, but what are you leaving out?

1. Rotator Cuff

One of the leading causes of injury that will derail your success train would be a shoulder injury. Shoulder injuries are caused by weak muscles that make up the rotator cuff. The purpose of the rotator cuff is to provide stabilization the shoulder through it's full range of motion.

What to do:





2. Erector Spinae

Common injuries that involve the spine tend to be caused by weak core muscles, especially in the lower back. The most common spine injury involves vertebrae L-4-S-1 and is often paired with sharp shooting pain down the leg caused by nerve impingement of the Sciatic Nerve.

What to do.






3.Anterior Tibialis

Far to often the legs are ignored in the gym, ever see the guy who has a HUGE upper body and tooth picks for legs? More than likely every day is upper body for him. You want to make sure you are maintaining a good balance with your body or else you could cause  muscle imbalances that could put you at risk for injury or cause postural disorders. One of the most ignored leg muscle is the Anterior Tibialis which is located in the front of the lower leg in the shin area.

What to do.


4. Lower Trapezius

IF you've ever felt like you hit a plateau with some of your upper body exercises it could be due to a muscle imbalance and having a weak lower trapezius. The body will compensate and actually prevent the other muscles in your body from growing or getting stronger. The Lower Trapezius is responsibile for creating upper rotation, adduction and depression of the scapula.

What to do.