Monday, September 21, 2009

Body Building Workout Routines, Back Training

By Ricardo d Argence

Increasing muscle mass and functional strength constitute the two main motivations for adopting a bodybuilding program. Building abdominal muscles, specifically the muscles of the upper, middle and lower back is the key to both of these.

The primary stabilizing muscles of your body are in your back, these are the easiest muscles to injure while lifting weights. Your back consists of the spine, the ribs, the scapula and the ligaments that string them all together, like parts of a mobile or kinetic motion structure.

Back injuries are almost always compression or rotation injuries, this is damage to the soft tissue, due to an over-extending movement of the back muscles involved. You can prevent back injuries by utilizing correct weight lifting techniques and muscle group isolation and you can also prevent physical problems from developing years later.

There are some muscle groups that you need to work on slowly in the back. They are your traps, lats and deltoids. Sure, your back will be ripped by overworking it, though, you should concentrate more on your everyday look than having a muscular back.

The trapezius muscles (traps) are the ones that form the bulk of your back. The basic exercise for Traps is a shrug motion, where you take a pair of dumbbells, one in each hand, and shrug your shoulders as high as they will go and hold them for a breath, then let them down slowly.

Another movement that helps the traps a bit (but mostly works on your deltoids) is a straight-arm lift. Hold a dumbbell in your hand with your elbow at your side, and your forearm out level with the map. Extend your arm until it's at shoulder height, in one fluid motion, and look down your arm at the dumbbell, like you're sitting on a pistol range. Then bring it down slowly. This will work on your deltoids and the yoke of muscle linking your shoulders.

You will want to to complete a sitting down "V-bar pull down" in order to build up the lower trapezius muscle, in which you are pulling down against resistance. This is better than a straight pull up because it isolates the muscle thoroughly.

Building definition, and most importantly, strength, in the lower back requires shoulder arches. Hold a light dumb-bell over the back of your neck and lay down on your front. With your hands clasped, arch your back, lift, and hold for a count of three, then lower slowly. Do these sparingly; it's very easy to overdo them.

It is very important to remember to stretch before exercising. By stretching you will help your body and your muscles maintain flexibility, along with stretching it is very beneficial to also do some cardio exercises as well.

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