Backlash

Scott Schwab-
In thinking about the muscles of the body and there importance and role in everyday life, I believe that all are equally important. However; if we break down the responsibilities of the muscle groups, the muscles that control your gate, posture, and ultimately confidence would surely be considered. I am speaking of the muscles of the back. Many times people spend a lot of time with Bench. I am always asked by guys, "well how much can you bench." Well honestly it doesn't matter. Personally I do not max out. I want to tone and lean my appearance and bulking is just not in the equation. I learned from a sports trainer back in the day, that you have to equally work your front as you do your back. The two muscle groups that I think have the biggest impact on how you look at feel, is your core and your back. Now for a lesson on backlash. If we do not spend time toning and strengthening our back muscles we will notice as the year go on a ball forming in the mid section. The belly forms from many ways, but one of the biggest is lack of nutritional eating and exercise. If we work our back it will keep our shoulders strong and pushed back. This encourages good posture, which has a direct correlation to confidence. Confidence is conscious and subconscious. If we look in the mirror and see our selves slouching and an appearance that we are not happy with, it can and will affect all areas of our life. Confidence is based on feeling, but also on look and appearance. It is true that we can be happy with whatever the look, and remember that there is no perfect size. However, you know your body better than anyone, and you know when you have looked your best. If you look in the mirror and do not see your best, it can have a discouraging affect. So with that said there is a focus that needs to take place with the back and also the core. We have talked about the importance of working the core, and that I believe that it is a muscle group that you can work everyday. The back needs to be worked a couple of times in a week at least. Again as you are strengthening the back muscles it naturally pulls your chest muscles and abs upwards. It will give you more of a elongated appearance and help with the posture. A couple of tips that will help get your sexy back, no pun intended.
The five exercises that I think are the best for a back workout are; push ups, pulls ups, dips, rows and shruggs.
Push ups and pull ups you are working against the weight that you naturally have on your body. If you want to increase the challenge increase the weight or angle. Push ups become increasingly difficult as you elevate your feet, spread your arms further apart, or both. Pull ups are great when you can add a weight between your feet and hold it there or wrist or ankle weights.
Dips have a similar advantage. If you put your feet up on a bench you will increase the difficulty. Also it is great when you can put a weight on your legs to increase the weight and therefore increase the difficulty.
Rows are wonderful because they absolutely work the entire back and especially the lower back which correlates to the strength of the core. If you have a weak lower back you likely have a weaker abdominal section and vice versa. Put a comfortable weight on lock your legs. It is important not to get a lot of weight so you are being pulled back hard to the weight machine. Comfortable weight so you are in control.
Shurgs can be done with dumbbells or a curl bar. Again it is important to have a weight that you are in control of. The slower the better I always say. I also like to implement reverse shrugs so that I am doing both directions and getting a full range of motion. Finally I recommend the magic numbers being 4 sets and 10 reps. Move quickly between the four so that you get your heart rate up and therefore will burn more calories.