Fitness From the Pro

We have briefly talked about muscle imbalances in the past.  I mentioned that when I was working chest really hard, I would wake up during the night with extreme shoulder pain.  I then found out, that I was overtraining my chest, and neglecting my back.  Once I started working my upper back ( trapezius, rhomboids) my shoulder pain subsided.

One of the biggest muscle imbalances most people make is the abdominals and the lower back.  Now, since we will start shedding our clothes, you’ll probably concentrate more on achieving a flat stomach. I’m finding most people work their abs really hard, but neglect working the lower part of your back, the erector spinae, and back extensors.  This imbalance can cause low back pain and lead to back injuries.

So the moral of the story for today, is to maintain muscle balance.  When you work hard for a flat stomach, you have to off set the imbalance by working the low back and strengthen those muscles.  Tomorrow, I’ll offer some really good low back exercises for you to accomplish that goal.