LOWER BACK WORKOUT (241 words)

Probably the strongest muscle group of the human body (along with the thighs). There is hardly any need on my part to elaborate at all the importance of a strong lower back.

Diving right into the exercises for the lower back, I can identify three prominent movements: The Dead Lift, Good Morning, & the lower back Hyperextensions.

• The dead lift: I have already detailed this workout in my previous post. A spine killer, thorough power move, should be done with caution. Even the best of bodybuilders avoid this due to its inherent risks. Pushing the limits on this move is recommended only for professionals & the passionate. The uninitiated may best forget this or train on restrictive loading. Successive dead lifts must be interspersed by sufficiently long recovery periods.
• Good Morning: Highly specialized movement, straight from the weightlifting training manuals. Extremely hazardous. Out of bounds even to power lifters (& of course bodybuilders). The passionate should only attempt this under an Olympic weightlifting coach.
• Hyperextensions: Safest alternative to all of the above & yet an extremely effective lower back workout. Can be done almost everyday. The trick to a crunching hyperextension lies in going down & coming up vertebra by vertebra-every inch of the backside (including the gluteals) should pull up the portion of the body that is below the parallel. And the back should never unnecessarily bend backwards; the back should stop at the normal standing position.

THE DEAD LIFT (358 words)

The most powerful lower back exercise ever known to man. A mighty effective lift that’ll holler to you the incredible strength of erector spinae (lower back muscle group). A movement that’ll leave a stamp of a lifetime of both its strengthening prowess & also of the poor technique employed.

It’s execution is quite simple. Lay the barbell on the ground, lift it up with your hands & stand erect for the moment with the bar at its highest, positioned near the waist & then place it back on the ground. Just a few more implementational aspects:

• The grip is an alternate grip: one of our hands should have a reverse grip (palm facing up) & the other a normal grip (palm facing down). This is done to support the humongous loading that goes into a dead lift. Wrist straps may also be used for a surer grip. Loosening of grip en course the lift is commonplace.

• Never round the back: Neither should the back at any instant go below the parallel (this applies to even the most trifling of physiological activities-no matter how taut, toned & perfectly shaped your back may be, the hip should NEVER rise above the back)
• Continuing with the last point: in the ideal lift, the hip (& the butt) should lift with the bar (up to the knees), with the back at all points taut & straight. From the knees the bar may be slid on the thighs (or otherwise) to its highest position.
• Dead lift, however isn’t a standardized lift, i.e. since it’s not an Olympic sport (rather not a part of any Olympic sport) various power lifting bodies prescribe varyingly finer nuances for a valid lift.
• Major effect: Erector spinae
• Minor effect: pretty much the entire body, the trapezius (the entire back as well), biceps, biceps femoris. Even the chest as the chest should be held up proud while standing up with the bar.
• Stabilizers: thighs, the entire back.

Dead lift is an out and out power move. Lower number of repetitions (even one rep max) with heavier weights is the way to go.

PROTECT YOUR JOINTS (450 words)

Weight training is no doubt aimed at the fibrous portions of the body, but joints are vital & are often ignored. The ligaments & tendons also attain size over periods of training (increase in girth at wrists & the shins is an easily seen proof), they too must have the proportionate strength to support increased power moves.

Joints are almost always taken for granted. Agreed that any bodily movement, especially the ones with weights, progressively wears out the joints, but it can be reduced and injuries prevented. The following are the most common situations of unnecessary joints’ stress.

• Never lift with your joints: It’s not easy to understand this. Let me illustrate: heavy suitcases are lifted by the shoulder joints, handbags are often carried with the strength of the elbows, heavy door (or someone too heavy) is pushed from the ball & socket joint (the shoulder) and the elbows (just observe your hyper extended arms).

It’s always the muscles that must be the generators of strength, and only in extremes (like dangling from a cliff for dear life) should all the other sources be employed. Heavy objects when carried by the arm, should effect a slight bend at the elbow (this will bring in the biceps & the brachialis) and slightly lift the carrying shoulder (towards the ear), to utilize the trapezius & the deltoids.

• Avoid hyper extensions & joint lock outs: Almost all exercises (& certainly all press outs) have in their full range of motion, a phase of hyperextension-a position where the weight is completely on the joints. These are the positions when an athlete stands with knees locked during a squat, has his elbows locked out during a bench press, has the knees locked out to support the weights during an inclined leg press and so on. These are the most comfortable moments as they rest the fatigued muscles but simply the most deadly passages of time that tell on your later stages of life.

Such positions must either be completely avoided but if this brings in a feeling of imcompleteness to the exercise then consciously keep such phases controlled and to a few fractions of a second.

• No jerks you jerk!: No power lifting or bodybuilding movement is designed to take a jerk.

It’s only the weight lifters with their dedication to the ever improving precision techniques of force multiplication who are entitled to the showy art of jerks & lockouts. Needless to say, even their body and that all others-be it an athlete or otherwise, takes a beating. We all degenerate to end our span…

But the ligaments & joints can particularly be protected with calcium & glucose amine supplements.

DON'T BRUSH YOUR TEETH! (302 words)

Haven’t the skulls of the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons been found with even their wisdom tooth intact? Were they ever in possession of Colgate Palmolive? Then why brush? As though the abrasive action of food particles and the chemical foolery of food acids isn’t enough, you wish to grate your teeth with bristles and flood your mouth with the corrosive & penetrative foreplay of fluorides?

I’ll narrate a very recent happening in my life that’ll reinforce my already introduced concept of UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY.

I had, due to yet to be uncovered reasons, taken a fancy to brushing 4-5 times a day with paste and all the rituals of the brush. After a while, the tips of my incisors & canines began to give me a chill whenever I consumed anything even mildly sweet (especially banana) and I, suspecting my new fad, reduced to one brushing a day and here I am advising you on the benefits of understanding your body and experimenting with your lives.

When it comes to cleansing the body, it must be understood that the body has its own cleansing mechanisms and any effort on our part should only be to augment that and not to strain the systems into forcible adaptations for cosmetic ends. Another prime example of such a scenario is the excessive and unmindful, and often ignorant, use of soaps, shampoos & other bathing products. You will hardly realize the harm you are putting yourself through as the body is wonderful at acclimatizing; and we are still evolving!

So what if the Neanderthals never saw a mouth cleanser ad, you have the most powerful evolutionary feature that tells you apart from all the other life forms. Use that in conjunction with the civilizational advancements. And most importantly, lend a hearing to all, but listen to your body.