It's nice to work out muscles that make us look good, isn't it? I mean, let's be honest, a lot of us started working out purely due to vanity.
Yes, feeling good, being fit and decreasing our chances for disease are all great and valid reasons to work out, but let's not overlook the fact we also want some damn fine looking muscles as well.
Common areas that we train to "look good" depend on gender.
Men like to train the T-shirt muscles - the pecs, biceps and shoulders - while women prefer to train the booty muscles - the glutes and legs.
What about the rest of the body? In particular, those muscles that help us with our daily activities? The ones that stabilize our shoulders, hips and spine?
These are the muscles that help all those bigger muscles we are so concerned about, like the pecs, glutes and legs, do their jobs?
I call these muscles our "forgotten muscles" because they remain forgotten in most of us with our
training programs until we eventually are plagued with some sort of pain and injury and our trusty physiotherapist prescribes them to us.
Now, there are many little stabilizer muscles that need to be kept strong in the body, but I have identified
four that are commonly weak on most individuals, especially if you are over the age of 40.
The four forgotten muscle groups that you should be training are: lower trapezius (located in the mid back and crucial for proper posture and a stable shoulder joint), rotator cuff (behind the shoulder and important to keep strong for shoulder stability), gluteus medius (located at the side of the hip and helps control and stabilize the hips, as well as assisting in knee tracking), and multifidi (a series of deep muscles attached up the spinal column used to stabilize the low back and pelvis before movement of the legs and arms occur).
Below I have outlined four exercises you can easily implement into your regular workout routine so you no longer overlook your forgotten muscles:
Lower Trapezius
Lie over a ball, or facedown on a bench, arms extended at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock position, thumbs up, and lift both arms up while sliding the shoulder blades down the back.
Rotator Cuff
Elbow at 90 degrees and under the shoulder, slowly pull the tubing by rotating from the shoulder joint.
Gluteus Medius
Lie on your side with your upper back, hips and top leg against a wall. Lift the top leg up and down, keeping the heel against the wall.
Multifidus
Ramp up the Superman exercise by performing on your hands and toes.
PJ Wren is a local personal trainer and writer who specializes in over-40 fitness. She can be reached at www.fitnesswithpj.com.
