Designer Muscles

by

Lynn McIntosh, D.C.

What are the attributes of a hot body? Big pecs and biceps? A six pack? Bulging veins and striation? When most of us look to improve our bodies we tend to focus on a single problem area. Unfortunately this approach is rarely successful, which means we give it up quickly. That five hundred crunch workout might build your abs, but no one is going to see them if you don’t drop some weight as well. Designing your body takes a plan, and before you can develop a plan you have to define your goals. One of the primary goals in any plan must be to achieve a minimum fitness level.

Although one of the primary motivators for exercise is self-image, one of the biggest additional factors is maintaining that new body design is the newfound level of fitness. "Physical Fitness" includes many different characteristics, which we often measure in terms of cardiorespiratory or cardiovascular fitness, body composition, strength and endurance, and flexibility. We generally think that someone is “fit” when they can perform a certain activity for an extended period of time without excessive fatigue. In real life this translates into being able to: play basketball for an hour non-stop as opposed to needing a break every ten minutes, beat the throw from the outfield to third base, and play all afternoon with your rambunctious niece and nephew. In its simplest terms being “fit” means having more energy to go show off that designer body.

The absolute bottom level of fitness is metabolic fitness. It is defined as the minimum quantity and quality of exercise needed to avoid chronic disease. This minimum level will differ for every person, and will be based on the particular fitness goals for the person. For example, if your particular goal focuses on improving your performance at shuffleboard your exercise program may need to include other parameters to bring you up to this minimum level. However, if your plan includes training to reduce your marathon time, it is probably a safe bet that your plan will bring you above the metabolic fitness level.

Once you have selected your primary goal (i.e. a rock hard body, improved performance…etc.) you then need to focus on the elements of your exercise plan. For the avoidance of doubt ALL exercise plans need to include weight lifting and cardio elements. The only questions are what types of exercises to include and the ratio between weight lifting and cardio. What percentage of weight training, flexibility and cardio fitness you choose depends on your specific sport or body style you want. A personal trainer is going to be able to help tailor a program for you. Always think of fitness as a continuum and that you need to think of more than lifting weights as your only activity.

Assuming your goal is the rock hard body, your plan will include plenty of bicep curls, bench presses, and abdominal workouts. However, you must also focus on the balancing and postural muscles if you want to avoid injury and make the most out of your gains in the vanity muscle groups. Using the machines at the gym to lift weights is a good way to help avoid injury, because these machines are built to isolate and work specific muscle groups. This is great for working those muscle groups, but it means that the postural and balancing muscles are neglected. Some specific balancing and postural muscle workouts must be included to ensure that you are getting the most out of your work out.

When you are working biceps remember to include tricep specific exercises, and remember your back muscles after those pec workouts. Most gyms have tricep specific machines and you can also use free weights or dips. Working the back may take a bit more effort. Machines that simulate pull-ups and lat-pull machines work the shoulders and major back muscles groups, but don’t forget rows and torso twists. Machines or free weight movements on these planes work both the balancing muscles for your chest and the postural muscles. Another good postural exercise is to do the superman: lie on your stomach and raise your head, arms and legs off the floor and hold. This exercise works all posterior stabilization muscles, including the back, neck, gluts, hamstrings and deltoids. Also try to incorporate balancing exercises in your routine like knees raises while balancing on one foot, and pushups with your feet on top of a ball.

Just being aware of your posture will improve your overall muscle tone: keep your head over your shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees, and knees over ankles. What is good posture? Stand with your back against the wall with your feet a few inches from the wall and place your fingers in the small of your back. Rotate your pelvis back so you only have room for your fingers. Now have your shoulders and head touching the wall. This position is good posture.

Practicing good posture is one of the easiest things to start doing that will improve your looks. How does good posture make you look better? When you tuck your pelvis back it brings your abdomen in (without sucking in your stomach). Bringing your head over your shoulders makes you look taller, more confident, friendlier, and more approachable because you are not looking at the ground. Studies on non-verbal communication say that head-up posture is perceived as more open, honest, confident, wealthier, and smarter. On a physical level head-up posture helps reduce anterior head carriage, which increases the range of motion in both the cervical spine and upper extremities. This helps you hit your golf ball or softball farther. Head-up posture also makes it easier to keep your shoulders back, which increases your lung function. This is very important if you are involved in any sport that requires endurance, which is most and has the same improvement in non-verbal perceptions.

Posture is important not only while standing and walking, but also while sitting. Most of us spend the majority of our day seated. Therefore if you let your posture go lax while seated your body will adopt the poor posture, which will make it harder to maintain good posture the rest of the time. When you are working on cardio, especially walking or running, focus on keeping your feet straight, your weight over your legs, and lengthening your stride. This will increase your pace without significantly increasing the amount of energy you are expending. Also focus keeping your shoulders back and your head up. This will help open your bronchial tubes and lungs, which will increase your lung capacity. An increase in lung capacity means more oxygen in your body and therefore more energy.

With a rough idea of the elements of your plan it is time to head off to the gym. However, it is very important to see and avoid one of the biggest mistakes made by people heading to the gym for the first time in many years: don’t attempt to do the workout that you did in high school. This is a problem not only because you are not in the same shape, but also because many of these programs were designed by people with very little education and training in physiology. For example squats are a great exercise but only if done properly and not overloaded. When you use too much weight too fast you risk injury, focus on lower weights and higher reps for better overall fitness and stamina. Another football coach mistake you have been taught is to go below the 90 degree plane of thighs to the floor. When you are eighteen your knees can probably take this abuse, but when you are 35 or 40 you are asking to blow a knee out. You are getting a glut workout by doing squats that do not go that far down, and if you need more of a glut work out lunges with weights are a much better option. Lunges will work you gluts much more than squats, with less risk, and with an increased cardio benefit.

The other problem with going to the gym with your high school workout mentality is that you are no longer 18 years old. The amount of weight you can bench is not the most important thing anymore. What matters is how much you can bench, squat, or lift 30, 50 or 100 times in a row. For those of us that lead an active life, the activity rarely involves one movement.

Once you get started remember to keep at! After you reach a goal it does not take much to maintain your new level of fitness. Most people can maintain their level of fitness with as little as two workouts per week (assuming the workouts require you to reach the fitness level you are trying to maintain). This ability to maintain a certain level allows us to vary our workouts, and integrate rest periods of several weeks in length. Variation and extended rest periods will help prevent injury and ensure that your program does not become boring. Just remember to keep moving! If you stop altogether you will lose roughly 50% of your gains in as little as 4-8 weeks.

The first step to designer muscles is to start being active, and stick with it. Get out and walk, join a pick up game of basketball, or try the free training session for beginners. When you are having an off day, or getting board with a particular activity, try something new; even if you don’t think it is as rigorous as your normal work out plan. Being active at all is always better than just sitting on the couch!

Health Segment brought to you by: Dr. Lynn McIntosh, D.C.

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Dr. McIntosh is a board certified Chiropractor, licensed in both Kansas and Missouri. In addition to being licensed to provide general chiropractic care, Dr. McIntosh is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician, working with athletes from multiple disciplines on specific sports-related problems.