Why Focusing Mirror Muscles is Destroying Your Fitness and Physique - A Guest Blog By Brett Warren
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 5:51AM I spend a lot of time thinking about fitness. And, a lot of time getting fit - working out in the gym and looking around at the others doing the same. Recently, I've started noticing that many of the guys spend the majority of their workout time on the bench press, doing push-ups or lifting dumbbells. It turns out that a lot of them are all about building up the mirror muscles - the ones most obvious when you look at yourself in the mirror.
When I've asked them why they're so focused on the front of their body, their first answer is that they want to look good, especially to the new people they're meeting. They claim that those all-important first impressions are based on face-first contact. That might make sense if you're into having a broad, strapping chest and large biceps, but not if you want a healthy body.
After all, a healthy body is one that is well-tuned and equally balanced. Strong muscles not only maintain strength, but also influence posture and allow our bodies to have a full range of motion. This means that all of our muscles need to be well-developed, not just the ones on one side of the body.
The pecs, abs, anterior deltoids, biceps and triceps - the mirror muscles - are counterbalanced by other muscles attaching to the back of the body - the lats, trapezius, posterior deltoids, rhomboids, etc. If you strengthen only those on the front of your body, they get shorter and tighter. Meanwhile, the muscles on the back get longer and weaker, causing your shoulders to round forward. You can start to slouch, bend forward and even develop a hunchback, if you don't see what's happening soon enough. Not only that, but back and hip pain may result.
So, to offset the bench pressing, you'll need to also work on those upper back muscles. In doing so, you'll improve your posture, pull your shoulders down and back, and even tone your belly. In fact, as the muscles in your upper and mid-back get stronger, they will stabilize your shoulder joints and help you lift even heavier weights.
For the lower back, as well as the rest of the body, strengthening the core is key. When the trunk, pelvis and torso - areas at the core of the body - are strong, the muscles of the entire body get powered. The core muscles to work on are not only your abdominals, but also the lower back muscles and hip flexors. The muscles of the back help stabilize the spine, allow it to bend in many directions, and keep your torso upright. And the hip muscles need to be stretched to prevent back pain, common if one spends lots of time sitting. Strong abs improve your balance, distributing upper body weight evenly to avoiding putting excess pressure on the lower back.
Of course, the muscles in our lower bodies also need to be evenly worked. The tendency of people who build mirror muscles only is to concentrate on squats to strengthen the quads and glutes. But that leaves out the hamstrings. In fact, the majority of hamstring injuries result from imbalances caused by favoring quad exercises over hamstring stretches. So, for a stable core, the muscles on the back of the leg, running from the knee to the butt, need to be stretched. Exercises that flex the knees and extend the hips, as well as squats and lunges, help strengthen the hamstrings.
Now that I've done more research on how to create a body that will stand tall, avoid muscle injuries, and appear strong and healthy all over, I'm convinced that many of us need to broaden our exercise routines. We need to consider all of our muscle groups - the anterior, posterior, internal and external - and give each of them a workout.
And, we can expand our repertoires of lifting weights and using machines in the gym by engaging in other activities which also build strength and improve posture and balance. In fact, how about some yoga or martial arts to offset our obsession with mirror muscles?
Brett Warren is a fitness and weightlifting enthusiast from Boston, Massachusetts. He is passionate about nutraceutical science and loves his job developing workout supplements for Force Factor. Brett's extensive background in biochemical engineering means he's one scientist you don't want to mess with. When Brett is not crushing it in the gym or working at Force Factor, you can find him spending time outdoors with his family.
Reader Comments (2)
This is a great fitness tips!
For me, mirror is important when doing any exercise for you to check whether you have improvements with the exercises you're doing. In other words, it's you're basis!
That was an excellent post. You have managed to point out some important details. I think most people exercise for aesthetic purposes than for health reasons. Although the two goes hand in hand there is still a difference between exercising for mere aesthetic reasons as opposed to those who exercise for better health.