Mirror Muscle Mystery

by Craig Ballantaine

If you only train your mirror muscles, you lose out on a lot of fat burning power.

By mirror muscles I mean the chest, arms, abs, and quadriceps. Sure that's a lot of muscle, but it's not enough for best results...and only training these muscles could lead to injury.

It's likely the real fat burning power is in the back of the body. In your upper back, your lats, your glutes, and your hamstrings. That is probably more than 50% of your muscle mass back there...and you must take advantage of the metabolic boost it can offer.

Yet those muscles are trained by the exercises we often dislike. So we skip the dumbbell rows, the split squats, the romanian deadlifts, the inverted rows, etc., etc.

If that sounds like you, then change your ways.

You need to build the back of the body to build a healthier, better body. If you play sports, even at a recreational level, you'll play better when the back of your body is strong.

And those mystery muscles on the back of your body are almost always the ones that make the greatest impression on the opposite sex. And hey, tell me that isn't just a little-bitty, teeny-weeny reason you exercise?

So make these exercises your friend again - rows, lunges, db squats, back extensions on the ball, inverted rows, and even single-leg RDL's - all of these train the back of the body...so give your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend something to look at as you walk away...and leave them with something to remember you by, even after you make a dazzling first impression with your abs.
Here's an example "Back of Your Body" workout routine that can be done at home with a bench, a ball, and dumbbells. Do 1-3 sets per exercise.

1A) DB Row (8 reps per set)
1B) Back Extension on Ball (15 reps)

2A) DB RDL (8 reps)
2B) DB Rear-Delt Raise (12 reps)

3A) DB Step-up (10 reps)
3B) Waiter's Bow (15 reps)

Make a good second impression