Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 3

Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts: Part 3
By Jesse Cannone
Welcome to article number 2 in our series “Bodybuilding Sins That Cause Back Pain and Missed Workouts”. In this article we are going to talk about how bodybuilders tend to create massive muscle imbalances and what you can do to not be one of them.

If you missed the first article, you can read it by clicking on the link below.

Here’s a breakdown of the articles to look for:

1. Article:1 - Choosing The WRONG Exercises
2. Article:2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
3. Article:3 - Targeted Stretching
4. Article:4 - Targeted Exercises
5. Article:5 - Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention

Article:3 - Targeted Stretching

Stretching can be great, but it can also make existing injuries worse or even bring about new ones!

The key to making stretching work for you is knowing which stretches you need to be working on… and just because a muscle feels tight, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be stretched.

For example, many people stretch the hamstrings because they feel tight and they think the hamstrings are limiting their flexibility…

the fact is, most of the time the hamstrings are “tight” because they are constantly being pulled / lengthened due to muscle imbalances that tip the pelvis forward.

As you can, when the pelvis tips forward the hamstrings get pulled upward and are constantly held in a stretched position…

And this is why millions of people can stretch their hamstrings every freakin day and never make any improvement in their flexibility….

Are you one of those people?

If you are, you need to stop stretching your hamstrings and find out exactly which muscles you need to be targeting by reading the rest of this article…

Not only does this forward tipping of the pelvis (which is caused by muscle imbalances) keep the hamstrings tight and make it very difficult to make improvements in the muscles flexibility, but it also leads to the following:

• increased stress / wear and tear from the ankles all the way up the spine

For example, the forward tipping of the pelvis places uneven pressure on the ankle, knee and hip joints and also many of the vertebrae in the spine.

• weakens the hamstrings, inhibits normal functioning and increases the likelihood of hamstring pulls

When the hamstrings are constantly being strained because of the muscle imbalances, the muscle is weak, not able to function as it normally would, prone to injury and without correcting the muscle imbalance recover can take up to 9 months to a year, or longer!

• creates excess curvature in the lower and middle