By Houston Brown,CSCS

Your legs are the largest muscles on your body. So it is very important that you use it them your advantage. The muscles of the lower back are smaller and designed more for stabilization rather than strength. They are really good for endurance, working all day every day providing posture and spinal stability. However, if you start asking them to do the job of the legs they will not hold up for long; that's when injuries happen. Keep your legs strong and use them well for the big movements such as bending, lifting, squatting, and locomotion. This may all sound very familiar and common cense for most people, so lets discuss how having stronger legs can give you a stronger back.

Synergistic muscles are muscles that help out or work together to accomplish a certain movement. With any movement you can think of, there are primary movers and synergistic muscles. For most leg movements the back acts synergistically. Here is an example: say you drop your keys and you reach down to pick it up. As you come back up your gluteus (muscles of the buttocks) and hamstrings (back of legs) should be the primary movers and the back provide support for them to pull against. Since it is almost impossible to isolate only one muscle or muscle group during normal day-to-day activities, it is very important to practice body movements properly when exercising. This is why I encourage multi-joint free weight exercises. When you are sitting in a fixed position working one muscle group you are effectively eliminating any synergistic muscles from activating which is the case with most weight machines. Now, when you are doing free weight exercises (such as: squats, lunges, step ups, standing rows, and standing presses) you are allowing your body to work together.

Any of these exercises, if performed properly, will stimulate and strengthen the muscles of the back and torso. Many times people are intimidated by free weights and are afraid of hurting their back rather than helping. Free weight exercise does not always have to involve heavy external weight. It is a good idea to start off with manageable weights along with the guidance of a trainer; this way you can be sure to build strength and muscle and avoid injury.