Walk into a gym anywhere any evening and what are the "dudes" usually training? Chest, biceps....ummm... and a little bit of something else for good measure. Call them the mirror muscles or the beach muscles or whatever you want. As a roller derby competitor they won't get you skating much faster. They won't be playing a significant role in injury prevention either.
Not that you want to ignore the front of your body but it makes much more sense to focus on developing your posterior chain, your "go muscles." And just what is the "posterior chain" you might ask? Simply put: the backside of your body but for our purposes here we will narrow this down a bit to the hamstrings, glutes and low back.
Your hamstrings are responsible for flexing your knees.
Your glutes (a.k.a bum) have a number of functions. They extend your hips, abduct your legs (lift them away from body's centre) and allow external hip rotation.
Your low back (spinal erectors) keeps you upright.
Happily there are a lot of exercises to choose from when training these muscles. Below is a far from comprehensive list. Some are pretty well-known and others may seem cryptic. Get to know them, use them regularly, and watch your strength and power increase, and in all the right places!
-glute ham raises (if you are lucky enough to have a GHR bench in your gym or you have built one for yourself
-deadlifts of all sorts
-back extensions
-reverse hypers
-sled dragging
-Olympic lifts (technical and difficult to learn)
-various "strongman" training methods ("strongwomen" can use them too!)
-good mornings
-lunges
-step-ups
-pull-throughs (with bands or cables)
-various movements with kettlebells, swings being the best place to start.
Work hard and enjoy the training!
image credit: Terrence McNally http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrencemcnally/
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