Body Building Anatomy
So you’re thinking about a little body building but you don’t know what muscle does what, or even what it is. Most of us have a general idea, but hope we won’t be tested on it.
This is a brief outline on muscles that body builders concentrate on.
If you are considering a body building workout, you need to know where your muscles are located, and how you can effectively train them.
These muscles are:
If you know your body’s anatomy, it well help immensely as you learn the different muscles and what they do.
Neck
The neck muscles to concentrate on are the upper trapezius, which starts at the nape of your neck and runs to your shoulder. The trapezius is made of 3 parts – upper, middle and lower. The trapezius (traps for short) goes to your waist, and helps to support your head and shoulders..
The levator scapulae connects the neck and shoulder as well, and helps to lift the shoulder to your ear.
Shoulders
The shoulder muscles are your deltoid muscles. These muscles have 3 heads and help you to raise your arms. The heads are called anterior or front muscles and are the ones you move when you move your arms forward. The medial or side muscles are what help you move your arms out to the side and the posterior or rear muscles, allow you to move your arms backwards.
Back
The latissimus dorsi is located at the middle of the back to the tailbone. The lats help pull your arm towards your body. The lats are what gives you the V shape to the back.
Chest
Your chest muscles are pectoral muscles. They are fanlike in shape and are located under your breasts. The pectorals help you to move your arms, and consist of two muscle groups – the upper and medial. Developing these muscles will help you to open those bottles that you can never open. Some chest workouts help create cleavage as well.
Biceps
The biceps is a muscle that consists of two heads, starts at your shoulder blade and stops at the forearm. This is the “show me your muscle” muscle.
Triceps
The triceps is attached to your shoulder. It’s a three headed muscle that is made up of the inner head, outer head and medial head. The triceps extends the arm and forearm. The tripceps muscle is the muscle under our arm, and is the one women are most in love with as we get older.
Stomach
The abdominal muscles are in your stomach. This muscle is long, segmented muscle that runs from the ribs and goes vertically the length of your abdominal wall. You may have seen the abs referred to as upper and lower abs.
Thigh
The quadriceps (quads) muscle is the front of the thigh. The quadriceps muscle helps to straighten the leg when it’s in a bent position. The hamstrings are three muscles at the back of the thigh, they rotate your leg, extend your hips and work the knee.
Butt
The glutimus maximus or glutes is the largest muscle in your body. It is between your hipbone and tailbone and rotates and extends your thigh.
Knowing where everything is and why you’re doing a particular exercise is an important part of developing and working the muscles. It makes it easier for you to concentrate on each muscle during your workout. It isn’t as hard as it looks.