If you have ever hurt your back, you know just how hard it is to recover. That is why the best thing you can do is to avoid getting hurt in the first place!

When it comes to back safety during exercise, many people have heard to “brace your core” or “lift with your legs,” but there is another important aspect to back health that is often forgotten: your lats.

Your lats are one of the most important muscles in your body when it comes to stabilizing your spine in exercise.

If you are not familiar, these are the large muscles located on either side of your upper back, starting at your arm and running down to the base of your spine.

And while your core is certainly important when it comes to spine safety, if your lats are not engaged, you are still at risk of injury.

That is why, in this week’s video, we will be talking about how the lats support the spine, and will show you a few exercises to add to your warm up to make sure that you know how to properly engage your lats:

If you have not already, I would recommend you try each of these exercises yourself and see which one you feel the most.

Which one “wakes up” your lats and helps you to use them during your other exercises? Once you know, add this exercise to all of your warm-ups.

Now, as I already mentioned, there are certainly other things to consider when it comes to back safety. Knowing how to properly brace, knowing the right way to breathe in exercise, and knowing how to properly engage the glutes and legs are all important as well.

That is why, when we start working with a client, we look for all of these things while they work out. If they are not using the right muscles in the right way, we help coach them so that they learn how.

With this approach, we can help clients start doing more in their workouts and in their lives.

Too often, people avoid exercises or activities because they don’t want to hurt themselves. But over time, this leaves them more susceptible to injury because their bodies are not prepared for the variety of movements needed just to live life.

So, if you would like to move more while not having to worry about hurting yourself, our coaches are here to help.

And right now, we are registering people into our 28-Day Kickstart Program where we will sit down with you, learn about your goals, your health history, and your concerns, and then design a program built specifically with you in mind.

We want you to have the exact exercises that you need to get the results you want, while also having a coach to keep you accountable to your plan.

That is why, in this program, you will get:

• Full fitness and goals assessment
• Personalized fitness coaching to teach you the exact exercises you need to safely and effectively move better and build stamina
• A simple meal plan to help you decrease inflammation
• 1-on-1 success coaching to help guide you as you work to change your diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits

Click here to learn more and take back control of your health and fitness today!

Mint Condition Fitness empowers people to take control of their fitness and fully enjoy the life they have built.