Water
Bottles for Resistance Training to Get a V-Shaped Back?
It never ceases to amaze me how some 'fitness expert' can
come up with exercises, programs and books without considering if they are at all
effective of useful for the readers or buyers. Are today's consumers really so gullible?
Just last week, I saw a fitness trainer on TV show how can can build back muscles with a
pair of water mineral bottles (good thing at least they were filled with water!). This is
just so hilarious.
Let's not fully discredit the fitness trainer on TV, at least she was
telling the viewers you can exercise with limited equipment. Indeed we can use everyday
objects for resistance training, but in our book - with the exception of certain
rehabilitation exercises, exercising with a pair of light water bottles equals 'wasting of
time'! Years ago, I had personally been featured full-page on a local newspaper about a
topic what were some of the exercises one can do at home and what did I recommend? I
recommended bags of canned foods. Yes several canned foods packed in grocery bags can
provide resistance heavy enough for a good stimulus for your muscles, not water bottles.
Look, the back is one of the largest muscles (made up of a few major and minor muscles) in
the body and is capable of lifting huge amount of weight. In fact, we are already
subjecting them with enormous of weight the whole day (e.g. posturing your body, lifting
stuff, dragging things) without our knowledge. So it is a complete b***s*** that you can
effective sculpt your muscles simply by lifting few hundred grams of weight (as in the
case of water bottles and ladies colored dumbbells in many gyms). Now take a look at the
weight of the common things around you that you need to move on daily basis that use your
back muscle:
- A one year old baby weighs 5-8kg.
- A laptop weighs 2-3 kg.
- A pile of books/: 2-5kg
- A filled ring file: 2kg
- A PC weighs: 5-6 kg
- A box of items: 3-10kg
If the intended weight load for strength training is less than the above,
does it make sense? Maybe you can get some range of motion and get the blood flowing. For
that, I rather have you do some stretching for better effect.
If you want to do resistance training to build functional
strength, enhance posture, sculpt your physique and increase metabolic rate, you better
lift some real weights! For back training, you need a load of at least 3kg per side for a
beginner. I general one should perform the exercise to near fatigue which should occur
between 8-20 reps. With the load of the tiny water bottles, how many reps can you do
before your muscles are fatigue? 30 reps? 100 reps? more?
By the way, the fitness 'expert' had a posture to work the back was also incorrect. The
load was acting directly on the shoulder muscles (because the gravity pulled the weight
directly downwards and the shoulders were supporting them) instead of the back, which was
supposed to be pulling the load (back is basically a pulling muscles). The posture she was
demonstrating is only useful if one is using a back rowing machine found in gyms. And I am
not surprised if the same pair of water bottles were also used for all other exercises
that targets the legs, arms, chest etc. If so, she had apparently forgotten that all
muscles in us have different strength capabilities, not to mention individual differences.
And because of the bad load we are carrying on our back, lack of back strengthening
and lack of flexibility in certain muscles and joints, many of us develop back problems,
particularly lower back (although some are due to predisposed genetic conditions).
Whatever the causes are, back problems can and must be corrected. Do not ignore the pain
or it will lead to more serious and complicated health problems. In our next issue of
Fitness Tip, we will address this issue and give you some tips to prevent yourself from
getting a bad back. Stay tuned.
