Rodale’s charitable effort to make a magazine for the middle-aged male tosses this piece on five muscles you never knew you had, or needed, in with the customary listings of remedies (younger women) for mid-life (younger women) crises (younger women). In Latin, they are: Gluteus medius, levator scapulae, external obliques, serratus anterior, sartorius. Also, in English, they are: Gluteus medius, levator scapulae, external obliques, serratus anterior, sartorius.
“Think of these smaller muscles as the support crew,” Michael
Maina, an associate professor of health and human performance at
Roanoke College, tells readers. “They help your prime-time muscles
perform at their best.” Read all about them in Best Life.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
The article is great, but are there no pictures?? The descriptions of some of these exercises are a little difficult to follow.
Of course I knew I had these!
Geezer, if you don’t know what muscles you have, the structure and the functions of the same, as well as which muscles they assist, which bones the move, joints they work with, etc. how do you plan your work out?
The author of this article was able to identify several important muscles to strenghten to prevent injuries. However, he included the Levator Scapulae muscles in his report. If you try to strengthening this muscle, I guarantee you will have neck pain or cause irreversable postural dysfunction. This muscle is chronically shorten due to forward head position. Ironically, as you sit at your computer, the levator is already overworking to prevent your head from leaning forward. To prevent this problem, one must strech the levator Scapulae, not strenghten, The muscles under the chin must be strenghten to counter act the pull of the levator muscles. If you doubt this, just feel the trigger points between your neck and shoulder. That is caused by over worked levator scapulae muscles.