Lower Body

Lower Body

There are four quadriceps muscles on the front of each thigh (QUADriceps, get it?) and three hamstring muscles on the back. Nicknamed quads and hams, they respectively enable you to straighten and bend your knee. The two muscles that comprise your calves, on the back of your lower leg, are the gastocnemius and soleus. They are used when you walk, run, stand on your toes, or jump. You use the tibialis anterior, on the front of the shins, when you raise your forefoot while your heel is on the ground.The gluteal muscles, nicknamed glutes, are the muscles that shape your backside. You use the gluteus maximus to stand up from a seated position, to climb stairs, to walk up hills, and to extend your leg out behind you. The gluteus medius, more commonly known as the abductor, is the muscle that runs along your outer thigh. It is an important hip stabilizer, and it also enables you to step sideways (as you do when playing tennis),to move your leg out to the side (as you do when in-line skating), and to rotate your leg outward or laterally from the hip joint. The adductors are a group of inner thigh muscles that enable you to kick a soccer ball with the inside of your foot, to pressure your legs against the saddle when you are horseback riding, and to skate.
No muscle group causes more agony and concern than the abdominals (or abs).Everyone wants them to be firm and flat. This muscle group runs along the front and sides of your trunk. The rectus abdominus is the big, flat muscle that runs between your rib cage and your pubic bone. It enables you to stand up straight and to bend at the waist. It stabilizes your torso, and when it’s toned, it looks terrific. When it is really toned so that every muscular ripple shows, it is called washboard abs. The internal and external obliques wrap around the sides of your torso. You use these diagonal muscle to twist your body and to bend at the waist.The pectoral muscles (or pecs) comprise a fan-shaped muscle group on your upper chest below your shoulders. Buff men like to build shapely pecs, and women who work their pecs often find that their breasts appear firmer and sometimes larger. You use your pecs when you push a baby carriage, a shopping cart, or a lawnmower and also for such sports as golf, tennis, and volleyball.
Crunches, done regularly, can help flatten and tone the tummy.
The latissimi dorsi (or lats) are the biggest muscles in your back, running from the inside of your upper arm next to the pectoral attachment down to your waist. These muscles are used when you pull something. The erector spinae run down the length of your back on either side of your spine. These postural muscles, along with the abs, enable you to stand up straight. You also use them to straighten up when you are bent over. The rhomboids are fairly small muscles on either side of the spine. These also are postural muscles, located under the trapezius muscles, that allow you to pull your shoulder blades together. If you were in the military, you’d use them a lot—whenever you had to stand at attention.