Lacrosse: Why Train The Back?

-February 8th, 2013-

I just began running some new lacrosse strength and speed camps at my new facility, The Dynamic Athlete..

As always, I get some awesome questions from my teenage boy athletes.

This week I got “how much can you curl?” from one of my new kids. I love it. I had to explain why curling will never make you a better lacrosse player.

It’s like guys are born with a meat head gene in their DNA.

In fact, any isolation exercise is brutal. Your muscles work together to perform tasks, that’s why you want to train using compound exercises that use multiple joints.

Squat is hip and knee. Deadlift is hip and knee. Pull Up crosses shoulder and elbow. Same as bench press.

But the great question I received from the same athlete is “why train your back?”

Your back is more important than your front. The muscles in the back are what keep your shoulders healthy and help maintain proper posture.

Bench is the meat head exercise, chin ups are what’s important. Don’t get me wrong, Bench Press will always have a place in my training programs, but your pulling strength is way more impressive to me.

You don’t push the ball into the net, and a strong back will actually make you shoot harder! The first motion of your shot is a pulling motion that uses your back muscles.

Train your back muscles. Chin Ups, Rows etc. Not only will your posture improve and be more resistant to shoulder injuries, but you will actually shoot harder.

Tags: back muscles, lacrosse training, Shoulder health, The Dynamic Athlete