I'm on a performance dance team, and one of our more impressive aerial figures is called a "flap" -- the gents swing the ladies up and down in a sort of butterfly-flapping sort of movement. The problem is, the critical muscle for the ladies doing this is one of those minor ones that doesn't seem to serve any purpose and all of its movements can be covered by other muscles.
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Originally Posted by Lotus  I don't know of any muscles that people never use; at least, my gross anatomy professor didn't mention any.  |
I'm sure that's true, but there's definitly a muscle somewhere between my shoulder blades that's only noticed by flapping ladies and swimmers who do butterfly.
Lie on your stomach on the floor, and bend your knees. Lay your head on the floor and use your arms to brace yourself. Now try lift your legs and lower torso off the ground by bending in the upper spine. Most people can manage to get their knees about 2-3 inches off the floor without bending at the waist; butterfly swimmers can frequently manage double that. But we've been unable to find a way to strengthen that muscle without learning the butterfly stroke, which is rather impractical. Any ideas?
Anyway, back on topic for Beating-Drum, I'd check out an anatomy textbook from the library. People who've taken anatomy classes can probably give a good recommendation, but I remember my aunt using Gray's Anatomy when she went into medicine, and I recall it being extremely detailed -- covering all the muscles, not just the big ones everyone knows. That will let you take a look at what's in there, and get a general idea of what your back looks like. After that, if you have specific questions, you'll have the terminology and background knowledge to ask them.