DeMarcus Ware's Crusher Workout Builds Up Your Back
While most of us spent Labor Day weekend eating, shopping, and/or drinking, retired NFL star DeMarcus Ware spent the holiday at the gym. Ware later posted a video of his back workout online, aptly titling it the "backcrusher."
Ware also shared some motivating words that will get you and up moving after the long weekend. "For a really long time, I thought being different was a negative thing," Ware wrote. "But as I grew older, I started to realize we were all born to stand out; nobody is born to blend in. Stay true to yourself and have your own back."
Men's Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S, explained how you can take on Ware's back workout yourself:
"The first exercise [a bent over med ball raise] is deceptive," Samuel explains. "It seems somewhat similar to a front raise, but you're actually getting your rotator cuff musculature, rhomboids, lower lats, and lower traps to fire. If you don't have the greatest shoulder mobility, you may struggle to get the ball as high as DeMarcus does, but focus on squeezing your back muscles to help drive your shoulders up high."
"Ware then follows with a row motion, which is perfect. Keep your abs tight as you're doing this, and watch DeMarcus' head position on this too—he's looking at the ground, keeping his neck and spine in a nice, safe, neutral position. You can use dumbbells or kettlebells for this," Samuel continues.
"DeMarcus finishes with the single-arm lat pulldown, which is as easy or hard a move as you make it," Samuel says. "Focus on keeping your hips square to the weight and tighten your abs as you pull down, then get a good squeeze on every rep."
Samuel also explained why he loves the overall construction of Ware's workout: "Those first two moves insure that your rhomboids and scapular retraction muscles are fired up and ready to go, and then he goes over to the vertical pull motion, an ideal way to build a back workout while keeping shoulder health in mind."
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