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Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the biggest names in Italy at the Milan-Cortina games. Shiffrin has the most World Cup wins of any Alpine skier in history, on both the men’s and women’s side, and at 30-years-old she is still considered the favorite to win every time she steps up to the starting line.
Mikaela Shiffrin missed the podium by just 0.06 seconds in her first event, the women’s team combined event where she skied with Breezy Johnson which momentarily distracted people from talking about Mikaela’s ‘back abs,’ a collection of muscles we have never seen before.
Mikaela Shiffrin Has ‘Back Abs’ — What Exactly Are Back Abs?
Due to lifting weights 4x and exercising 7-10 sessions a week I have more clearly defined abs than most. That’s not a brag, I’m just coming to grips with the fact that I thought I knew where most muscle definition was possible in the body and until I saw Mikaela Shiffrin’s back abs video I didn’t realize that the back was a place muscles could see definition like this.
The world learned about Mikaela Shiffrin’s back abs from a video she posted a few days ago to TikTok. Prior to the Milan-Cortina games, Mikaela only had a few thousand followers on TT but has already picked up 75K followers and counting as she has been sharing candid videos from her experience and the algorithm has been loving her content.
Somehow, I missed the ‘back abs’ video from Mikaela when she posted it but came across a local LA news station discussing Shiffrin’s muscles. So I went to her page and there it was, her laying on her chest flexing her back abs. Normal stuff, right?!
@mikaelashiffrin Someone said this is going viral, so sharing it here too 😝…my physio informed me the other day that this is what my back muscles look like😳🤪…is this normal?!
Truly, what are we looking at there? Is it her rib cage protruding the muscles out? Does she have the most defined (and oddly defined) lats of all time? Are they lats, obliques, or the rhomboids underneath? The world needs to know what’s going on and more importantly, how she got those muscles to do that.
Someone on TikTok commented “is that technically a backpack?” in reference to Mikaela Shiffrin’s back abs being the equivalent of a six-pack on her back and honestly, I’m sticking with that nomenclature for now. Also, if that TikTok video is not loading for you the clip can be seen here on NBCLA’s YouTube:
When asked about her back abs at a press conference, Mikaela Shiffrin’s only response was “I wish I had more of them in my front, honestly.” Which reminds me of how downhill skiers are always in insanely good shape, with under 10% body fat and incredible muscle definition, while the snowboarders are in Milan-Cortina having cupcake eating contests after every run. The two sports could not have more different athletes.