Eric Cressey does well collaborating with Mike Roberston in multiple projects.
They came out with an in depth guide about identifying and solving common cases of poor posture. Muscle balance plays an important role in fixing postural problems.
I would like to add the newest chapter to my imbalances.
Recently I had been suffering from a lower back pain. The pain is right around the tailbone. The PT told me that my lower abs are to weak and are pulling my pelvis.
So this is to all the bench and curl guys…Make sure you put some effort into core training. Even though it is not fun, it will save you trouble in the future.
Read Hips Dont Lie by Mike Robertson. I struggled with the same problem for a few months, which forced me to learn the importance of balance.
I fixed it by:
Stretching hip flexors, glutes, and other strategic muscles (see Hips Dont Lie)
Unilateral movements focusing on building hamstrings/glutes as well as balance between adductors/abductors. High Step Ups, Lunges to a platform, Pistols all work great for me. But you can also do 1 Leg RDL, Bulgarian squat, etc.
Strengthening of core. High to Low Woodchops, Reverse Crunches, V Sits, Cable Side Bend
When deadlifting, hold and squeeze glutes for ~5 seconds at lockout.
Glute activation (X band walks, Supine Bridges)
Pull Throughs …these pretty much taught me how to properly deadlift by driving heels through the ground and using hams/glutes for hip extension, taking stress off of the lower back.
Great Information. I will read the article by Robertson.
[quote]anthropocentric wrote:
Kal-El,
Read Hips Dont Lie by Mike Robertson. I struggled with the same problem for a few months, which forced me to learn the importance of balance.
I fixed it by:
Stretching hip flexors, glutes, and other strategic muscles (see Hips Dont Lie)
Unilateral movements focusing on building hamstrings/glutes as well as balance between adductors/abductors. High Step Ups, Lunges to a platform, Pistols all work great for me. But you can also do 1 Leg RDL, Bulgarian squat, etc.
Strengthening of core. High to Low Woodchops, Reverse Crunches, V Sits, Cable Side Bend
When deadlifting, hold and squeeze glutes for ~5 seconds at lockout.
Glute activation (X band walks, Supine Bridges)
Pull Throughs …these pretty much taught me how to properly deadlift by driving heels through the ground and using hams/glutes for hip extension, taking stress off of the lower back.[/quote]
yep i started with the classic bench and curls as well. thank goodness i didn’t eat enough protein to build significant muscle there, cuz i would’ve been all screwed up if i did. who really gives a crap what the women think about our legs though, honestly?
does what women think of you get you to slam all that food down even when you’re not hungry, does it get that last rep out when you’re running on empty, does it convince you to do squats instead of leg extensions, does it help you hit pr’s on deadlifts? i highly doubt it…lift for yourself. 99% of women don’t even know what numbers mean when it comes to lifting anyways.
[quote]tykraus7 wrote:
I worked only the mirror muscles at first. I have a strength imbalance but I am working on it by doing 2 sets of back for every 1 set of chest. [/quote]
Sounds good for now. Just make sure you dont flip the coin and have push imbalance. Good luck!!
What an excellent thread this is. The concentration here is on push and pull strength balance, but as some have stated it can apply to pretty much every major joint in the body.
For me, I always concentrated on balance between pushing and pulling, but neglected something else very early in my training experience: leg training.
How many times had I read leg training was important? How many times did I promise myself (in those early days) that I would make it a point to start adding legwork in? How many times did I rationalize not training legs when I was supposed to due to “not enough time” or having to “do” some REQUIRED upper body movement instead of squatting? Oh how woefully ignorant I was.
I still hate squatting. I still hate deadlifting. But there is no way I could have made the gains in overall body mass (yes, INCLUDING the upper body push/pull muscles!) without working the legs.
[quote]Kal-El wrote:
Great addition Superman Prime!
Like the name and Avatar!![/quote]
Alas we “Supermen” seem to get drawn to the same places, no? Thanks…I’ve always liked Superman but find the Superboy/man Prime storyline to be fascinating. I look forward to the Superman Prime versus Sadom Yot (with the Ion power) battle…one of them will perish I think.
[quote]Kal-El wrote:
tykraus7 wrote:
I worked only the mirror muscles at first. I have a strength imbalance but I am working on it by doing 2 sets of back for every 1 set of chest.
Sounds good for now. Just make sure you dont flip the coin and have push imbalance. Good luck!![/quote]
Oh don’t worry once I can chin as much as I can bench I will even out the sets for each.
[quote]tykraus7 wrote:
Kal-El wrote:
tykraus7 wrote:
I worked only the mirror muscles at first. I have a strength imbalance but I am working on it by doing 2 sets of back for every 1 set of chest.
Sounds good for now. Just make sure you dont flip the coin and have push imbalance. Good luck!!
Oh don’t worry once I can chin as much as I can bench I will even out the sets for each.
[/quote]
Good thread, this has actually been on my mind a lot lately.
I basically did the same mistake as most in here seem to be guilty of. Too much push with too little pull resulting in front rotated shoulders. I realized that problem a while back, so I began working on correcting it.
Sadly, I was a bit too late, just over a month ago I got a shoulder injury. Now, it wasn’t anything serious, I was unable to train like normal for a few weeks and I’ve practically recovered from it already. I was very lucky, it could easily have been more serious and screwed up my training for a long time.
I also have issues with my lower body, that’s what you get when you neglect the posterior chain for years. I didn’t like squatting or deadlifting when I was young, so my leg workouts basically consisted of a lot of legpresses and leg extensions. The other day a pretty good powerlifter at my gym watched me squat, then told me I probably have around 60lbs to add to my squat if I just sort out my posture. Maybe even more. Now that’s good motivation.
Good articles by Robertson by the way, they’ve been bookmarked.
[quote]Matsa wrote:
Good thread, this has actually been on my mind a lot lately.
I basically did the same mistake as most in here seem to be guilty of. Too much push with too little pull resulting in front rotated shoulders. I realized that problem a while back, so I began working on correcting it.
Sadly, I was a bit too late, just over a month ago I got a shoulder injury. Now, it wasn’t anything serious, I was unable to train like normal for a few weeks and I’ve practically recovered from it already. I was very lucky, it could easily have been more serious and screwed up my training for a long time.
I also have issues with my lower body, that’s what you get when you neglect the posterior chain for years. I didn’t like squatting or deadlifting when I was young, so my leg workouts basically consisted of a lot of legpresses and leg extensions. The other day a pretty good powerlifter at my gym watched me squat, then told me I probably have around 60lbs to add to my squat if I just sort out my posture. Maybe even more. Now that’s good motivation.
Good articles by Robertson by the way, they’ve been bookmarked.[/quote]
I have the pain in my tailbone after beginning to correct the issue of neglecting the posterior chain and core muscles. It seems that your hips will begin tilt without you even knowing. Now I have to deal with them trying to correct themselves with lower ab work.
I have come a long way since I made this post. I now know that if I neglect abs for a period of time, my lower back will begin to hurt again. No brainer!! Good luck to all of you.
