Posture Issues... Maybe???

Training Bodybuilding
21

Inmate:

I’m feeling helpful today…so here goes:
I can relate to you about your dislocated shoulder, I’ve dislocated my left 9 times in eight years. The back picture of you clearly shows a discrepancy btwn the right and left. your right shoulder is obviously lower and your right arm is held more lateral than your left. If you also compare the upper left trap to the upper right trap you’ll see the right is longer than the left.

Coming to the side views, your shoulder girdle is protracted quite a bit and standing you lack lower ab tension. I wouldn’t be so concerned with your upper chest, i’d be more concerned with your mid back, and rear delts, and external rotators. You see how from your mid back up it looks like one long curve up to your neck? that ain’t good man. From the side pics it appears as if your standing posture depicts an anterior pelvic tilt (strengthen lower abs and glutes).

Re-looking at the front pic i see you are tilted in your torso to the right. If there is a qualified practicioner in the area who can assess your posture I am confident they would find your right lat. dorsi is tighter than your left and there is also more tension in your right trap then left as well. There may even be a tension imbalance in the quad. lumborum right vs left. I presume you are right handed as well, but that is just a shot in the dark.

What to do…like someone already suggested, read the Neanderthal No More series. Cressey did a great job with this series and it will help out a great deal. You seriously need to forget about bringing your chest up and focus on strengthening the backside of your body, lower tension in the muscles which are tight, and get the point where range is even or at least close to each other right vs left.

You are only as strong as your weakest link and your time in the gym is a small amount of your day. How you sit, sleep, stand, walk, drive, etc. ingrain patterns into you without even knowing it.

Hopefully this can help out a bit, good luck with resetting your holding patterns. It may not be the funnest thing or easiest thing to do but will pay for itself over time, I GUARANTEE IT!

22

[quote]BSims wrote:
Inmate:

I’m feeling helpful today…so here goes:
I can relate to you about your dislocated shoulder, I’ve dislocated my left 9 times in eight years. The back picture of you clearly shows a discrepancy btwn the right and left. your right shoulder is obviously lower and your right arm is held more lateral than your left. If you also compare the upper left trap to the upper right trap you’ll see the right is longer than the left.

Coming to the side views, your shoulder girdle is protracted quite a bit and standing you lack lower ab tension. I wouldn’t be so concerned with your upper chest, i’d be more concerned with your mid back, and rear delts, and external rotators. You see how from your mid back up it looks like one long curve up to your neck? that ain’t good man. From the side pics it appears as if your standing posture depicts an anterior pelvic tilt (strengthen lower abs and glutes).

Re-looking at the front pic i see you are tilted in your torso to the right. If there is a qualified practicioner in the area who can assess your posture I am confident they would find your right lat. dorsi is tighter than your left and there is also more tension in your right trap then left as well. There may even be a tension imbalance in the quad. lumborum right vs left. I presume you are right handed as well, but that is just a shot in the dark.

What to do…like someone already suggested, read the Neanderthal No More series. Cressey did a great job with this series and it will help out a great deal. You seriously need to forget about bringing your chest up and focus on strengthening the backside of your body, lower tension in the muscles which are tight, and get the point where range is even or at least close to each other right vs left.

You are only as strong as your weakest link and your time in the gym is a small amount of your day. How you sit, sleep, stand, walk, drive, etc. ingrain patterns into you without even knowing it.

Hopefully this can help out a bit, good luck with resetting your holding patterns. It may not be the funnest thing or easiest thing to do but will pay for itself over time, I GUARANTEE IT![/quote]

Clearly you didn’t get the memo.

23

[quote]Inmate102086 wrote:

should i be worried about this, and will this affect progress?
can i even fix this problem?
[/quote]

First off, if you want a real diagnosis, go see your doctor. 'Nuff said on that one. Second, why are you worried about whether you can make progress…when you aren’t making any? Why would your posture alone keep you from making progress in the weight room? Most people on the planet do not have perfect posture. Why some trainers are cashing in on this is beyond me. I could possibly see this affecting elite athletes at the peak of performance, but not skinny dudes who look like they have never touched a weight and seem to be looking for any excuse to avoid ever doing so.

24

Look, if the guy is new around here he isn’t going to get the shoe joke or the stop sign joke.

Shit, he’s not asking us to tell him his bodyfat level or if he should be cutting or anything silly.

25

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Inmate102086 wrote:

should i be worried about this, and will this affect progress?
can i even fix this problem?

First off, if you want a real diagnosis, go see your doctor. 'Nuff said on that one. Second, why are you worried about whether you can make progress…when you aren’t making any? Why would your posture alone keep you from making progress in the weight room? Most people on the planet do not have perfect posture. Why some trainers are cashing in on this is beyond me. I could possibly see this affecting elite athletes at the peak of performance, but not skinny dudes who look like they have never touched a weight and seem to be looking for any excuse to avoid ever doing so.[/quote]

Even though I threw my two cents in for helping Inmate out, very good point here Prof. once again, nice insight from you.

26

[quote]vroom wrote:
Look, if the guy is new around here he isn’t going to get the shoe joke or the stop sign joke.

Shit, he’s not asking us to tell him his bodyfat level or if he should be cutting or anything silly.[/quote]

Just because someone else doesn’t get a joke doesn’t mean that I can’t find it funny. Besides, I really wanted a shoe picture.

27

So let me get this straight, that may be tough in this thread, but is the OP asking if he’s brokeback?

28

[quote]ybthere1 wrote:
vroom wrote:
Look, if the guy is new around here he isn’t going to get the shoe joke or the stop sign joke.

Shit, he’s not asking us to tell him his bodyfat level or if he should be cutting or anything silly.

Just because someone else doesn’t get a joke doesn’t mean that I can’t find it funny. Besides, I really wanted a shoe picture.[/quote]

Then post one yourself or live with the fact we dont always get what we want.

29

[quote]BSims wrote:
Inmate:

I’m feeling helpful today…so here goes:
I can relate to you about your dislocated shoulder, I’ve dislocated my left 9 times in eight years. The back picture of you clearly shows a discrepancy btwn the right and left. your right shoulder is obviously lower and your right arm is held more lateral than your left. If you also compare the upper left trap to the upper right trap you’ll see the right is longer than the left.

Coming to the side views, your shoulder girdle is protracted quite a bit and standing you lack lower ab tension. I wouldn’t be so concerned with your upper chest, i’d be more concerned with your mid back, and rear delts, and external rotators. You see how from your mid back up it looks like one long curve up to your neck? that ain’t good man. From the side pics it appears as if your standing posture depicts an anterior pelvic tilt (strengthen lower abs and glutes).

Re-looking at the front pic i see you are tilted in your torso to the right. If there is a qualified practicioner in the area who can assess your posture I am confident they would find your right lat. dorsi is tighter than your left and there is also more tension in your right trap then left as well. There may even be a tension imbalance in the quad. lumborum right vs left. I presume you are right handed as well, but that is just a shot in the dark.

What to do…like someone already suggested, read the Neanderthal No More series. Cressey did a great job with this series and it will help out a great deal. You seriously need to forget about bringing your chest up and focus on strengthening the backside of your body, lower tension in the muscles which are tight, and get the point where range is even or at least close to each other right vs left.

You are only as strong as your weakest link and your time in the gym is a small amount of your day. How you sit, sleep, stand, walk, drive, etc. ingrain patterns into you without even knowing it.

Hopefully this can help out a bit, good luck with resetting your holding patterns. It may not be the funnest thing or easiest thing to do but will pay for itself over time, I GUARANTEE IT![/quote]

wow, this made my day. your a god or somethin, thanks a million

30

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Inmate102086 wrote:

should i be worried about this, and will this affect progress?
can i even fix this problem?

First off, if you want a real diagnosis, go see your doctor. 'Nuff said on that one. Second, why are you worried about whether you can make progress…when you aren’t making any? Why would your posture alone keep you from making progress in the weight room? Most people on the planet do not have perfect posture. Why some trainers are cashing in on this is beyond me. I could possibly see this affecting elite athletes at the peak of performance, but not skinny dudes who look like they have never touched a weight and seem to be looking for any excuse to avoid ever doing so.[/quote]

thanks for the truth above all. i needed it.

31

[quote]

wow, this made my day. your a god or somethin, thanks a million[/quote]

Thanks and glad I could help. Certainly no God but I enjoy helping my clients and others.

–Out.

32

Aside form seeing a pro…the Neanderthal no more series will be a great start. Read all five parts (six, I think they added one). Great insight to the dynamics of posture, their problems and fixes. You may also want to check into Pete Egoscue’s methods. Hope it helps.

33

[quote]ocn2000 wrote:
Aside form seeing a pro…the Neanderthal no more series will be a great start. Read all five parts (six, I think they added one). Great insight to the dynamics of posture, their problems and fixes. You may also want to check into Pete Egoscue’s methods. Hope it helps.[/quote]

I am now wondering how weight lifters the world over have made progress without overstated concern about posture. Major imbalances that cause problems, yes, it makes sense to get that looked at. However, this is an issue where anyone who looks long enough will find what they are looking for. How you stand is not always a muscular imbalance but also a learned state. To place concern on this before ever actually training or making any progress makes me wonder how many are paralyzed in their progress because they won’t let go of the microscope.

34

Just to make a point, the picture above is of an athlete. If you were to look at this picture alone, would many of you think he needed to correct a major imbalance before he simply went into the weight room to lift some damn weights?

35

That picture and this one are of Adrian Wilson, a Strong Safety for the Arizona Cardinals. Could someone explain to me why a newbie who is untrained would need to spend their time concerned about a minor imbalance before they ever actually make any progress in the weight room?

In fact, who does NOT have some sort of imbalance somewhere? This alone is why I have a problem with those who seem to spend their time trying to diagnose skeletal imbalances on nearly everyone who posts a picture. Simply because a trainer or writer creates an article on a subject does not mean it needs to become the basis from which all efforts progress.

People have lifted for decades without this much concern on this issue. If it is causing PAIN or is truly decreasing strength or performance, by all means, shine a light on it. However, do not believe that “imbalances” need to be focused on simply because they exist. That is life.

Someone let me know the moment the perfect human with complete symmetry in all areas of their form walks the Earth. To tell someone they need avoid training entire muscle groups simply because their left shoulder is dropped a little is simply stupid.

36

[quote]Professor X wrote:
That picture and this one are of Adrian Wilson, a Strong Safety for the Arizona Cardinals. Could someone explain to me why a newbie who is untrained would need to spend their time concerned about a minor imbalance before they ever actually make any progress in the weight room?

In fact, who does NOT have some sort of imbalance somewhere? This alone is why I have a problem with those who seem to spend their time trying to diagnose skeletal imbalances on nearly everyone who posts a picture. Simply because a trainer or writer creates an article on a subject does not mean it needs to become the basis from which all efforts progress.

People have lifted for decades without this much concern on this issue. If it is causing PAIN or is truly decreasing strength or performance, by all means, shine a light on it. However, do not believe that “imbalances” need to be focused on simply because they exist. That is life.

Someone let me know the moment the perfect human with complete symmetry in all areas of their form walks the Earth. To tell someone they need avoid training entire muscle groups simply because their left shoulder is dropped a little is simply stupid.[/quote]

Because minor problems can become major problems. And we both know that with the mentality of newbies they will focus on what they see in the mirror. It is no secret that most newbies in the gym walk around with posture similar to that of the fellow,(Inmate), who started this thread.

Why not focus on a somewhat balanced program? A newbie would be best served by hitting it hard and hitting all the majors muscles with compound movements. If this is done then I’d predict there wouldn’t be a situation of an imbalance. An imbalance being a difference between muscles in terms of strength, tension, or mobility and which assists/causes any pain, limitation or decrease in performance. I don’t know if Inmate has any pain or the other symptoms I listed but by the look of his posture (which is similar to many newbies) he would benefit from progressing in a balanced manner.

There is no person with perfect symmetry on this earth, agreed with you there. Avoiding training a muscle group completely wouldn’t be wise but maintaining said muscle group while bringing another up would be smart.

I see no point in knowingly following a program or training in a manner that would lead to an imbalance.

37

[quote]BSims wrote:
Professor X wrote:
That picture and this one are of Adrian Wilson, a Strong Safety for the Arizona Cardinals. Could someone explain to me why a newbie who is untrained would need to spend their time concerned about a minor imbalance before they ever actually make any progress in the weight room?

In fact, who does NOT have some sort of imbalance somewhere? This alone is why I have a problem with those who seem to spend their time trying to diagnose skeletal imbalances on nearly everyone who posts a picture. Simply because a trainer or writer creates an article on a subject does not mean it needs to become the basis from which all efforts progress.

People have lifted for decades without this much concern on this issue. If it is causing PAIN or is truly decreasing strength or performance, by all means, shine a light on it. However, do not believe that “imbalances” need to be focused on simply because they exist. That is life.

Someone let me know the moment the perfect human with complete symmetry in all areas of their form walks the Earth. To tell someone they need avoid training entire muscle groups simply because their left shoulder is dropped a little is simply stupid.

Because minor problems can become major problems. And we both know that with the mentality of newbies they will focus on what they see in the mirror. It is no secret that most newbies in the gym walk around with posture similar to that of the fellow,(Inmate), who started this thread.

Why not focus on a somewhat balanced program? A newbie would be best served by hitting it hard and hitting all the majors muscles with compound movements. If this is done then I’d predict there wouldn’t be a situation of an imbalance. An imbalance being a difference between muscles in terms of strength, tension, or mobility and which assists/causes any pain, limitation or decrease in performance. I don’t know if Inmate has any pain or the other symptoms I listed but by the look of his posture (which is similar to many newbies) he would benefit from progressing in a balanced manner.

There is no person with perfect symmetry on this earth, agreed with you there. Avoiding training a muscle group completely wouldn’t be wise but maintaining said muscle group while bringing another up would be smart.

I see no point in knowingly following a program or training in a manner that would lead to an imbalance.[/quote]

There’s a difference between following a ballanced program and performing pre/rehab. Keep in mind that most of the pre/rehab articles written on this site have been targeted at intermediate and advanced trainers who have been lifting long enough to actually have problems.

The postural issues a newbie has will be different from those of the advanced lifter and most of those newbie problems will correct themselves with a general lifting program anyway. Putting a newbie on one of these programs is like advising a 160 pound kid that he needs to perform more specialty isolation work on his upper-dorsimus. At this stage the best thing he can do is get in the gym and lift big weights.

38

[quote]BSims wrote:
Because minor problems can become major problems. And we both know that with the mentality of newbies they will focus on what they see in the mirror. It is no secret that most newbies in the gym walk around with posture similar to that of the fellow,(Inmate), who started this thread.[/quote]

How is an “imbalance” a problem unless it is actually causing a problem?

[quote]
Why not focus on a somewhat balanced program?[/quote]

Who has written that a newbie should follow and UNbalanced program? Who has told ANYONE to follow an UNbalanced program? The only time I hear advice to follow an UNbalanced program is when it is coming from people like you who are telling newbies to avoid entire exercises because they think they see an imbalance somewhere. That was done in this very thread.

YOU WROTE on the first page:

Why the FUCK would someone tell a newbie to NOT train their chest to get stronger because of an ‘imbalance’? Wouldn’t that be telling him to follow an UNbalanced program? Please, stop acting like you are going to diagnose someone’s skeleton to that degree without ever seeing them in person. I am a doctor and there are very rare cases where that I would attempt to diagnose over the internet unless the symptoms and presentation were textbook for only one cause.

[quote]
A newbie would be best served by hitting it hard and hitting all the majors muscles with compound movements. If this is done then I’d predict there wouldn’t be a situation of an imbalance.[/quote]

What? You just told him to not train his chest to get any stronger!

[quote]
An imbalance being a difference between muscles in terms of strength, tension, or mobility and which assists/causes any pain, limitation or decrease in performance. I don’t know if Inmate has any pain or the other symptoms I listed but by the look of his posture (which is similar to many newbies) he would benefit from progressing in a balanced manner.[/quote]

You just told him to “progress” in an UNbalanced manner. Please, stop typing.

[quote]
There is no person with perfect symmetry on this earth, agreed with you there. Avoiding training a muscle group completely wouldn’t be wise but maintaining said muscle group while bringing another up would be smart.

I see no point in knowingly following a program or training in a manner that would lead to an imbalance.[/quote]

What program is leading to an imbalance if it is a balanced program? Why tell some kid who looks like he’s never even seen a weight that he needs to avoid training entire muscle groups? YOU did that!

39

Aren’t imballances just a way of life? i.e. we’re right handed or left handed? Chewing on the right side instead of the left? Jerking off with your right instead of your left?

When I stand perfectly straight up my right shoulder is lower than my left and my spine has no issues whatssoever, its been x-rayed twice in the past 4 years.

40

[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Aren’t imballances just a way of life? i.e. we’re right handed or left handed? Chewing on the right side instead of the left? Jerking off with your right instead of your left?

When I stand perfectly straight up my right shoulder is lower than my left and my spine has no issues whatssoever, its been x-rayed twice in the past 4 years.[/quote]

That is precisely the point. From what I have seen on this forum, there appear to be those who think that because an “imbalance” exists that they should now buy a few books from a trainer or revamp their entire training routine to make up for any “potential” postural problems.

I don’t know many people on the planet who have PERFECT posture from head to toe when standing as well as walking. Much of this is due to developmental changes and even learned gaits or how they stand. It does not mean that every single person who notices that one shoulder is lower than the other needs to spend time focusing on this or avoiding certain muscle groups altogether before they ever actually enter a weight room.

I suppose the athlete above should have avoided going pro and spent a year or two worrying about his “imbalances”. My guess is, it hasn’t slowed him down much at all.