Ive been trying to develop my pulling muscles to be in balance with pushing muscles but have experienced some problems. I have made some progress and rarely have the impingement that used to bothe me, but my progress is still pretty weak.
The only thing that I can really figure out, is that when going heavy on pulling movements, it might be necessary to shorten the range of motion for optimal strength gains. This is because there is no lockout on pulling movements, and once the powerful back muscles are fully contracted, the biceps cant do much to continue the ROM.
Also the other thing working against me, is that with pulling movements your never stable. Your always either in a bent over position or keeping yourself upright with the muscles of the lower back.
Lastly, I may struggle at the end of the ROM on pulling movements due to over tight anterior muscles, but Im not sure about this.
My only real options are to go lighter and do more reps, but this will mean im sacrificing strength in the strong part of the ROM to be able to complete the weak ROM. Or explosive movements like snatches and cleans seem to work, because you can accelerate through the weak part of the ROM.
What do you guys think? What have you found to be very beneficial to developing posterior strength?
[quote]dankid wrote:
What do you guys think? What have you found to be very beneficial to developing posterior strength?[/quote]
do more pulling more often, suck it up and just grind it out…sounds like your looking for reason to cop out. like nike just do it. i found when i first started my pulling strength really sucked, but just keep gunning it and doing it three times a week, slowly increasing the weights
You need to be able to do various types of pulling whether it be pullups deadlifts, t-bar rows, to build up all areas of the back
I wouldn’t sacrafice range for heavier weight. You’ll just end up doing a sligthly bent upright row and you won’t be targeting the muscles you want. Bent rows are tough since it requires a lot of lower back strength to keep yourself stable, unlike the bench press where you are pinned against something. Just keep plugging away at it and keep challenging yourself with slightly heavier weight.
Ive been thinking about it, and as far as strength development goes, I have two options.
1.) Go lighter, and more explosive
2.) Go heavier and shorten the ROM.
And then as my strength gets more substantial, to really focus on endurance and building muscle, i’ll have to go lighter and full ROM without going too explosive.
You could always mix it up when you hit a platea and sacrafice some form with heavier weight. Shorter ranges of motion aren’t always bad, just don’t use them as a staple in your workouts.