backgroup = 2 years ago i was a fat computer nerd 330lbs. started working out lost 120 of them. am honest i was naive i did try maybe 3 programs during this time scooby newbi program, ICF 5x5 and well recently wendlers 5/3/1.
It took almost 6 months to get below parallel due to my fuck up posture. recently i started get this tight spot around my Thoracic spine muscle that manifested itself also in my upper right rap. My shoulders kind of get pulled forward, due to tight chest and week back muscle.
What i have done on my own = talked to a physical therapist to 5 exercises am suppose to do with 6lbs DB. its helping a bit. but am not doing any bench or shoulder work. more then the small rehap stuff.
its not really a wound its only a weakness. and i know my life in front of a desk fucked my and my doing my best but i don’t have the knowledge to put all the pieces of information together.
I really want to get on good program and stick to it and i did find johnny cardio program looks good for a guy thats never jumping on gear and only eats food basically.
looong story short = can you fit this rehab exercises in to a program or find a short variety of exercises to get the job done? also this physical therapist have not even talk about stretching.
anyways any tips would help really want get back in to my full training?
Dooxy, I have similar issues and managing to get things balanced out quite well now.
If you have weak traps then I think the pattern that develops is usually (mechanics of the body dictate a similar basic pattern, but the details are always individual/lifestyle specific):
WEAK / INACTIVE
Traps, Glutes, Abs (I think it’s also possible for muscles to be strong yet simply fail to fire in certain movements - for example, I’ve got well defined abs and have done a 9 minute plank indicating strong core but I know my abs/core muscles don’t fire correctly - they let low back/hip flexors/chest dominate).
In my experience there’s little long term benefit to be gained from stretching the tight muscles (still worth doing regularly though) - you need to target the weak/inactive muscles first. If you ONLY target the weak muscles where you’re aware of the problem (e.g. traps) you won’t get far as the weaknesses that are guaranteed to be running though your entire body will keep dragging that area back down (due to the mechanics of the human body). You MUST address the problems throughout the whole body.
An approach that works well for me is as follows.
Daily foam rolling/stretching of the tight muscles - just to stop them tightening further and to allow the weak muscles to work a bit better. If a muscle doesn’t want to stretch I don’t persist - just move it through it’s rom every day to avoid loosing ground.
Glute activation and working on the hip hinge. Lots of hip thrusts, kettlebell swings, Romanian deadlifts, single leg deadlifts and so on.
Hollow body rock (just the hold initially until you can do it well) and abwheel rollout are good for abs as both are also helping to correct posture.
Traps/thoracic - wall slides for activation; upside down dips or shrugs for strengthening and resetting firing patterns (THESE ARE AWESOME!!!); resistance band behind head pulldowns and pullaparts.
I work chest with ring pushups and dips only, taking care to EXTERNALLY rotate shoulders as I do them. Stay upright on dips to get the back muscles working hard and open up the chest.
Pullups with HUGE emphasis on form (wider than shoulders pronated grip, externally rotate shoulders to get biceps and chest out of the equation, pull rib cage down at the front to stop low back arch). VERY hard done this way when you have postural problems, but the only way to improve is to fight the dysfunction.
Things like flags (assisted with bands until you can do them solo) are good for shoulder external rotation. (I suspect yours are prone towards internal rotation and anterior glide).
Put it all together with big, whole body movements like overhead squats (be meticulous about form). Don’t sacrifice form to get ROM - just work with what you’ve got. Focus on the hip hinge and keeping chest up and core tight. I found using a bench to squat to helped at first - a bench as high as you need it, gradually making it lower. Get someone with good deadlift/squat coaching skills to look over your technique. Doing these techniques WITH METICULOUS FORM - can help a great deal in fixing the problem. Doing them with bad form will simply re-inforce the problem. Working on handstands is helping me too - I just do one every day. Against a wall at first. Keep rib cage pinned down at front and get head between arms - stretch out that chest and shoulders. It all helps with re-balancing as it’s positions where you don’t already have established bad habits/movement patterns.
Yeah - I spent 8 years trying to figure out how to fix mine and condensed it all into a few paragraphs - sorry ! LOL Hopefully it’ll give you some clues that help get things moving in the right direction.
Find the weak, lazy muscles and get them fired up - that’s the short version!
