So this isn’t too surprising for me. For a long time I’ve only ever trained compound lifts:
Benchpress, lat pull downs, squats and deadlifts/power cleans. And that’s it.
I would go in, do all four and leave in about 1 hour-ish.
I never worked my rhomboids or rotator cuffs so my shoulders rolled forward and were pulled in by a tight overdeveloped chest and arms. In fact I didn’t even know what these muscle groups were until recently.
I also have anterior pelvic tilt. Which is no surprise since I never work my core, butt or hamstrings directly. I hit my back with deadlifts, but never train core. I always thought my butt would grow with squats, but the more I read up the more I realize the big compound lifts on their own actually create this sort of posture if done without support exercises.
I want to also clear up that I am not a bodybuilder. I train for athletic performance goals for sports like football and track and field.
However, I don’t want poor posture and would like more strength in my joints across their full range of motion – rather than just forward and backwards, or up and down.
I have tight and large hip flexors. Underdeveloped lower butt. Strong lower back, underdeveloped core, big chest, weak rear delts and underdeveloped posterior chain, but large upper traps and lats.
What’s funny is I thought that training the lower back with deadlifts was actually improving my posture but now I’m not sure.
Here’s some visuals:
Does anyone have a routine they use to correct these things? Any ideas on the best work to do?
Doorway leans/stretches work pretty well for that issue.
Also these. Squeeze your scapula at the end.
I recently had physical therapy for calcific tendonitis in my shoulder and the first thing they noticed was my shoulder position was too forward (nothing to do with the tendonitis). After about 4 weeks of doing these types of exercises it improved greatly.
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Hey,
I had (and in some ways still have) the same problems.
What helped me was physical therapy training on machines, coached by a physical therapist.
So now I have my normal gym/strength days, which were always pretty well rounded anyway, and one day per week on which I do purely back/therapeutic things. Very low weights and high reps(15-20) and I try to really focus on all those smaller muscles in the backside.
Since I had some health issues because of my cystic fibrosis I couldnt train for 2 years and lost about 20kg. So I had to start all over again and wanted to make some necessary changes.
Even though I always liked chin ups/rows more than bench press and my back was always stronger than my frontside, I neglected the smaller muscles. Also I did not do any direct glute work.
So now my training looks like this:
A:
Squat
Press
chin up
+2 weak links assistance things, direct glute work, trx reverse flies
B:
squat
push ups
rows
- weak links assistance things, hyperextensions, calves
Physio:
some sort of pull down machine, rowing machine, “leg press” (bad leg axis), kettlebell deadlift, some sort of glute bridge, reverse flies
Since I have almost milked linear progression in the last 2,5 months I will soon have to look for something more fancy. But the high rep, reallllllly low weight thing has done unbelievable things. My posture in everyday life, running, cycling and also in the big lifts has changed dramatically. And since the little muscles are catch up I do now also feel them in the bigger lifts.
PS: Sorry for my bad english, it is only my second language and I did not have to wright something for years. Seems like listening and reading skills dont carry over so well.
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So here’s what I have started doing.
I have added in support exercises, I have begun doing bridges (yoga pose) on my rest days. And have worked in walking lunges to my workouts (to work hamstrings and glutes).
I have also switched to hammer grip pull-ups, and have begun doing bent-over supinated grip barbell rows symmetrically with my benchpress.
I have also worked barbell squats into my routine to hit gutes.
I also now do facepulls.
So my workout looks like this:
Day A: 3x8 Benchpress
3x8 Close-Grip Benchpress
3x8 Lat Pull-Down
3x 35 seconds V-Sits/Boat Pose
Day B: 3x8 Barbell Squats
3x8 Power Cleans
3x8 Bent-over Barbell Rows
3x10 seconds Walking Lunges
3x8 Face-pulls
3x 35 seconds Side Plank (each side)
Cool-down: Yoga Bridge Pose, repeat pose until fully relaxed
2 Days on (Day A then Day B), 3 Days off. Rinse and repeat.
Somebody link me the the “Caveman Syndrome” multipart article from TNation. It was the article that got me to start following TNation so closely.
I had pretty extreme Lordosis, to the point of constant sciatic pain, internally rotated shoulders (the back of my hands literally faced completely forward), upper back always felt hot from being so stretched to overcompensate the lordosis, I was a fucking mess. Those articles were my bible for a while. I’m about 80% better now.
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