I've knocked all pushing exercises on the head and want to correct some muscle imbalances.
I've got really tight lats (cannot put my arms vertical overhead) and trying to free my body up to make jogging enjoyable.
Trying to strengthen the rear delts, and i've been doing the exercise below alot, but am now thinking it may actually strengthen the lats. What do you gym rats think?
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Del ... ltRow.html
Muscle imbalances
- spitthedog
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spitthedog wrote:I've knocked all pushing exercises on the head and want to correct some muscle imbalances.
I've got really tight lats (cannot put my arms vertical overhead) and trying to free my body up to make jogging enjoyable.
Trying to strengthen the rear delts, and i've been doing the exercise below alot, but am now thinking it may actually strengthen the lats. What do you gym rats think?
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Del ... ltRow.html
As long as you keep the arm as in the gif you posted a link to, you are good. The closer the elbow gets to the trunk of the body, the more lat and less delt you use.
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Why are the gods such vicious cunts?
Where is the god of tits and wine?
Why are the gods such vicious cunts?
Where is the god of tits and wine?
This looks pretty brilliant actually hahaha.HsRob wrote:the only muscles people will be familiar with here are their beer muscles
It's hard to know what you mean by 'can't lift shoulders over my head.'
Do you mean you can't touch the wall with your arms if you stand with your back to it and raise them up, or can you literally not raise any part of your body above your head?
I don't think tight lats are the problem as they're stretched during pressing movements. The problem will be tight pecs and you can remedy that with foam rolling. Just Google 'foam roll pecs'. You'll find you need to use a very hard tennis ball and put it in between you and the wall to release the knots in your pecs.
Also you'll need to strengthen your rear delts and traps, but I don't think rear delt raises a few times per week will work.
I'd suggest buying a light resistance band and doing dozens of sets of band pull aparts + facepulls per day. Use YouTube to see how you do them.
Also for traps Google 'Hawthorns for traps' or 'Blackburns for traps. You lie on your stomach and do some arm movements to build up the very small traps/rhomboids.
So stretch pecs with pec stretches and tennis ball.
Strengthen back/rear delts with resistance band facepulls + pull aparts and those hawthorn/blackburns. (they also have a name like TYWVs or something).
If you can raise your shoulders but they're just very inflexible I can give you some other useful shoulder mobility drills to do too, but if you have frozen shoulder and really can't lift your arms it might be a trip to a physio in Thailand.
Do you mean you can't touch the wall with your arms if you stand with your back to it and raise them up, or can you literally not raise any part of your body above your head?
I don't think tight lats are the problem as they're stretched during pressing movements. The problem will be tight pecs and you can remedy that with foam rolling. Just Google 'foam roll pecs'. You'll find you need to use a very hard tennis ball and put it in between you and the wall to release the knots in your pecs.
Also you'll need to strengthen your rear delts and traps, but I don't think rear delt raises a few times per week will work.
I'd suggest buying a light resistance band and doing dozens of sets of band pull aparts + facepulls per day. Use YouTube to see how you do them.
Also for traps Google 'Hawthorns for traps' or 'Blackburns for traps. You lie on your stomach and do some arm movements to build up the very small traps/rhomboids.
So stretch pecs with pec stretches and tennis ball.
Strengthen back/rear delts with resistance band facepulls + pull aparts and those hawthorn/blackburns. (they also have a name like TYWVs or something).
If you can raise your shoulders but they're just very inflexible I can give you some other useful shoulder mobility drills to do too, but if you have frozen shoulder and really can't lift your arms it might be a trip to a physio in Thailand.
- spitthedog
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Yeah, i basically cant raise my arms fully vertical without arching my rib cage up.
Might be a combination of my old job in the UK where i was pulling stuff around and lifting stuff up and then being a dumb ass and going home and doing pull downs and bench pressing. Plus driving alot during the day. Then i did alot of cycle touring with zero stretching. Was doing press ups everyday up until about a year ago.
This exercise lark can be bad for your health i reckon. Maybe the gym affected Tiger Woods golf game?
So basically very tight lats, front delts, chest and upper traps i reckon.
I've gained alot flexibility in my hips and legs with stretching.
Might also be where i put my lower back out years ago, as that is very tight.
Tight lower back, tight lats?? Dunno. Hope not.
I cannot sleep on my back. Not because of pain, just doesnt feel comfortable enough to do so. Cannot touch my toes. I'm envious of my asian girlfriend who is as flexible as a rag doll. I've heard the locals dont suffer with hip or back problems..relatively speaking.
The last week i've been doing the Prone Cobra exercise except also with my arms at 90 degrees to my body, squeezing the shoulder blades together. Never tried face pulls. My girlfriend bought a tennis ball from the market the other month for my back. Unfortunately it must have been a Cambodian made one as the fugger collapsed after 5 minutes under me.
Might be a combination of my old job in the UK where i was pulling stuff around and lifting stuff up and then being a dumb ass and going home and doing pull downs and bench pressing. Plus driving alot during the day. Then i did alot of cycle touring with zero stretching. Was doing press ups everyday up until about a year ago.
This exercise lark can be bad for your health i reckon. Maybe the gym affected Tiger Woods golf game?
So basically very tight lats, front delts, chest and upper traps i reckon.
I've gained alot flexibility in my hips and legs with stretching.
Might also be where i put my lower back out years ago, as that is very tight.
Tight lower back, tight lats?? Dunno. Hope not.
I cannot sleep on my back. Not because of pain, just doesnt feel comfortable enough to do so. Cannot touch my toes. I'm envious of my asian girlfriend who is as flexible as a rag doll. I've heard the locals dont suffer with hip or back problems..relatively speaking.
The last week i've been doing the Prone Cobra exercise except also with my arms at 90 degrees to my body, squeezing the shoulder blades together. Never tried face pulls. My girlfriend bought a tennis ball from the market the other month for my back. Unfortunately it must have been a Cambodian made one as the fugger collapsed after 5 minutes under me.
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If you had a tight back it would pull your shoulders back.
Your shoulders are hunched forwards because of a weak back and tight pecs. Imagine what would happen if you pecs were magically loosened. Your shoulders would immediately roll backwards and you wouldn't be hunched over. Strengthening the back muscles helps with that too.
They say your body moves from mobile to strong, so mobile ankles, strong knees, mobile hips, strong lumbar spine, mobile thoratic spine, strong neck.
If you did have a band you could also do shoulders dislocates and bring your hands in closer each time. Even use a towel if you want.
Also wall slides + thoratic spine mobility drills you'll have to Google because they're hard to explain.
Your lumbar spine issues could be anything from your ankles up through your knees and hips all the way to your upper back. You would need someone to diagnose you in person to get to the root of the problem unless you just stretched everything.
I think your main issue is the pressing + driving/cycling/picking things up, which would lengthen your back muscles and round your shoulders. Also, saying you can't lift your shoulders without arching ribcage seems to be lack of mobility in shoulders rather than any tightness in back.
The main thing you should do is strengthen your back muscles (facepulls, pullaparts, hawthorns/blackburns???, improve the mobility in your shoulders with dislocates and wall slides, plus pec stretching won't hurt.
I actually put my lower back out a few months ago and my flexibility is terrible. I can't even sit on the floor with my legs straight or bring my knees to my chest. Definitely screws up your golgi tendon reflex in certain muscle groups.
Your shoulders are hunched forwards because of a weak back and tight pecs. Imagine what would happen if you pecs were magically loosened. Your shoulders would immediately roll backwards and you wouldn't be hunched over. Strengthening the back muscles helps with that too.
They say your body moves from mobile to strong, so mobile ankles, strong knees, mobile hips, strong lumbar spine, mobile thoratic spine, strong neck.
If you did have a band you could also do shoulders dislocates and bring your hands in closer each time. Even use a towel if you want.
Also wall slides + thoratic spine mobility drills you'll have to Google because they're hard to explain.
Your lumbar spine issues could be anything from your ankles up through your knees and hips all the way to your upper back. You would need someone to diagnose you in person to get to the root of the problem unless you just stretched everything.
I think your main issue is the pressing + driving/cycling/picking things up, which would lengthen your back muscles and round your shoulders. Also, saying you can't lift your shoulders without arching ribcage seems to be lack of mobility in shoulders rather than any tightness in back.
The main thing you should do is strengthen your back muscles (facepulls, pullaparts, hawthorns/blackburns???, improve the mobility in your shoulders with dislocates and wall slides, plus pec stretching won't hurt.
I actually put my lower back out a few months ago and my flexibility is terrible. I can't even sit on the floor with my legs straight or bring my knees to my chest. Definitely screws up your golgi tendon reflex in certain muscle groups.
Why don't you just get a foamroller and roll out the latts / stretch them afterwards to see if that's actually the problem.
And don't forget to check the long head of the triceps, which is mostly overlooked. As said above already, pecs could also be the problem.
If you want to be sure, why don't you just go to a Physio?
And don't forget to check the long head of the triceps, which is mostly overlooked. As said above already, pecs could also be the problem.
If you want to be sure, why don't you just go to a Physio?
Relaxed passive hang 7 cumulative minutes per day, thank me later. http://www.idoportal.com/blog/hanging
Though I agree hanging has its benefits it is not going to solve any muscle imbalances. And if he can't bring his arms over head comfortably , it might in fact be very counterproductive at this point
- spitthedog
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Cheers,
I'll check out that hanging stuff aswell.
All this stuff might sound abit gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) and probably not many interested in this sh!t but i found this about a week ago ;
Quote;
''Bench plank. I noted above that I think planks are too advanced for most people with APT, but building the plank is part of the solution''
https://www.t-nation.com/training/troub ... ecting-apt
As it happens i was doing loads of reverse crunches awile back, but they just felt like going through the motions with them whereas i felt planks abit too much in my lower back and as such thought maybe they were tightening my lower back up more. Done loads of wall slides aswell.
Been doing lots of 2 minute bench planks this week and feel something good is going on with that so maybe i need to concentrate on my abs more than the lats as if i tighten up the abs then that should stretch out the lats by pulling down the front of the rib cage? Abit of sway back due to a tight lower back maybe?? Dunno
Sure to be careful of too many pushing exercises though i reckon. More pulling to pushing exercises as you get older with degeneration maybe? I'm in my forties now so don't really care what i look like, but would like to free myself up abit.
I'll check out that hanging stuff aswell.
All this stuff might sound abit gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) and probably not many interested in this sh!t but i found this about a week ago ;
Quote;
''Bench plank. I noted above that I think planks are too advanced for most people with APT, but building the plank is part of the solution''
https://www.t-nation.com/training/troub ... ecting-apt
As it happens i was doing loads of reverse crunches awile back, but they just felt like going through the motions with them whereas i felt planks abit too much in my lower back and as such thought maybe they were tightening my lower back up more. Done loads of wall slides aswell.
Been doing lots of 2 minute bench planks this week and feel something good is going on with that so maybe i need to concentrate on my abs more than the lats as if i tighten up the abs then that should stretch out the lats by pulling down the front of the rib cage? Abit of sway back due to a tight lower back maybe?? Dunno
Sure to be careful of too many pushing exercises though i reckon. More pulling to pushing exercises as you get older with degeneration maybe? I'm in my forties now so don't really care what i look like, but would like to free myself up abit.
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
Sounds like you have multiple issues and you're combining them together.
Just download a yoga app and work through it every morning.
Just download a yoga app and work through it every morning.
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Yoga? Are you going to tell him where to buy tampons, too?
All you need is this guide.
All you need is this guide.