30/04/2025
You’re ready to begin implementing some progressive overload, things are looking good.
Suddenly you’re half hunched over when trying to pick anything up off the floor.
Or your squat looks more like a good morning. Elbows flaring out. You’re having to forcibly push the bar to keep it up.
Your bench press should be fine, it’s all about your chest right? … but you slip and have to reset between every rep.
And after a few heavy sessions your arms now hurt.
You’ve been told to do MORE pull, your back must be weak. Throw in some face pulls. That’s why they keep falling forward. But truthfully, your strength probably wasn’t ever the issue.
‘Pull the shoulders up, then back and down’ a much recited tip in the gym room for squeezing together your shoulder blades. If you’ve tensed your back it must be working right?
Kinda…….. but not optimally. This creates excessive movement through the frontal plane, placing the anterior muscles in an elongated position and pulling that posterior muscles up and horizontally.
If I told you to do a constant shrug whilst trying to pick something up and carry it…. You’d think I was mad right? Shrugs take work. Well that’s kinda what a retraction of the scapula is asking for! Elevation!
And elevation of the shoulder means elevation of our arms. Which is like you’ve just DECREASED some of your reach. Trying to get into a good position whilst maintaining a neutral spine means compromise somewhere else to make up for this decrease !
Raising the chest requires extension of the abdominal muscles, so now even bracing feels so much worse.
THE CLOSER YOUR SHOULDERS ARE TO YOUR EARS, THE LESS TENSION YOUR LATS HAVE.
