Shoulder imbalance

[the3dwizard]

I have been having some pain in my shoulders. Visited the Chiropractor today and he said is most likely an imbalance between the front of my shoulder and the back. Told me to stop benching for a while. Basically to not do a lot of exercises that work the front of the shoulder (i.e. Anterior Deltoid) and to strengthen the back and middle (Middle and Posterior deltoids).

Now this sounded reasonable to me. So I have been checking out the articles on this site to learn more, etc. My question to the group is, has anyone experienced this? If so how did it go?

Thanks!

[tomperez1971]

maybe a dumb question but, do you work your side and rear delts already?

if yes, then i'd lay off any front delt iso and focus on those heads after my presses.

[Karl_Hungus]

I have been having some pain in my shoulders. Visited the Chiropractor today and he said is most likely an imbalance between the front of my shoulder and the back. Told me to stop benching for a while. Basically to not do a lot of exercises that work the front of the shoulder (i.e. Anterior Deltoid) and to strengthen the back and middle (Middle and Posterior deltoids).

Now this sounded reasonable to me. So I have been checking out the articles on this site to learn more, etc. My question to the group is, has anyone experienced this? If so how did it go?

Thanks!

You probably need to strengthen your rear delts, back, and external rotator cuffs. Do lots of rowing work (BB rows/DB rows in particular), and external rotator exercises. Try to get your BB row strength as close to your bench press as possible. I used to be in the same boat as you...but since I've done the above, I've virtually eliminated all shoulder pain.

[AKMass]

In my opinion you need to work on the smaller muscles of your shoulder girdle, like the rotator cuffs, through internal and external rotations against light resistance. Got to youtube and search under "rotator cuff" exercises. Also, some work on the muscles surrounding your scapula are probably in order. Again, search on youtube using the term "push up plus."

HTH

[BrotherWolf]

I have been having some pain in my shoulders. Visited the Chiropractor today and he said is most likely an imbalance between the front of my shoulder and the back. Told me to stop benching for a while. Basically to not do a lot of exercises that work the front of the shoulder (i.e. Anterior Deltoid) and to strengthen the back and middle (Middle and Posterior deltoids).

Now this sounded reasonable to me. So I have been checking out the articles on this site to learn more, etc. My question to the group is, has anyone experienced this? If so how did it go?

Thanks!

Sounds right to me but I have to wonder why stopping completely the press
if you do rotator cuff exercises and balance your bench press with a military press
50/50 your rear muscles will catch up rather quickly

[jkinney5]

Also be sure to warm up your shoulders properly. A lot of guys don't. Use Javorek's Shoulder Complex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_zlLF_M4w. It only takes a few minutes, and it'll do wonders to prevent shoulder problems.

[kimm4]

I have been having some pain in my shoulders. Visited the Chiropractor today and he said is most likely an imbalance between the front of my shoulder and the back. Told me to stop benching for a while. Basically to not do a lot of exercises that work the front of the shoulder (i.e. Anterior Deltoid) and to strengthen the back and middle (Middle and Posterior deltoids).

Now this sounded reasonable to me. So I have been checking out the articles on this site to learn more, etc. My question to the group is, has anyone experienced this? If so how did it go?

Thanks!

The problem I see in the gym is most people fail to do any kind of direct, rear delt work. This creates and imbalance in your overall shoulder. One of the biggest reasons for most shoulder injuries in the gym.

Rear delt exercises very important so pick a few to use when training shoulders.

Face pulls (my all time favorite!)
Reverse pec dec
Bent over lateral raise
Seated bent over lateral raise
Incline or Flat bench lateral raise

[Bob45]

I used to get shoulder problems all the time from bench presses. I made a lot of mistakes with it though. I went too heavy too fast most of the time. Went to failure beyond good form. Used a maximum width grip I could. Concentrating on never doing these things again has kept my shoulders intact. If you love benches like I do I would get another opinion from an Ortho. Otherwise listen to this guy and stop.

[Karl_Hungus]

If you love benches like I do I would get another opinion from an Ortho. Otherwise listen to this guy and stop.

I don't think he means stop permanently, just long enough to correct his push/pull strength imbalance. He may not need to stop benching (I didn't), but he probably will have to double his pull volume relative to push for awhile.

[the3dwizard]

Thanks for the replies! Going back through my journal I realize now I hardly did any rear or middle delt work. One good reason to keep a journal .

Thanks for all the references too. Going to add some of these excercises in and concentrate on warming up the shoulders better. I have been trying to increase bench each week. So going to stop that and go lighter on the weight for a while.

Helps to know that others have had similar problems and been able to correct it.

[tonester]

I'd bet that your scapular (shoulder blades/upper back) stability/strength are not up to par with your pushing muscles. I understand why they want you to stop benches for a while. Although I would recommend doing a 2:1 ratio of pulls to pushes. 2 rows to 1 push in terms of volume.

http://www.tmuscle.com/article/perfo...and_shrugs&cr= this will tell you a bit about all this.

Doing military presses do not counter the bench, it's just more pushing. You have to deal with the muscles that control your scaps (upper back/shoulder blades). I mean, your arms are attached to your scaps, so...if they don't have the strength or stability then every push you do will make your shoulders worse.

Things like inverted rows and feet elevated pushups really help here. Pull ups/chin ups are very helpful here as well. Pretty much most of the exercises that don't have your scaps pushed down on a bench.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkIaarnf0g if you can't get your chest to the bar on these then your upper back/scaps need some work. You can build up by placing the Smith bar higher and putting your heels on the ground. Then progress to the feet on bench and chest to bar.

[the3dwizard]

When I went through my journal I notice bench, a lot of dips and military presses which all work the front and I admit, extremely light on rows, etc. So I will be hitting the back and rear delts harder.

Great article thanks!

Cool, I like those inverted rows. I will have to give them a try! Thx

[jasonmadigan52]

I noticed some people were telling to iso your rear delt. DONT do that. That rear delt is hit when working the back, so if youre adding a seperate exercise for the rear delt you are putting twice as much stress on this tiny muscle. The seperate portions of the shoulders are meant for support and will develop naturally with compound lifts. Im having shoulder problems myself and slowly theyre working themselves out. The only iso I'd consider would be the front delt because you can take those out of the equation if you are benching correctly (keeping elbows in and retracting the scapula) try to stay stay away from wide grip. The torque is astronomical at wider grips, which with slowly degrade your shoulder and leade to shoulder instability. I'm not trying to discredit the lady that told to do rear delts. She's probably into sculpting the body with lighter weights, which works for that type of lifter,but I'm assuming youre looking for healthly usable strength and muscle mass.

[MecGen]

I'm not trying to discredit the lady that told to do rear delts. She's probably into sculpting the body with lighter weights.

InB4

[JimmyJonny]

I noticed some people were telling to iso your rear delt. DONT do that. That rear delt is hit when working the back, so if youre adding a seperate exercise for the rear delt you are putting twice as much stress on this tiny muscle. The seperate portions of the shoulders are meant for support and will develop naturally with compound lifts. Im having shoulder problems myself and slowly theyre working themselves out. The only iso I'd consider would be the front delt because you can take those out of the equation if you are benching correctly (keeping elbows in and retracting the scapula) try to stay stay away from wide grip. The torque is astronomical at wider grips, which with slowly degrade your shoulder and leade to shoulder instability. I'm not trying to discredit the lady that told to do rear delts. She's probably into sculpting the body with lighter weights, which works for that type of lifter,but I'm assuming youre looking for healthly usable strength and muscle mass.

Sorry young one but 2 years of therapy taught me different. The above answers are spot on, from people who have 1st hand experience .

[maxnas]

facepulls

[JimmyJonny]

Op, lets step back and explain why this happens for a second . I'm gonna explain my issues but many have the same problem.

I didn't play sports or lift, I can't blame the imbalance on that. I worked in construction since I was 13. All those years of leaning my shoulders forward is where it all began. When you do that you will eventually have your shoulders pushed forward all the time. You won't notice but that little bit creates a lot of problems over time........ imbalance is one of them. At this point your shoulders are not in the socket correctly, your front delts overpower your rear delts. As time goes by it's destroying multiple things, as in my case.

Now by no means does this mean that this only happens to people with labor intense jobs. My mother worked in front of a typewriter, then a Pc all her life. Same thing......... shoulders leaned forward. She had shoulder surgery two years, my sister is next.

I gotta unexpectedly run but I have more to share, sorry, bbl.

[MartinMaggie]

I also had nagging shoulder. But then I saw this http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=160819771
and it is best form tutorial ever.

To be specific, breaking \ stretching bar technique there, after I started doing it, shoulder feels better and better. I dont know what that changes in body or lift mechanics, maybe elbow angle or just takes load off shoulder and places it to triceps - i have no idea. But shoulder is getting better and better when doing this.