As a lot of bodybuilders, I have a shoulder imbalance. My anterior deltoids are very developed. However, the posterior delts are lagging behind. Here's some of my information:
-25 years old
-175lbs, 5'9"
-6.5%-7% body fat
-I have been strength training for 9 years
-For around my first 5 years, I performed limited, if any, actual back isolation work. This was a mistake, I know. My strength coaches in highschool had us doing limited back work, so I followed suit.
-I've upped my back workouts in the past four years. My favorite pull exercises are chinups, pullups, isometric seated rows, and barbell rows.
-I can perform around 15 pull-ups (with strict form), and 20+ chin-ups (once again, with strict form)
I'm able to perform fairly well on my pull exercises. My question is, why do I still have the imbalance? I balance my workouts to include enough pull exercises to compliment the push exercises.
so if you were doing all push no pull, which grows front and not back, and then you do equal push and pull and it equally grows front and back…
so if you are no longer increasing the imbalance, but are maintaining the imbalance…
presumably your back will not increase to the extent that your front is ahead of the game until you work it more
you had 2 cars, one going 60 and one going 80, and you found the one going 80 got farther and farther ahead of the one going 60. So you increased the speed so they were both going 80, and now the difference isn't increasing but that one is still ahead of the other and will stay there. You'll either need to slow the front car or speed up the back car to get them closer together, right?
*shrug*
at least, seems logical enough to me.
that's the way I fixed all of my imbalances… either dropped the dominant work for a bit, or held the dominant side back while bringing up the lagging part, depending on what the imbalance was.
Working the mirror muscles is common for guys so for people in your case I may have them do twice as many pulling exercises as pushing. In addition to rows you need prone Ts. YTWLs, face pulls and such external rotation movements to develop posterior shoulder and upper back, middle and lower traps, and rhomboids.
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Neat, your stats are almost exactly the same as mine except you're one inch taller (damn), and I'm one year older (again, damn). We've even been training for the same amount of time if you allow for my extra year...
First, I don't know if the rear delts will ever appear as large as the front delts even if both have grown to the same extent. If you look at pictures of pro bodybuilders, the rear delts never appear quite as "bulbous." Since this is the way the muscles are shaped, there's little you can do about it.
If you're dedicated to doing your rows properly, I see no reason why your rear delts shouldn't be as strong or big as your front delts. Part of it may be your exercise selection. Any of the horizontal pulling motions (less so vertical) will help. The big pulling compounds lits also help, like deadlifts and cleans. Also, as the two posters above have noted, it's not sufficient just to do some back work and hope that your back catches up. You have to take a look at the amount of front/back work you're doing and, in your case, maybe do an extra amount of back work to compensate for previous weaknesses.
And what are isometric seated rows? Do you just grab the handle and hold it there without moving? Do you mean seated cable rows?
isometric means "same measure" - essentially a static push or pull against the load without a change in muscle length. this is why blooey in the post before yours asked about it and if it was a row that was then held statically at the point of maximum concentric movement.
seated rows are compound exercises, not isometric. How can they be isometric if they work multiple muscles?
I call them isometric seated cable rows, but it may not exactly be the correct term. That's just what I call them.
The exercise I do is simply a seated cable row, but I hold each rep for an extended period of time while the muscle is contracted. When I do this, I squeeze the back of my shoulder blades together. Usually, I perform around 6-8 repetions, holding each rep for around 10 seconds.
Also, as Lisa said, I believe you are thinking of the word "Isolation".
isometric means "same measure" - essentially a static push or pull against the load without a change in muscle length. this is why blooey in the post before yours asked about it and if it was a row that was then held statically at the point of maximum concentric movement.
ooops I read wrong. I thought it said isolation. I also have a tendency to glance read.
I have not ever done isometric seated rows before. Will they help with overactive upper trapz? If so, then I'll add them to my routine. =)
ooops I read wrong. I thought it said isolation. I also have a tendency to glance read.
I have not ever done isometric seated rows before. Will they help with overactive upper trapz? If so, then I'll add them to my routine. =)
I do not really know what "overactive upper trapz" means. They do provide for a different type of stimulation, however. During my workouts, I find that a little isometric work seems to compliment the more common explosive movements well.
Anyone else have feedback in reference to my original question?
How is your posture, in a standing position(anatomical position w/o the doriflexed feet position)? Have you tried wall slides?
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It's really not about adding one or two exercises, but an overall strategy to get things back in balance and keep them there. Remember that sitting, typing, reading, text messaging, driving, cooking, watching tv, etc. are thing that encourage poor posture and will lead to the lack of development that you seek. So, keep watching that, because say you spend 8 hours a week in the gym... How many hours do you spend doing those other things that take you backward? Gotta keep that posture good because it effects what your back can do when you're back in the gym.
Like Kuri says, get the volume up on the pulling exercises and keep it there. Shoot for twice the volume of pulling to pushing. In addition, it's important that you do mobility exercises to activate your back first. Wall slides, Prone Ys, facepulls, scap pushups, etc.
If you really feel like your back is lacking, keep going with pullups, chinups, and the seated rows, but I'd give the BO Rows a break for a while. Concentrate on lifts where you don't have a lot of other things going on (holding your back in a safe position, not cheating to row it up, etc.). Save them for later. Add in some inverted rows to replace them on a horizontal pull day.
Finally, for those rear deltards, try some cable rear delt raises. It's part of "do more pulling" anyway.
BTW, I just started doing some ISO Seated Rows a couple of weeks back. Brutal!
To the OP. You seem to have good pull up and chin up ability. Perhaps you can work on holding (WITHOUT SHRUGGING) isometrically at the top to fully engage the lower traps and also to get the chest to the bar. Those last couple of inches of getting the chest to the bar is where the real upper back strength lies.
Posterior-Anterior Shoulder Imbalance
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