Muscle Imbalance And Protracted Shoulder Girdle: The Hunchback Myth

What's up homos!

As of late I've seen a loooot of people talking about muscle imbalances, and "The Hunchback myth", so I thought it was about time somebody addressed it. It's been going on for long but it's also getting out of hand as of late.

But first of all, what the shit is the Hunchback myth?!

Easily predictable for all of us who grew up watching the phaggotry-phull Disney movies, the Hunchback myth states that the likelihood of bedding an agreeable wench goes hand in hand with your kyphosis.

Or, if you happen to have read anything on the net, it states that we're all about to snap in halves and become a C letter. 

Do you do bench press? Quasimodo. 

Do you do overhead press? Quasimodo.

Don't you do back day EVERY DAY? Quasimodo.

Too much bench pressing.

Indeed, some people online preach something not far from what I just stated. And who's to blame? As usual, the confusion stemming from clueless people who read articles by experts who don't have a clue.

Postural correction should be a nice goal for everyone who gets into weightlifting with a posture problem. However, for the rest of everyday gym Joes, it seldom becomes a problem. Maintaining a healthy balance with your exercises, and not developing muscle strength imbalances, is always good. The problem arises when, brandishing the functional strength bullshit, internet gurus divide everything into planes of motion (the current trend), and mix everything up.

Remember, there is only one Guru who's worth listening to, and he died in 2010.

So nowadays, it's gone from "you have to balance strength in scapular retractors and protractors" to "you have to balance pushing and pulling motions".

Wrong.

First of all, the Deltoidis, agonist and prime mover in OHP, has very little to do with protracted shoulder girdles. This problem is usually caused instead by a shortened Pectoralis Minor, Serratus Anterior, or Levatores Scapulae, or weak scapular adductors.  

Second thing, the Deltoidis IS NOT THE ANTAGONIST in this scapular retraction. Part of this confusion stems from seeing the body as a mixture of planes and not different muscles with different roles and functions within the body. The back (referring to the Latissimus Dorsi), is not antagonist to the Pectoralis Major, but to the Deltoidis. The Deltoidis moves the arm at the shoulder joint, counting within its roles both the flexion and abduction, and the Latissimus does the adduction and extension of the arm at the shoulder joint, whereas Pectoralis Major mainly does the transverse flexion, with its antagonistic movement, the transverse extension, being dealt with by the posterior portion of the Deltoidis, mainly.

So all of a sudden we go from "shoulder and chest are the same shit" to:

1. Not only do Deltoidis and Pectoralis Major not have the same role in the body, but in some situations they're even ANTAGONISTS to each other (Posterior head of Deltoidis vs Pectoralis Major, sternal portion).
2. Therefore, grouping pushing movements as if they had the same role makes no sense (BEWARE, just talking about considering all pushing motions to imbalance the shoulder girdle, I actually advocate grouping shoulders and chest in a push day).
3. Likewise, different back muscles have different roles. However, Latissimus Dorsi can hardly assist in transverse extension, movement where it's found at a weak position, although it indeed does help the Trapezius and Rhomboid in scapular abduction, and also helps in scapular depression, along with Pectoralis (no fawkin way, chest and back be antagonists!!)

So what do we do with the balance? Aiming roughly for a balance between exercises involving scapular protraction, or the muscles which intervene in it, and vice versa.

An example of my old full body routine:

-Dips on parallel bars (it strengthens the anterior portion of Deltoidis and the scapular depression) supersetted with back squat (scapular retraction, perpendicular to load).

-Clean to OHP (scapular retraction) supersetted with pull ups scapular retraction and depression).

Or the one I edited and was eventually posted in MFQH:

-Bench press (done with shoulder retraction but strengthens scapular protraction; Serratus anterior, Pectoralis both Minor and Major).

-Clean to OHP (scapular retraction).

-Squat/Front squat (scapular retraction, perpendicular to load).

-DL/RomDL (scapular retraction and elevation).

-Pull ups (scapular retraction and depression).

-Bent Over Row (scapular retraction).

So with your everyday "aimed at muscular balance for postural correction" routine, you usually work your shoulder retraction about 4 times as much as you work your protraction.

Is this truly a problem? Probably NOT. People take too seriously sometimes the posture thing, and whereas doing weightlifting can usually help alleviate symptoms or even ameliorate the deviation, people who usually train all basics and all body parts decently won't usually have postural problems. If any, one of the likeliest posture problems you could develop, is hyperlordosis. On that, more some other day.

Update: I figured I'd add some more information on this topic, given I tried at first to debunk the Hunchback myth, but provided no help or advice for people who suffer from this. Geez. They're also humans. A protracted shoulder girdle is very usually accompanied by kyphosis or pelvic tilt problems, to counter the altered line or gravity, and also winged scapulae sometimes. Excluding the pelvic tilt problems, all of these usually point to a weaker back, and shortener protractor muscles.

Protracted shoulder girdle:

• Stretches for the chest, girdle, and subscapularis.
• Rowing motions, with a dynamic scapular retraction.
• Lying down DB shrugs.

We should aim here at both strengthening the back in general, and stretching the chest and sorrounding muscles.

Kyphosis:

Likewise, we will have to stretch the thoracic spine flexors, and strengthen the extensors.

• Extensors: People should have problems with this. Squats, deadlifts, hyperextensions, reverse hypers, good mornings... Lots of choices.
• Flexors: No crunches this time. On the contrary, we have to focus on STRETCHING the abdominals.

Winged scapula: 

• Stretching of the Pectoralis Minor and Latissimus Dorsi with walla and door stretches.
• Strengthening of Serratus Anterior and Rhomboids. For the first we'll do a flat/incline shoulder raise (like a bench press but only moving the shoulders back and forward), and for the latter, rows and/or lying down shrugs.

That should help with all of these issues. Stay safe.

Peace out,

J.