muscle imbalance

[Bobbie Lynn]

Cathe,

I have been told by a Physical Therapist that my pecs are too tight and given some specific stretches to perform. I was advised to avoid too much chest work and to focus more on back. Do you recommend that I skip the chest on STS or just decrease reps or 1RM percentage? Any advice would be helpful.

BTW, I've been hooked on your videos for years and love them and you. STS is just genius. All the hard work and wait time really was worth it!!

Thanks for your dedication to perfection.

Bobbie

 

[teddy16410]

Cathe,

I have been told by a Physical Therapist that my pecs are too tight and given some specific stretches to perform. I was advised to avoid too much chest work and to focus more on back. Do you recommend that I skip the chest on STS or just decrease reps or 1RM percentage? Any advice would be helpful.

BTW, I've been hooked on your videos for years and love them and you. STS is just genius. All the hard work and wait time really was worth it!!

Thanks for your dedication to perfection.

Bobbie

Cathe:
I too have been told that my chest muscles are ultra strong (thanks to you) compared to my back- specifically upper back and rear delts. This has caused some issues in the past 2 years. I'd be very grateful to hear how you would suggest we can get our "backside" muscles as strong. I always feel like I should add on weight work for them but honestly its a time issue.
Is it as simple as doing an extra set or 2 of STS moves that target the weaker areas? I could manage that on a weekly basis!
Thanks for any guidance!

 

[Dela]

I'm also curious about what advice people have on this subject. I've read this is actually quite common and it always sticks in my head when I do heavier chest work.

 

[kathryn]

I'd recommend to do 2x the amount of back work as chest for now. And when you get back to balanced, do 1-2 more sets of back than chest (chest is used much more in daily activities than is back, so it already gets 'worked' that way).

And always include some work for rear shoulders.

One good move for both rear shoulders and upper back is the lat rows Cathe does with the elbow out to the side.

Also, be sure to stretch the chest and front delts well.

Some rhomboid work (the inner, upper back) can also help with posture.