Wednesday, January 20, 2010

        I have been training people for several years now, and in my experience around 100% of the people I work with start off with weak scapular retractors (the muscles in the mid-back that attach to the shoulder blades). The biggest reason for this weakness; you can't see your scapular retractors in the mirror! Everyone loves to train their abs, loves to train their arms and sometimes even their quads. But you will rarely see anyone training the muscles of the mid-back. The results of such neglect... Bad posture and poor performance in lifts such as the Deadlift, chin up, pull up and rows.

        If you want to improve your strength, you must strengthen the weakest link in your chain. Work on improving the strength of your scapular retractors and not only will your posture improve significantly but your bench press and chin up will also improve!