Intervention the pull
The gap between fitness and fatness seems to widen each day. It seems that each year, the obesity numbers grow in ways that stagger any future medical care. With everyone in the diet, food, and fatloss industries tied to the money bag in this game, rarely do we here nutritional advice that isn’t immediately countered by another expert. I recently read that we each about one-thirtieth the amount of cabbage we used to eat and foods like turnips and beets are vanishing from the table. (Please, I am not advocating a cabbage, turnip and beet diet, although it is better than some). Instead, we eat corn sugar and cheap carbohydrates that seem to lead us to the balloon people look in the malls.
Yet, in the fitness industry, or perhaps better stated, those who are fit seem to struggle more and more with some physical issues that easily be addressed, but rarely are considered. In this case, I’m talking about the apostrophe, the sunken chest, or the grandpa walk. In other words, the massive amount of horizontal pressing movements that most people do and the literal ignorance of horizontal rowing has lead us to athletes with shoulders rolled forward, necks always craned ahead, and a shallow chest. Not only does it look old and morbid, it also really impacts athletic success.
The amazing thing is that I can’t think of something easier to fix. Now, I know and I hear the argument all the time: Hey, I do rows! Sadly, most people row in a way that is so dynamic nowadays that the Olympic lifts seems slow in comparison. So, the biceps and lower back get dangerously close to injured and the key pulling muscle continue to nap.
I know almost zero about anatomy (although, I know what I like. I will wait as you chuckle yourself to a stomach cramp) but there is a funny little muscle in your back called the “Rhomboid.†The Rhomboid is like the designated driver: you really should appreciate it, but, well, you forgot. The Rhomboid is here to simply retract your shoulder blades and it seems glad to let momentum do the work for you instead of having to work. It was classified by Janda as a fast twitch muscle or what he called a “Phasic muscle,†one that weakens with age or disuse.
And ignoring the Rhomboid is aging you. If you want to look “instantly younger in ten days,†fall in love with the Rhomboid. With a few simple moves, I can re-pattern a few things, build you up and check for side-to-side issues and honestly add years to your training and take years off your posture.
I always begin with the Pattern. In the basic pull, we have ingrained ourselves (or maybe it is just me) with using speed and momentum to ignore our weaker little areas. And that led us to some real issues. The basic patterning movement I use for pulls is my old stand-by, the Bat Wing.
Bat Wings
A typical workout ignores the rhomboids. Developing this muscle in the middle of your upper back will balance your workout and help you stand taller. Moreover, for most guys struggling to gain Lean Body Mass, they also seem to have posture issues that lead to soft tissue issues that lead to long-term issues. Let’s fix it now.
Grab a heavy pair of kettlebells or dumbbells and lie facedown on a bench, resting the weights on the floor. Pull the weights up toward your rib cage, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top for a second; from a bird's-eye view, your torso should resemble bat wings.
This movement is slight, the weights should move up and down only about 6 inches. The higher you pull, the harder you should squeeze your shoulder blades together. Perform 4 or 5 sets of 5 repetitions. The repetitions are simple something akin to an isometric squeeze.
When in doubt: stick your thumbs in your armpits on this drill. And, it seems to look like “Bat Wings†from the side. In a way, maybe.
I recommend doing this for up to six weeks or so. Certainly, increase the time of the holds and the weights, but err on the side of quality. Anybody can do more bad reps, but quality reps are like sunny days in Seattle: rare, but welcome.
An interesting side note: when I train elites in many fields, after their first set of Bat Wings, I often do a bit of voodoo and press down on their upper middle back. There is a sound like a machine gun and the athlete often states: “Wow, that’s what I needed.†I am not recommending “popping†people’s backs, but the exercise lights up the amount of tension that has been held in the upper back.
Honestly, I could just stop here and know that I have changed lives. But, let’s move up to the next step.
If, and only if, you see some improvements in posture or, and this happens, if people ask if you lost weight “or something,†move to the slower rows. It’s not bad for people to say you look better, by the way, it is simple that your posture and system are moving back into proper place.
I have no issue with Pull Ups, by the way, but with the internet, we know see videos of people doing all kinds of things. Recently, I was reminded by Pavel Tsatsouline of the great value of the Ab Wheel, but you might miss the point: the Ab Wheel is the “right†way to do a Pull Up. The tension on your whole “anterior chain†should be so locked down, that the whole body becomes part of the movement. Now, having said that, we can now insert all the jokes about Ab Wheels.
For many of us, we need to refocus and redirect our attention on Horizontal Rows. There are plenty of options now, when I was young with had the Reg Park Barbell Row and some one arm variations. There are dozens of machines today that range from simply complex to Tron-like.
Here is the key, though: slow down and squeeze the move at the top. In fact, I like a slight pause, at least a count, in the position where you have the bar on the chest. If you can’t do this, either go lighter or end the set.
I have discovered an interesting thing lately: the issue with many people’s rows is simply symmetry. I have a fun simple way of testing this that I call “Human Plank Rows.â€
Grab the hand of a good friend or even a sturdy post with one hand. By the way, it is easier to do than to explain. Now, with a perfect plank with absolutely no rolling or sway, lean away from your partner until you have a perfectly straight, but packed arm. Now, simply row yourself back to vertical. If one side can’t hold the plank or rolls out at any point, well, there you go: you have symmetry issues.
I fix the symmetry issues in a simple way; I simply would have you do more reps on that side. But, with here is the million dollar secret: you don’t do a set of twenty reps. To fix symmetry issues, you do twenty sets of one. It is a mental change that leads to a very quick fix of the issue: rather than bashing through a set, you stop and refocus each and every rep. And, it works. If you have asymmetries, crashing and bashing through set after set of barbell rows is going to lead to you looking up at me and saying: this is killing my lower back. Don’t do that!
Once you reawake your rhomboids, pause in your grinds and achieve symmetry, you might find that a lot of your nagging nonsurgical injuries will tend to ease up. You might find it actually harder to find as many hot spots to foam roll and your chiropractor visits may be cut way down. What is amazing is that this simple approach seems to work wonders in just a few weeks.
Daniel John
Just handing down what I was handed down...
Make a Difference.
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11-16-11 10:48 AM - 
Yes, I admit to it. A couple of years ago my shoulders, especially my R-shoulder started bothering me a lot. I finally went to get it treated earlier this year. My PT (& chiro) started treating my rotator cuff and rhomboid area to clear the front impingement that was causing me pain. I learned to keep the shoulder blades back and down when doing *everything* and had to strengthen the muscles that keep the shoulders back. You see I was a chronic bench presser and my chest had become overdeveloped. That whole front area way overpowered my upper back and it brought me into that "apostrophe" as Dan puts it, and made my shoulders hurt. I've since stopped benching and have been aggressively strengthening my rhomboids and back. Funny result is that I'm proud to say my ILS has gone away as my arms now hang to the sides where they should be and as a bonus when I stand up under the bar to squat I barely even feel the weight on my back. Wow! 