forward head posture and rounded shoulders

In a previous post i mentioned not being able to get some back exercises right. I always felt the burn somewhere else so for the longest time i just didnt work my back at all, and after reading a little about my topic online i think that may be why im starting to develop those things.. does anyone have any good exercises or tips on how to combat this... if it is at all possible to reverse

your not gonna like this:

1 - STOP all bench presses, lat pulldowns/pull ups and shoulder presses

2 - all upper body work will consist of row variations, secondary back exercises and arms...sounds like a great time to get your deadlift up

row variations - db rows, bent rows, inverted rows, chest supported db/bb rows, t bar rows, seated rows, standing cable rows from low, medium and high settings and all in between ans chin ups but only if you can get all the way up over the bar to where your elbows are pointing right down and back behind you otherwsie otherwise go for medium pulldowns with a supinated grip and do the same thing

secondary back exercises - face pulls, scarecrows, prone ytwl's, straight arm pulldowns, face pulls with external rotations, rear delt raises, crossover cable pulldowns

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If you are round shouldered you need to develop the antagonistic muscles to the chest and anterior deltoids.

The rhomboids (between the shoulder blades) and the posterior deltoids have to be hit hard.

Bent over side laterals with dumbbells will hit these hard. Seated rows will also work that area.

My personal favorite is to use the rowing machine (Concept II) for cardio. Will will give you a good cardio workout and work the rhomboids.

A cheap and very effective method is to use "chest expanders". These are two handles with long springs or rubber bands that you use to work the posterior deltoids. They got the name because of the improved posture that came from using them. You can get a set at Target Stores for about $12.00.

Note: This works well for women too.

Before I'd quit all chest and shoulder work I would try to add the above (in heavy doses) to see if that alone will remedy the issue.

You will probably get quicker results by abandoning the chest and shoulder work but you might not be happy to do so. I would give this 6 to 12 weeks of hard work before giving up on the chest and shoulders.

Also note that if you are doing lots of abdominal work you need to work the back extra hard too. That could be a contributing factor with your overall posture.

Basically I agree with what Swanso said but I would not be so quick to quit on the chest work. Doing the remedial work might be sufficient.

ok thanks a lot guys... i'll give it a few weeks and let you know how it goes

it's all about muscle balance as packy said but it's not just the rhomboids and rear delts...there's also the mid traps, low traps, rotator cuffs and all the other little scapula stabilisers

in a utshell the chest, lats and rear delts pull your forward and the above mentioned muscles pull you back...to get adequet alignment they need to be of equal strength, or pull" if you will

if one is stronger then the other then you will pulled that way which for you is forward...as you're already there you DO need to cut aout all pressing etc as you won't correct the imbalance...yes the back will get stronger from more volume but your still maiiung the front muscle tighter too so you're really getting no where

also this isn't a "couple of weeks" kind of thing either

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