I’ve read some of the 5x5 and 3x5 programs such as stronglifts and starting strenght. But theres one thing that bothers me.
All of those programs seem to have alot of exercises (Dips, Bench Press, Military Press) that hit the front deltoid. But there’s only one exercise that hits the rear deltoid - the row.
And no, deadlifts and pullups DON’T hit the rear deltoid - I actually checked this in Frederic Delavier’s book “Strength Training Anatomy”. Great book, btw.
Now, we life in a world where alot of people have a forward slouched posture, due to sitting all day. Won’t hitting the front deltoid 3 times as much as the rear deltoid actually make those problems worse?
Personally I used to workout using mostly pushups and pullups and after about 2 months my shoulders started to hurt like crazy - a sharp pain, starting from the shoulders, moving towards the arms, traps, serratus… hell. I would even get this when just warming up.
I’ve been visiting a few docs - some of them giving some “funny” advice - such as stopping doing pullups, because they are too hard on the shoulder joint - right, pullups being to hard on the shoulder joint at fucking 175 lbs!
Then I’ve been to a physiotherapist - who gave me some, even better advice “push yourself up fast during pushups to activate the front deltoid, push yourself up slowly to activate the rear deltoid” - damn, I swear at this point even my dumb noobass was getting pretty skeptical about the competence of this physio…
Like gravity suddenly turns around because I’m utilizing a different tempo. Woooh, I’m doing pushups so fast, I gotta HOLD ONTO THE GROUND HARD so I don’t leave earths atmosphere or what?
And if you’re american and though something like “damn our health system is truly messed up” while reading this - well… I’m german. This all happend here, in germany. Amazing, huh?
Anways, to cut to the case, after reading “Strength Training Anatomy” I pretty much came to the conlusion that my physio is full of it, and I probably developed a dysbalance because I didn’t hit the rear deltoid with any exercise. I probably pinched a nerve, or maybe even a tendon.
So thats why I’ve been looking so closely at this deltoid thing. I’m pretty positive I’ve had a shoulder dysbalance before and I don’t want to get one again If I should decide to start a 3x5 / 5x5 program.