Ratios Per Muscle Group

So I was curious, what are the ratios per muscle group one should use?
For example, back to chest ratio? Like 3 exercises of back (pulling) to 1 chest (pushing)?
And what about legs? Glutes to quads to hamstrings?
I’ve been dealing with a nagging impingement that I think was due to imbalances in my training (for my upper body that is) but I was also curious as to lower body ratios as well.

I know some people aren’t fans of ratios but I think especially since my impingement is due to just that, the fact that I did too much pressing over pulling exercises, ratios are something I need to focus on.

The rule of thumb by some well known coaches in regards to pressing and the upper back tends to be 2 to 1 ratio in actual work volume. ( you dont necessary need several different movements in achieving this unless )

This IMO can vary depending on the individual, the key is doing the proper amount to maintain balance between the posterior and anterior muscle groups .

At the moment, the only pressing movement I can do without pain is a light dumbbell shoulder press and a landmine press.

So that means that my upper body training is largely focused on back. Would that cause an issue or imbalance if a majority of my training is pulling?

Honestly I not aware of any indviduals having . too strong of a upper back that it is causes issues. Normally the norm is overly strong muscle directely associated with pressing causing mechanical issues like impingement.

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Ok. How about before the pain began?

My pulling FAR outweighs my pressing and had so for a while. I have horrible posture and I was hoping this would help but it hasn’t. But I haven’t noticed any negative sides from double the amount of pulling vs pushing

What moves could I do before the pain started? Like before I was ever injured or?

The question is “What kind of pushing motions were you doing leading up to the pain/injury?”.

Not “What are you doing now that the pain/injury has occurred.”.

It is Usually what you were doing immediately preceding the pain/injury that caused it.

I did a lot of overhead presses, bench presses, dumbbell presses, shoulder presses of all sorts… I did probably 4-5 pressing exercises to 1-2 pulling exercises in the past.
3 years ago is when I ended up injuring my shoulder, during deadlifts actually. But I know it’s because my back was super weak and imbalanced.

That is a lot of pushing.

There are tons of good shoulder rehab articles on here to try to get pain free then stronger again.

Yeah it was bad :sweat_smile: of course being inexperienced I didn’t know at the time. It was just a shame that my coach was programming me that way…
I no longer have that coach haha.

But yeah that’s why I was curious about the ratios.

Thanks :+1:t2:

Stretch pec and front delts hard immediately after every session with upper body work…

This worth a try as part of warm up also…

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Tons of lat work, especially vertical stuff like pulldowns and chin ups can tighten up your lats so they pull your shoulders into the forward, internally rotated slump.

If you’re still getting the impingement you may want to focus on more mid back, low trap stuff like “No Monies” and horizontal rows with your elbows out.

And maybe extra rear delts. Like 2 parts rear delt isolation moves to 1 part pressing moves. If your shoulders are pinching in the front try more rear delt stuff to balance them out.n

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Here’s me and a few dudes discussing our shoulder problems, and all the stuff we had to learn and try out to fix our issues.

Sooooo hmm… if I set up a back workout and a chest, how would this look?

Back workout:
Barbell row
Single arm dumbbell row
Lat pulldown
Rear delt flys

Chest workout:
Dumbbell chest press
Rear delt flys
Tricep kickbacks

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That could be OK. Just remember to do all your face pulls, pull a parts, external rotations and low trap raises before you do the real stuff.

Rows, pulldowns and horizontal presses all have the exact same effect on the ribcage and shoulder complex, dumping you into a typical caveman posture

The only exercises that truly reverse the effects of horizontal pressing are reaches with a free/unlocked scapula and a totally neutral spine. Landmine Press, as well as push-ups and incline press with your shoulders not pinned back and down are prime. If you have the range of motion to perform without requiring thoracic extension, overhead Press works here as well.

Training your shoulder external rotators is also a very good idea

So, dont worry about matching ratios of pushing to pulling, worry about reaching 0.5-1 time per pres