Wall Slides Really Work

Ok, so I’ve been on this quest to fix imbalances, especially any slight hint of rounded shoulders or millennial neck (this is my term for people with forward postured necks from looking at phones and computers, some people call it text neck)

So I incorporated wall slides in my daily routine… holy fuck does this make me literally sweat when doing them. I get serious mid back activation that I’ve never felt before. What does this mean? Are those back muscles really lacking?

After I’m done with a set of 3 or 4 my middle back is really activated. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to hit that region so hard, ever, with any weights and I’m trying to understand why that is.

Anyone else have some good weighted exercises that can really trigger that area? it’s probably my most lagging area

@FlatsFarmer would be a good one to ask.

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why? whose @FlatsFarmer?

I follow is log pretty close. When it comes to imbalances in the upper back/shoulder seems like he has seen or done quite a few tricks to try and fix it. Hop over to his log and you’ll probably find what you need.

Just like you, I had problems with rounded shoulders and mid back.

I read some Dan John articles on T nation and he talked about slumped posture and tight Pec/ bicep and front delt muscles vs stretched out, weak, inactive mid back muscles. Like you mentioned.

So I did all kinds of stuff like this.

Scarecrows

Facepulls

Small moves out together

Rows on incline bench

Once I got better Mind muscles connection and managed to build up those muscles a little I could activate them better on “regular” back stuff like rows and Pulldowns.

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thanks. I’m already doing most of these besides the scarecrow one. never seen that one.

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@FlatsFarmer

how often are you doing these by the way? I’m warming up with these everyday, even on off day.

Yeah, easy no equipment stuff like doorway stretches and wall slides are cool every day. Even multiple times a day if you feel like you are “messed up” and they are “fixing” you, like rehab style.

In the future once your posture improves you might do every other day or something.

Lately I’ve just been doing this kind of stuff before upper body days in the gym, 2-3 times a week.

how long did it take you until you fixed yourself?

Honestly man, my shoulders were messed up for years. I’d do some stuff and get a little better for awhile then slide back into bad posture and sore, restricted shoulders.

I was doing part of what it took to get better, working/strengthening the mid back “posture muscles” and stretching the tight stuff (pecs and biceps) and that would get me unslumped for awhile, like 2/3 of the way there.

What I was missing was work for the actual shoulder joint (like the tissue around the ball and socket) to build up the ROM and strength of the joint. I learned that when your posture sucks and your shoulders are slumped you only use some of the tissue around the joint. The rest goes unworked so your body doesn’t want to use that tissue, that restricts the ROM of the joint and as a result your shoulders can slump to make up for this. Or your posture gets bad because your body is trying to put your shoulders in a position to get the most out of your extricated range of motion.

Anyway, I started doing stuff like this after I had my mid back fired up and my shoulders unslumped. To “stress” or train shoulder joints. After like 4-6 weeks I had huge improvements.

Or the rotational move at 2:00