Many bodybuilders live by the “no pain, no gain” credo. But some types of pain can smother hypertrophy.
In fact, one minor nagging ache derailed Steve’s muscle-building progress for months…
Steve was having neck pain. It was low-grade, throbbing, and consistent—so much so that he had trouble sleeping and even got frequent headaches.
In the gym, it affected almost every exercise. It wasn’t so severe that he couldn’t train—it was just annoying enough to feel it on almost every rep of every exercise.
And that type of low-grade pain derails focus and intensity, which means less muscle stimulation at every workout.That’s not good.
He thought he had pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve and that it would eventually heal. It didn’t…
After six months (yes, he was that freaking stubborn), he went to a chiropractor. The D.C.explained that his affliction was common—he had a muscle imbalance from three things:
1)Sitting at his computer was causing him to slump, making his neck-supporting muscles weak (texting a lot creates the same problem)
2)Not training the mid-back muscles thorough enough was adding to his slump (he was going too heavy and not squeezing his shoulder blades together at the top of rowing exercises—most bodybuilders go too heavy on rows)
3)Not doing specific neck stretches and freehand moves to strengthen supporting muscles.
His pain in the neck was not only reducing his ability to add muscle because of crummy workouts and loss of deep sleep, but it was also degrading his posture. He needed to dump the slump…
First step: He reduced the weight on his rowing exercises so that he could completely contract his mid-back on every rep—squeezing his scapulae together. Stronger traps helped pull his shoulders back, improving his posture…
He also made an effort to do a specific neck-stretching-and-strengthening sequence. As his chiropractor explained, there are more neck-area muscles you need to pay attention to in order to completely remedy Forward Head Posture so you stand taller, relieve neck pressure and train harder in the gym to re-ignite muscle gains…
And get this: By curing Forward Head Posture, you can actually increase your testosterone—another muscle-building booster rocket…
A study by graduate students at Harvard and Columbia University concluded that displaying more powerful posture—shoulders back, head up, chest out—elevated subjects’ testosteronelevels (up to 20%) with decreases in muscle-degrading cortisol levels…
That may be because posture improvement increased their feelings of power—and that means more confidence, motivation, and stronger muscle-stimulating workouts in the gym.
That’s exactly what Steve experienced. His neck pain finally disappeared within a few weeks of focusing on lighter rows for mid-back squeezes as well as a Forward Head Posture fix sequence.
His workout intensity sky-rocketed, as did his gains from every workout—he was back on the mass-building track, no more distracting pain in the neck. Plus, he felt more confident and powerful with new motivation. True story…
Bottom line:Lighten your rowing poundages in the gym so you can squeeze your shoulder blades together on every rep. Stronger traps will help hold your shoulders back for that Power Posture. And to get to the root problem, see….
>Moves to Fix Forward Head Posture, boost Muscle-Building workouts and up your Testosterone
Note: The above article link to the Forward Head Posture Fix program was developed by Kinesiologist and Injury Specialist Rick Kaselj, M.S.Rick has given over 352 live presentations to more than 8,152 health professionals in the U.S. and Canada. It’s worth a look. Check it out and see if it’s for you HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
X-Rep.com