What muscle group opposes the pectorals?

July 18, 2006 6:20 AM

I'm trying to revise my dumbbell-based home workout. I do bench presses for my chest, but what's the best exercise to oppose that? I'd been doing rows, but I've been noticing that my posture is bad and I want to be sure the weights aren't contributing to the problem.
posted by futility closet to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

never had any posture problems due to upper body workouts. i'd recommend lat pulls and curls to go with bench. if you don't have the weight setup, maybe a good chin up bar would work.
posted by lester at 7:33 AM on July 18, 2006

Resistance training won't worsen posture unless the form is incorrect and unsafe.

That out of the way, why not try arnold presses after bench presses, which works the anterior and medial deltoids? Just make sure you stretch your shoulders before you exercise them. Don't assume bench presses have done an adaquate job limbering up such a delicate complex of muscles and tendons. Then after 3-4 sets of arnold presses and laterial dumbbell raises (just an example), move to skull crushers which works the chest, triceps, anterior deltoids and serratus. Top it off with an isolation exercise for the tri's and you're good to go.

If it's the back you want to work, try dumbbell deadlifts. Doing deadlifts in correct form will enforce good posture.
posted by rinkjustice at 7:37 AM on July 18, 2006

Your lats are the major oppositional muscle group to your chest.

Weak lats should not give you bad posture. Weak abs might be more to contribute to bad posture than weak lats.

Make sure you incorporate ab work into your exercise regimen, crunches done right are good.
posted by fenriq at 7:49 AM on July 18, 2006

I second the deadlift recommendation, paying particular attention to form and moving your shoulders all the way back. Also, definitely try some exercises that strengthen your rear deltoids.

Lots of guys overdo it on the chest, but neglect their rear delts, which can give you rounded shoulders and poor posture, even if you're still working your lats.
posted by Gamblor at 7:56 AM on July 18, 2006

Hard to do with dumbells (unless you want to hang from the ceiling holding very heavy weights :), but you should, in addition to the rows, do lat pulldowns or pullups. That should balance out the chest work.
posted by callmejay at 7:59 AM on July 18, 2006

If your posture is bad in that your shoulders seem slumped forward (protracted), then this can definitely be from working your pecs more than the opposing muscles. Working your trapezius and rhomboids (via rows) is actually just the right solution. Scroll down to the bottom on this exrx page about posture. Check out the stretches listed there, too.
posted by nevers at 8:31 AM on July 18, 2006

How are you doing your rows? I do dumb-bell rows like this: place your left knee on a flat bench, bend at the waist, place your left hand on the flat bench, grab the dumb-bell with your right hand, and pull it toward your chest while keeping your back level. I can't remember what this is called, exactly, but it looks sort of like a three-point-stance in football (except with a bench in there).

Also, if you want to get your form straightened out, start by doing things with minimal weights (think 5 lbs, not 35 lbs). Lots of people screw up their form because they are trying to lift more than they can handle properly. Some people will say that it's OK to sacrifice proper form to get a little extra boost of power, but you shouldn't need that extra boost all the time. Just start at the bottom and work your way back up in weight while you consciously focus on your form. As soon as you start slipping, step back in weight until you have it right. It's primarily muscle-memory.
posted by MrZero at 9:37 AM on July 18, 2006

In my experience through weightlifting, the best way to keep your body "harmonious" when you start pushing up towards the limit is doing this equally across your muscle groups. That means, you shouldn't be focusing on your chest, but you should also do shoulders, lats, upper/lower back, tris/bis, abs, legs. Proportionality is good and no single set of muscle group sis more important than the other. Granted some are larger and take more time/effort to workout (e.g. the chest), it should not overshadow the rest.
posted by stratastar at 10:04 AM on July 18, 2006

What do you mean by bad posture? I'm guessing you mean something like the second or third picture from here , which would not be surprising at all if you do computer/desk work for a living. T-mag has a great article series called "Neanderthal No More" on this that I highly recommend - part one is right here. It goes into a lot of detail and doesn't really recommend exercises until part four, but the background info is very good to know so you aren't just treating symptoms.

Even if you just have rounded shoulders and your back/hips are fine, there are no easy fixes. First of all - stop or severly cut back all chest/pressing movements, and do rows and deadlifts first and foremost. Concentrate on form, keeping your scapula down and back, core tight. Some sort of external rotation would probably be good, like l-flies or the like.

Besides the workout, you need to be aware of your posture the rest of the day. If you are slumped over your keyboard eight hours a day your posture will suffer no matter what. So take frequent breaks, put up some reminders, whatever you have to do to get into the habit of better posture at work/desk/play.
posted by rsanheim at 10:38 AM on July 18, 2006

Gamblor is dead-on about working all three deltoid heads. I mentioned the arnold press, but replace lateral raises (which I used as a quick example) with incline rear-delt lateral raises. Do 4 sets of 15, keep the weight relatively low and the form strict, and feel that burn!
posted by rinkjustice at 10:47 AM on July 18, 2006

Renegade row. It works just fine with dumbbells, assuming they are big enough.
posted by 517 at 11:18 AM on July 18, 2006

Response by poster: Many thanks for all of these -- exactly what I needed! And I am tied to a desk, alas, so I'll try to be mindful of posture throughout the day. Thanks to everyone.
posted by futility closet at 11:44 AM on July 18, 2006