Play the trainer

[chasebny]

Stole this from another website.

Basically, myself or others will ask training questions pertaining to specific incidences, and I would like to hear some different responses (not just a bunch of x2's or whatever). If someone took your answer, try hard to think of another viable one.

First question:
My trainee has uneven traps, resulting in not only a visual imbalance, but also a tightness and pain across the shoulder girdle. This trainee does rotator cuff exercises 3x weekly, but still expierences shoulder pain. Solutions?

[Foreskin]

one armed farmers walks and shrugs, all deadlift or rowing movements done with dumbells from here on in. is this along the lines of what you are looking for? if not my appologies

[SUMO]

Get an x-ray of the back and have a chiropractor properly align it. If you have a trap imbalance, chances are it's the spine, not the rotator cuff.

[Sledge]

I'd refer to a sports physician if pain is being experienced. The problem could even be a potential pec problem, or spinal problem among many other things. I'd also want to see how this problem presents when training other body parts and any restriction to range of motion.

[chasebny]

While completely acceptable and probably one of the better answers, I was trying to avoid being refered to a doc etc.

Lets say the pain is mild, and only while training upper body?

Im just trying to get a Q&A with holistic answers, that one could do in the gym or at home.

So, my answer (not the best or correct necesarily), would be to lead back workouts with uni-lateral DB shrugs, starting with the weaker side.

Also, after every upper body workout, a round of rotator cuff, bicep, and shoulder exercises, followed by stretching of the traps, lats, chest and biceps. If any of the stretches cause pain, they would be dropped, and also clue in what maybe causing the imbalance.

After this, a few sets of hanging shrugs, with a 3 count at both the top and bottom, in order to train the lifter to hold and use the shoulder girdle correctly.