Imbalance

[AaronMBond]

How do you teach your SSC's how to deal with muscle imbalances: left side/right side or front/back?

[Mark Rippetoe]

We teach them to instruct bilateral exercises correctly.

[AaronMBond]

So should I believe an SSC that says "imbalances aren't a thing" and "shoulders rounded forward aren't improper"?
Also, would you recommend uni-work to bring up a weak side(25yrs of overhead wrenching), or let the strong side lag while bilaterally letting the weak side catch up?

[Mark Rippetoe]

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[Will Still]

I would also add that imbalances to one degree or another are more the rule than exception. Perfect bilateral symmetry is not natural. I personally had much greater triceps size and strength on my left side, most likely from being a southpaw and favoring that arm throughout my life. The issue quickly resolved once I began training the press. I started with a weight that would allow the weak side to receive a training effect from the movement and it quickly caught up to the left. Now there is no visible size or strength difference between the two. I will admit, before I found the program, I used to one-arm, close grip bench on a Smith machine in an attempt to fix the imbalance, which did absolutely nothing other than exacerbate a long term shoulder issue.

My shoulders also severely rounded to the front because of weak upper back. Deadlifting solved that issue very quickly as well. As my traps gained some strength they pulled everything back where it was supposed to be, and also fixed my shitty posture. Just my experience, but unilateral exercises didn't solve my imbalance issues, getting everything stronger with the big lifts did, very quickly. Good luck.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I think this has been discussed extensively.