Very tight lower back, weak abs, rounded shoulders

[Ryanph86]

I've been told this is common in people with pectus excavatum (funnel chest)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectus_excavatum

Mine isn't as severe in the picture, but it's there.

Those with it commonly have rounded shoulders, weak abs, and a tight lower back. My question is would you think I should just go through your program as is and these things will correct themselves overtime? I feel like something like deadlifts would exacerbate my already tight low back for example. Thanks for your time.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you make sure your form is correct -- absolutely correct to the smallest detail, this may require a coach -- things tend toward correction, to the extent they can under circumstances like these. We'll ask the board if anyone else with PE has any experience with this.

[Ryanph86]

Great, thanks for the answer.

Do you think a training program that targets specific issues and imbalances, like in my situation, is sometimes helpful before implementing a program like yours?

[Mark Rippetoe]

No, because a general program done with attention to technical perfection addresses any imbalances in the context of their normal function, and forces the correction due to the fact that technical perfection requires the correct functioning of the weak component. If this weakness limits the load, that's fine. The weak part strengthens as the system strengthens, because it has to. You start with a load that permits technical perfection, and go up from there, staying perfect and getting the weak part stronger while it performs its normal function within the moving system. BUT. since this is based on the correct execution of the movement with tehnical perfection, it also depends on coaching the movement correctly, and most coaches don't know how and don't bother to learn. So they prescribe corrective exercises, which have the advantage of being easier to coach. The problem is that they don't work. This is my problem with "corrective exercises" in particular and Physical Therapy in general, which works to precisely the same extent to which injured things heal. In other words, you cannot correct a problem with a squat without correcting the movement pattern of the squat, and this cannot be done without squatting.

[Ryanph86]

Thanks, makes a lot of sense put that way. I'll look for a coach in my area or do my best to make sure my form is good as I can get it.

[Rob Waskis]

a general program done with attention to technical perfection addresses any imbalances in the context of their normal function, and forces the correction due to the fact that technical perfection requires the correct functioning of the weak component. If this weakness limits the load, that's fine. The weak part strengthens as the system strengthens, because it has to. You start with a load that permits technical perfection, and go up from there, staying perfect and getting the weak part stronger while it performs its normal function within the moving system.

For as many times as the "imbalances" issue has come up, this is by far the most concise, complete, and easily understandable answer I have seen to date. I will certainly keep this for future reference.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sometimes I get lucky.

[tnumrych]

Rob, I was thinking the same thing when I read it. Rip, that paragraph should make it into the next edition/version of SS.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't know what chapter to stick it in. At any rate, the next printing with numerous corrections and changes just went to the printer yesterday, so it would have to wait a while. Maybe you guys could just forward it around.

[boot29342342]

I don't know what chapter to stick it in. At any rate, the next printing with numerous corrections and changes just went to the printer yesterday, so it would have to wait a while. Maybe you guys could just forward it around.

If not in SS, it would make sense in the discussion of "special populations" in Practical Programming... It fits in with training around injuries and atypical/abnormal anatomy (like leg length discrepancies and this PE thing), since the approach is somewhat similar to using the SS program for rehab. I recognize that this might present some quandaries in that you wouldn't want to sound like you are dispensing medical advice, but I am sure there is a way to work around that with enough legalistic verbiage.