Rock Climbing and 'forward shoulders'

Hi all,

 

I'm sure you're all familiar with that hunched-over 'forward shoulders' look. It's relatively common in weightlifters, but it's also very common in rock climbers, especially those who boulder. The general advice to fix this is 'work the rear delts', usually by band pull-aparts or rear delt flyes. But the interesting thing is a lot of these movements are similar to what you do while climbing - arms straight out sideways, pulling backwards, especially when climbing a perfectly vertical wall.

 

I've been trying to fix my forward shoulders (I'm also doing dislocates and wall slides), but I'm just curious if anyone has any input here on why this is so common in climbers?

 

Thanks!

idk specifically about climbers but my shoulders forward position has been going more to the back whilst stretching my pecs. especially the peskey SOAB that is pec minor. 

I found as my pecs and anterior deltoid stretched out and my traps got stronger that my back just naturally straightened.

Stretching pecs, front shoulders and training back shoulders Made wonders for me. Cured my shoulder impingement too.

Stretch stretch stretch and stretch the chest minor and the lats, especially with the bridge or back bend progression. meanwhile increase your external rotator strength

I'm a (ex- haha) climber and have been stopped 3 years ago by a shoulder problem. Consulted 2 doctors and 2 physios, and only the 2nd physio saw that the real underlying problem is my forward right shoulder.

 

You are not right when stating that the counter-work resembles climbing: The counter-exercises aim to retract the scapulae, which happens very seldom while climbing. Lat is trained very much by climbing, but rolls the shoulder forward.

 

In fact my forward shoulder results from a shortened lat, pec is OK. Unfortunately I cannot simply stretch (passively), as my shoulder doesn't tolerate that at all. So in the beginning I worked front lever and Manna... until my left scapula was too far back, bad pain. So now I have to work asymmetrically, I found 2 exercises where I stabilize the shoulder with a dumbbell, and at the same time move my shoulder back against the resistance of an elastic band. Straightening the vertebral colon takes really long, but seems to go well now: My vertebrae often crack when I retract the scapulae - things move. To stabilize the shoulder, I have to train external but also internal rotators. My shoulder is much better and I will climb again next year