Broad back syndrome: a common disease in young people

If you look around, you've probably met guys with protruding elbows. This is the so-called imaginary broad back syndrome. In fact, this is already a disease. Most often, this disease affects teenage boys who love to hang on the horizontal bar. These guys don't look very good looking. The forearms are turned up, the elbows are raised back, the head rests against the back of the head. Let's consider the causes of this syndrome.

Factors of occurrence

Nowadays, all young guys dream of a beautiful athlete’s body. Favorite film actors and singers of modern songs amaze with their inflated, sculpted bodies and literally beckon all young men to look as beautiful as them. After all, just say a word to impressionable young people about their unformed body - and tomorrow you see a guy not just walking on the street, but hanging on a street horizontal bar or working out in a school gym. How much pride can be hurt! Of course, one session is not enough to build muscles and strong arms. After all, many don’t even realize what it costs the same singers or actors. They don’t know that this is a long, hard work on themselves and their body, grueling workouts in the gym almost every day. Most likely, this is where “broad back syndrome” begins.

Training programs

We have selected training schemes for you that can be implemented into an existing program or performed separately.

Scheme for 1 day in the gym

Exercise	lead time	Repetitions	Approaches	Rest
Deadlift	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
Thrust of the lower block to the chest	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
Upper pulley to chest	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
Bent-over barbell row	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
T-bar row	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
One-arm block or dumbbell row	90 sec	12,12,10,10	4	60-90 sec
Pull-ups	90 sec	10	4	60-90 sec

What it is?

In the modern world, you can see that a man with protruding arms is not all right with his body. Yes it is. This condition is called “broad back syndrome.” It may look like a kind of abduction of the elbows in different directions with a reflex extension of the shoulders. It is usually accompanied by a bizarre facial expression. This disease is most common in children and adolescents, mainly in thin guys. It can manifest itself even after several sessions on the simulator: the young man immediately feels like a real muscleman.

The appearance of cameras and people of the opposite sex will immediately worsen the traumatic “broad back syndrome”. This will be followed by exposure of the back and abdomen (or the so-called torso), and a change in the timbre of the voice.

Can we cure the syndrome?

This question, fortunately, has a positive answer. Often the “disease” goes away with age or life experience.

In fact, if we leave the irony, everything will not be so fun. It doesn’t mean anything good that young guys, in their desire to be beautiful and strong, do not achieve this, but only imagine the effect. This state is akin to how a boy from an average family breaks free and begins to squander money to show that he is rich.

The psychological background of the syndrome is quite deep. It's not just a matter of dissatisfaction with your body, but also a reluctance or laziness to work to improve. Guys with “broad back syndrome” try to deceive not only the camera lens, but also themselves. This style of behavior will not lead to anything good. Therefore, if you see such a photo of your loved one, save him immediately. We offer two optimal solutions. The first is to convince him that you like him for who he is. Second, give a gym membership as a gift, and let a toned back be not a fantasy, but a reality.

Timely treatment

Unfortunately, “broad back syndrome” cannot be treated at all. Over time, everything goes away on its own. There is even an assumption that our distant ancestors also took a pose with their elbows out in order to scare their enemy and look as scary as possible. Or vice versa, to appear more powerful and beautiful for your beloved woman.

Pulldown of a vertical block to the chest with a V-shaped bar and behind the head with a wide grip.

Super exercise for developing the teres major muscle. Take the V-bar and pull it towards your chest, while tightening the muscles as much as possible into a peak contraction. When you return the bar to the top position, feel how the load stretches the muscles. Do not spread your elbows to the sides; all movement goes along the body.

When performing head pulls with a wide grip, pull the bar to shoulder level, elbows pointing to the floor, at peak contraction, strain your back muscles as much as possible, return the bar to its original position and feel the entire shoulder girdle rise up. You need to pull the bar down not by using the strength of your arms, but by lowering your shoulder blades down.

Bitter truth

If you look at it from a different point of view, it turns out that this disease is not as harmless as it seems at first glance. The problem of dissatisfaction with your body is psychological. It negatively affects a boy at a young age and is expressed in his desire to instantly change his male figure. Young men who have broad back syndrome want to look beautiful not only for the cameras, but also for themselves, thereby deceiving themselves. This behavior has a bad effect on the boy. It is necessary to talk to a young man as often as possible. Tell him how beautiful he is, that you like him in his natural form. Or recommend him a good fitness club where he can really build up his muscle mass. The thin torso and long arms will no longer be so noticeable. Remember that young successful guys tend to deeply exaggerate their strengths and argue with others, especially with adults. It will not be so easy to convince the young man.

How to practice

If you're working your entire body in one workout, choose an exercise for each muscle group. If you prefer splits, take two exercises from each point and add them to your back day or deadlift day.

Some of the exercises described in the article pump up several muscle groups at once. Take this into account when creating your program. For example, you can choose one that will work both your upper and lower back well, or work these areas separately.

Select the weight of the equipment in such a way that the last repetitions in the approach are difficult, but without compromising the technique. The number of sets and repetitions will be indicated for each exercise.

If the movement is performed with body weight, do it as much as you can.

Ambulance

It is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to the situation. In any case, this is a solvable problem, but training alone cannot do it. Everything lies deep in the subconscious of the young man, and the right way to cure the patient is individual psychotherapy. At a young age, you don’t care about all the obstacles, as long as you have determination and self-confidence. Relatives and close friends can do a lot. The opinion of others plays a very important role for a young man who is unsure of himself.

Many girls like a handsome male figure, but not many guys manage to achieve the desired result. Therefore, young people are ready to do a lot just to get the long-awaited pumped up body. This is where the disease known as imaginary broad back syndrome comes from. It looks especially stupid on tall and thin guys. Young guys think that they can do anything, and that with their gait they will impress all the girls on the spot. From the outside it doesn't look quite like that. Young men tilt the back of their heads back and spread their legs wide during normal walking, supposedly seeking the respect of their friends. In fact, such a gait only causes laughter from others. Of course, such walking helps young people move in inclement weather or in strong winds (and this is exactly how sailors moved on ships), but in ordinary life this gait looks funny. This is what overconfidence can lead to.

Strengthen your back muscles correctly

First, you should learn to first activate and use the latissimus dorsi muscles as much as possible in each exercise.
Among weightlifters, the lats are considered one of the most difficult muscles to train, whether you train in the gym or at home.

Without sufficient activation of these muscles, other muscle groups are included in the work: biceps and trapezius, core. This reduces the effectiveness of the exercises and does not allow you to maximize the target muscle group.

Based on a recently published 2020 study1, it's safe to say that without a strong mental mind-muscle connection during training, the end result won't be quite what you expect.

If there is no feeling of active strong contraction in the latissimus muscles while performing various basic and isolating exercises, then you need to work on it.

Activation of the target muscle group can be achieved only with the help of a special set of exercises to activate these muscles.

For these purposes, an exercise that consists of movements that help you feel the full range of motion of the lats and their work is suitable.

To perform this activating exercise, take the starting position:

Lean forward slightly;
Extend one arm forward in front of you with your thumb up;
Tighten your lats.

At this point you should feel the target muscle tense. You can help yourself with your second hand.
Then, without relaxing the muscle, lower your arm without bending it at the elbow. Keep your hand close to your side and point it back.

Then turn your arm to the side, bending it slightly. In this position, the working muscles are even more tense.
Move your elbow back and towards the spine, contract the working muscles. Stay in this position for a few seconds.

You should feel a very strong contraction in the muscles, almost to the point of cramping.

It is recommended to perform this simple exercise several times on both sides before starting your workout.

This exercise will help establish an important connection in the brain-muscle connection.

Feel free to perform this movement right before starting the main complex at the very beginning of your training, because the correct mechanics and technique for performing certain exercises is the key to activating the lats2.

Several important nuances of the technique of performing movements:

When performing exercises, try to put your weight on your elbow, not your hand. For example, in a lat pulldown, try to pull your elbows toward your torso, and NOT pull your arms toward your chest. The same goes for pull-ups and any other pulling exercises.
When doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar, use a thumbless grip. Direct most of the load to your little fingers, this will help minimize the participation of the biceps.
During vertical movements, before pulling up, lower your shoulders and move them away from your ears. This will make it easier to use the right muscles.

All of the above, together with the activation instructions mentioned earlier, will help greatly speed up the process of incorporating the mid back into your training program.