“Show” muscles and “go” muscles play an intricate balance
with one another. “Show” muscles refer to your anterior chain, or the muscles
on the front side of your body; “go” muscles refer to your posterior chain, the
ones on the backside of your body. Balance between the two is necessary in
order for our bodies to move optimally. When one side becomes more dominant
than the other, you can end up with bad posture, excessive tightness on one side,
and overall imbalances.
Typically you will find that many people are anterior chain-dominant.
I don’t like to categorize, but you will typically see this in desk workers,
people who don’t lift or train, and the gym bros who are only interested in their
chests and biceps. Due to sitting with poor posture, general weakness of the
posterior chain, and only training the muscles you can see on the front of your
body (hence “show muscles”), people tend to become very anterior chain-dominant.
It is also possible, however, to have a dominant posterior
chain. This is more of a rarity and is typically seen in very physically active
individuals who are constantly in “go mode” (hence “go muscles”).
For the purposes of this article, I’ll stay within the realm
of anterior chain dominance since about 99% of people fall further towards that
end of the spectrum. Since many spend the majority of their days sitting in a
chair, the anterior chain is in a chronically shortened position. If the
anterior chain is short, that means the posterior chain is in a chronically
lengthened position. If, on top of that, you are only training your anterior
chain because you want to “look better,” you’re adding to the problem and doing
your body a disservice. If you don’t train, your body will be generally weak in
both the anterior and posterior chains. The anterior chain will then just be
tight. In medical terms, as of the new ICD 10 medical codes, this would be
called “generalized muscle weakness,” aka M62.81. Do NOT be an M62.81!
So, how do you fix this anterior chain dominance issue?
Simply add a little bit more extension into your life. This
involves turning on those “go” muscles in order to get some more posterior
chain involvement. The major muscles to focus on would be your upper back
(scapular retractors), shoulder external rotators, glutes, and hamstrings. These
muscles all need to get stronger, which requires some strength training. By “strength
training” I mean lifting 70+% of your ~1RM for compound movements, because that’s
what physiologically stimulates muscles to get bigger and stronger. Great
exercises for these muscles include activities that cause triple extension of
your lower half, meaning extension at the hip, knee, and ankle. Movements that
achieve this type of extension include squats, deadlifts, jumps, and sprints.
You need to have balance between the anterior and posterior
chains while maintaining adequate mobility. This will prevent the two sides
playing a tug-of-war match over your bones and joints, which comes with its own
problems. Seek balance between the two and your body will move better, feel
better, and be much happier because of it.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
For consultation/personal training/coaching inquiries email:
ryangoodell@weightsandstuff.com
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