Rhomboid Muscle – Rhomboid Exercises That You Probably Forgot About

What’s up guys? I got another great article from Brad today talking about the Rhomboid muscle. “The what?” you may be asking. If you are then this article is definitely for you. Learn more about the forgotten muscle and some Rhomboid exercises.

Don’t Forget the Little Things: Rhomboids

Oh no I am doing it again , not offering you an awesome chest exercises to add 3 inches to your chest in 3 months( which I did personally and with clients) but am going to tell you about another long forgotten muscle .

Ok I will give in, and give you a quick story that may help you directly on your chest size… You see like many trainees I have relatively long arms, which made the bench press more of a shoulder and tricep builder then a chest movement. Within a year or so of training chest Monday, Wednesday, And Friday every week, my bench went from a low 100lbs to around 300lbs . But my chest didn’t grow , I still had practically no visible chest development and that certainly wasn’t acceptable if I was going to ever do bodybuilding or just wanted a thicker look.

Then one day I was reading about a bodybuilder from the Golden Era of Bodybuilding, Serge Nubret and how he avidly preached wide grip bench-pressing, and I do mean a WIDE GRIP.

serge Rhomboid Muscle Rhomboid Exercises That You Probably Forgot About
Serge Nubret Wide Grip Bench Press with 405lbs

I figured what the heck and did the same, and within 3 months of benching this way my chest went up 3 inches! Now you cannot do as much weight this way, but it definitely activates the chest more, practically eliminating tricep and shoulder support.

Ok ok…. the free tip is over, now let us get back to a real problem a lot of gym goers face that only gets worse as they continue training. Weak Rhomboids, no those are not the muscle that make you have a wide back, but what they can do is make your chest look bigger! Your Rhomboids are located here.

rhomboid muscle 300x232 Rhomboid Muscle Rhomboid Exercises That You Probably Forgot About Rhomboids

And as you can probably tell by their placement, their function (summarized) is to pull your shoulders back, resulting in you sitting up straighter and standing taller. Now I know we all love chest, front delt, abdominal and lat training , however over emphasizing this causes postural imbalances such as excessive forward leaning . Excessive Forward Leaning is a major contributor to low back pain, which nearly 80% of adults face (as recorded by the National Academy of Sports Medicine).

To balance the issue, all most trainees need is focused rhomboid training and possibly stretching the above listed overactive muscles if you already suffer from low back pain.

Strengthening The Rhomboids

Since we all love getting stronger in every way possible, we will discuss exactly how you can incorporate rhomboid training in your routine. The easiest step is optimizing your existing exercises to focus on the rhomboids. To do this with your standing or seated rows, be sure to really pinch your shoulder blades together at the max contracted point. Hold for a second, and then lower the weight again, the key is using a low weight you can fully control throughout both the concentric and eccentric portions of the lift.

Next, you can add more focused exercises such as

Bat Wings with Kettlbells or Dumbbells

Note: You can also perform these on a flat bench if you do not have access to an incline bench, or the position is uncomfortable for you. Do this for 3-5 sets of five repetitions with every back workout for 4-8 weeks and watch your posture improve drastically.

Bringing it all Together

If you caught my other article on rotator cuff training , specifically the external rotation movements , combining this with those techniques you will be well on your way to building a stronger , more muscular , and most importantly BETTER BALANCED AND HEALTHIER BODY.

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Brad Kelly writes a weekly article every Tuesday. He is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist, and Corrective Exercise Specialist out of Panama City, Florida. Driven by a passion to help others he not only trains locals, but also performs online personal training and writes fitness articles to reach as many fellow fitness enthusiasts as possible.

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