Are Push Ups to Blame For Your Rounded Shoulders? Here’s 5 Things You Need to Know

Surely, if you’re an individual who routinely does hundreds of push-ups, you’ve likely noticed significant improvements to your physical form.

However, you may also have noticed that your shoulders have become more rounded.

In fact, your posture isn’t great and you spend a lot of time slouched forward at the shoulders.

So, are push ups to blame for your unwanted physical appearance?

Push ups themselves don’t cause rounded shoulders. In fact, the main cause of rounded shoulders is poor posture. This is compounded in the modern day and age by how much time we spend slouched in front of a computer, desk, or TV. With that being said, if your only upper body exercise is push ups then this may lead to poor posture too. You should aim to work your upper back and lats twice as much as the front of your torso. This will help to even out any imbalances.

The Main Cause of Rounded Shoulders

Firstly, I will say that push ups themselves won’t cause rounded shoulders.

Okay, I’ll admit that there is a certain way of doing push ups that may contribute to this, and I’ll speak more on this in a moment.

However, in the main, rounded shoulders are typically caused by poor posture.

And unfortunately, this is now so much worse in the modern day and age.

In fact, you could say that poor posture and rounded shoulders have reached almost epidemic-like proportions.

In reality, the blame clearly lies in the fact that we spend many hours a day hunched over, crooked at the neck, and not being as active as we should.

In fact, poor posture and rounded shoulders could easily have been avoided if we made an effort to simply get up from our desks every 30 minutes or so.

But instead, we remain in the same position for hours on end, day-after-day.

With that being said, this article is specifically focused around whether push ups cause rounded shoulders.

And I’ve mentioned that there may be a case for this.

So, let’s get to it.

Are Push Ups Your Only Upper Body Exercise?

If push ups are literally your only form of exercise then there is potential for them to cause rounded shoulders.

I know for a fact that I have spent some time simply focusing on push ups and not much more.

For me, I was returning from a lower body injury, so after a month or so of no exercise whatsoever I turned to walking and push ups.

I viewed this as a way to ease myself back into being active again.

However, the body typically reacts best to more symmetrical training.

This can also lead to a loss of muscle in the areas, especially the upper back and lats (more on this in a moment).

And it is this unevenness of training that can cause poor posture and rounded shoulders.

So, if your training is primarily focused on performing push ups, you should do something to even this out.

Fix Your Push Up Form

Something else that could potentially cause posture problems is how you perform push ups.

In fact, over the years I’m been dismayed at how I’ve seen people doing push ups.

Firstly, I think there’s an overeagerness to perform push ups too fast simply to get in as many reps as possible.

And unfortunately, through excessive speed push up form seems to go out of the window.

There are a number of form pointers that you should be aware of, and by adhering to these you can certainly keep rounded shoulders at bay.

Most people typically don’t come far up enough at the top of a push up to get themselves into this position.

This is why I say there should be a deliberate down and up movement.

In effect, you’re pausing ever so slightly at both the bottom and the top of a push up.

Not only does this make push ups more of a full-body exercise, but it also ensures that you don’t suffer from the dreaded saggy midsection.

In fact, by keeping the entire body tight throughout each rep you’ll do so much more for helping your posture in the long run.

Focus on Pulling Twice as Much as Pushing

I have alluded to this above, especially when I was talking about push ups potentially being your only physical activity.

And don’t even get me started on training the lower body.

With that being said, all this focused attention on the front of the body can definitely lead to rounded shoulders.

In fact, it is this neglect of the back of the body that causes poor posture in even the most active of people.

For me, I have always believed that you should train your pull muscles twice as much as your push muscles.

So, when it comes to performing push ups as an upper body exercise, I would personally like to even this out by also doing rows and pull ups for my back.

The other great thing about training the upper back and lats is that it provides a fantastic stable base for all your pushing exercises.

Therefore, believe it or not, training your back and lats more often will actually lead to you being stronger with push ups, bench press, overhead press, etc.

So, my advice would be to always focus more on the back of the body than the front.

You’ll be surprised at just how much your physique will change by doing so.

Practice Scapular Push Ups

In truth, there are so many exercises that require proper shoulder retraction.

And by understanding how to do this perfectly, not only will you improve your exercise technique, but also how your body looks overall.

Scapular push ups require you to literally move no more than a couple of inches.

However, you’ll immediately learn how to retract your shoulder blades properly, as well as exactly what position you should be in at the top of a push up.

Final Thoughts

So, I hope you understand that in most cases push ups will not cause rounded shoulders.

Next, discover more about how to stop your elbows from flaring out whenever you do push ups.