I injured my left shoulder in Joshua tree two days after thanks giving. I went to see a naturopath who is athletically inclined. He thinks I injured my teres minor or major. Either way the more important part is the serious anatomical disproportions that he noticed. I have the shoulder hunch that many climbers have, but due to spending much of my life kayaking my lats are more developed than they should be which pulls my shoulders forward. I was told that I would need to start doing some serious consistent training if I wanted to prevent injuries in the future. I'm wondering if anyone has any good advice on what opposing groups to exercise to pull my shoulders back and improve my flexibility.

Thanks!

I would recommend a search for other ideas on MP, but here are links that do a good job of strenghtening shoulders. I am assuming your range of motion is OK.

billhartman.net/blog/developing-the-lower-trapezius/
www.dieselcrew.com/articles-pdf/BringingbacktheShoulders.pdf

Before starting on a general strength training program, you should rehabilitate the shoulder. A lot of pushing exercises can exacerbate an injured shoulder. Use pain as your guide of what to avoid.

I assume this ND attempted to give you a shoulder exercise therapy rehab protocol or refer you to someone who could? If not you should call him up and ask for this since any medicine should include both diagnosis and treatment.

Once you are better, all you really need to do are basic compound upper body exercises like chest presses/push ups, shoulder presses, and tricep work (actually isolation work, not compound, but important for climbers imo). Very straight forward and easy to find if you search online.

Great, Thanks so much to both of you. I'm quickly on the road to recovery but this has been a good and very important wake up call for me. Much better that this be happening when I'm young.

Cheers

Another useful video for shoulders:
www.nicros.com/training/articles/rotator-cuff-training-rehab>>>
- packs a lot of exercises well-demonstrated into a short video.