Broad, powerful shoulders might rank high among most desirable physical traits when set upon a rugged masculine physique, but how exactly do they fit into the feminine physical form? Some athletic women love their strong, sculpted shoulders, while others feel they look hefty and unfeminine. Indeed, what a boring world it would be if we all shared the same tastes.

The easiest way to hide something you don’t want people to see, is to draw their attention away from it- Matthew Muscat Inglott

If you are top heavy and just tend to shrug it off, then enjoy your delicious deltoids and carry them with pride. If, however you are uncomfortable with your athletic build – just like one particular female reader who quizzed me this week - then chin up, shoulders back and let’s do something about it.

Northern and Eastern European women tend to sport broader shoulders than their Mediterranean counterparts. In fact most Maltese women generally complain about certain other areas of their bodies, mostly that part below the waistline.

For those who do shoulder the burden of excessive upper torso width regardless of ethnicity, rest assured there are several strategies you can adopt to regain the physical femininity you seek.

This might be a discussion you would sooner expect to find debated in fashion circles. It is far easier to disguise broad shoulders and to change the appearance of your overall shape by simply slipping on carefully selected items of clothing.

Here, we shall tackle a far more challenging solution; the results, however, are potentially far more dramatic. We will attempt to reduce the appearance of broad shoulders through the adjustment of posture and by sculpting various muscles. In this way we can alter the overall body shape, just as a bodybuilder would in order to produce precisely the opposite effect, i.e. to appear more muscular.

Any magician will tell you the easiest way to hide something you don’t want people to see is to draw their attention away from it and towards something else. They call this ‘misdirection’ and, with this simple technique, these masterful performers can pull off stunts that appear nothing less than magic.

To pull off magical misdirection away from your broad shoulders, one effective strategy is to instead direct attention towards your hips, butt and thighs. Emphasising the legs means dedicating time and energy to a structured exercise programme that will significantly transform the entire lower half of your body. It is also important to cut down on upper body activity that may lead to over-developed upper body muscles.

Your lower body routine must include all of the following moves as an absolute minimum; regular-stance squats and/or leg presses, lunges, machine leg extensions and machine leg curls. The holy grail for women who hate their broad shoulders is generally a more bootilicious behind. Literally work your butt off by also throwing into the fray wide-stance squats, rear lunges (lunges performed stepping backwards rather than forwards) and any sort of kneeling leg raises to the rear (also known as kickbacks).

By working in the twelve to twenty repetition range with a challenging resistance over three to four sets (with not more than two minutes rest between each set) you will build and sculpt all the major muscle groups of your lower body, adding shape and tone. Repeat your entire lower body workout at least twice per week.

Our secondary strategy will be working the upper back muscles to increase the strength and mobility of the shoulder joints, making it easier to retract or pull them back, physically reducing the width of the shoulders as seen from the front. Remember that the shoulder is largely a mobile joint. The shoulder blades glide over the back of your ribs, allowing you to shrug your shoulders or even push them forwards of draw them back. The anatomical function we’re most interested in is pulling them back, so we need to enhance mobility and to strengthen the upper back muscles that are responsible for retraction of the shoulder blades, specifically the rhomboid and the teres muscle groups, as well as lower trapezius.

For shoulder mobility, grab a broom stick or light PVC pipe and take a wide grip close to the ends of the stick or pipe. Keep your arms straight and raise the stick up over your head and down towards your buttocks keeping your arms straight the whole time. If your arms bend or the stretch in your chest is too much to handle, widen your grip.

You can repeat this exercise every time you exercise. Perform at least ten rotations, preferably more. After a couple of weeks you will already notice a dramatic improvement in mobility. At this point, narrow your grip for added progress.

To target the shoulder blade retraction muscles you will need a low cable machine or a dedicated seated row machine. Sit down, grip the single handle with both hands and pop your chest up and shoulders down. With your arms straight, simply pull your shoulders back and hold for half a second as far back as you can without actually leaning back. The only joint moving should be your shoulder joint.

As your shoulder mobility improves you should be able to pull the shoulders even further back. If someone had to place their finger right between your shoulder blades in the centre of your upper back, you should be trying to pinch and squeeze their finger. Perform ten reps, then bend your arms and pull your hands all the way in towards your lower ribs and repeat the pinching and squeezing movement another five times, in this more challenging position. Good Luck!

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