By Pete Ryan
I was watching a youtube video the other day. The guy was going on about the importance of
doing push-ups (press-ups) ever day.
Work up to 100-200 a day (over 36,000 reps a year). Push-ups are relatively easy and not too taxing,
you could do this and not overstretch your CNS recovery, and if you varied the
form there wouldn’t be too much of an issue with overuse (change arm position,
different angles, use handles, add weight etc)...but my mind went straight to the effect
this would have on your muscular balance.
Your triceps (back of the arm) and anterior deltoids (front of the
shoulder) would be receiving a massive volume, whereas your rear deltoids (back
of the shoulder) and biceps (front of the arm) would not receive much
activation at all. Also your core (think
of a very thick belt around your midsection between your hips and your ribs
that stabilises the spine, that is the muscular region we are usually talking
about when we talk about the ‘core’ ).
The front (ab) region would get loads of work, but the rear section
(lower back), would get very little. I see this as a real problem.
Muscular balance
I believe that you should aim at muscular balance. If you can bench press 100Kg, then you should
be able to row 100Kg (approximately – this is raw, not bench pressing in
equipment). If you can shoulder press your own bodyweight overhead, then you
should be able to do pull-ups relatively easily (both for reps and with added
weight). I’ve read various ideas about an ideal amount for each lift, but I
believe these will vary depending on body type and your own, personal
make-up. The important thing is, if you
push you should pull, if you twist one way, you should twist the other way, if
you work the left side, then you should work the right side.
Let me use the example of the push-up I started with. The push-up uses the back of the arm (triceps)
and the front of the shoulder (anterior deltoid). If these get really, really developed they will
tend to set you up for imbalances. Think
of the shoulder, if the front is really strong and the back is very weak, the head of
the humerus (the arm bone) will get
pulled forward, so it will be in slightly the wrong position when you do any
movement. This will only be a tiny amount, you will not feel it, but over the years things like
osteoarthritis can occur or you may develop nagging shoulder pain or impingement?
So, is there a way to avoid these issues?
Balancing up
There is a simple way to balance out the muscularity, and
you do not need to have a diploma in anatomy to do it. Simply work the body through
the opposite movements. If you bench
press, then row, if you overhead press, then do a chin-up or pulldown.
You work the antagonist
muscles, the muscles that work the opposite motion (or often can be used to
stop that motion occurring). The easiest
example is the biceps and triceps in the arm.
The biceps curl the arm, while the triceps straighten the arm. They do the opposite jobs. If the biceps are fully flexed, you cannot
straighten your arm, if the triceps are fully flexed you cannot bend your arm.If one is too powerful, or the other too weak, then issues with the arm can occur.
The easiest way to sort out the body when thinking about
this is by using the push/pull for the upper body (the lower body has a
slightly more complex interactions).
For the upper body think of it split like this:
- · Horizontal push
- · Horizontal pull
- · Vertical push
- · Vertical pull
So, let’s head back to the 100-200 push-ups per day. In this case you are doing a horizonital push, so you would need a horizontal pull to balance that out. I would suggest you add another
movement into this equation. If you are
doing 100-200 push-ups then why not add some inverted rows into the
mix. You may not easily get 100-200
inverted rows as they are somewhat more of a challenge than a push-up, however getting 40-50
should be easily doable, with many of you easily getting 80-100 reps with practice. This would help maintain shoulder stability
by building the rear deltoid, balancing arm development and also be added work
on keeping the core stable and more in balance front to back, which is a nice bonus.
Summing up
So, I want you to consider as you workout that every time
you pull, you push. This does not have
to be on the same day. An old ‘bro-split’
was back and biceps one day and chest and triceps the next. Just try to keep those movements
balanced. Many people end up with issues
simply because they fail to balance the body as it develops. Don’t be one of those people!
If you want more about building the body in a balanced way I
am happy to talk about more advanced concepts, just reply on here and let me
know.
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