Train Right To Be MADE

My 8 year old daughter and I were talking one night:  she was telling me about how they do pushups in gym class and how she is strong. My question to her, "Do you do them like I taught you?"  Her reply, "We are not allowed." Either the protective father, or the insane strength coach came out, because I was pretty heated. When she showed how the teacher wanted them to do them I should have known that they would be the typical garbage pushup you pretty much see everyone do, elbows flaring out and backs dipping. And get this, they are not allowed to go to their knees!  So you can only imagine all of the back arching going on. These are the type of things that set up poor movement patterns and can lead to future injuries for certain.

Think about this for a moment:  if a kid is active in sports and other strenuous activities he/she will be performing pushups from as young as 5 years of age all the way through high school and possibly college (well, I hope it gets corrected before it gets this far).  That's thousands of repetitions of shoulder-grinding-low-back-straining garbage pushups over a long period of time. The proper way of doing a pushup will reduce the glenohumeral head from slamming against your rotator cuff time and time again, reducing rotator cuff injuries and  labrum tears.

I put together this short video in the hopes it may educate you, and prevent poor movement patterns, and future injuries, aches, and pain. We need to go back to the basics before we can move forward. The video will demonstrate how to set your arms when in the pushup position to protect your shoulders and also, how to lock your low back down from it arching. I will also demonstrate two (2) regressions that we use at our facility, MADE Strength & Conditioning, to help those that do not yet have the proper strength to perform an actual body weight pushup.

Body weight exercises are very important because they develop one's relative body strength. This means that your strength is equal to and/or greater than your body mass. Body weight movements also teach your body how to move as one unit without parts of the body being pinned down on a bench, floor, etc. If you do not already do so, you need to include push-ups and other body weight movements into your workouts.

Remember, we need to be able to do these basic movements before we can progress to more advanced methods of strength training. The push-up is the basis for a majority of your supine (lying on your back) pressing movements. Get great at push-ups, and you'll see improvements in your bench strength and bench technique, and overall athleticism.

Train To Be MADE!!!