Case study: Inside The Mind of a Bro:
"Damn I look good in a mirror. I’m definitely somewhere around 10-14% BF right now, but my chest is pretty damn big. And I know why it is. I do mad bench, like I'm hitting that flat bench, chest press, incline chest press, all the dumbbell stuff and uh... oh, decline bench press. Like I’m hittin chest 2x/week but Im hitting it hard. Yes it is nice to put up big numbers. Tuck those shoulders down and in, arch your back and puff out your chest. Get like 3 reps and feel those shredded meat slabs you call a chest burn baby burn."
Packin' Blades and Stacking Weights:
By golly, is this a gym bro who is setting himself up for failure, or what? We can all agree, benching is pretty damn sweet, and can get really fun as we build up our numbers and thus climb the social ladder of respect at the gym, with bench being the holy grail of all movements. We all love stacking plates and packin' the blades, right?! What is that clever catch phrase I just used there you ask? Well, I’m referring to the near epidemic of gym bros who neglect the closed chain brethren of the bench press: the pushup.
I Miss The Good 'Ol Days
The push-up used to be the staple of the fitness community. Well into the 70s, when bodybuilding really took off, we had heros like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbo pounding out them out while advocating these bodyweight movements for all the impressionable youngsters out there.
I made that up, but I have included a photo of Arnold doing pushups to make you believe this concept is fact. These classic bodybuilders (no #bubblegut) relied on the pushup to provide a powerful frame: expansive, striated pectorals, defined sternums like a deep mountainous crevasse and shredded serratus anterior, reminiscent of a shark chomping away at their flanks ("serratus" means shark tooth in latin). So what happened to the push up? I got a couple more BS theories on that if you'd like to listen...
Arnie looks ripped here. It must be the skin tight shorts...
Theory #1: It went away as traditional fitness became bastardized and specialized. With increasing popularity and the rise of powerlifting and specialization in the Big Three (dead lift, squat and bench) many forwent the traditional bodyweight exercises (like pullups and pushups) and focused on machines and free weights that were more applicable to their sport.
Theory #2: Exercises like the push-up faded away for bodybuilders, specifically due to shiny equipment like bench press, chest press and pec fly machines gaining popularity with the support of a booming fitness equipment marketing push. The industry deemed exercises that incorporated only your body weight not lucrative enough or sellable, thus not good enough.
Bring The Push-up BACK!
What better way to increase your bench than to train bench, right? The more you train the particular movement the better you will get, riiiight? The answer is murky. Our arms rarely, if ever, move at just the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint, exclusively. When you push something away, lift or even move your arms to the side, both your glenohumeral joint AND scapulothoacic (your shoulder blades against your ribcage) move together. This combined movement allows the head of your humerus to glide within the socket, which is located on the outer edge of the scapula, with more congruence than if ONLY the glenohumeral joint moved by itself.
This combined and healthy movement of both the scapula and the humerus is called scapulo-humeral rhythm and it is an important factor to consider when programming your own exercise regimen, the same way we program squats and deadlifts in with our leg days and don't just perform single-joint, open chain exercises like leg extensions and leg curls (although those leg extensions in short shorts are the single best way to attract girls who like thicc legs).
We also should consider the whole body aspect of push ups. Unlike a bench press, push-ups incorporate the muscles of your scapulo-thoracic joint, core, lumbo-pelvic region as well as hip and knee extensors. Hell, try concentrating on activating your deep core stabilizers throughout your pushups by pulling your belly button in and breathing out as if you are blowing candles out (that hissing noise type exhale).
Our arms and shoulder blades are meant to move in concert with one another as opposed to your scapulas being pinned down against a bench while you T-Rex-arm press weight off of your chest. Your shoulder blades should rather move along your ribcage during horizontal pressing movements as they are the base (and AT LEAST 1/3rd of the motion) of your shoulder complex. This aids in the correct placement of the socket and better shoulder function. For some imagery of what I'm referring to when I mention mechanics of the scapulo-thoracic joint, glenohumeral joint and their interaction looky here:
Left: End position of a scapula-retracted bench press (as shown with a push up). The shoulder blades haven't really moved at all. This won't kill you, but it definitely does not mimic our normal/ideal pressing mechanics.
Right: End position (with slight exaggeration) of a typical push up. The scapulas have MOVED! Oh the humanity! This poor woman has moved her scapulas! She'll never be able to load that movement to a one rep max, right? It's not worth doing right?! Bullsh*t.
Adding a closed chain variant of a chest exercise (i.e. a push-up) can be a great way to maintain a some peri-scapular strength and mobility, while also encouraging more functionally significant shoulder mechanics with the shoulder blades and humerus moving TOGETHER, the way God intended. This may feel awkward if you are accustomed to fully retracting your shoulder blades and pressing as much weight as possible. I challenge you to try it though!
OOH-OOH and One More Thing
The fact of the matter is, it is important to include a range of stimuli to your workout. Coming specifically from a rehab standpoint, it is much more effective to include activities within your programming that stress multiple joints in unison and deviate from the hum-drum repetitive patterns you do week in and week out.
So how can we turn the pushup from something we may be able to do 50 of in 20 seconds to an actually challenging exercise that can be progressed and fun!? What a damn fine question to ask! I know a guy that made a solid video about that! If he were cool and helpful, he might even include it in a future article…