CategoriesExercise Technique Exercises You Should Be Doing

Drake said it best:

“Started from the bottom now we’re here.”

Based off last week’s article on Building the Squat From the Bottom and today’s apropos titled post, you may think I’m obsessed with bottoms.

Kim Kardashian and J-Lo jokes aside, you’re 100% correct.

When I was coaching at Cressey Sports Performance and working with numerous overhead athletes, utilizing bottoms-up exercises was a daily occurrence…many times serving as a starting point for guys traveling to Massachusetts to train after a tenuously long baseball season or maybe recovering from an injury.

Get it?

Started From the Bottom?

Bottoms-up? Starting point?1

In case you’re not picking up what I’m putting down: I like bottoms-up (kettlebell) exercises.

Like THIS one. And THIS one.

There are many reasons why, too.

1) Better Shoulder Health and Rotator Cuff Activation

With regards to shoulder health and rotator cuff activation, there aren’t many things more effective than holding a kettlebell upside down. Because grip becomes more of a “thing” here, a phenomenon called irradiation comes into play. Simply put: grip strength helps the shoulder to “pack” itself, providing more stability to the area.

Don’t believe me?

Hold your arm out in front of you making a fist. But don’t do anything, just hold it there.

Now, MAKE A FIST (as if you were going to thunder-punch a T-Rex). Notice how your shoulder kinda tensed up and “packed” itself. That’s irradiation.

Moreover, when we start talking about the rotator cuff muscles and what the anatomy books tells us their function is we get this:

  • Internal/external rotation of the humerus.
  • Abduction of the humerus
  • Humeral depression (counteract pull of delts)

All of this is correct. And, I defy anyone to put this bit of trivia in their Match.com profile and not be beating people off with a stick.

However, the RC’s true “function” is to keep the humeral head centered in the glenoid fossa.2Bottoms-up KB carries are an excellent choice to train the rotator cuff in this fashion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnpS41ag5ME

 

2) De-loading

I am a firm believer in lifting heavy things. The slogan of this site is “Because Heavy Things Won’t Lift Themselves” for crying out loud.

That said, it’s important to pump the brakes from time to time and understand (and respect) that lifting “heavy,” all the time, isn’t necessary to build a strong, durable, aesthetically pleasing body.

It’s the backbone, of course. But the “go heavy, or go home” mentality can be just as deleterious and stagnating as going too light.

What I also love about bottoms-up exercises is that they serve as a built-in “de-load” mechanism for many trainees, not to mention a tricky way to place a spotlight on any glaring side-to-side strength/muscular imbalances.

Have someone perform a 1-arm Bottoms-Up Bench Press or Overhead Press and watch as it becomes abundantly clear which arm is stronger than the other.

 

What’s more, because so many trainees like to “muscle” their exercises3, many of the smaller, stabilizing musculature gets the shaft. And thus, nagging injuries may occur.

Relax: I’m not going all Tracy Anderson and saying something asinine like “it’s important to use lighter weights so we can target our deep, less angry, stabilizing muscles. Also, dipping your left hand into a bucket of unicorn tears detoxes the body of sadness.”

What I am saying, however, is that it’s okay to use an exercise such as this as an accessory movement to help address a gross imbalance or weakness, or to even help build some muscle. The Bottoms-Up KB Overhead Press is actually one of my favorite shoulder exercises to build mass because it forces people to be strict with their technique.

  • Squeeze glutes, quads, and abs.
  • Lock rib cage down.
  • Press

3) Core Stability

I don’t feel I need to spend a lot of time on this one. Performing any unilateral movement (upper or lower body) has obvious core training benefits.

Here, not only are we getting all the benefits described above, but we’re also getting the benefit of challenging our core musculature to prevent any un-wanted motion (in this case: lateral flexion, rotation, extension, etc).

Bottoms-Up Split Squat

 

Bottoms-Up Bulgarian Split Squat

 

Bottoms-Up Reverse Lunge

 

With all these drills the objective is to stabilize the kettlebell so that it stays upright throughout, while at the same time maintaining a good thoraco-pelvic canister (minimizing rib flair and excessive anterior pelvic tilt).

[A good way to visualize this is to think about an invisible line being drawn from your nipple line to your belly button. You want to “connect” your rib cage to your pelvis and LOCK IT DOWN. The invisible line should stay the same throughout the duration of a set and not get longer].

You’ll notice on all the examples above I make a fist with my free hand to help increase bodily tension. This is important to help maintain that canister

4) And Lastly, Because I Said So

How’s that for a legit reason to give these exercises a try?

  1. This wordplay doesn’t come easy folks.
  2. This is why I’m not a huge fan of high(er) rep external rotation work. Exercises such as side lying external rotation and standing band external rotations are fantastic in terms of EMG activity. But it’s important to stay cognizant that high(er) repetition work will fatigue the rotator cuff, thus resulting in superior migration of the humeral head leading to increased risk of impingement.
  3. That’s just a nice way of saying they’re compensating the shit out of everything.