CategoriesCorrective Exercise Exercise Technique Exercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Tall Kneeling Overhead Press off Bench

I’ve often be anointed as the “guy who dislikes or hates overhead pressing” on the internet. Given it’s the internet, this is pretty good. There are worse things to be called.

The statement itself isn’t entirely false.

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_mavoimage'>mavoimage / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
Copyright: mavoimage / 123RF Stock Photo

 

However, it does need to be tweaked:

“I am not against any one exercise or feel a exercise in particular needs to be contraindicated 100% of the time.1 I do feel there are contraindicated lifters and exercisers.”

Point blank, most people move like shit; especially overhead. And while it’s a blanket comment to make, and there’s a degree of N=1, I’ve-been-coaching-people-for-14-years-(eight of which in a facility where a bulk of the clientele were overhead athletes)-I-know-what-I’m-talking-about, snootiness involved, if you watch most people attempt to do anything overhead, the proof is in the pudding.

First off, pudding is delicious.

Second, here’s what you (tend to) end up seeing:

This:

Take note of the picture to the left. Excessive lumbar extension, massive rib flair, and forward head posture.

Or This:

A cascade of clusterfuckery. <– Not the scientific term, but you get the idea.

Now, to be fair: there are plenty of people who perform overhead pressing movements like the ones pictured above and never have any issues. They’re the outliers. You (and your clients) are likely not them.

In my world…“people need to earn the right to overhead press.”

We spend very little time overhead on a day-to-day basis. Unless you’re paid to hurl 95 MPH heaters 60.6 feet, are an competitive OLY lifter, or, I don’t know, are obsessed with jazz hands…you (probably) don’t spend a lot of energy within that range of motion.

Photo Credit: www.medfordpublicschools.org

To reiterate: I am not against overhead (or vertical) pressing. It’s a basic movement pattern that should be trained or utilized in the weight room and/or in everyday life. There’s a bevy of benefits that result from it. Unfortunately, for a vast majority of people, due to any number of factors ranging from lack of lumbo-pelvic control, tight/overactive lats, scapular dyskinesis (stemming from soft tissue or structural/capsular issues), and Upper Cross (computer guy) Syndrome, it becomes problematic…and “bad things” end up happening.

NOTE: for those who want to geek out more on this topic and read more of thoughts on upper extremity assessment, overhead mobility, etc, you can go HERE and HERE and HERE.

I prefer not to dwell too much on what people can’t do, and more so on strategies that 1) may be a better fit at that point in time 2) are more “joint friendly” and 3) help to still increase one’s overall level of badassery.

Tall Kneeling Overhead Press – off Bench

 

Who Did I Steal It From: strength coach Joel Seedman.

What Does It Do: It still trains the overhead press, albeit in a fashion that’s a little more joint friendly. By performing this exercise tall kneeling (and on a bench….where there’s only two points of contact rather than four) a few things happen:

1) It makes it much harder to compensate through the lumbar spine. If that happens, you fall off the bench.

2) It forces the lifter to use a lighter load. I believe Joel has mentioned in the past that with this variation you can expect to use 80-90% of what you’d normally be able to do with a strict overhead press.

3) There’s an immense amount of core engagement.

Key Coaching Cues: Don’t be a hero: go light. Once in the tall kneeling position, be sure to turn on glutes and to brace the abs. As you press overhead the idea is to keep the rib cage locked down throughout duration of the set.

Have fun.

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: HBT Overhead Press

What the WHAT!?! I know what some of you may be thinking:

“Did Tony just recommend an overhead exercise?”

For all intents and purposes, I’m 100% against overhead pressing right? What the hell has happened? Has the world flipped on itself?

This is analogous to Donald Trump showcasing an ounce of humility, or Kanye West not being an asstard, or, I don’t know, the Jedi and Sith hugging it out.

There’s part truth to the statement above. I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating here:

“People need to earn the right to overhead press.”

Most (not all) people have the movement quality of a rusty crowbar. I’m not even sure that’s makes a ton of sense, but I’m rolling with it nonetheless.

Okay wait, people move like shit. That’s better.

Due to a litany of reasons – poor t-spine mobility, poor lumbo-pelvic-hip control (weak core), overly kyphotic posture (computer guy) or excessive extension (most athletes and meatheads), both of which affect our ability to upwardly rotate our scapulae, global warming – many of us have lost the capacity to move our arms over our heads (pressing or otherwise) without serious compensation patterns and increased risk of injury.

I’ve written on the topic in the past – HERE – and I’d be remiss not to mention that, because I’ve worked with overhead athletes almost extensively for the past eight years, I play the conservative card a bit more that other coaches with regards to total frequency I allow my athletes/clients overhead press.

It comes down to risk-reward.

I’m not against overhead pressing. I understand and respect it’s a fantastic way to build total body strength – particularly upper body strength. And, if we’re going to hop onto the “functional training” caravan I’d much rather see people get brutally strong with overhead pressing compared to bench pressing.2

That said it’s rare when someone walks in on day #1 and passes THIS screen which helps me ascertain whether or not overhead pressing is a good fit.

Even if it’s not, I can still include a variety overhead pressing variations that are more “shoulder friendly.”

Like:

1-Arm Landmine Press

Bottoms-Up KB Side Plank

And Even the Turkish Get-Up (<– links to article on MensHealth.com)

But lets say all systems are a go for overhead pressing. There isn’t a lengthy history of shoulder issues and the person standing in front of me demonstrates ample movement quality with limited restriction(s).

Lets overhead press our faces off.

HBT Overhead Press

 

Who Did I Steal It From: Dr. Joel Seedman from THIS article printed on T-Nation not too long ago.

What Does It Do: HBT = Hanging Band Training.

It’s exactly what is sounds like. You take some bands, hang some stuff off them, and do stuff. Because, science.

While at first glance it comes across as a bit gimmicky, HBT training does have a fair amount of efficacy. As Dr. Seedman explains in the article linked to above, the oscillatory characteristics of this brand of training provides a unique training stimulus that challenges stabilization, increases core demand, helps “excite” the CNS, and also has a bit of carryover to muscle gain due to the increase in time under tension.

Key Coaching Cues: Don’t be a hero. You won’t need a lot of weight with this exercise to make it challenging. In the video above I looped two 1″ resistance bands and hung a 12 kg kettlebell from each side. That was plenty.

The idea here is to keep the bar quiet.

You want to go slow. If you go too fast, the KBs start flying all over the place and you’ll inevitably collapse to the floor like a game of Jenga.

Take a deep breath in before you un-rack the bar and then exhale all your air until you feel your ribcage depress. Owning that position take another deep breath in and focus on getting 360 degrees of expansion.

Un-rack bar.

Maintain abdominal brace, squeeze glutes, and press – under control – keeping the bar quiet. Don’t be surprised if you end up using a tempo akin to 2-3s up and 2-3s down.

I actually like the idea of being forced to use less weight on the bar as it forces the trainee to focus on technique. But the increased time under tension will more than make up for it.

You don’t have to limit yourself to one band per side, but I also feel it’s a bit over-kill to use more. You also don’t have to use KBs. Plates work fine too.3

I consider this more of an accessory movement, so high(er) reps is the way to go. Think: 8-10.

Give it a try today and let me know what you think.

CategoriesExercise Technique Strength Training

The Truth About Overhead Pressing

With all the overhead pressing articles being posted up on T-Nation as of late I figured I’d join in on the fun and I invited myself to the party.

Overhead pressing isn’t for everyone.

To be fair, I’m not adamantly against ALL overhead pressing.  As a strength coach I’d be remiss not to recognize that overhead pressing is a staple with regards to well-balanced programming, not to mention it’s kind of important from a shoulder health and building delts the size of boulders standpoint.

That said, I truly feel most trainees need to earn the right to overhead press.

As sad as it is, most people have the movement quality of a pregnant turtle or the Tin Man on a good day.  As such, walking up to a barbell and haphazardly hoisting it above our heads might not be the best decision.

In the article I link to below I discuss some simple screens to help people ascertain whether overhead pressing in the right fit for them, as well as dive into one of my go to “shoulder friendly” pressing variations.  Give it a look and let me know what you think!

===> The Truth About Overhead Pressing <====

CategoriesUncategorized

The (Not So) Obvious Causes of Low Back Pain

Back pain is a bitch.  There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s been said that 80% of Americans will experience it at one point or another, which, when you run the numbers, is like four out of five people.  Yep, that’s what I like to call math.

Needless to say, back pain bites the big one and it’s easily the #1 cause for things like days missed from work, training days lost, not to mention the burden it places on health care costs.

The mechanisms for back pain are many, but can really be categorized into two camps:

1.  One, massive, blunt force trauma:  car accident, falling off a ladder, getting Terry Tated in your office for not refilling the coffee pot.

2. Repeated, low-grade, aberrant motor patterns which inevitably lead to something bad happening.  Sitting at a desk all day comes to mind. In addition, we all know of someone who either bent over to tie his or her shoe or simply to pick up a pencil who ended up blowing out their back. The body is going to use the path of least resistance to get the job done, and unfortunately, because most people have the movement quality of a ham sandwich (poor hip mobility, poor t-spine mobility, etc), the lumbar spine, literally, gets eaten up.

While it’s a bit overkill, our spines can be thought of as a credit card.  Bend it back and forth enough times, and eventually, it will break.

As a coach who works with elite athletes as well as people in the general population, I’ve seen my fair share of back issues, and I wholeheartedly feel that a structured strength training regimen geared towards improving movement quality, addressing any postural imbalances/dysfunctions, as well as “cementing” proper motor patterns is one of the best defenses in preventing low back pain in the first place.

Coaching someone how to achieve and maintain a neutral spine (something I wrote about HERE and HERE) would be high on the priority list.

Coaching someone how to properly perform a hip hinge or helping them clean up their squat pattern – utilizing the appropriate progressions (and regressions) – would also be kind of important.

And, of course, we can’t neglect staples like encouraging spinal endurance (planks), as well as placing a premium on proper lumbo-pelvic-hip control (core stability exercises like chops/lifts, Pallof Presses, and the like).

All of these things are great, and certainly will set people up for success, but there are many (MANY) less obvious components that often get over-looked.

Stealing an analogy from the great Dr. McGill – it’s the hammer and thumb paradox.  Lightly tap your thumb with a hammer and not much will happen.  No big deal, right?  After a few thousand taps, however, you’ll be singing a different story.

Keeping this theme in mind, lets take the birddog exercise.  Simple exercise, that many fitness professionals use with their clients to help improve dissociation of the lumber spine from the hips, and to teach co-contraction of the anterior core and erectors with little to no spinal loading.

Simple exercise, for sure, but not quite so simple in it’s execution.  If you glance at the picture to the left, you’ll notice the concave shape of the back and see that she’s just hanging on her lumbar spine.  Not exactly ideal execution.

If this were someone suffering from low back pain, would this alleviate their symptoms or make them worse?  My guess would be the latter.

Taking it a step further, have you ever watched people foam roll?  There’s no questioning it’s efficacy towards helping to improve tissue quality, and we have every one of our clients do it prior to their training session.

The thing to consider, though, is that when you’re dealing with someone with a history of low back pain – whether they’re currently symptomatic or not – you need to stay on top of them so that they’re not making the same mistake as above and hanging on their lumbar spine; essentially living in a constant state of extension.

Rather, what should happen is that they “brace” their core and maintain more of a neutral spinal position as they roll around (reference the fine looking gentleman to the right).

It’s borderline OCD, I know……..but I can’t stress enough how important it is to make the small things matter.

Take away the hammer.

Using an example that’s a bit more exciting, lets take the overhead press and break that down.  Now, I have nothing against the overhead press – far from it.  But when you actually watch a vast majority of people perform it, don’t be surprised if your eyes start bleeding.  With a keen eye, what you’ll almost always witness is someone substituting excessive lumbar extension for shoulder flexion. But damn, it can look gooooooooooood at times.

When this happens, it’s usually beneficial to regress the exercise a bit and take some of the joints out of the equation, ALA the Gray Cook approach.

In the half kneeling position, I’m essentially taking my lower half out of the equation where I can now focus on pressing the weight over my head WITHOUT compensating with the lumber spine.  The key here is to “dig” the rear toes into the ground and to squeeze the glute of the trailing leg, hard!  As I press, I’m thinking “elbow to ear.”

Moving to a standing position, strength coach Dave Rak (he’s single, ladies) demonstrates a variation he showed me with one hip flexed:

Here, we’re still able to “lock” the lumbar spine in place and alleviate as much body english as possible.  What’s more, there’s an awesome glute activation component in the trailing leg.  Yes, I understand you won’t be able to use as much weight, but that’s not the point (yet). Once we can perfect the movement pattern, and take some of the burden off the lumbar spine, then we can load it and satiate our inner meathead.

Belly Breathing – The Right Way

One last point to consider, and this is something that I never even thought of until Bill Hartman pulled a Bill Hartman and made me realize how stupid I am, is the idea of belly breathing into the belt.

I’ve stated my opinion on weight belts in the past, and have always been told to PUSH OUT in order to increase intra-abdominal pressure (and thus, spinal stability).

As Bill demonstrates in this video, that’s not necessarily correct:

And there you have it:  just a few more things to consider when discussing the topic of low back pain.  Sometimes it’s not the quite so obvious things that are causing the issue(s).

Have your own ideas to share?  I’d love to hear them below.