The Long Lost Pushup - From Rehab to Sports Conditioning

What ever happened to the pushup?

It can help with strength gains, balance, functional assesment, shoulder health and the list goes on! In this new age of supplementation science, big bench press movements, and shirts with no sleeves, we somehow lost one of the basic princples and exercises that should be present in every program.

It is an exercise that develops so many muscles that are usually the cause of many of my patients concerns when the first step into my office. Before writting this article, I started to monitor new patients coming through my door, there main complaint and number of treatments it took to resolve the issue.

The week of June 28th, 73% of new patients had a main concern of Anterior Shoulder pain while exercise. 100% of those patients did not follow a proper program design that included dynamic warm-up, NMA (neuromuscular activation), and Self Myofascial Release. And one more thing that was missing in each program?? - The progression of the pushup.


Why is the pushup so important - Rehabilitation, Prevention, and Strength.

From a rehabilitation and corrective exercise stand point, the pushup can asses for imbalances.

A progressive pushup, when done properly and effectively can be strength weak postural muscle like the Serratus Anterior and will speed up recovery time of shoulder rehabilitation.

As a strength and conditioning exercises you can recruit more muscle fibres when doing pushups as part of your dynamic warmup. The pushup will also recruit weak muscle like the Serratus Anterior, and Infraspinatus, Supraspinatus and Rear Deltoid.



How do you advance a pushup?

- Change the elevation of the legs
- Add External Resistance like chains and bands
- Add instability like the picture at the begining of the blog
- Incorperate a row into the exercise
-  Also, try adding an explosive movement or core activation during the pushup.

All in all, don't forget about the pushup. I my opinion it is one of the most important exercises that will complement any rehab or sports conditioning program.

Want to fix your posture, get stronger and become pain free through corrective exercise, Neuromuscular Activation, and Self Myofascial Release? Then email us at bogarperformance@gmail.com to learn more!

Coming July 12th, 2010, I willbe launching a new website for Therapist, Trainers, Doctors, and fitness enthusiest. This website will be based soley on the business aspect of the health industry and how practitioners and trainers can evolve there personal and finicial life in a competitive market!