Balancing Pressing in Programs

There are two types of pressing patterns we can choose to program for our athletes and clients.

Vertical Pressing (Overhead Presses)
OR

Horizontal Pressing (Bench or Push-up variations)

Overhead athletes require special considerations when programming pressing and it may be more advantageous to stay with closed-chain exercises (push-up variations) and including more pulling.  Not to say they cannot bench, but picking neutral grip dumbbell variations is safer as it allows more “breathing room” in the subacromial space of the shoulder. For the overhead athletes. as well as other athletes, we can find the  ”middle ground” to with landmine variations.

A beneficial and more conservative approach to pressing variations for a 2-3 day/week program is to follow the following pressing progression…

1st: Horizontal Pressing variations (push ups, dumbbell benches)

2nd: Landmine Pressing variation (this is halfway between horizontal and vertical pressing)

3rd: Vertical Pressing variations (1/2 kneeling, tall-kneeling, and standing overhead presses)

Later on in the week will feature some assessments/exercises that can be good indicators of the athletes ability to maintain core stability while overhead pressing.

 

Cheers,

Matt

Useful Pressing Progressions for Soccer Athletes

One of my more recent posts was on the importance of pressing movements for soccer athletes. 

Pressing Movements for Soccer Players

Progression #1: Starting with Incline Push ups and progressing to the floor.

How it should look throughout. Baby Hercules

Push-ups are one my favorite movements because they provide “big bang for your buck.”  We almost always begin our younger athletes on an incline to make sure they get the form: neutral spine, chest comes down first, chin tucked, and elbows pointed back. Like I said in the previous post, you would be lucky to see anyone show you a perfect push up on day 1! 

Progression Used:

• Push up w/ 3sec negative OR
• Push up w/ 3sec hold in bottom position

We can apply the same principles (negatives or holds) with our DB chest presses on Day 2.

Benching is the other primary press that we use on the second day.  With any of the progressions, we can use either a flat, low-incline or incline bench setting.  Here are the practical, and safe progression that continuously challenges the athletes effectively..

#1: DB Chest Press (flat bench, low-incline, or incline)

#2: Alternating DB Chest Press: added core and shoulder stability component (unilateral)

 #3: 1-Arm DB Chest Press (or KB): more core stability necessary because of its unilateral nature

In my opinion, these few variations can go along way in developing our athletes upper body (pressing) strength.  I do want to go into detail with 1/2 kneeling and tall-kneeling versions of pressing next, so stay tuned! Now go enjoy the sun and soak up some vitamin D

Cheers,

Matt