🔥 PUSH UP PATH TIP: TREAT IT LIKE A BENCH
🚨 Anyway, as we’ve seen in the bench press, the correct bar path isn’t really a straight line as it’s thought to believe: quite infact, the bar path is curved, where the load is placed at shoulder height as we unrack the barbell, then coming down at nipple height at the bottom of the descent.
Why aren’t we treating the push up the same way if these exercises are mechanically equal? (Add in the closed chain nature of the push ups, and we can even have greater shoulder stabilizing benefits for the shoulders that the bench wouldn’t provide).
💥 How to perform the “push up arc” ? You simply push your body forward as you go down.
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✅ If you keep your arms at a ~75 degree angle you’re able to keep your shoulders safe throughout the whole ROM. If our arms are bent at a 75 degree-ish angle, we can hit our targeted area safely, with our shoulders externally rotated. If we try to do the same thing but keeping a wider arm angle, then our shoulders internally rotate and cause troubles again.
✅ Making sure the barbell targets your middle chest/nipple height is crucial when benching. It’s not like this spot is “magical” for some reason, but it allows your shoulders to stay safe throughout the movement. As we’ve seen previously, the natural bar path of the bench press is not a straight line but rather curved/some type of “arch”, I’d dare to say – which makes our middle chest/nipple height the “right spot” to target with the barbell, on the descent part of the movement. –
Going lower/higher places unnecessary stress on the anterior deltoid, which over time, under constant overuse, could cause microtears in the acromioclavicular joint and therefore cause AC Joint pain as a result.
