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Are YOU ready to press directly overhead? 🤕Injuries often occur in ranges of motion we don’t own, and when it comes to vertical pressing many people don’t authentical have the proper mobility or stability to safely press in those ranges. 👤Take myself for example, as you can see in the first photo I do not own the range of motion that would safely allow me to press in a vertical push pattern. In order for me to get overhead, I would have to compensate (flare the ribs, arch the low back etc). 🧐Notice in the second photo I am now in a supine position on the floor (added stability here) and I still cannot successful get my arms vertical overhead. This is showing that I lack the desirable mobility to press overhead without the risk of injury. 🚫What I am NOT going to be doing today is doing a DIRECT OVERHEAD (180 deg) pressing movement. The goal is ALWAYS to train PAIN-FREE and reduce the changes of injury. ✅INSTEAD we have chosen a alternative variation (ie landmine press) that allows me to safely press in a ROM (135-150 ish deg) that he owns while minimize the chances of him getting injured. (Big win) 👉🏼This is something that could change day to day depending on the person, how they slept, how they trained, how they recovered from the last training session etc… or may be a chronic issue that needs to be addressed. My warm up for the day: 1️⃣Foam Roll: T-spine/ Lat 2️⃣Bi-phasic Lat stretch 3️⃣Side lying T-spine Rotations 4️⃣Banded shoulder Tri-set (over & Backs, facepulls, pull-aparts) 5️⃣Incline Chaos pushups 6️⃣Medball Slams Pay respect to your body day to day and choice variations that allow you do have a successful training session without compensated and increasing the risk of injury. RISK vs. RWEARD! Train smart and stay healthy. Strength and longevity is the GOAL.🔱 @ironwolf03

Vertical Push Strength Standards and Considerations While overhead pressing looks bad-ass, it can be troublesome for many. Pushing an object overhead in a pure vertical plane requires both mobility and stability of the trunk and shoulder girdle. It is often why we see more people successful with vertical-ISH push exercises, such as landmine and incline presses, initially before loading directly overhead. If you do not own the pre-requisite mobility to raise your arm overhead, you will not have the ability to express the stability and strength in the overhead position with load safely and effectively over time. 🧘‍♂️ Mobility 🔁 ⚖️ Stability 🔁 💪Strength Once mobility is established, it is a wise idea to prioritize stability before handling heavier loads. Even then, training with heavy loads overhead should be reserved for those who's sport requires it and done as infrequently as possible to gain and maintain strength in the overhead position. Most could benefit from prioritizing training stability and endurance in the overhead position and building up the supporting musculature such as the triceps, delts, and upper back, independently of overhead pressing. Here are the women's and men's Ideal Strength Standards for Vertical Push

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Term Development of the Horizontal Push Movement Pattern It's no wonder most commercial gyms have triple the amount of bench press variations than they do power racks... People love to press! For a lot of people, pressing can be problematic and down right painful for some shoulders. There are numerous of reasons of why that might be including but not limited to: ⚖️ Not including enough pulling exercises leading to an imbalance from anterior to posterior strength. 🔁 Over-doing push exercises in a program, not allowing adequate recovery between training sessions. 💩 Poor technique with pressing movement patterns, usually stemming from either lack of knowledge/coaching or an imbalance of strength in the anterior delt and pecs, compared to the triceps, lats, and upper back. 😔 Neglecting pushing exercises in which the shoulder blades are free moving. If 90% of your push exercises involve lying or sitting on a bench with your shoulder blades pinned back and down, you may run into some issues with lack of strength in some key shoulder stabilizer muscles such as the serratus anterior. While many people start and stay with a bench press and corresponding variations (DB, Incline, Decline, machine, etc) as there primary and only form of pressing, they may be better suited including getting on the ground for some good old fashion pushups or grabbing a cable for some standing (unsupported) presses for long term shoulder health. Here are the Horizontal Push Relative Strength Standards for men and women

Hex-Bar Deadlift as a Diagnostic The hex-bar deadlift is an interesting exercise as it can be done with a squat or hinge dominant pattern and sort of falls in the middle for most. As with most any compound exercise pushed near capacity, going heavy on the hex-bar deadlift can provide some valuable insight into dominant or lacking muscle groups. Besides the more obvious breakdowns of such things like losing one's brace (upper or lower back folding into flexion), knees buckling inward, or grip, you can also make note of what someone's movement strategy becomes as the load increases. Some will revert to a more squat dominant pattern nearly scooping themselves "under" the weight pushing the load to their quads, indicating a lack of posterior chain strength or engagement (quad dominance anyone?). Although less often, others may pull their shins back as they break the weight from the floor, losing their leg drive and end up loading more into their back. This could indicate either poor technique or lack of quad engagement.

Long Term Physical Development in the Hip-Hinge Pattern The INABILITY to actually HINGE at the HIPS is a good indicator of someone who already has, currently does, or will soon experience episodes of lower back pain. As a foundational movement pattern, it is important to learn, or perhaps re-learn, this skill. Somewhere along the way people have forgotten how to utilize their hips and started relaying more on the bending of their lower back and legs to "accomplish" certain tasks. It is important for longevity and pain-free progress that we learn how to hip-hinge properly and develop the pattern and musculature involved with a proper hip-hinge (glutes, hamstrings, lower back) strategically BEFORE we begin training with more advanced, squat-hinge hybrid movements such as sumo deadlifts, hex-bar deadlifts, deficit deadlifts or even conventional straight bar deadlifts from the floor. In utilizing the strategy of developing the hip-hinge from a top-down approach first*, unloaded to loaded, we can achieve a level of proficiency and strength needed to properly pick up an object from a dead-stop safely while sparing the lower back from doing the majority of the work. With a strong enough posterior chain and core, the lower back can remain in a much better position to transfer force and maintain spinal integrity during a deadlift. *Occasionally some people may benefit from further regression by beginning from the floor, building the hip-hinge pattern up in components rather than as a complete movement pattern. Here are some examples of relative strength standards for the hip-hinge: 1. Proper Form in RDL (unloaded) 2. Dumbbell RDL: 0.2x Bodyweight x 10 per hand 3. Barbell RDL: Bodyweight x 5 4. *Barbell RDL: 1.5x Bodyweight x 5 5. Hex Bar Deadlift (High Handle): 2.25x Bodyweight x 3-5 6. Barbell Deadlift: 2.25x Bodyweight x 3 7. Barbell Deadlift: 3x Bodyweight or more x 1+ *Reach #4 to earn the Barbell Deadlift with significant loading.

Have you heard of the Goblet Squat challenge? The challenge is simple but definitely not easy! Here are the details: Take 50% of your bodyweight held in a goblet position and see how many reps you can squat with good form (sufficient range of motion, neutral spine, controlling unwanted rotation, etc.) The goal may vary from individual to individual, but ultimately a good baseline for MOST would be to get 25 reps or more. By achieving this level of relative strength and conditioning, it is a good indication that you are well prepared to progress your squat training to include heavy barbell back squats. Not only does this serve as a good challenge set during a workout, but it can also be very informative of where your potential weaknesses may be in the squat pattern may be. Don't worry if you didn't reach 25 reps the first time through. Pay attention to what was the limiting factor in this challenge set. THIS is the real gold within the challenge as it will tell you where to focus your training. Did your arms give out? Cool, looks like you may need some more upper body strength. 💪 Did your upper back cave in or did your lose your brace? Looks like you might benefit from focusing on upper quadrant core stability. (Who doesn't love more carries?!) ⛓ Did you get out of breath and overall gassed? There's a good chance your aerobic system is underdeveloped. 🥵 Did your knees cave in or legs give-out? Awesome, sounds like more hip and leg strength is in your future. 🦵 EVERY exercise that you are pushing your capacity on, should be telling you something. The question then becomes… "Are you listening?" 👂 Are you able to determine what your weaknesses are and do you know how to train them?

Don't miss out on our biggest sale yet on the Ideal Strength Training App. $1 for the first month! Use the discount code: "BLACKFRIDAY21" No minimum commitment required. Cancel at anytime. The sale begins this Friday, November 26th, and will only be available for a limited amount of time. Take the guesswork out of training and let the Ideal Strength Training App guide you to your next PR. You do the heavy lifting in the gym, the app does the heavy lifting with the data and programming. Here are some of the many features of the Ideal Strength Training App: ? Unlimited access to the growing list of Ideal Strength programs available on the app. ? Video demos and instructions for every exercise. Learn how to complete each exercise with perfect technique. ? Keep a detailed and data driven training log allowing for insights and tracking beyond what any spreadsheet or notebook can provide. ⛓️ Gain access to an exclusive community to share your progress with, ask questions, get tips, and more. See you on the inside! ?

Congratulations to @dr.bridurand.pt and @conyau for an awesome performance @dopstrength drug tested powerlifting meet yesterday. Both took first place in their respective weight classes. Brianna hitting 336 squat, 220 bench, 314 deadlift ?? Connie crushing a 242 squat, 126 bench, 326 deadlift ? @ironwolf03 and I are so dang proud of you two. Way to push hard and perform amazingly. Excited to see what you do at the next one. Enjoy a much deserved relaxing day. Proud of you two, BIG time! ❤️ -your Coaches!