Nick Tumminello recently posted a video of how he’s changed the way he does the “push-up plus” to get more serratus anterior activation.
For those of you that may not be familiar with that muscle, one of its major roles is to upwardly rotate the scapula (shoulder blade) which allows for more efficient overhead movement. Activating and strengthening this muscle through the push-up plus exercise is thought to enhance the muscles’ function and help prevention shoulder injuries related to poor upward rotation.
Nick has really opened up my mind to new training concepts and ways to progress/develop more effective exercises. My only problem with the push-up plus exercise is that it doesn’t actually upwardly rotate the scapula, which is the major function of that muscle. Since strength and neural control is range of motion specific, the push-up plus seems limited in its ability to improve upward rotation.
With that in mind, I used the “new and improved” push-up plus exercise in combination with a yoga push-up (which extends the hamstrings, teaches hip/lumbar spine separation, AND uses a closed-chain upper body movement to drive upward rotation of the scapulae).
Check out the exercise below:
Train hard. Train smart.
-Kevin Neeld
P.S. For hundreds of innovative exercises like this, register for a membership at my new hockey training membership site today! I have a few special surprises for people that sign-up during this “pre-registration” period!