Waiter's Hold (KB) and Half Press
Upper Body: Vertical Push
Challenge
Level: 7
Push Press (single arm)
Upper Body: Vertical Push
Mastery
Level: 11
Target Action: Strength Speed
Upper Body
Kit: Barbell
The shoulder is a highly mobile joint and is often the victim of poor posture, low levels of strength and poor transfer of energy through the kinetic chain.
The Upper Trapezius muscle plays a critical role in resisting the strong pull of the latissimus dorsi and avoid excessive depression of the glenohumeral joint. This positioning has a knock-on effect on scapula positioning and the ability of the surrounding muscle to stabilise the shoulder. The Vertical Push Exercise Category is designed to refine this subtle coordination strategy under increasingly complex and diverse demands.
Vertical Pushing is often feared by many overhead athletes but I believe it is a critical piece of the shoulder health jigsaw for high performance.
What series of strength exercise would, if performed optimally, demonstrate the extremes of human movement and maximally test local and global stability strategies with high relevance to sports performance? The Mastery Theme houses these exercises across all 14 Exercise Categories. The most extreme demands of multiple Exercise Categories completely converge leaving absolutely nowhere for movement deficiencies to hide. These exercises demonstrate an exquisite balance of strength, flexibility and reactive stability and represent elite movement competency in a gym setting.
