Waiter's Hold with KB
Upper Body: Vertical Push
Fundamentals
Level: 4
Waiter’s Hold (KB) and Half Press
Upper Body: Vertical Push
Challenge
Level: 7
Target Action: Reactive Stability
Upper Body
Kit: Kettlebell
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.
The Challenge Theme is where Low Constraints and Exercise Intensity converge to test dynamic postural control under maximal loads. Here we use an array of movement tasks to actually encourage movement skills to crumble and ask athletes to defend optimal coordination using intense load or speed. Excelling in the Challenge Theme demonstrates an extremely trainable athlete across the 14 Exercise Categories. Every % increase in strength with these techniques demonstrates an increase in robustness and readiness to perform high quality movement at ever higher standards of performance.
