One of the hardest movements to really master and develop strength with is the PUSHING ACTION. The pushing action is very important for use in daily life and a weakness with pushing movement is linked to many of the shoulder and neck problems many people suffer with. More specifically this movement is much more difficult for most females as they find it very hard to develop strength with their upper body due to joint laxity, lack of testosterone, and this leaves the shoulders more vulnerable to injury. Most of the exercises people think of are bench press, push-ups, and shoulder press. While these exercises may develop the strength they do come with risks that can cause a lot of problems for the neck and shoulder, and with some people they are too difficult to do. True pushing movement patterns are not limited to the upper body, as the trunk and legs play pivotal roles in creating optimal positioning, stability and timing to execute this movement efficiently. This is the mistake so many people make who limit their training to body building exercises that eliminate the use of the legs. There are better ways to achieve strength without these risks which is what I will explain in this breakdown of the best 15 exercises.
Why do we even need to work on pushing strength?
Most people don’t need to do push-ups in daily life or be in a situation where they need to push heavy objects overhead so why bother strengthening this movement?
While you may not need to push heavy objects you will still need to use this action quite regularly and if you lose stability or strength these tasks become very difficult. Simple movements like pushing yourself up out of a chair, vacuuming, pushing a shopping trolley at the supermarket or a pram all involve the muscles used in push-ups and other pushing movements.
Like all functional movements – “if you don’t use it, you lose it!”
Below is a picture of the pushing action used in the playground.
The biggest problem with lack of work with this action is the weakness that develops with the muscles involved that expose you to a multitude of problems with the neck and shoulder and a potential lifetime of stiffness and pain. Always remember that when the body becomes too weak and joints are exposed to instability stiffness is the only thing it can use to protect itself. It cannot make itself stronger.
When muscles are left to become weak and the body produces stiffness as a protective mechanism it makes simple daily activities such as getting dressed near impossible! If you don’t believe me ask someone who has had a frozen shoulder how painful it is to put a shirt on.
It is up to us to use exercises to do avoid this. One hundred years ago we would not have needed gym exercises as we were much more active and using our bodies all the time with manual labor at home as much as work. Unfortunately, the modern world has made us lazy and weak and now we need strength exercises to avoid the trap of stiffness and pain.
Key muscles used in pushing actions include the chest muscles of Pec Major and Pec Minor, the triceps, the deltoid muscles, the upper traps and very importantly the SERRATUS ANTERIOR.
Anyone with shoulder or neck pain will have heard me talk about this endlessly as it is a big weakness to the shoulder complex. A bit like the glutes are a common weakness to the pelvis and hip region this muscle is the equivalent to the shoulder.
See picture below.
Firstly, the purpose of strengthening serratus anterior is to help the scapula (shoulder blade) sit in a downward position known as posterior tilt of the scapula. It also provides the scapula with upward rotation when you lift your arm.
Working in tandem with the lower trapezius and upper trapezius it performs this role well enabling your shoulder to safely execute a multitude of movements.
I did a video recently recorded an animated anatomy video so you can clearly see how complex this interaction with the scapula and shoulder is.
Without these muscles firing together correctly, your body will find another way and this is when postural adaptions occur such as the winging of the scapula, stiffness, trigger points and ultimately pain will surface at the end. Of all the shoulder problems we see you will find weakness the serratus anterior is a massive contributor to most shoulder injuries and postural dysfunctions like the winged scapula.
If you find a way to engage this muscle in movement patterns and eventually strengthen it you will be able to effectively get rid of these problems for good!
The problem many people face when trying to strengthen the serratus anterior is that it is very difficult to do. Often you need a variety of exercises to do this effectively and a combination of mobility work.
One of the main reasons for this is the pecs work must work in tandem during pushing actions but unfortunately, the pecs tend to dominate the movement, in particular pec minor, and steal the workload further exacerbating the shoulder dysfunction.
For the sake of this article not going for another 10,000 words I will not go into too much detail regarding stability, mobility and all the delicate shoulder exercises to consider with the pushing pattern.
Check out the video that takes you through this process.
I want this article to focus on the best strength exercises and I will assume that you have no injury or problems to address.
One thing to understand with strengthening of any part of the body is that you need a good variety to avoid pattern overload and also muscle imbalances from too much of the same thing.
The greater muscle imbalances evolve the worse the stability of a joint/s becomes and injury is inevitable. This is one reason why you must use a variety of exercises to overcome this problem and also how overusing exercises like the bench press can make matters worse.
Okay so now that we know what the muscles involved in pushing actions are and why it is so important to work on them let’s look at 15 different exercises to see what I regard as the best and worst.
1. Bench Press
The first thing people think of when I mention the pushing pattern is usually the bench press.
Have you ever been in a situation where someone strong walks in to a room and hear someone say “I wonder what he can bench?” As if how much you can push a barbell while lying on your back is the ultimate test of overall strength.
A better question would be “I wonder how much he can push on a cable push?”
The single cable push is a far more superior exercise as it is a full body movement that requires incredible strength with the legs especially the anterior sling, high activation of the core to protect the back from buckling, and most importantly it demands incredible coordination and timing.
The bench press DOES NOT require any of these factors.
It does not use muscles of the lower body. You could even do this if you had no legs or were paralyzed from the waist down.
It does not use the core much at all.
It does not require much coordination or timing.
What most people don’t realize is that this method of building muscle comes at a cost, especially for anyone playing sports, as it teaches your body how to become separate from the core and the legs when performing a pushing movement!
It is almost as if you are telling your body, and your brain, we don’t need stability.
Lastly, and possibly the main reason I don’t like this exercise much at all is the fixed position of the bar and how it can create tons of problems for the shoulder.
Many people may need a slight variation with their wrist or arm position from left to right hand and this can be easily obtained with cables and dumbbells, but cannot be achieved with a barbell. Even the smallest margin of movement that you can hardly see visually can mean the difference between rubbing a tendon and not rubbing the tendon.
This is impossible to do with a barbell as both hands must be identical.
If you ignore this signal and keep trying to push your way through the shoulder will be exposed to instability and shearing forces which is where all the trouble begins.
Added on top of that is trying to force the barbell into a depth too low that forces the anterior capsule of the shoulder to lurch forward.
2. Push-ups
If the bench press is one of my least preferred pushing exercises then the push-up is the exact opposite and definitely one of my favourites.
While a bulk of the workload is performed by the chest, shoulders and triceps, the exercise cannot be done correctly without almost every muscle in the body participating. The abdominal muscles must stabilize your torso to keep your hips from sagging or lifting up too high, and various other muscles such as Serratus Anterior play a role in assisting the stability of the head, shoulder and spine.
As discussed earlier Serratus Anterior is a key muscle for keeping healthy function of the shoulder and plays a pivotal role in maintaining the correct alignment of the shoulder girdle.
Push-ups are without doubt one of the best exercises to activate this muscle and encourage perfect timing with pushing movements.
Even your breathing must be right to be able to execute this correctly.
This is one reason why exercises like these work so well with people suffering from nervous system injuries or disease. It helps to rewire the faulty program being communicated to the muscles via correct timing and sequence.
To see more make sure read the full article here – Why push-ups are so good for the health of the body
3. Yoga Push-ups
A great variation of the push-up is the Yoga Push-up which is a great regression to use for those struggling with overhead movements and activating the serratus anterior.
This is one of those very unique exercises that allows people to work through a range of movement that is quite difficult to do standing up.
We use this exercise a lot in our shoulder rehabilitation programs and in particular in the stage where we are trying to teach good scapula upward rotation and serratus anterior development which is critical with any shoulder injury.
The beauty of this exercise is it greatly encourages 2 key things many find hard to do with other movements.
- Develops incredible thoracic extension needed for optimal neck and shoulder alignment.
- Activates serratus anterior with good timing and positioning.
We often use this as a corrective exercise to use between sets of “risky” movements and also as a home workout for the client to do. They often find this very relieving and a great stepping stone exercise to harder ones later.
4. Cable Chest Press Dual Arm
This is quite a simple exercise in many ways but it is superior to the bench press for the simple reason that it requires a fair degree of stability, leg strength, and core strength. It also avoids the pattern overload problem with the barbell as both shoulders have freedom to find the most suitable position for pushing strength.
The split stance does test the ankle and feet as much as the core and people with poor leg strength and stability will find this difficult to do. In the video above I also add a forward step action if I wanted to make it slightly more difficult. However, most of the time I keep it to the simple action to build some strength.
5. Inverted Kettlebell Press
This exercise is very unique to kettlebells as they can really provide a great challenge to the shoulder by holding it upside down. Dumbbells are very well balanced so they do not provide the same reflex reactions you can achieve with a kettlebell.
This is also an excellent exercise for anyone suffering with elbow pain for it addresses stability at the wrist as much as the shoulder. Poor wrist stability in combination with poor scapula and shoulder stability is often the source of elbow related problems so this is a great way to correct and overcome the weaknesses in one movement.
It is a great way to teach someone how to earn the stability of the overhead press with light loads before progressing to the more difficult strength versions with dumbbells later on.
One of those exercises that is much harder than it looks.
6. Dumbbell Chest Press Dual Arm
This exercise is the most similar to the bench press and uses the least amount of legs and core muscles as opposed to the other variations to follow. The most obvious choice here is to use the bench to lie on as you would for the bench press which is okay but to get more out of it I prefer to do it slightly different.
My first choice is to use a Swissball to lie on as this allows for some core and glute activation but most importantly it allows for better scapula movement and avoids the pattern overload problem seen with the barbell bench press. Lying on a bench tends to compress the scapula and prevent it from moving effectively. The ball allows for more freedom of the scapula and as a result more stability and more efficient movement.
It avoid pattern overload more easily for the left and right shoulder move independently of each other and demand more stability. This stability demand is what prevents the problems that the bench press often creates.
7. Single Arm Dumbbell Chest Press
A few years back I filmed an entire video about this exercise for it is so good.
While it looks like it is more of an arm and chest exercise, it really begins to become more of a glute and abdominal movement!
The single arm being loaded up forces instability into the core and the only thing that can stop you from falling to the ground is your glutes, hamstrings and abdominals all working together as a team to keep you still while your upper body does the movement.
An excellent exercise for improving glute and pelvic control.
For this reason I use it a lot with people suffering with hip pain, back pain, and even knee pain for it forces them to use their hips correctly.
This is also a great choice for someone working on their own looking to lift maximal load safely. Your spare hand acts as a spotter and allows you to lift loads that you could not do with two hands. Apart from the incredible core stabilizing benefits it is perfectly suited the person looking to go real heavy in their training.
8. Foam Roller Chest Press
This exercise is a regression of the previous two and I mainly use this in rehabilitation or if someone is really struggling with thoracic mobility or scapula stability.
Thoracic mobility can be a really big problem and can take considerable time to improve so having exercises like this in your toolkit can be incredibly helpful.
In the video above I explain how the foam roller greatly assists in loosening up the thoracic spine but also the SCAPULA!
This is very important to the shoulder for providing great stability in many of the movements the shoulder can make and is commonly a big problem with many neck and shoulder injuries.
Even though it is a regression it is arguably harder than the previous two. But remember this is not really about strengthening but trying to improve stability. I am willing to compromise the strength gains to improve the stability and once I have achieved that I will progress to the cable and dumbbell versions shown previously.
9. RNT Dumbbell Chest Press With Rubber Tubing
RNT means “reactive neuromuscular training” and is where a small amount of resistance is applied to a faulty movement that “feed the mistake” and therefor forces the body to make a correction. This is a clever way to ensure small stabilizer muscles are activated during an integrated movement.
Using tubing during this exercise helps to activate the often overpowered internal rotator cuff muscle called subscapularis, by feeding the external rotators, which gives the shoulder more space and freedom to work. It also helps to activate the lazy but very important serratus anterior.
A great exercise for teaching your shoulder how to move correctly again with all the small stabilizer muscles working.
It is amazing how different people feel when you add the tubing to their hands. You may need to use it for some time until the brain remembers to switch on the subscapularis and the serratus improves with overall strength.
Overall the dumbbell chest press is the most similar to the bench press but requires a lot more stability, coordination, and control to master. This is why you very rarely can lift the same amount of load with dumbbells as you can with a barbell. The value to your body is more with the stability and control than just the load.
10. Viking Squat Press
This is an exhausting exercise and many people do not like it for that very reason. Not only does it stress the shoulders and the pushing strength but also the legs and the squat pattern.
However, while it may be exhausting it is a great exercise for shoulder strength and development by incorporating the legs into the action so much and also for its demand of fast powerful extension. Little stability or coordination or stability is required here for it is so simple and a bilateral movement but like the bench press and any barbell versions it does not allow for as much freedom so care has to be taken with this.
The best part is I can work the shoulders with an overhead movement but it is not 100% vertical and therefor allows for more leverage and avoids the problems seen with the typical shoulder press.
A great way to work on overhead strength.
11. Barbell Squat Press With Side To Side Movement
This exercise is one I have loved doing for over 20 years now and I never get sick of it.
At first I used to think it was only relevant to those who played sports for it shared many of the skills and abilities needed for sport, however, over the years I learned that the everyday person and even the older adult would benefit from learning this.
In the video I try to explain the various features and skills required to execute this exercise effectively to give you a better understanding of why I rate it so highly. This so much more than just a simple strength exercise.
Sport strength exercises and drills are based on training movement, not muscles, with the goal of firing the muscles in the correct sequence and developing strength and body control within athletic movement. Multi-joint lifts, cross body actions, contralateral movements and complex exercises are all used to maximize the demands and efficiency of how the body moves efficiently for sports.
Correct training of movement patterns produce coordinated full body actions and allow the sportsperson the ability to transfer greater power through the body.
12. Single Dumbbell Squat Press
This is one of my all time favorite exercises in the gym for developing incredible power with a shoulder press movement.
The shoulder press is one of those exercises that can easily cause a lot of trouble for the shoulder joint and also the neck, as overactive upper traps, levator scap ruin your movement and eventually beat up the supraspinatus and shoulder joint.
The reason this works so much better than your standard shoulder press is the single arm movement provides great freedom of the thoracic region and more importantly the scapula to drive upward rotation.
Upward rotation is one of the big underlying problems with neck and shoulder pain and no stretching or massage can fix this problem as it is a stability problem not a flexibility problem.
Getting the rotator cuff muscles to centrate the humeral head in the joint along with the serratus anterior and lower trapezius muscles is pivotal in providing great stability of the shoulder. A stable shoulder can easily generate strength and power without causing damage to the joint.
13. Single Shoulder Press With Added Weight Shift
This is an interesting exercise that incorporates the weight shifting skill used with wood-chops and some of the cable exercises to effectively integrate the lower body and upper body together.
This is not an exercise I would begin with if I had severe weakness or pain but something I would use towards the end of the rehab program to learn how to integrate overhead movements into functional tasks.
The first exercise is relatively easy but the second one does require good coordination and integrated strength. The best part about the second exercise is how it demands the additional use of the core and the legs to assist the movement.
14. Single Cable Push With Weight Shift
The single cable push has been one of my all time favourite exercises for almost 20 years and is featured several times on my website and my You Tube channel.
I use it in my assessment process with clients on their first day for it tells me so much about how the person moves with the pushing pattern and also use several advanced progressions to get develop incredible strength and power.
While it certainly has an emphasis on pushing strength using the pecs, shoulders, triceps as you would with exercises like the bench press and push-ups this exercise has so many more benefits that are critical to the health of the body.
In addition to the serratus anterior the activation of the abdominal muscles is substantial during the single cable push. The single cable push is one of the best exercises for developing what is known as the Anterior Oblique Sling.
This system tells us that the obliques help provide stability and mobility in the action of walking or running. They are both important in providing that initial stability during the stance phase of gait and then contribute to pulling the leg through during the swing phase. In this movement the obliques and the contra-lateral adductors work in perfect sync to create movement.
You can read more about the slings in this article – How to improve core strength by using the four slings
Many people will find this movement really trains the oblique muscles more than their arms for the rotation element is significant.
There really is about 3-4 versions of this exercise and you will get a good idea of this in the video above.
15. Single Cable Push & Explosive Step
This is another multi-joint strength training exercise using the single cable push to increase total body strength in a forward motion. This differs to the previous ones in that is uses an explosive step forwards and is much more dynamic version of the standard single arm cable push.
This progression starts in an awkward ipsilateral stance and finishes in the contralateral stance which many people find quite difficult at first but once you get the feel for it you find it is a lot easier. he only way for this to work effectively is to have incredible strength with the glutes and core and be able to execute at a high speed to get the timing just right where it feels efficient.
This is a lot harder than it looks but a great way to feel the weight shifting from one leg to the other being driven by the posterior chain and stabilized by the core. Arguably the most difficult thing to master is the explosive speed that it requires which is why it is classified more as a power exercise than a strength exercise.
Most sporting and athletic activities require a fair degree of explosive power, whether it is needed to move explosively to hit a golf ball or tennis ball, jump, sprint, break away from an opponent, react to an opponents offensive tactic or handle an open-field hit, the need to produce power is an essential component.
The exercises in this video mimic this timing. The second exercise is also another great way to develop power which uses plyometric training.
BONUS EXERCISE – Rope Triceps Extension
I know I now have 16 exercises and I titled the article the top 15 but I decided to add this in as a bonus exercise for it can be really useful for certain people.
You can see the video of this by clicking here and watching from the 27:00 mark.
This is the only isolated exercise for pushing that I have included that targets the triceps specifically but what makes it unique from many other isolated exercises like pushdowns, skull-crushers and kickbacks is the use of the wrist.
This is where I see its main benefit and specifically with elbow related injuries and forearm pain. I often find the biceps are a real problem with elbow and forearm pain and that the triceps is very weak and inhibited. By using an exercise like this it counters the stiffness and over-activation of the biceps and allows the person to find some strength to complete a pushing action more effectively.
Elbow pain is a complex topic so I won’t go into too much detail here but I suggest to read the article about elbow pain to see more.
Do You Need More Ideas or Help?
If you are looking for more ideas on how to use this to build muscle, athletic power or even specific methods for sports then you need our latest PDF report “101 Training Programs & The Little Black Book Of Training Secrets” as you will find this will have all the answers you are looking for.
Click on the image below to find out more and get a copy.
If you are struggling with shoulder pain you will find our detailed report below for this invaluable.
Summary
While I covered a lot of exercises there are many others that I left out that I could have shown. But if I wanted to prioritize my favourites these exercises would be it.
I tried to list them in order of how I might use them but I do often bounce from cable exercises at the end to push-ups at the start quite a lot. That is because people are so different so it is impossible to have a template to follow. Also the benefits are unique to each exercise and I want to get the best of both.
This really sums up the point of the article in the first place in that you MUST be continually forcing the body to adapt to different stimulaus in order to guarantee change and avoid pattern overload.
I hope this article gives you some good ideas.
About The Author
Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 20 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specializes in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.
References:
•Movement – By Gray Cook
•Corrective Exercise Solutions – by Evan Osar
•Athletes Acceleration Speed Training & Game Like Speed – by Lee Taft
•Diagnosis & Treatment Of Movement Impairment Syndromes – By Shirley Sahrman
•Scapula Injuries in Sporting Athletes – By Sports Injury Bulletin
•Anatomy Trains – by Thomas Meyers
•Motor Learning and Performance – By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
•Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance – By Vladimir Janda
•Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course – By Paul Chek
•Advanced Program Design – By Paul Chek
•Twist Conditioning Sports Strength – By Peter Twist