One of the hardest screens for people to clear on the FMS, in my experience, is the trunk stability push-up. Now, we don’t specifically train for the FMS, nor is the trunk stability push-up the way that you actually do a push-up. However, I think the common mistakes/faults that we see are cleaned up when individuals own a proper push-up. So, today’s technique Tuesday is all about just that… Here’s a few questions.
Where would you fall or defend yourself from someone running into you?
Here’s a video I filmed back in 2012… While there’s a lot of things I would disagree with my 2012 self on, like that hat, I still think this holds true!
How would you push a car?
I’ve got this cue at the ready at all times, thanks to BSP NOVA’s coach Geoff Smith. Check out these two videos:
All too often we see hips fall in front of our shoulders (no core tension) during novice push-up attempts. You would never attempt to push a car with your hips forward, so stop doing your push-ups like that!
What happens when you cough?
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- Stand relaxed and dig your fingers underneath your ribs.
- Cough.
- Feel that? Your fingers couldn’t stay underneath if you coughed with any force, right?!
- Now, we don’t NEED to cough before we do our push-ups, but it’s a great reminder of how to tense our core! Which leads me to my next question…
How do you plank?
Have you ever tried a max tension plank, also referred to as a Strong First Plank, among other names?
You sure won’t be winning any world record plank contests with that kind of tension, but it’s great for learning to “lock in.” Bring this kind of tension to your push-up.
How’s your pattern?
One of the best drills I have found for patterning the push-up is the eccentric, or yielding isometric, push-up. Take the tension from the Strong First Plank to a very slow eccentric push-up, focusing on maintaining full body tension from head to toe.
Once you have the eccentric push-up down, the Push-up EQI (eccentric quasi-isometric) is a logical next step. Simply hold at the top, middle, and bottom for prescribed time.
Do you have the strength?
If you’ve got down the tension, positioning, and pattern, all that’s really left is the strength. Not there yet? No worries, let’s modify!
Here’s a great variation we use all of the time. Band assisted push-ups are a great scalable step. Getting easy? Go to a lighter band. Too hard? Get a heavier band!
One thing that really throws some people off, with regards to the trunk stability push-up screen, is starting from the floor… the timing of synchronizing full body tension and rising from the floor is quite the challenge. Again, the band is great for building that starting strength with a little assistance. And, just like the above video, you can alter the amount of band tension you use here to progress/regress.
Remember your cues!
- Elbows in! Defend youself!
- Hips in line! Push the car!!!!!!!!
- Cough and tense your core!
- Plank your push-up!
