Happy Monday Everyone. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Today we will be covering the awesome push movement pattern, what we did over the weekend and good things about strawberries… just make sure they are organic or spray free as they are usually highly sprayed.
Smart Training
The Art of Pushing
Over the last few weeks we have been learning about the essential movement patterns of the body. So far we have covered the squat and the hinge but today we are going to talk pushing
Pushing can be divided into two different sub categories. The vertical push which is a form of overhead pressing and emphasis the shoulders and triceps and The horizontal push a form of pushing straight out in front emphasising the chest, shoulders and triceps.
My favourite vertical press has to be the kettlebell military press. In fact the military press up until 45 years ago was the third event in olympic lifting after the clean and jerk and the snatch. The military press was the main yard stick for measuring strength.
Pavel Tsatsouline the father of kettlebells wrote in Enter the Kettlebell that, “…if you work your overhead presses hard, you will hardly need to do anything else for your upper body.” Looking at the herculean torsos and shoulders of the strongmen of the 1800s it would seem to be correct.
Back then shoulder injuries were also very uncommon and you would be hard pressed 🙂 to even find a mention of the rotator cuff in text books of early lifters. Of all the overhead pressing, I would argue that the kettlebell military press was the healthiest for the shoulder. That said many of us these days suffer from such poor posture that we struggle to extend our thoracic spine making any pressing over head a potential red flag. As always I would suggest getting a Functional Movement Screen done to assess if overhead pressing is on the cards for you.
As for horizontal pressing I love the good old push up. The push up compared to the bench press works far more of the core musculature not to mention it can be performed anywhere at anytime…. even in the office 🙂
In summary:
- Pushing includes vertical and horizontal movements
- Horizontal movements (push ups) are considered safer for the shoulders
- Vertical movements (overhead presses) require good shoulder stability
- Overhead pressing requires good shoulder and upper back mobility to avoid injuries
Paul and his serious face getting ready to press the double 24s
Nourished By Nature
On Friday we celebrated another journey around the sun for Krystie. Happy birthday Krystie!!
As with all birthdays you need cake…
Yes, sometimes the veggies have to be moved to the side in order to make room for good ole cake.
I would love to tell you that this cake was sugar free, gluten free, dairy free but it’s not. Though it was organic and did have spray free strawberries
Here are some cool benefits of strawberries …
1 – Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C. One serving is about half your daily requirement
2 – The antioxidant properties in strawberries may also help to prevent cataracts
3 – Strawberries contain ellagic acid a natural antioxidant that has been shown to yield anti-cancer properties like suppressing cancer cell growth
4 – A study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that women who eat 16 or more strawberries per week are 14 percent less likely to have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) — an indication of inflammation in the body
The Good Life
On Friday we headed to Napier for an afternoon picnic at the botanical gardens. We loaded up on Hapi sandwiches and a cake or two (yes more cake). Then a wander around the gardens making sure to stop and smell the flowers and take in some of those amazing trees.
After lunch it was back home for a bike ride with some needed cake calorie burning and then dinner on the beach followed by the burning of this guy
There are some incredibly talented people in Te Awanga, this guy was put together in just two days. And boy did he burn!! Music, fireworks and even a whale played in the shallows as he went to ashes.
Paul “had a whale of a time” and Krystie “have your cake and eat it too” Miller
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