P90X And The Importance Of Form
I mentioned in this post where I thought that one of the reasons why my shoulders began hurting was my form. It’s funny when I think about it because you would think, and I certainly did, “How can you screw up a push-up?”
Well, I don’t believe it was purposely bad form, and I don’t think it was from not paying attention to how I was doing it. Let me explain a bit…
I work in computers. I program. I spend 8+ hours/day in front of a computer. My posture is typically with my arms forward, slightly slumped, etc. When I used to look in the mirror I could see my shoulders slouched a bit forward, even if I was standing up straight. To get that broad shoulder look I would have to think to pull my shoulders back (where most guys it just naturally occurs).
In therapy we’ve talked about posture a lot. I’ve started paying close attention to it during my therapy workouts, and even now paying close attention to it when I’m at work. I think about how my shoulders are set, if I’m pulling them forward, etc.
This morning after P90X Ab Ripper X, I decided to attempt some push-ups from my knees (I did not want to put too much strain/force on them right now). The first one did not feel comfortable in the left shoulder. So I corrected my posture. Shoulders set back, shoulder blades prepared to contract a bit, and proceeded to do 10 without pain.
Success!
So now my goal is to work on my push-ups, still from my knees for now, in small sets and just focus on the following:
1. In plank, are my shoulders set?
2. As I go down, am I contracting my shoulder blades, engaging my chest muscles, contracting my abs?
3. Is anything hurting/bothering me doing this?
4. As I come up and I coming up controlled?
Tomorrow is Yoga day, a perfect day to attempt some push-ups. Once I feel I have push-ups figured out, I’m going to move back to shoulder exercises with weights. Of course, I’ll start with low resistance (10lbs on presses, 5 lbs on arm lifts) and then move on to tricep moves, which I have already worked on in therapy (along with rows, coincidentally). The goal is to get enough strength in the posture to where I can get back to a round of P90X or P90X2, depending on what I think I need.
So think about your push-up the next time you do them. You very well could save your shoulders!
