Earn Your Exercise

Imagine walking into a boxing gym for the first time knowing nothing about boxing. Within minutes you are given some gloves and a mouth guard and told to go spar a few hard rounds against an experienced boxer training for an upcoming fight. What makes this situation ridiculous? You are a novice being asked to compete against an expert. It would be foolish to assume you could box with a professional when you don’t know how to throw a punch.You are totally unprepared.

In many traditional disciplines (including boxing) you must first demonstrate a level of proficiency before moving on to a progressively more challenging task. Back when exercise was called “physical culture” people would have to demonstrate their mastery of a skill to their coach before moving on to using heavier implements or more complex movements. In the modern world of fitness many people seem to have lost this respect for technique and movement quality, instead favoring hoisting heavier weights for more repetitions. It is not a stretch to assume this has lead to an increase in preventable injuries.

Thankfully there is an ever growing group of individuals I am proud to be a part of who recognize and honor the complexities of the human body.  To safely progress to high level activities we must have an understanding of where we are starting from and what steps must be taken to progress.

If for example you cannot reach your arms straight overhead to be perpendicular to the ground, then putting weights in your hands to do overhead pressing is almost certainly going to look awkward and feel like a major challenge. I think there’s reason to believe that adding additional stress or load to the body to already challenging positions could predispose you to pain or injuries.  I say could here because some people never have pain or injury with this movement because bodies are remarkably resilient and adaptable, however I feel it’s an unnecessary risk to take for most. If you are willing to chance things or feeling invincible at the moment, you may also consider that awkward movements tend to shift more stress onto connective tissues rather than muscles, therefore not optimizing the results or performance of the desired exercise.

In the standing overhead press, different segments of the spine must move into place to allow your shoulder blades to rotate smoothly thus allowing your arms to move overhead. This is actually a very simplified account of what happens when putting your arm overhead. I do not aim to complicate the overhead press or any exercise here. The point is to acknowledge and honor how complex movement is.

Remember that there are always other options to produce similar results. If you are incapable of safely overhead pressing, consider mastering any of the wide variety of different push up variations. In the mean time you can work on the qualities needed to progress to overhead pressing, then move one step closer, which might be an incline push up or incline press. Unless there is a physical limitation or injury concern you will eventually work your way up to that overhead press and your body with thank you for your attention to detail.

Before loading up the barbell heavy or working hard set after set we must first see if what our body is capable of doing and we must adjust accordingly. Our education, traditional systems, and our development out of infancy all work through incremental learning. Don’t try to sprint before you can crawl. Put in the time and earn your exercise.