- In this video,
I'm gonna teach you how to do a scapula pushup.
This is one of the best exercises that you can do
to get started with straight arm scapula strength.
Critical for the handstand and straddle planche
and so many more calisthenics movements.
Now, make sure you stick around right to the end,
because I'm gonna teach you a few things
that a lot of people don't know about this exercise,
and that really starfles their progress.
All that and more coming up.
- We are the gym that teaches people how to move instead
of just exercise because we believe that health
is about performance, not just body image.
- Hi, in case we haven't met, my names Rad Burmeister,
co-founder and co-creator
of the Foundation Movement System and Unity Gym.
Where health is measured by the way you perform and feel,
not just by the way you look
and where we teach you how to nourish and move
instead of diet and exercise.
For the scapula pushup.
Now this is for planche patent.
So we're gonna be working towards doing a tuck planche
in the first phase of the program.
So the first thing that we have to do is to
learn how to protract and depress the shoulders properly.
So you know what,
Richie just sit up we're just going to explain
the protraction and depression and everything.
Turn around please.
So have a look at this.
In the scapula,
it's really important that you understand
these scapula movements.
So he's got his shoulders neutral now.
Now protract the shoulders, Richard.
So that's when the scapula pushes away from the spine.
Now retract the shoulders.
Okay, that's when the scapula pulls back towards that spine.
So protract again.
Shoulders push away from the spine.
Retract.
I should be clear.
It's the scapula,
the shoulder blade that pushes away and pulls in.
Now relax.
Now elevate the shoulders.
So there the scapula pulls up.
Now depress the shoulders.
And the scapula pulls down.
Again, elevation.
Depression.
So what we're gonna be working on here
is keeping the scapula depressed
and going through protraction and retraction.
Awesome.
Okay, it's much harder than it looks.
Takes a little bit of work to get good at this.
So, from here Richard's gonna set up
with his index finger facing forward.
And the index finger is going to be
the width of his shoulders.
And then the fingers will splay off the index finger.
So the index finger faces forward,
and then the fingers splay out that way.
Don't go like this
and then splay in so the index finger comes in.
The elbows turn in like that.
It's very, very, important
that when you do straight arm strength workout,
workouts that the elbows stay straight,
don't let the elbow bend during the movement.
From here he's gonna keep the scapula depressed
and then he's gonna go into a pushup position.
And he's gonna go down so that he retracts the scapula
and then straight back up.
And he's gonna hold it for three, two, one.
Down, touch them together
and straight back up, three, two, one.
Now you'll know, let's just do a few reps,
his head to his heels are relatively in a straight line.
Okay, push your bum down just a tiny ...
That's enough, yeah, good, and good.
Now what we're looking for here is
that their back doesn't round.
So when you go on this next one,
sag your back for me, Richard.
That is terrible.
You cannot do that.
Now, when you come up arch your back.
Arch, arch, arch.
That is also really bad.
Okay, now do a couple of good ones.
Awesome, so see how that line from his head to his heel
stays solid and it's only the scapula that's moving.
Now relax.
If this is too hard for you,
what you're gonna do is just go on to your knees.
So go on your knees please, Richard.
And from here, again,
he's just going to let the scapula retract
and then protract.
Retract and protract.
The whole time you're thinking of this scapula depression.
So you're thinking of the shoulders pulling down
whilst you do this.
What's gonna want to happen is as you retract,
the shoulders will elevate.
So see how his shoulders have come up near his ears?
You really want to avoid that.
Okay, just relax for a minute, Richard.
You can just sit up.
So the case to look for here
are in the detail.
This is not a hard movement that you're gonna be used to
doing in the gym like lifting weights.
You're not gonna get to a point with this exercise
where if you're doing a bicep curl where you go (grunts)
and you grimace and you get that last rep in
because it's such a basic exercise
to just flex the elbows and pull the arms up like that.
Or even just a bench press or a squat
or a deadlift or any of those things.
This is a very, very particular movement
and at the basic level,
you're not actually working on developing strength,
you're working on developing a neuromuscular connection.
So what that means is the connection, the nerves between
the brain and the muscle are very, very weak
and they're not able to activate all of the muscles
that are required to do this movement properly.
So at the basic level,
it's not really strength that we're developing here,
it's a neuromuscular connection.
And at that level,
you are going to really have to eat a piece of humble pie.
You need to film yourself after every set.
You need to self-critique yourself.
You need to have a look at what you're doing,
and refer back to the video that we're showing you here
and look at Richard's technique
and the queues that I'm giving.
And I'm giving so many pointers with
this one specific exercise because it's so, so important.
Not just for the planche, but for handstands,
and so many other upper body weight exercises
from calisthenics and gymnastics.
And again, if it's too hard for you,
you've just gotta regress,
you've gotta come back onto your feet.
A lot of people need a lot of work on this,
you can even do this as a warm up
on your other bend time strength days.
You can do one or two sets
just to warm the nervous system up
and to just keep getting used to this movement.
And what you want to aim for is up to 10 reps.
But with good technique.
Remember that practice doesn't make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
So you have to practice perfectly, in order to get it right.
So re watch this video again.
Make sure that you understand the techniques.
The goal, the real points to take away from it
are the index finger faces forward, fingers splay,
elbows locking, shoulders stay depressed,
and your spine from head to heel stays in one straight line.
Thanks for watching our video.
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Until next time guys, I'll see you later.
Repetitions with correct technique.
And get the correct.
- [Woman] (laughs) Sorry.
- Still giggling at yourself, dingbat.
You need to be able to perform.
Fucking dingbat.
- [Woman] You have a camera...