by GRP Strength Coach, Will Ruth

The humble pushup continues to be one of the best exercises to develop upper body pushing strength and the muscles of the chest, shoulders, and triceps for rowers of all ages, types, and levels. The horizontal push movement and these muscles are important for rowers to train for their “anti-rowing” ability. Without some form of strength training, even just a full-body land warm-up, rowers will underdevelop the upper body pushing movement and muscles due to lack of use in the sport. Over time, this imbalance can result in significant weakness, shoulder discomfort, and injury. Strength training exists to train both the performance-specific and non-specific movements and muscles to improve performance and reduce risk of injury.

A main benefit of the pushup versus other horizontal pushing exercises is the free movement of the shoulder blades. In a bench press exercise, the shoulders are pinned together and pressed against the bench for maximum strength and stability as the athlete moves the load of the barbell or dumbbells through space. In a pushup, the shoulders move freely around the ribcage as the athlete moves the body through space. This may make little difference in strict development of muscle size, but it makes a world of difference in carryover to athletic pursuits. This keeps the pushup firmly in my list of valuable exercises for all rowers.

I recommend that female rowers should aim for 10 pushups from the floor with good technique, 20 for male rowers, before adding load with horizontal pushing exercises such as dumbbell and barbell bench press variations. Even after this point, we can continue to keep the pushup challenging with more advanced exercise variations and creative set-and-rep designs.

Key technique pointers:

• Work for a straight line from heels to head. The body is essentially in a plank position so the emphasis stays on the target chest, shoulders, and triceps muscles with no flopping or arching of the torso.

• Keep the shoulders down throughout the movement, keeping the elbows at approximately 45-degrees to the torso and bringing the hips, chest, and head toward the floor simultaneously and then back up again. No shrugging the shoulders toward the ears or flaring or tucking the elbows.

• Use a 2-to-1 lowering-to-lifting tempo, controlling the descent on each rep to keep muscular tension high.

At a minimum, I recommend that all rowers include 1-2 sets of 10-15 pushups in their full-body warm-up before rowing or erging to prepare the shoulders and upper body muscles for performance, and to “sneak in” a small amount of training for otherwise-neglected bodyparts.

Like the bodyweight row in last month’s MOTM, we can modify hand height to make possible 3-4 sets of 8-12 good reps with 2 minutes of rest between sets. Use a bench, plyo box, or barbell in a rack, and progress from there by decreasing hand height. You can superset another exercise during the rest time that doesn’t also use the upper body pushing muscles. The bodyweight row makes for a great all-bodyweight, all-horizontal upper body movement pairing.

Those more experienced who need more challenge than bodyweight alone can use tempo variations, add load with a weighted vest or resistance band, increase stability challenge with the TRX or gymnastics rings pushup, or use creative set/rep systems such as ladder pushups and cluster sets. Many of these methods can be combined as well, offering many more challenging training sessions from this simple exercise!

Take a look at my video on the pushup to see these ideas in action.