Coaches Pushing strength

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gymnndance

Coach
Proud Parent
I have a few questions about conditioning.

What do you do for pushing strength?
You can do Push Ups, Dips and Handstand Push Ups. Do you work all 3? Does one relate to the other?

What duo you do for back strength?
Do you work weighted Reverse Sit-Ups and Leg Lifts? Or only arch rocks?

Thanks!
 
I have my kids do the following exercises that use a pushing motion (arm extension).
  • Narrow push-ups (hands close together)
  • Neutral push-ups (hands shoulder width, elbows close to the sides of the body)
  • Wide push-ups (hands greater than shoulder width)
  • Hanging dips (using parallel bars)
  • Bar dips (in front support on a bar, dipping sternum to bar then pushing back up)
  • Planche holds on parallets (feet elevated to the same height as shoulders, constantly protracting shoulders to round upper back)
  • Shrug-ups (done in front support on floor, protracting shoulders to raise back, and then relaxing to let the shoulders retract, and repeat; must be done with straight arms, teaching to "push with the shoulders" instead of the elbows)
These exercises can be modified, too, like elevating the feet for the push-ups, or adding ankle weights to the dips. I have seen good results using these exercises.

As far as back strength, a lot of these pushing exercises also contribute to the back muscles. Some other good ones are various types of pull-ups, handstand shrugs, and straight arm lifting and pull-down type exercises that target the deltoids and latissimus respectively. For the erector spinae and multifidi muscles that run down the length of the back, reverse sit-ups and arch rocks are the way to go.

Hope it helps you!
 
Pushing strength, yes they do relate to each other because all of them are mostly triceps strength. The main difference between various exercises is what other stabilizing muscles are being worked, and how intense or difficult it is.
Ideally you choose an exercise that relates the most to the skill you are trying to develop strength for, such as using pushups with feet elevated to help with a boy's backuprise on pbars.

As for working all 3, depends how intense you need the workout to be. Variety is good, though personally I wouldn't give them 2 exercises with different intensities in the same conditioning session.

Lastly, exercises for the muscles in the back are a bit more tricky to target as the range of exercises is a lot smaller.
My guys use press to handstands, reverse leg lifts, heel drives, heel drives with flutter kicks, as well as arch rocks and shoulder bridges. Keep in mind this is very generalized combining both trunk extension exercises as well as hip extension.

Also keep in mind that different intensities, reps, and sets also target different types of strength. Muscular endurance, hypertrophy, strength, and power. So make sure you giving the right conditioning for what you tying to develop. That is a common mistake I see a lot of coaches make.

Hope this helps?
 

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