Tip Master Push-Ups With Frankenstein Holds Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Master Push-Ups With Frankenstein Holds Correct your ugly injury-causing push-up technique with this drill by Travis Hansen May 3, 2017July 14, 2022 Tags Push-Up, Tips, Training Ugly Push-Ups Future Shoulder Issues Push-ups are commonplace yet most people are doing them wrong: forward head posture, excessive flaring of the elbows, lumbar hyperextension, hip drop, and bent knees. We call that "movement dysfunction" and it can predispose you to overuse injuries at the shoulder. Also, you just won't get much out of your push-ups. If you don't have a good coach around and don't learn well visually, you can perfect your technique using proprioceptive or "sensory" feedback. First, you want to make sure that you remove your bodyweight from the equation. The amount of resistance provided by your body can interfere with your kinesthetic awareness of where all of your joints are and where they need to be. The solution is to stand against a wall so that you can generate some touch and feel for how your body is aligned. From here, you'll mimic the push-up action with just your upper extremities so that you can focus intensely on each joint's specific role in exercise. Frankenstein Push-Up Drill The beauty of this corrective movement is that it's extremely hard to do wrong (if your initial setup is good) due to the constant feedback of the wall. If you perform the drill wrong, then you'll lose contact with the wall, prompting you to try again until you finish a rep correctly. Instructions Place your heels, glutes, shoulder blades, and back of your head against a wall. Lift your arms to shoulder level with your fingers pointing upwards. Reach forward slightly into a degree of protraction while keeping your shoulder blades in contact with the wall. This is a critical tip that can increase activation of the serratus anterior muscle, which may be very weak and inhibited during a push-up or pressing exercises. Make sure to "pull" your elbows back into the wall with a high level of tension in your arms, then slowly push back out again. Do 5-10 reps for 2-3 sets, or whatever is necessary to master the drill. The exercise works great as a "filler" drill before performing any push-up variation between work sets. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip Isolation Exercises vs Big Lifts What's best for muscle growth? Here are some insights. Tips, Training Clay Hyght, DC February 4 Training Tip Bent Over Lateral Raise Back Extension Machine This targets the glutes, hamstrings, postural muscles and, of course, the rear delts. Exercise Coaching, Glutes, Shoulders, Tips Joel Seedman, PhD July 18 Training Tip Break Mental Barriers to Squat Heavy You have to mentally prepare for a PR squat. Here's how to do it. Tips, Training Dave Tate January 8 Training Pull-Ups 3 Mistakes You re Still Making Pull-ups are easy. Just grab the bar and pull up, right? Not quite. Here are some common mistakes that just about everyone makes – even you. Back, Exercise Coaching, Pull-Up Al Kavadlo April 7