Why You Should Be Doing This Exercise In The Gym
We have discussed previous why the Barbell Bench Press is not suited well for optimal gym training for swimmers, the alternatives we gave as a replacement were Push Ups and Landmine Press. So today we are delving into the latter and explaining why we love this exercise so much and why it’s a go to movement for nearly all of our swimming athletes.
For a swimming athletes to remain healthy and maximise the time spent in the water we need to help ensure that their gym work is as safe and efficient as possible. The shoulder girdle (arm, shoulder and scapula) is pretty complex and a number of muscle groups and connective tissues work together to allow for smooth and optimal movement. Gym work must mirror what is needed in the water, that is a shoulder girdle that is strong, stable, mobile and powerful.
The landmine press offers all of these benefits, unless conventional exercises like the bench press, the shoulder girdle is free to move freely. The scapula can move into upward rotation over the ribs, the arm can move overhead while avoiding positions of impingements such as directly overhead with internal rotation. Swimmers enter these positions enough during pool training, we don’t need to make matters worse by loading such positions.
This movement can strength the swimmers shoulder girdle while improving scapula function and movement, both of which are incredibly to longevity in swimming.
Some things to consider:
This can be performed seated, kneeling, standing, so long as the athlete is stable.
Leave a gap between the torso and upper arm.
Adding a ‘straight arm push’ at the top can further aid scapula movement training to help prevent future impingements.
Loading can increase once the athlete is showing mastery of the movement.
