The 90 deg pushup is a calisthenics skill that requires high strength combined with good body control. the execution is as follows: “starting from a handstand position. From here go down to the ground and make a transition into a bent arm planche. Maintain the position for a second or less and return to the hand stand position by performing the reverse movement ”.
Concretely, you go from a hand stand push up to a bent arm planche and then perform the transition backwards back to the hand stand position. This is a repeat. The result is a movement that not only has a great visual impact but also intensely trains almost all the muscles of the upper body. particularly:
- the arms must work in sync and very hard on a large ROM
- the shoulders work all three garments, in particular the front and side garments
- the trapezoids work in their entirety, in particular the upper and lower trapezoids
- the serratus anterior works in maximum ROM
- the pectorals work intensely during the entire exercise
- the lats work mostly in the planche position
- the integrity of the abdominal muscles must work to the maximum to maintain the alignment of the body and not to lose movement
All this work is distributed from one muscle district to another, in a continuous contraction. The transition of work between the various muscles is a key element in muscle development as a maximum ROM is reached and the contraction of a muscle does not end but accompanies the work of the synergistic muscle in movement.
Prerequisites
To perform this exercise it is necessary to master the bent arm planche full well, for about 5-10 seconds, have good control of a hand stand and be able to perform 3 repetitions of hand stand push up. All this must be combined with a control of the transition between these two positions. It is also necessary to have good strength in the basic movements of calisthenics: dips and pull-ups.
How to train this skill
In this case we are talking about a moving skill, not isometric. This means that it is a much more demanding exercise both in the muscles and in the CNS. The training of this exercise should have a frequency of 3-4 times a week (while for the isometry exercises you can also reach a daily frequency). To be able to perform this combined movement it is necessary to train all the various components of this. Obviously, the greatest commitment must be directed towards the points that cause the most problems.
Are you poor planche
To train the bent arm planche it is useful to use a progression that gradually employs a greater body weight. Therefore, start from a bent arm tuck, when you can maintain the position for 15 seconds you can progress to an advanced tuck, then to a bent arm planche straddle (legs apart) and finally to a full house. Each progression must be made with full control over the previous one. This skill requires considerable strength in the biceps and triceps along with a high strength in the shoulders and front teeth.
At the same time, a high flexibility in the wrists is required. Simultaneously with this work on the isometric skill it is useful to add a dynamic work that has a direct transfer on it and also to train the muscles involved with targeted exercises. A good targeted exercise are the pseudo planche push ups: normal push ups but keeping the hands always further back than the shoulders. Targeted strengthening exercises can be the planche, with outstretched arms. Obviously a progression of the planche. This helps put more stress on the biceps and serratus anterior.
Hand stood
To better learn the hand stand it is useful to practice this skill daily. It is not an exercise that requires great strength, even more so if you do not have a heavy weight. The key element of this exercise is correct technique and above all balance. Both of these elements require experience rather than muscle conditioning. It is useful, in the early stages, to work on an assisted hand stand or with the help of a wall. Try to gradually shorten the distance between your hands on the wall in order to increase the contribution of balance.
Hand stand pushup
The hand stand push up consists of performing a push-up while maintaining a hand stand position. In this case there is a minor contribution in terms of balance but mostly good strength in shoulders, trapezius and arms is needed. Again this is a dynamic skill and therefore the training frequency should be around a training day followed by a rest day. If you are unable to perform a repetition of this exercise, you can train with preparations. One of these are the pike push ups trying to keep the feet as close as possible to the hands. Another very useful exercise are the hand stand push ups by placing the feet against a wall, both with the torso facing the wall and with the back facing it. An important element of this exercise is to always keep the elbows close to the torso, without letting them come in line with the torso. Performing this exercise with the elbows (and therefore also the shoulders) correctly positioned forces you to bring the head forward with respect to the hands. This is good as in the 90 deg push up you have to exaggerate this step to be able to move better to the planche position.
Transition
A final part of performing the 90 deg pushup is being able to move in a controlled manner from one position to another. To gain full control of the movement it is helpful to include an exercise that has a
similar movement but of less difficulty. Hindu pushups can be a good choice. These consist of performing a pike push up and then throwing the torso forward making more use of the
triceps. A good idea would be to perform a couple of repetitions of this exercise with an extremely slow time: 20 seconds of negative phase and 20 seconds of concentric phase. The speed of the exercise
it must be uniform. One should easily realize how difficult it is to maintain full control of the exercise at every point of the movement. To familiarize yourself with the full skill is
It is possible to perform repetitions of 90 deg push ups but always keeping the legs in a tuck position. This exercise still requires good strength and balance but is certainly easier than
full version and also has a direct transfer on the latter. As you progress with strength you can perform a more difficult level of the propaedeutic: advanced tuck and then straddle and finally a reverse repetition. By reverse repetition we mean starting from a bent arm planche position, moving into a hand stand push up position and then going into hand stand. This variant is easier because the most difficult point of the skill is the transition from hand stand to bent arm planche while doing the opposite is easier (less movement control is required).
Training example
An example of training to achieve the 90 deg push up could be the following:
- Stretching polsi
- Shoulder dislocation (with elastic) + cuff rotators
- Progression 90 deg push ups, 8 reps with 30 seconds of rest between repetitions
- Warm-up with push-ups and bodyweight pull-ups (2 sets both)
- Bent arm planche (progression) isometry for 10 seconds 6 sets with 30 seconds rest
- Hand stand push up (wall) 4 sets for maximum repetitions in super sets with
- Close grip pull-ups 4 sets of maximum repetitions
- Hindu pushup 3 sets of 2 or 3 repetitions (Time 20-0-20-0) in super set with
- Hand stand on the wall (hands as close as possible to the wall) isometry until it comes to failure
technical (loss of alignment)
The following workout should take around 40 minutes and can also be done at home. It does not require any special equipment other than a pull-up bar. Being a free body workout only it is not even excessively taxing and therefore can be combined with a second short workout in which you work on strengthening the fundamentals of calisthenics (weighted dip and weighted tractions) or combined with a workout for another skill. If you choose the second option it is good to work on a skill that trains the back muscles more, for example the front lever.
Baduini Alberto
