Push-Pull Ratio: Do You Really Need It?

Have you ever prescribed a push-pull ratio: two or three times more pulling than pushing exercises?  Perhaps this was based on the premise that a) people are naturally weaker on pulling vs pushing or b) people already have rounded shoulders and thoracic kyphosis and need to do more pulling work to “correct” this posture.

For many years we have been hearing that a 2:1 or even a 3:1 pull-to-push ratio is ideal for shoulder health.  Rewind to 2001, when I finished my bachelor’s degree, it actually made sense to me.  People were already anterior chain dominant, with the bad posture we always learned about.  This was a foolproof way of making sure people didn’t feed into that posture.

Through the years, as I sharpened my knowledge about shoulder mechanics and pushing and pulling mechanics, I’m quite frankly surprised that we still see this push-pull ratio being touted as a requisite for safe training programs.  It’s even been called a golden pain-free shoulder-training standard.

If you’ve been in the habit of using a push-pull ratio, you will want to re-think that.  Instead, you should be coaching your clients to pull AND push the proper, healthy way!

 

YOU CAN PULL WITH BAD FORM

Pulling with bad form will wreak just as much havoc on your shoulders as pressing with bad form or pressing too much (or pressing as much as you pull, or whatever), making using a push-pull ratio pretty much useless.

If people are too anterior chain dominant, shouldn’t we be worried that they will find a way to pull using that dominance?

As a trainer in my early days, I remember having a hard time teaching people to pull using their back and not their biceps and forearms.  I am sure you remember at some point having had a hard time getting clients to stop flexing their wrists and pulling their shoulders ‘over’ the handles as they perform a TRX row.

The reason why people pull this way is because they are using muscles that they are able to identify, contract and recruit.  This is called facilitation.  When you put them under load, such as hanging under a TRX, those are the muscles they will have access to in order to overcome that load.  This actually doesn’t mean that they are necessarily stronger, or at least, they certainly don’t have optimal strength.  Nick Tumminello provides a great explanation of  push-to-pull strength in his article Push to Pull Strength Ratio: Should You Pull Double What You Press?

This kind of movement behavior doesn’t change because you change the exercise, or add a push-pull ratio.

 

Movement is behavior-based, and this behavior is motivated by the resources that someone possesses.

 

This means that people will move in ways that they know or can access, so if you want to change how they move, you need to provide them with new resources.  The push-pull ratio reminds me of my rant on cues.  Cues only remind, they don’t explain, yet people have gotten into the habit of using them in the place of actually teaching.  It’s the same with this ratio.  Doing something more often, but doing it badly, isn’t going to save your shoulders.  At all.  Period.

 

HORIZONTAL PUSHING AND PULLING MECHANICS

When executed properly, the mechanics of horizontal pushing and pulling exercises, are actually quite similar, especially for your gen pop.  These mechanics involve the scapulae.  To create a solid foundation for horizontal pushing and pulling, the scapulae need to be in a position of subtle retraction and depression.  Through the years, the cue “bend the bar” or “break the bar” has typically been used to cue this.  But I repeat: cues only remind, they don’t explain.  “Bend the bar” essentially creates a slight external rotation torque that CAN place the scapulae in that subtle retracted and depressed position…or not.  What I mean is that you have to first create an awareness of this position and a capacity to identify and recruit the muscles that help hold the scapulae in this position if you hope to get the intended result out of your cue.

online course bannerOne really great exercise to bring awareness to this position is the Prone Retract and Reach.  This activation exercise helps the client feel how that slight glenohumeral external rotation results in a subtle retraction, and the “reach” part of the exercise helps bring awareness to how to slightly depress the scapulae.

MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE MAIN VIDEO TO SEE HOW THIS EXERCISE IS PERFORMED.

An effective follow-up to the Prone Retract and Reach is to put it into practice with the hands on the barbell.  This takes me back to the “bend the bar” cue.  When your client replicates what the scapulae are doing in the Prone Retract and Reach with their hands on the bar, they will understand how this is equivalent to the intention of bending the bar.  Just working on understanding and repeating this for a few minutes can be effective.

Remember, cues only remind, they don’t explain.  I discuss the “bend the bar” as well as the “chest up” cue in this article.

 

ANTERIOR HUMERAL GLIDE

Another component that is adamant in bad pulling execution is anterior humeral glide.  This is just a geeky way of saying that the shoulder is allowed to roll and glide forward excessively.  What makes the push-pull ratio even more concerning, is that anterior humeral glide is typically much more present in pulling exercises compared to pushing exercises (although you can also see it at the bottom of a bench press).

Once you have established awareness of the proper scapular mechanics, a great way to integrate these into a pulling movement, that can also help control anterior humeral glide is performing a banded TRX row.  In addition to performing the row, instruct the client to also pull the band slightly apart.  From there, you can progress to a regular neutral grip row without the band, ensuring they can control that humeral head.

Even better, you can perform an isometric hold replicating the prone retract and reach (or “bend the bar” now that you have established the intent) against the band and then perform the reps.  This pre-activation using an isometric hold is great to engrain the pattern.

 

WATCH THE MAIN VIDEO FOR AN EQUIVALENT PUSHING EXERCISE WITH A BAND.

 

VERTICAL PUSHING – REACHING

Vertical pushing requires different scapular mechanics that are equally important to balance out that stable position of subtle retraction and depression required (and downward rotation) for its horizontal counterpart.  Pushing vertically creates a reaching pattern of scapula upward rotation and protraction (and elevation).  Having that balance of scapular movement is what is actually important for long-term shoulder health.

Common issues we see with overhead work is that people are shrugging instead of reaching.  Although early activation of the trapezius and/or excessive shrugging is not optimal, upper trapezius activity is necessary for upward rotation of the scapula and an effective reach.

Forearm wall slides have often been used to focus on guiding the scapula up and around the rib cage.  They work quite well, but in some cases, if early or excessive shrugging is a significant issue, the Prone Overhead Reach can be a great exercise because it takes the weight of the arm out of the equation, so it essentially decreases the load demand of the exercise.  This can help the client focus on the reaching aspect of the movement.

 

All these benefits of reaching almost makes it seem like pushing is actually way to important to only be the 1 of the 2:1 or 3:1 ratio…just saying.

 

PROPER MECHANICS AND BALANCED PUSH-PULL RATIO

The real reason why people are at risk of shoulder pain or injury is because they are not pushing OR pulling with proper mechanics.  People don’t change the way they move unless someone teaches them to move in new and better ways. Lo and behold, this is our job.  Push-pull ratios (like cues) don’t excuse us from doing our jobs or do them for us.  Far from it.

Perhaps a more interesting approach to a 2:1 or 3:1 push-to-pull ratio is to teach our clients the right mechanics and then balance out their training so that have the movement variability that the shoulder needs for long-term health.

A balance and variation of horizonal and vertical pushing and pulling that move the scapula into all the different positions it needs, executed with attention to detail is what really matters.  Your posture won’t deteriorate and your shoulders won’t autodestruct because you’re pushing as much as you’re pulling, I promise.

 

 


 


Mai-Linh Dovan M.SC., CAT(C)
Certified Athletic Therapist
Founder of Rehab-U

Be part of the conversation

  • Amazing article!
    I have been implementing the learnings from your level 1 online course (currently studying level 2 and loving every second), and this issue of humeral glide and scapulo-thoracic stability during pulling and pushing movements has been transforming every single one of my clients.

    Before this, I was one of the 3:1 ratio trainers for more than 15 years, both with myself and with my clients. And while I still believe that we need to make sure to include pulling (which is harder and more humbling for people and often gets forgotten among ‘sexier’ pushing movements), my eyes have been completely opened to the fact that HOW you pull and push makes a massive difference, and that if you pull wrong, then no amount of pulling volume will balance your shoulder mechanics.

    My favourite part of this article is when you said that cueing is NOT educating. Since I have been studying with you, I have been far more firm with making sure the mechanics are correct, and educating clients on the purpose of the drills they are doing. What I found out is that people actually really appreciate it, rather than becoming discouraged or impatient. In fact, they begin to take pride in their movement mastery. I think many trainers might be worried that clients just want to get a ‘good workout’, but in reality, people really like to improve and learn new skills.

    Thank you again! Love your work!
    Kat

  • Thanks for the feedback, Ekaterina, I really appreciate you taking the time! Perhaps my love for education has been what drives me to do a lot of education for my clients, but either way, I think it is a must. In my personal training years, I have had the odd client who I felt was more concerned with getting a workout, so I know what that feels like from a trainer’s point of view. There again, the key is education, explaining to them that better movements = better workouts AND better workout longevity, which is always a plus.

    I think the intent behind push:pull is good, and from a structural balance and strength ratio point of view, definitely to be considered. I just don’t think the ratio is effective if people are not pushing or pulling right.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and keep at it! I am sure you are making a world of difference for your clients! 🙂

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