heavy training bodybuilding Lockout Loaded Push-Ups for Connective Tissue Strength and High-Threshold Motor Unit Activation

Now, before you look at this exercise and say "I'll never do that", let me explain WHY you'd want to do an exercise like this.

If you try it, you will want to start a lot lighter than this! The exercise is perfectly safe when done with loads appropriate to your strength and training experience and with proper bar placement on your back!)


1. Heavy Loads Strengthen the Connective Tissue

By doing heavy lockouts (whether like this or with a barbell), you target connective tissue. Connective tissue strength can actually be a limiting factor in your strength.

When you get to a certain point in your strength levels, your muscles will no longer be strong enough in a FULL range of motion to substantially increase connective tissue strength.

And if your connective tissue (i.e. tendons, ligaments, fascia, cartilage) isn't strong enough to stand up to the weight and move the load, your body will STOP your strength right where it is, to prevent injury.

You will hit a plateau and you will NEVER get past it until your connective tissue gets stronger.


2. Supra-Maximal Loads Activate and Train High-Threshold Motor Units

Your nervous system is smart...it will only recruit enough motor units (the groups of nerves that activate muscle fibers) to do the job at hand.

In terms of strength training, though, this system can work AGAINST you if you only use "full" range of motion on your exercises.

When you always train with "full" range of motion, you can only use as much weight as your body can handle at the WEAKEST point of the exercise.

You will NEVER use more weight than your body can move through that weak point. This will limit your nervous system activation and your connective tissue strength.

But if you start ABOVE that sticking point, you can instantly use a LOT more weight.

This FORCES your body to activate and TRAIN the higher-threshold motor units...the ones that are capable of moving MASSIVE amounts of weight.


3. Closed-Chain vs Open-Chain Exercises

When it comes to motor unit activation (as I described above), CLOSED chain exercises (like the push-up) generally result in MORE activation than OPEN chain exercises (like the bench press).


One Caveat With Partial-Range Training

Let me be clear on one thing...for optimal MUSCLE development you DO need full range of motion.

With this, we're training for connective tissue strength and nervous system activation...the benefits of which will CARRY OVER to your full-range training, to help you build more muscle in the future by being stronger and activating more muscle fibers.


Now Let's Get to the Exercise...

You'll be doing the top few inches of the range of motion of a push-up done with a loaded barbell on your back.

To do this one, you will need either a power rack (which is what I'm using) or a Smith machine (which is actually even BETTER for this exercise because it'll stabilize the load). I also highly recommend using a barbell pad for it to help distribute the load more widely on your back.

You'll need to experiment with the setup a bit, to get the right height for the bar for you. Use just an empty bar until you get it right. You want your upper body to be HORIZONTAL when doing the exercise so that the bar doesn't roll forward or backward.

Set the rails about two feet off the ground and move the bar forward right up against the uprights of the rack. When you're using free weight, this will give you a bit more stability for the bar as it won't be able to roll forward. This won't be an issue with the Smith machine.

Next, get on your hands and knees and get your upper back under the bar, so that the bar is resting on your shoulder blades.

*** THIS IS A CRITICAL POINT*** You don't want the bar resting directly on your spine by having it too low on your back...you want it to be resting on the thick muscles of the upper back and supported across the scapulae. This also places the bar more in line with the arms, which are your base of support for the exercise.

Set your hands out fairly wide and set your knees out a bit as well, to maximize your base of support.

We're not in a normal "straight body" push-up position because core strength would limit the amount of load we could then put on the upper body.

"Solidify" your back underneath the bar. This means contracting your upper back muscles and bracing your core. This is critical as you start getting into heavier loads.

Get yourself centered under the bar. Likely, you'll need to adjust your position a bit after the first rep. If one side tilts up, just set the bar back down and shift your body over a little bit to better center yourself.

Now PUSH.

Do this for a set of 4 to 6 reps, and perform 3 to 4 sets of this exercise, with 90 seconds rest in between sets. I would recommend it be done once a week.

heavy training bodybuilding Lockout Loaded Push-Ups for Connective Tissue Strength and High-Threshold Motor Unit Activation
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