UKC Forums - what's the antagonistic exercise to pull-ups?

what's the antagonistic exercise to pull-ups?

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Stone_donkey 20 Apr 2014

How should I keep the muscle groups balanced if I'm going to start doing pull-ups (palm-away)? Is it push ups or something else?

Didymus 20 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

Shoulder press is more specific than press-up I believe.

Shani 20 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

Handstand and hand walking. For general shoulder girdle health add in front levers, back levers and Skin the Cats.

lost1977 20 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

its quite difficult to suggest exercises without knowing a lot more about the overall state of shoulders and upper back. i had problems setting my shoulders and activation exercises to help depress the scapula really helped to balance shoulder function

JayPee630 20 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

Some kind of shoulder press/push press/push jerk. Do some kind of mobility and light rotator cuff work and then some handstand push-ups and walks and you'll be ready for anything.

nw 20 Apr 2014

In reply to JayPee630:

Overhead press. More scalable, repeatable and programmable than than handstand pushups imo.

OP Stone_donkey 21 Apr 2014

In reply to Shani:

Ok, you're going to have to help me out there - "skin the cat"??

OP Stone_donkey 21 Apr 2014

In reply to lost1977:

> its quite difficult to suggest exercises without knowing a lot more about the overall state of shoulders and upper back. i had problems setting my shoulders and activation exercises to help depress the scapula really helped to balance shoulder function

I'm a lightweight, 10 stone dripping wet and 5'11". So long levers and b@gger all muscle mass

Shani 21 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=skin%20the%20cat&sm=1

lost1977 21 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

how would you say you pressing strength is in comparison to your pull up strength and can you arm wrestle ?

OP Stone_donkey 22 Apr 2014

In reply to lost1977:

Well, I can do more pushups than pull-ups, but push ups don't push up full bodyweight whereas pull-ups do, so it's probably not a fair comparison. Probably better to say that i'm equally weak in both aspects and want to build strength 'symmetrically'

lost1977 22 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

the reason iam asking is gives a good indication of overall shoulder function (weak external rotation and bad activation for scapula depression are common in climbers and certain answers would have pointed towards that)

balmybaldwin 22 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:

Press-ups whilst standing on your head (against a wall) would probably do it

OP Stone_donkey 22 Apr 2014

In reply to Shani:

Whatever I do will need to use my rockrings - I think I can rule out the 'skin the cat' ! I have some dumbbells so it sounds like the shoulder press (assuming this is done with dumbbells rather than barbells) should do the trick)

nathan79 22 Apr 2014

In reply to lost1977:

Strengthen your external rotators with these two exercises. Good form over heavier weight is the way to go. Definitely helps redress the balance between the internal and external rotators for overall shoulder health.

Lying L-flye

Cuban press, though the external rotation part of this movement is good to do on it's own.

Shani 22 Apr 2014

In reply to Stone_donkey:
I'd preferentially go for handstands against a wall as a start. If you aim for a free standing one, you'll not go far wrong. As for skin the cats, you can do them on a pull up bar. Lots of other options exist such as levers and planche variations, and L-sits to manna variations.

Post edited at 17:32