Myth Busting - Optimal Push to Pull ratios in exercise

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IS THERE AN OPTIMAL PUSH/PULL RATIO FOR THE SHOULDER?

​You may have heard people suggest that there is an optimal ratio of pulling to pushing exercises you need to do in order to prevent or even recover from shoulder injuries. 

The more commonly spoken about ratio is that you need to do 3/1 pulling to pushing exercises for your upper body in order to maintain “shoulder health” and prevent injury.

​Whilst it would be nice to have a predetermined ideal ratio of exercises to work towards, this is largely unfounded and will not apply to the majority of the human population.
Some reasons for this include:

• This ratio does not factor in previous experience, joint structure, joint function or the clients current capabilities.
• Simply doing only pushing exercises such as a bench press will not necessarily cause shoulder injuries.  Whilst it might be a good idea to train everything around that joint, there is no evidence to suggest that only doing bench presses will increase your risk of shoulder injury.
• Training the back of your shoulder will not automatically improve your posture, since posture is largely based on choice and structural influences.  It may mean you require less muscular effort to get into a position you consider good posture, however it won’t automatically put you there.
• By doing a disproportionate amount of exercises for the back of the shoulder, we might then end up impacting shoulder health in a negative way, since we are now possibly neglecting the muscles of the front of the shoulder, which also play a role in maintaining the integrity of the joint.

So what should I do then?

Instead of suggesting people aim for a 3/1 ratio of pulling to pushing exercises, I've outlined  couple of steps you could follow below, which might result in a safer and more effective outcome:

• Simply base your exercise selection on the person you have in front of you.  As always, when creating exercise session plans, it can be helpful to consider who we are working with, what their goals are, their tolerance levels, body structure and limitations (RTS, 2019).  
• For shoulder training, this might include looking at specific ways to safely challenge all the motions available at the shoulder, and the muscles on both sides of the joint.
• Look at each client individually and determine the right options for them.

Whilst it would be nice if we could follow standardised guidelines, unfortunately these generally don't apply to the majority of the population.