Multiplanar Presses For Stability, Strength and Mobility

1: Turkish Get-Ups

Yawn. You thought the first one would be something exciting involving straps and bands and bosu balls, right? I thought I'd start with something everyone knows works. TGUs are a staple of kettlebell geeks, functional fitness nerds, sports trainers and people all over the world who want to bulletproof their shoulders and teach their bodies to act as one mobile, stable piece. 

Why It's Multiplanar: The load starts above you with your arm at right angles to your body (front-back) and ends overhead (up-down).

Why it's great for stability: Your shoulder has to control the position of the load as you move it and your body through space. They're surprisingly tiring and while they're not the first choice to build muscle directly, TGUs are a great way to build injury-proof, rock-solid stability throughout the body, not just in the shoulders.

How it's done: Floor press a dumbbell or kettlebell (or two fat ladies on a bicycle: don't let me hold you back) and press your body upward on one elbow and the opposite knee. Shoot your non-loaded foot back into a low lunge, stand up and finish with your feet together.

2: Reverse Pushup To Shoulder Support

These are a calisthenic classic, great for building shoulder ROM you can actually use and a killer stabiliser workout as well as building strength.

Why it's great for strength: You're always at a mechanical disadvantage, so it's perfeect for developing strength in any direction

Why it's multiplanar: You move from having your hands overhead, pressing downward, to having them next to your hips, pressing downward. That's about half the ROM of your shoulder joint, loaded. 

How it's done: I assumed some familiarity with TGUs. These are a little more off the beaten track, so I'll go into more detail. Start in a pushup position with your thumbs, not your fingers, facing forwards. Bend your knees until they amlost, but not quite, tocuh the floor. Keep your arms straight. That's one "end" of the movemet. At this point you should be face to face with the floor, arms overhead, hips pushed back; think of it like an overhead squat ar right angles to the ground. Now allow yourself to move forward, still keeping your arms straight, and take the weight into the very tips of your toes as your bodyweight comes forward. This is the other "end" and at the finish, you should be on tip toes, with your hands almost under your hips. Roll your shoulders forward to take the weight. 

3: Around The World

Maybe you remember this as a yoyo trick. Put that thing down: this is something else. After you do a few of these you'll remember your old pressing workouts with a warm glow of nostalgia.

Why it's multiplanar: You're using the movement of your arms to move the load into a different position while keeping the line of push the same. It doesn't change relative to gravity but it changes relative to you.

Why it's great for mobility: Taking your shoulders through a nearly-full range of motion under a load is a great way to discover the gaps in your mobility: the bits you swing your arm through bnecause you don'thave the strength and control to move smoothly. Do these and you'll soon develop strong, fluid mobility that lets you move freely, strongly and safely.

How it's done: Lie on your back with your feet tucked up, as if you were about to do a glute bridge. In each hand, hold a weight. Your arms should be straight, palms up. Don't start with heavy weights. Hold your hands next to your legs. Your arms should be about 30° off the horizontal, so you're pressing upward. That puts the movement intop the scapular plane which is more shoulder-friendly. Now, slowly and simultaneouusly move both hands around in a circle until they're about shoulderwidth apart overhead. Return to the starting position. That's one rep. 

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