coach
“The exercise aims to develop speed-strength qualities and develop upper body muscles. “Explosive pushups are a plyometric exercise that includes a variety of jumping and throwing movements.”
The athlete develops the ability to perform quick and powerful actions, which improves explosiveness, reaction time, acceleration, speed of movement and agility.
What muscles work?
During explosive push-ups, multiple muscle groups are stressed.
Pectoral muscles. They are the main ones when performing this exercise.Triceps brachii muscles. The triceps is responsible for extending the arms at the elbow joint.Deltoid muscle of the shoulder. It is auxiliary and participates in raising the shoulder upward.Abdominal muscles. The rectus and oblique muscles help stabilize the body during exercise.forearm muscles. This group helps keep the hand and forearm in a stable position.
To find out which type of push-ups is best, read the link:
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Push-ups on fingers, fists and palms: which are most useful for lifting the upper body?
Why do explosive push-ups?
Force. Explosive push-ups train the ability to perform physical activity in a short period of time. The more power an athlete has, the faster they can perform a movement or overcome resistance, which can give them an advantage.
Muscle strength and size. Regular exercise helps increase upper body muscle volume by engaging several large muscle groups at once. It also increases the level of overall physical strength.
Reduces the risk of injury. This exercise helps develop strong pectoral muscles, anterior deltoids, and triceps. This allows you to evenly distribute the load between the joints and muscles. Additionally, strong muscles help protect the musculoskeletal system from sports and home injuries. For example, when falling or colliding with another person.
Resistant strength. Performing explosive push-ups for a high number of repetitions builds strength and endurance. In this way, the body’s ability to withstand intense stress over a long period of time is trained. However, to do this you need to perform at least 15-25 repetitions in a series.
Joint health. Regular exercise helps maintain worn muscles around joints and reduce swelling, stiffness, and pain. Exercise also helps replenish joint cartilage lubrication, improve nutrient metabolism, and increase mobility.
General physical preparation. The exercise uses multiple joints and muscle groups and effectively develops strength, speed and agility.
Photo: istockphoto.com / Ildar Abulkhanov
Who is suitable for explosive push-ups?
Explosive push-ups are designed for trained people with different fitness levels. The exercise is useful for sports where it is necessary to use explosive strength: boxing, wrestling, hockey, tennis, martial arts, weightlifting and athletics.
Beginners are recommended to master the technique of performing classic push-ups for 10-15 repetitions in two or three sets, and then try doing explosive push-ups.
A basic level of. For inexperienced athletes, the exercise can be challenging as it requires a lot of explosive power. It is recommended to perform short-amplitude explosive push-ups, using a bench, wall or CrossFit cabinet as support for your arms.
Advanced athletes. For experienced athletes, the exercise can be an effective addition to increasing punching power and speed, improving performance on the bench press, military press, and other pressing or pushing movements.
Photo: istockphoto.com / Wavebreakmedia
Technique for performing explosive push-ups.
We take the emphasis while lying on straight arms. Keep your body straight. The gaze is directed to the ground. The neck, back and hips are located in one line. The spine is straight, there is no need to slouch. We put our feet together and place our arms straight at shoulder width or wider. We distribute the load over the entire surface of the palms and fingers, bring the shoulder blades together and lower them. We fix this position throughout the exercise, while we inhale we go down to a 90-degree angle at the elbow joints, while we exhale we push ourselves off the ground with a powerful movement, stretching our arms at the height of the elbows. It is important to lift your palms off the ground and then land softly.
Perform two or three approaches 5 to 10 times. If the load is light, you can use additional weights. Rest between sets: two to three minutes.
Photo: istockphoto.com/aywan88
Recommendations for implementation
Warm up before your workout. Before performing explosive push-ups and any plyometric exercises, it is necessary to perform a quality warm-up to prepare the muscles and ligaments for intense work. The muscles will warm up and the ligaments will become more elastic. This will increase the effectiveness of your training and reduce the risk of injury. As a warm-up, do 5 to 10 minutes of joint exercises and a couple of sets of classic push-ups for 10 repetitions.
Learn the technique. Master the correct placement of your hands, arms, legs, spine and head position. Pay attention to the phases of breathing. These nuances will increase the effectiveness of the exercise and protect against injuries.
Breathe correctly. Proper breathing makes your training more effective. It is important that the supply of oxygen to muscles, organs and tissues is continuous and in sufficient quantities. Exhalation is done with maximum force by pushing the torso up and inhalation is done by lowering the torso down. Avoid holding your breath while performing the exercise.
Focus on quality, not quantity. Your goal is to perform explosive push-ups with a high-quality range of motion at high speed, not to do as many repetitions as possible. Choose a rep range where you don’t lose explosive power.
Use different hand positions. Alternate between wide and narrow hand positions when performing the exercise. This will allow you to use different muscle segments. When it is narrow, the load falls more on the chest and triceps muscles. When they are wide, the pectoral and deltoid muscles work actively and the triceps participate to a lesser extent.
Train carefully if you are overweight. Explosive push-ups can be difficult for people with large body masses. It is recommended to include exercise in your training plan after losing body weight or start with simple types of explosive push-ups.
Photo: istockphoto.com / South_agency
Common mistakes
High elbow position. Performing the exercise with the elbows above the shoulder joint is a common mistake. It is recommended to choose the position of the elbows below the shoulder line or press them against the body. This helps reduce stress on the joints and prevent potential injuries.
Unfaithful. Sometimes athletes deviate from technique to perform more repetitions than they are capable of. For example, they activate the muscles of the back, legs and buttocks when pushed up. Because of this, the target muscles receive less tension.
Short amplitude. Performing the exercise with a small range of motion is one of the common mistakes. For example, incomplete push-ups to the bottom point, low push-up height from the ground.
Photo: istockphoto.com/skynesher
Contraindications
Moderate and regular exercise has a positive effect on a person’s physical and psychological state, however, each person may have individual contraindications.
We recommend that you consult with your doctor before intense training to determine the presence of restrictions and contraindications. Especially if you have:
heart and cardiovascular diseases; spinal diseases, joint problems; pregnancy; obesity; diabetes; neurological diseases.
Limit explosive push-ups and other strength exercises for acute pain in the shoulder and elbow joints, spine and neck, elevated body temperature, infectious diseases and exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Read more about contraindications for push-ups here:
The doctor told him who should not do push-ups. 5 situations in which an exercise should be replaced
Types of explosive push-ups
Horizontal push-ups. One of the simplest variations of explosive push-ups. The exercise is performed against a wall. During push-ups, it is necessary to push off the wall so that the arms are straight and the palms are lifted off the surface.
Knee push-ups. A light version of explosive push-ups, suitable for athletes with little training experience. The exercise is performed kneeling and off the ground. During push-ups from the bottom position, push your body to straighten your back.
Push-ups lifting the body off the ground. The exercise is performed lying on stretched arms. Push off the ground with maximum force so that your arms and legs come off the surface.
Push-ups with cotton. The exercise is performed lying on stretched arms. Push the ground with maximum force and slap in the air. Next, land softly on your palms, bending your elbows slightly to soften the impact.
Superman push-ups. The exercise is performed lying on stretched arms. Push off the ground with maximum force, stretching both arms forward and lifting your legs off the ground.
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