Here’s a simple and highly effective chest workout you can use anywhere that will really challenge your entire body. This routine is designed specifically to challenge you technically and once again demonstrates that bodyweight doesn’t necessarily mean easy!
This workout will be made from several push up variations that challenge not only your chest strength but also your ability to pull off complex, explosive movements. These exercises will test your hand-eye coordination, your balance and your strength all at once for some tactical strength.
You can construct this routine however you want, but you should aim to use each of these different moves. Try to go to failure on each one where applicable and keep your rest times to an absolute minimum.
Behind the Back Clapping Push Up
These are clapping press ups but you’ll be clapping behind your back instead of in front of you. This of course requires much more speed and means you need to get more ‘air’ on each rep.
It’s a good idea to start with these, as you’ll need all your energy to get through a decent amount!
Diamond Push Up
The diamond push up is one you likely know. Here you are performing push ups with your hands in a triangle formation directly beneath the center of your chest. We’re making this a little harder though, by challenging you to perform the movement with your hands lower down your body at around hip level. This places the focus squarely on the triceps.
Explosive Push Up
These are push-ups performed in front of a bench, a box or some other raise platform. The idea is that you’re going to launch yourself in the air on each rep and catch the raise surface, before then letting yourself drop back down. This is a great movement because it not only has the explosive, plyometric aspect but also forces you to ‘catch’ yourself on the downward movement which challenges the nervous system in an entirely different way.
45s
The workout begins with 45s. This means three sets of 15 press ups, no break in between, going from wide grip to diamond push ups.
Incline Push Ups Superset With Incline Clapping Push Ups
This superset will completely finish you off by first tiring you out with regular incline press ups, then moving you on to the challenging clapping push ups and then providing a mechanical drop set down from there.
The Easier Version
As stated earlier, this is an advanced and technical routine for those very comfortable with press up technique. Don’t dive straight into this one or you risk faceplanting at stage one. Of course you can make the challenge easier or harder in various ways – by changing the height of the platform you jump up onto for instance, or by trying to go for two claps instead of just the one.
If you can’t pull this off right away don’t worry – very few people can! But keep working at your press ups and eventually you’ll be leaping and clapping all over the place…
