What are isometric push-ups and how are they useful?

When working out in gyms, many athletes forget that they can develop not only strength endurance, but also speed and strength indicators. From the point of view of muscle functioning, it is the endurance and speed of contraction that determine the basic everyday strength, and not the maximum contractility. One of the exercises that allows you to work out almost the entire muscular corset is explosive push-ups.

Why and to whom?

Why and who needs explosive push-ups? There are several main tasks they perform. Due to this they are often used:

1. Boxers and other martial arts athletes. Explosive push-ups directly affect the speed, placement and power of the blow - which is especially important in combat.
2. Crossfitters – to develop functional strength.
3. People who want to soon acquire sculpted, albeit not very large, muscles.

The latter is especially interesting since speed and explosive exercises are most often used by Hollywood actors. By stimulating the deep layers of muscles that are usually not involved during basic exercises, rapid growth occurs. This is comparable to the growth effect of a person who has never played sports in his life. In the first 2 months of classes, great progress is felt, which then slows down.

Explosive exercises allow already trained athletes to achieve this effect.

What muscles work?

Despite the fact that the mechanics of explosive push-ups are in many ways similar to simple push-ups, the number of muscle groups involved is significantly higher (in the most complex variation). Let's take a closer look.

As you can see from the map, more muscle groups are involved. In addition, the emphasis on the target muscles allows you to get a deeper study.

Additional exercises

In the future, when you gain some strength or endurance, you can try more complex, but more effective exercises such as “one-arm push-ups,” where you spread your legs as wide as possible to achieve a triangular shape of supports: two legs, one arm.

Or “handstand push-ups.” In this exercise, you can lean your feet against the wall or ask for help from a friend who will hold your feet. This exercise is great for pumping up the deltoids and upper pectoral muscles.

“Finger push-ups” are a great way to strengthen not only the muscles, but also the joints of the hands and fingers, which will significantly increase your grip strength.

Push-ups, training program - all this was the main topic of today's material. I hope I was able to help you in this matter. As a thank you, you can subscribe to blog updates and tell your friends about this article. I definitely want to see your comments. Be strong, friends.

Execution options

There are a huge number of variations on the theme of explosive push-ups. Some of them have extremely complex techniques that improve coordination but have little effect on explosive power.

Let's look at the main types of push-ups:

• With a slight lift of your hands off the floor. The stronger the neuromuscular synapse, the higher you can rise,
• With a bang. Creates additional emphasis on the arm flexor muscles,
• Variation of clapping in the grasshopper position - develops the front surface of the hand made into a fist, improves coordination, and wrist muscles,
• With the body torn off.
• With jumping and bending.

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Note: Due to the complex coordination technique, which can only be accomplished by experienced athletes, the option with jumping and bending, as well as clapping from the grasshopper position, will not be considered.

From hand excerpt

Hands off is the simplest variation on the theme. The main feature is to try to lift your hands off the floor. A more complicated version involves landing in a half-bent position. An excellent option for those who have just begun to develop their neuromuscular synapse and explosive strength.

Cotton

A complicated version of the previous exercise - is actively used in martial arts, as it forces not only to develop the dynamic explosive power of the triceps, but also to coordinate the body in such a way that, while engaging the biceps at the top point of the movement, it has time to expose the body and carry out a stabilizing effect due to the rear delt.

With the entire body torn off

A separation of the entire body implies an extremely high degree of development of the triceps and anterior deltoids. In addition, it is important to be able to properly stabilize yourself in order to rise high enough. Variations with bouncing are available only to well-developed athletes who train for months to master the correct technique.

Execution technique

The technique of explosive push-ups is in many ways similar to the classic one, but there are some features in each of them. Let's take a closer look.

From hand excerpt

In the case of a simple hand separation, the technique is extremely simple:

1. Place it point-blank while lying down,
2. Lower completely until your chest touches the floor.
3. Push off sharply with your hands, making a load at the lowest point, giving impulse for lifting.

The difficulty of an exercise is determined not by the number of times performed, but by the maximum height of the last repetition. In addition, it is important to keep the body in a straight position, which not all athletes can do.

Cotton

In many ways, similar to the previous one.

1. Place it point-blank while lying down,
2. Lower completely until your chest touches the floor.
3. Push off sharply with your hands, making a load at the lowest point, giving impulse for lifting.
4. While in the air, clap your hands.
5. The return of the hands to the starting position is achieved due to the elastic impulse that is obtained during the clap.
6. It is important to hold the body and return the arms immediately to a half-bent position to reduce the load on the elbow joint.

The advanced version involves the use of double and triple cotton. Develops maximum speed and explosive power due to the need to use as many different movements as possible with a high degree of accuracy and intensity.

With the entire body torn off

This exercise additionally engages the leg muscles - and in a very unnatural amplitude. Therefore, it is important to monitor the correct technique for performing the exercise so as not to get injured and not overwork the ligaments.

1. Place it point-blank while lying down,
2. Lower completely until your chest touches the floor. Push off sharply with your hands, making a load at the lowest point, giving impulse for lifting. At the same time, sharply push off your feet from the floor. It is important that the impulse should not come from the quadriceps, but from the gluteal muscle - making forward movements (as if we were trying to raise our legs in front of us). Only then is the impulse transmitted to the quadriceps and calf.
3. While in the air, extend your arms forward and pull up your toes.
4. While in the air, return your toes to maximum tension with your heels to stabilize the load.
5. The return of the hands to the starting position is achieved due to the elastic impulse that is obtained during the clap.
6. It is important to hold the body and return the arms immediately to a half-bent position to reduce the load on the elbow joint.

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There are several features. First, breathing. Under no circumstances should you take a full breath. Repulsion occurs on a half-exhalation. Otherwise, the load and speed of execution will not allow you to release all the air, which dangerously increases intracranial pressure. At the moment of pushing off the floor, you need to tense your abs to create additional momentum. When landing on the ground, on the contrary, the lower back is tensed to neutralize the consequences on the spine.

The exercise is performed only in sports shoes with a hard toe. You cannot perform this variation on bare feet, because if you do not calculate the correct angle of tension, you can not only fall, but also break your toes.

Description of the training program

The set of exercises given below allows you to simultaneously, for example, strength and mass, relief and endurance, achieve your goals, or pump up skills one by one - first mass, then relief. The only difference is in the way the exercises are used: the number of approaches, intensity and number of repetitions changes. The exercises themselves can not be changed for 3-4 months, doing according to the same scheme.

It is worth noting that the complex is suitable for both the gym and home use. Universal and trouble-free, like the well-known Kalashnikov assault rifle. The main thing is to learn how to “shoot”, that is, technique.

Work on strength and mass

For each exercise, you need to do 3-5 approaches, each with 6-12 repetitions. Rest between sets and exercises is 1.5 and 2.5 minutes, respectively. Mandatory use of one or two drop sets after each exercise. What is this – your “homework” assignment. The pace of execution is below average.

Endurance and relief work

Each exercise must be repeated 15 to 25 times in one approach. The number of approaches can vary from 6 to 8. Rest between sets is only 1 minute, and between exercises - 1.5. The pace of execution is high. Pay attention to your breathing: exhale as you force, inhale as you relax. This will help you quickly adapt to the complex.

Neuromuscular synapse

Explosive exercises (such as jumping jacks, jumping jacks), or push-ups with a clap and lifting the body, develop neuromuscular synapse, or rather explosive strength. In simple terms, the speed at which the spinal cord can send a signal to contract is relatively small. At the same time, an untrained body, regardless of the load, sends a limited number of impulses. That is why there is a “false” opinion that all pitching is slow. After all, as the size of the muscle fiber increases, it needs more nerve impulses to stimulate contraction.

Explosive exercises specifically stimulate the ability of the spinal cord and brain to send more impulses. Due to this, the athlete’s speed performance increases. And due to the increase in the number of signals, more muscle fibers are involved. Those. in explosive exercises, the entire triceps contracts – including the deepest “reserve layers”.

Explosive Strength Development

Explosive push-ups, despite all their specificity, are not aimed at improving general strength indicators (although in the first months of training, performance in simple push-ups can increase exponentially), but rather at developing explosive strength. Therefore, if your main goal is to gain greater muscle speed.

At the same time, the development of red muscle fibers increases the possibility of injury during failure in exercises such as the bench press. Due to the lack of development of white fibers, which are not used during explosive exercises, the maximum weight can be increased, but exceeding the maximum weight will lead to rupture of the white fibers.

Note: This risk only exists for highly advanced athletes who are lifting at the limits of the human body.

Medicine ball push-ups

The medicine ball is perhaps the staple item in any gym. But how are boxing and fitness related?

? Boxers, despite common myths about stupidity and closed-mindedness, are constantly looking for ways to improve their results. And now medicine balls can be seen in boxing gyms. The training consists of this. You place your left hand on the ball and press your right hand into the floor. Do a push-up and then switch your hands. This exercise needs to be done at a fast pace to achieve maximum effect. Push-ups of this kind are quite difficult and will require practice.

With this ball you can also perform push-ups with a narrow grip.