Everyone should have at least one party-trick exercise in his or her arsenal. You know—one of those moves that looks really hard, but once you get it down, is just a matter of the right muscle coordination? This plyometric push-up actually may not be deceptively easy, but it will definitely impress your friends (and enemies). Be sure you have healthy shoulders before you start working on this, because the explosive moves can wreak havoc on old injuries or unstable joints.
An exercise like this that requires multiple muscle groups is a great way to burn extra calories and get fit. To progress toward this move, you would first want to be able to do a push- up, and even this push-up or the plyometric push-up could start out on your knees. To start working on the explosive part of this move, you could place two yoga blocks under your hands, then explode off those into a push-up between the blocks, and then walk one hand back up on the blocks one at a time. Pure Austin Fitness Personal Trainer Greg Cook demonstrated the explosive push-up for us.
1 Start in a simple push-up position with arms extended and hands under your shoulders.
2 Slowly lower yourself down until your chest is barely off the ground.
3 Explosively push yourself away from the ground.
4 As your arms extend, reach one arm off the ground directly in front of you.
5 Replace your hand back on the ground and repeat, alternating arms. Do as many reps as you can.
