Your Standard PushUp is one of the best exercises for bodyweight gains, but once you’ve mastered the movement and established a baseline level of strength, it might begin to feel a bit boring. Once you’ve hit that point, thankfully, you don’t necessarily need to reach for weights to level up your chest gains. There are plenty of pushup variations that you can try to add an extra level of difficulty and novelty to your gear-free upper body pump—like the blast off pushup, which will add an element of lower body mobility and a nice upper back stretch, too.
This is the type of movement you’ll find in the new Ultimate Summer Sweat workout series, which is now available on All Out Studio for Men’s Health MVP Premium members. The program’s creator, trainer Eric Sung, C.S.C.S., designed the workouts to introduce some much-needed variety to your seasonal training plan, giving you plenty of options to get moving.
The blast off pushup isn’t the most challenging variation out there, but you should make sure that you’re doing the movement properly if you plan to introduce it into your training plan. Follow Sung’s directions and move deliberately through each step to maximize your bodyweight benefits.
How to Do the Blast Off Pushup
High Plank
The first step is to start in a high plank position. This means you’re supporting your weight on your palms with your hands stacked beneath your shoulders and toes tucked in, squeezing your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension. Your spine should form a straight line.
Hinge Back
Hinge at the hips and knees to send your butt back toward your heels, keeping your palms planted on the floor. You should feel a stretch in your upper back.
Dive Forward
Once you’ve found the end range of the pushup, dive forward, pressing off your toes to reverse the motion. Continue forward into a pushup, bending at the elbows to lower your torso down to just above the floor.
Press Up
Press through your palms to extend your elbows back up to the high position of a pushup (back to high plank).
Once you feel comfortable doing the move, repeat for 3 sets of 8 reps.
For more exercises like this and workouts that will keep you fit and moving all season, check out Sung’s whole Ultimate Summer Sweat series, only available on All Out Studio for Men’s Health MVP Premium members.
Source – MensHealth
