What Happened When I Tried Plyo Push-Ups For 30 Days?

I’m enjoying these different challenges, mainly because they offer something exciting for me to work towards. While I still love my normal training, I’m always pleasantly surprised when trying new exercises. 

Next up in my challenge series is the plyo push-up. I would describe it as a simplified version of the clap push-up. 

You perform the same movement but don’t perform the clap in the middle. Therefore, it’s a dynamic push-up variation that’s great for building upper body strength and power.

As usual, I’ll be documenting my progress throughout the month. At the end of the article, I’ll give you my five main plyo push-up benefits after a month of performing them. Here we go!

Doing Plyo Push-Ups Every Day For A Month — My Experience

In terms of my training volume, I’ll start with three sets of 10 repetitions. While this might seem like not enough, I’ll be changing the movement tempo to increase the intensity. Know how many push-ups you should be able to do before starting so you can set the right volume.

My goal is to perform plyo push-ups every day for one month. I want to push myself and see what difference it makes. Before I tell you about the benefits, here’s my experience during the challenge. 

Week 1

At the start of week one, I’m quite excited to see how this challenge will go. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t use many dynamic training movements. It’s something I need to improve on.

The general movement pattern is quite simple. It’s the same as a normal push-up. However, you need to generate enough power for your hands to come off the floor. 

I’m very confident with the normal push-up movement. Therefore, I don’t think I’ll need to spend much time learning this one. However, bringing my hands back to the right place and controlling my position will require some practice. 

I know three sets of 10 repetitions is quite low. However, I want to focus on slowly lowering down before powering back up. 

At the end of week one, I’m getting the technique down pretty well. However, the change in tempo is challenging me.

Week 2

With week one completed, it’s time to build on my progress. I’ve got a busy schedule, so I’m going to have to work around that. Luckily, the plyo push-up requires no equipment or set-up time! 

I’ve been performing them whenever I’ve had the chance. This includes between work or when I’m out of the house running errands. It’s not too hard to drop down and do a quick set.

I like the volume I’m using right now. It’s hard enough with the change in tempo. I’ll look to increase this in week three to push myself. 

I’m noticing just how active plyo push-ups are. The dynamic movement pattern is a great way to burn energy while improving strength and power. It’s a versatile bodyweight movement that offers multiple benefits. 

Now that I’m halfway through the challenge, I would say so far, so good. Nothing crazy to report yet, but it is a really enjoyable and challenging exercise. 

Week 3

At the start of week three, it’s time to increase the volume: five extra repetitions. This means that I’m doing three sets of 15 repetitions every day. 

In terms of potential fatigue, I think I’ve done well to manage it so far. I’m eating well, getting enough sleep, and staying hydrated. Splitting my sets throughout the day also definitely helps. 

The extra repetitions are really making me engage my core. Before I power up, I’m making sure that I have a tight body position. Anything that helps with my core activation gets top marks from me. 

The extra repetitions are challenging me. The dynamic movement pattern combined with the slow reps is also helping my cardiovascular fitness. While mine wasn’t bad to start, this is certainly improving it! 

Week 4

I do like the simplicity of this functional movement. It’s challenging but uses a simple technique. If you can do the normal push-up, this is a great exercise that offers push-up progression.

I’m keeping my volume the same as last week. However, I’ll try to push more off the floor to see how high I can get. Of course, I’ll make sure to control my position as my hands come back to the ground. 

At the halfway point in week four, it’s safe to say I can’t get higher. I might need a few more weeks before I can truly make the next step. However, the volume and tempo I’ve used have been perfect for my ability level. 

With the challenge finishing, I want to end by saying how enjoyable this movement has been. It’s dynamic, challenging, and fun to perform. It’s a worthwhile inclusion, whatever your exercise goals! 

Results And Key Changes

Now that you’ve learned about my experience, here are the 5 main benefits I noticed by the end of the month. Hopefully, you’ll see some of them as well!

I Increased My Explosive Power

Explosive power is the ability to generate the maximum force in the smallest amount of time. It’s vital for activities such as jumping, throwing, and sprinting.

Most people think that you need to use weights to work on your power, but that’s not exactly true. Your body weight is the resistance when it works against gravity.

The fast and dynamic movement requires upper body power to bring your hands off the floor. If you can’t generate enough power, you won’t be able to perform the proper action.

At the end of the month, I felt much stronger and more confident in my ability to generate fast and explosive movements using my chest and my triceps. 

My Upper-Body Strength Felt Better 

Most people often get strength and power mixed up, but they’re not the same. While they may sometimes work together, it’s useful to know the difference.

Upper body strength is the ability of your upper body to overcome external resistance. It’s crucial for everyday activities and sports performance, such as carrying the shopping or pushing a player aside.

As you extend your elbows to push off the floor, your chest is the primary mover. It flexes your shoulders to bring your arms forward. Alongside this, your shoulders and triceps play key roles, stabilizing your arms and extending your elbows, respectively.

The intensity of the plyo push-up is generally lower than weighted exercises. However, the large training volume provided enough of a strength-building stimulus. This should help improve sports performance. 

I made sure to slowly lower down before using my upper body to powerfully come off the ground. At the end of the month, this helped my upper body strength.

My Core Engagement Improved 

Your core muscles are the those in your abdomen, back, and pelvis that surround your torso. The main ones include the abdominals, obliques, and erector spinae. 

Each plays an important role in stabilizing your body position during movement and everyday exercise. A good example of another variation where the core plays a leading role would be the tricep push-up.

Learning how to correctly engage your core improves your general movement patterns. This requires you to be aware of your body position. You need to know how to activate it to keep you in the correct alignment.

The plyo push-up requires you to engage your core before beginning the movement. This ensures that you maintain a straight line from your head to your heels. It also stops your hips from moving as your upper body works.

This helped me to have a much better awareness of when I was engaging it properly. Hopefully, this should be something that’ll help me in multiple aspects of daily life.

I Burned More Calories 

We can define calories as units of energy. More specifically, they’re the energy we get from the food we consume and the energy we require to perform activities. 

The difference between the calories we consume and the calories we burn is known as our energy balance. It determines how we look, how we function, and how we feel.

When it comes to exercise, higher-intensity activities burn more calories. This is because they require more energy to sustain the correct movements.

Plyo push-ups can be classed as a high-intensity activity. The repeated, dynamic nature requires a lot of energy.

Performing them every day for a month increased the number of calories I burned. Using this high volume offers a great way to increase your daily calorie burn. Over time, this would be a great way to improve your general health and body composition.

My Cardiovascular Fitness Was Challenged 

I know how important cardiovascular fitness is for general health and wellness. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of illness and death globally, accounting for 32% of deaths in 2019. Low levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviour are two of the main risk factors.

Because of this, I always try to keep active. This might involve walking to the shops, performing a circuit workout, or doing a mobility session at home. As long as I’m moving, I know that it’s helping my cardiovascular fitness.

In a previous challenge, I looked at the benefits of doing push-ups every day for a week. In this, I stated that my cardiovascular health would get better if I had more time. Lucky for me, this challenge was four weeks.

Most people probably won’t think of the plyo push-up as a good cardiovascular exercise. While they’re technically not classed as one, they offer a lot more than you think.

The movement pattern provides a dynamic challenge that works your whole body. Compared to resting, it’s a great way to get your heart rate up and get your body’s systems functioning efficiently.

I’m used to performing less dynamic push-up variations, so this was a welcome change. Hopefully, this is something that will benefit my general health and allow me to live a longer, more fulfilling life. 

How To Do A Plyo Push-Up

How To Do

1. Assume a high plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart. Your legs should be behind you with your feet together. There should be a straight line from your heels to your head, with your shoulders stacked over your hands.
2. Inhale and engage your core. Exhale and bend your elbows to lower your chest towards the floor. You should be looking straight in front of you with your elbows tucked in.
3. Pause briefly as your chest comes near the floor. Inhale and powerfully extend your elbows. Allow your hands to come off the floor while keeping a slight elbow bend.
4. Return your hands to the same position while keeping a slight elbow bend. 

Tips

• Focus on engaging your chest as you power up from the bottom position. This helps to develop a better mind-muscle connection.
• Maintain a slight elbow bend as your hands come back to the same position. This prevents potential elbow and wrist injuries.
• Your hands should come back to the same positions during each repetition. This helps to maintain exercise balance.
• Use a mat or padded area to improve exercise comfort. An outside area is also suitable in most cases.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the challenge, I can safely say that this was one of my favorites. Plyo push-ups are fun, challenging, and easy to learn. With this, you have a versatile bodyweight exercise that works on multiple components of physical fitness. Add the plyo push-up to your gym routine and enjoy some of the many benefits it offers. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as me!

Frequently Asked Questions