Plyometric Clapping Push Up Overview
The plyometric clapping push up builds a strong chest with power. It works your chest, the muscles across the front of your ribs. It also works your shoulders and triceps. Your triceps are on the back of your upper arms. You do a push-up but push up hard enough to leave the floor. Then you clap your hands in the air. You need no equipment, just the floor. This is an advanced move that builds explosive strength. Pushing off the floor trains your muscles to fire fast. It is best for people who already do many push-ups. Use the plyometric clapping push up in a power workout. Do it early while you are fresh. It builds fast, strong pushing power over time.
What Is The Point of the Plyometric Clapping Push Up?
The plyometric clapping push up builds explosive upper body power and strength. It fires up your chest, shoulders, and triceps while boosting athletic performance.
How To Do The Plyometric Clapping Push Up
- Start in a strong push-up position with your hands about shoulder width apart, your body in a straight line from head to heels, and your core braced.
- Set your shoulder blades and keep your neck neutral, looking at the floor slightly ahead of your hands. A rigid, braced body launches better than a soft one.
- Lower yourself under control into a push-up, keeping your elbows tucked to about 45 degrees and your body rigid. Do not let your hips sag or pike.
- Reach a low position, just above the floor, and gather tension in your chest, shoulders, and triceps. This loaded bottom is your launch pad.
- Drive up explosively with everything you have, pushing your hands off the ground so your upper body launches into the air.
- As you rise, quickly clap your hands together beneath your chest while you are airborne. Keep the clap fast so your hands get back in time.
- Bring your hands back out to the starting position fast so they are ready to catch you on the way down.
- Land softly with slightly bent elbows to absorb the impact, keeping your body straight and core tight. Soft elbows save your wrists over time.
- Flow straight into the next rep or reset as needed. Aim for low reps of 3 to 8 while every rep stays explosive.
Plyometric Clapping Push Up Form Tips
- Keep your body in a straight line the whole time.
- Keep your core tight from head to heels.
- Lower with control before you push.
- Push up as hard and fast as you can.
- Clap quickly, then get your hands back fast.
- Land softly with bent elbows to soak up the force.
- Keep your elbows at about 45 degrees, not flared wide.
- Breathe out hard as you push up.
- Keep your neck in line with your back.
Common Mistakes to Avoid for the Plyometric Clapping Push Up
- Letting the hips sag or pike. A drooping or piked body leaks force and stresses the lower back on landing. Keep a straight, braced line from head to heels on every single rep.
- Landing with locked elbows. Catching yourself on stiff arms sends the shock straight into the elbows and wrists. Land with soft, slightly bent elbows to absorb the impact each time.
- Not pushing hard enough to clear the ground. A weak press means your hands barely leave the floor and the clap becomes a stumble. Drive up explosively so you get real air to clap and reset.
- Flaring the elbows wide. Letting the elbows splay out stresses the shoulders during an explosive, high-force move. Keep them tucked to about 45 degrees on the way down and the drive up.
- Rushing reps past your control. Chaining sloppy reps when you are tired leads to face-plants and wrist tweaks. Keep each rep crisp and stop the set the moment the power fades.
- Doing them cold. Launching into plyometric push-ups without a warm-up risks the wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Warm up with regular push-ups and wrist prep before you go explosive.
- Attempting them without a strength base. If you cannot do many clean regular push-ups, the explosive version is far too much. Build a solid push-up base first before adding the clap.
- Cutting the depth short. Barely dipping before you launch trains a tiny range and less power. Lower to a full push-up depth before you explode back up off the floor.
- Holding your breath. Freezing your breath makes the effort much harder to repeat rep after rep. Exhale sharply as you drive up to help power the explosion.
- Landing on a hard, unforgiving surface. Slamming your wrists onto concrete rep after rep beats up the joints over time. Use a mat or a padded floor to ease the impact.
- Chasing high reps. Grinding out long sets turns a power move into slow, ugly cardio. Keep reps low and explosive so each one is a genuine plyometric effort.
Plyometric Clapping Push Up Workout Tips
- Warm up thoroughly with regular push-ups, arm swings, and wrist prep before you ever go explosive with the clapping version.
- This is a plyometric power move. The goal is maximum explosive force on each rep, not high reps, so quality beats quantity every time.
- Drive up as hard as you can and think about launching your hands off the floor, since the intent to be explosive is what builds real power.
- Land soft with slightly bent elbows to absorb the shock and protect your wrists and shoulders over the long run of training.
- Keep your body in a rigid straight line so all your force goes into the launch and none of it leaks out at the hips.
- Keep reps low, around 3 to 8 per set, and stop the very moment your explosiveness starts to drop off at all.
- Build a strong base of regular push-ups first. Many coaches suggest being able to do 20 or more clean push-ups before adding the clap.
- Program these early in a session when you are fresh, since power work suffers badly when you are already fatigued.
- Exhale sharply as you drive up to help fire your muscles and add real pop to the launch off the floor.
- Progress from regular push-ups to hands leaving the floor, then to a single clap, then to multiple claps as you get stronger.
- Keep your elbows tucked to about 45 degrees to protect the shoulders during the explosive press off the ground.
- Use a mat or padded surface to cushion the landings and save your wrists over months of hard training.
- This builds upper body power that carries over to bench pressing and any explosive pushing in sport.
- Rest fully between sets. Power work needs recovery, so treat it like sprints, not like endurance training.
- Film from the side to check that your body stays straight and you are hitting full depth before each launch.
- Respect the difficulty. This is an advanced move, so build into it patiently rather than forcing it before you are ready.
- Scale down to push-ups with just your hands leaving the floor if a full clap is too much, then add the clap once you can land soft and controlled.
- Program these on a day when you are fresh and pair them with heavy pressing, since explosive and heavy work together build serious upper-body power.
Questions & Comments
Be the first to ask a question about this exercise.