Box jumps are an incredible tool to train lower body power. Why is it rare to see this concept applied to the upper body?
Key Takeaway
Box jumps are a commonly used exercise to develop lower body explosive power. They’re one of my favorites exercises because they’re simple, low impact, and extremely versatile. To make progress you can add height, weight, different approach angles,and various combinations of all of these variables.
How can we apply this to the upper body? The video above is showing me do a plyo push-up onto a box, which is the exact same concept we use for lower body jumps. Much like with jumping these are phenomenal for developing upper body explosive power.
Benefits
The Bullet Points:
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Easy to measure progression (height of box/plates, add weight, pauses, etc)
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You can add weight just like with lower body box jumps
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lower impact when compared to traditional plyo push-ups
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Having the box or stacked plates provide you a target…you will almost always apply more force on each rep to “make it” onto the box.
Longer Explanation
Doing plyo push ups in this manner are a great variation for those looking to add a bit of higher loading to their upper body explosive work but maybe aren’t quite ready for the traditional plyo push up that requires a huge amount of force absorption on the rebound.
A very powerful lower body training method is something called depth jumps, or when someone steps off a box and lands, absorbs the force, and then rebounds into another jump. It is almost always never a good idea to start athletes here. It takes time to build up the prerequisite strength to do these safely and get something out of it.
But for some reason with the upper body people will do plyo push ups off the floor without even thinking about it. Often for high reps and with sloppy technique and wonder why their shoulders and wrists hurt.
If you think about it, ROUGH math here, but a push up is probably about 2/3 of an individuals body weight on each rep.
That means a 185lb male is moving about 123lbs on each rep. Now of course that is very light, particularly if it is just normal rep cadence.
But now when you add in explosive work and rebound, that changes things. I don’t know what the numbers would be without a force plate but it is substantially higher than just moving 123 lbs. If running can be 6x the body weight of an individual on each step I can’t imagine the math being much different for the upper body.
Another way you can think about it is some of the strongest powerlifters in the world will do speed work with 50% of their max bench press for sets of 3 (maybe up to 5 depending on the primary goal) to train strength and speed.
That means you should be benching around 245lbs to train this effectively. Again, not world record numbers but how many people are really thinking about this when they’re doing plyo push ups for high reps? Just think about what the goal is when you train…is it just to get tired or do you want to over time train a capacity that will help you on the street or battlefield?
Closing
“Plyo Box Push-Ups” are great for upper body work or a more “dynamic” focused sessions. Speed work is fun on the bench press and we are using it in our current cycle, but if by chance all the benches/squat racks are taken this is a great variation to consider to get in some explosive work with a quick set up and just some space.
Don’t think of this movement as only good for a back up plan. We will use this movement in later cycles to provide some new stimulus during your dynamic work. You have to change things up a bit to keep moving forward. Dynamic work is used to ensure that you’re not only strong, but you can display your strength quickly when on the job.
If you’re a firefighter, cop, or tactical…speed and explosive power are what wins battles. Whether your opponent is human or natural disaster. Train accordingly.
