Free Fall to Strength and Power With This Pushup Variation
It won’t take long to notice that there’s a lot going on with this pushup and plank mashup. But when you nail this variation, you’ll open the door to greater gains than your run of the mill core work—and you'll get a superior chest and triceps pump for good measure.
This finisher is called the drop pushup to single-arm plank, and while the name is a mouthful, this combination covers a multitude of muscle movements that you don’t always get in a single exercise. This favorite of Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., allows you to hit the aforementioned plank and pushup muscle groups—core, chest, and triceps—while also honing qualities like explosive power, stability, muscle deceleration control, and shoulder stability.
How to Do the Drop Pushup to Single-Arm Plank
To perform this, start from a pushup position—but instead of initially lowering your body as you normally would, you’re going to quickly release your hands from the ground, allowing yourself to “free fall" for an instant. A split second is all it will take before you quickly catch yourself by putting your hands back on the ground.
You’ll proceed as you would a normal pushup by lowering to the ground, however, in this case, drive explosively up, lifting your hands off the ground. Catch yourself with just one hand, which will now turn this move into a single-arm plank. Fight to keep your hips and shoulders square, then let your body free fall into the next rep.
The entire sequence of this move targets a multitude of areas not normally hit with a basic pushup or plank. With each brief free fall, your muscles are being taught to decelerate as our upper body—chest, triceps, and shoulders—is forced to quickly slow yourself down to return to the pushup position. This combo also has us training tons of shoulder stability and activates your core's anti-rotation function.
Because this is such a challenging move, there’s no need for high reps. For the drop pushup to single-arm plank, keep your sessions to three sets of six reps on each arm.
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