CalisthenicsIn review

Explosive Push-Up

A push-up pressed fast enough for the hands to leave the floor for a moment.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Horizontal push
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Moderate
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Place the hands under the shoulders on a floor that does not slip.
Step the feet back until the body is in one line from head to heels.

Do the rep

Lower until the chest is a fist's height above the floor.
Press up fast so that both hands leave the floor.
Land on soft, slightly bent elbows and go into the next rep.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when both hands leave the floor and land under the shoulders with the body still in one line.

One rep lowers to a fist's height above the floor, presses so both hands leave the floor, and ends in a controlled landing on bent elbows.

Breathing

Inhale as you lower; exhale hard as you press off the floor.

Cues

Press the floor away fast.
Keep the body rigid.
Land with soft elbows.

Common mistakes

Landing on locked arms
What you seeThe elbows are straight when the hands land, and the body jars.
FixBend the elbows a little as the hands land.
Soft elbows absorb the landing and protect the elbows and wrists.
Leading with the hips
What you seeThe hips rise before the chest.
FixBrace the trunk so the body rises in one piece.
The press must lift the whole body.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if a wrist or elbow hurts on landing.
End the set when the hands no longer leave the floor.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Chest · moderate confidence
Triceps · moderate confidence
Front deltoids · moderate confidence

Assisting

Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Serratus anterior · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

Use a floor that does not slip. A mat is optional.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 2, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_push_up, the closest Wave 1 record.
Skill tier intermediate: the press must lift the hands off the floor, which takes months of push-up training (rule 3). The CSV says beginner.
Failure cost high: a missed landing can drop the face or chest onto the floor (rule 3, jumps).
Plyometric push-up: the hands leave the floor. Rule 2 gives it the horizontal push roles. The switch-on PR must decide if the engine should plan it as a main press or keep it as a swap.
Impact is moderate because the hands land on the floor. The CSV says low.
The CSV lists a bench as optional. A missed landing on a bench edge can hurt, so the record drops it.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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