Developing an Explosive Workout
Posted on 14 March 2009
Explosive power is a skill we need for life, It is the core of functional fitness. As human beings we are hard wired to do things short and fast. Think about things like swinging, kicking, sprinting and throwing they are all movements we have evolved to do and are necessary in everyday tasks and sports…..
Here is a guide to developing an explosive routine in the gym and with body weight in order to get your fast twitch muscle fibers built up and ready to go!
Explosive in the GYM
In the gym you have a load to work with when developing an explosive workout. The first thing I would do is aim to keep the workout under 20 minutes as it is going to be very taxing on your nervous system so don’t push too hard.
- Squats: Start your workout with some squats, don’t go heavy and keep form strict. You can choose either front squats or regular squats. Aim for 6-10 reps with the positive part of the movement being explosive and the negative being slower. Explode as fast as you can while maintaining good form and do the negative at a steady pace. As soon as your reps slow down rack the bar and do as many Air Squats as you can.
- Military Press: This is the second movement and it should be done in a similar fashion to the squats. Exploding on the outward (positive) and lowering slowly until your speed drops. Make sure you pick a weight that is fairly light as you want to maintain tight form. Remember this is about developing the explosiveness and not lifting a heavy weight. For a video demoing the form check here………
Its a great exercise and can be done with dumbbells, Kettlebells or a barbell. Again like the squats once you slow down with your first weight pick up something really light and practice some explosive shoulder presses with little or no weight to finish off the fast twitch muscles.
- Jumping Pullups: These are a great explosive movement to work your lats, rear delts and really just give you that edge on pulling movements. I reccomend these even if you can do normal pullups as the extra jump really helps develop the explosivity. Again explode up and lower yourself slowly. For this exercise the reps aren’t too important just stop once your explosive power has depleted and work on 1-2 slow negative chin-ups.
Video for form, click here………
Cool so thats it for the gym, aim for a few sets of each exersise (2-4) and thats all you need. Your whole body will have been worked hard by this routine and you may feel a different type of soreness so be prepared!
Explosive with no Equipment
Outdoors you have a huge complex of movements that can make your body weight alone. It just takes a bit of imagination and away you go……
Just make sure you warm up, maybe do go for a short run 1K will do and do some pushups and body weight squats to get things moving.
- Sprints: This is the best way to start a workout outdoors. A few sets of these will get the body firing and ready to move. For a comprehensive guide on sprinting check out my article here…..
- Plyo Pushups: These are great for developing explosive power in your chest, triceps and shoulders. They also work on stabilizing your abs and quads so you will get a full body workout. Again shoot for as many reps as you can until your speed slows down and you lose your “spring”
- Ledge Jumps: These are pretty simple but a very effective exercise. They are basically the same as box jumps except you will need to find a ledge of an appropriate height to jump up to. Explode up onto the ledge with both feet and repeat for as many reps as you can. Once the ledge becomes too easy try something higher…..
Well that’s it for an outdoor workout. Again that comb of 3 exercises will hit your entire body. Aim for 2-4 sets of each and keep your rests fairly short to keep the intensity up.
Benefits All Round
You will find that by practicing explosive workouts once or twice a week you will become far more efficient in many tasks and especially the sports you play which require short, sharp burst of energy…….
Give one of these workouts a try this weekend and see how you cope!
Comment by Peter Levin
14 March 2009
That is interesting,
I never heard of explosive workouts before, good to know
It is not mys style, but it makes sense how it works, even if it looks a little strange to me for some reason
Comment by Anne
16 March 2009
These routines seem really cool. I love the simplicity of it (although the form can be hard enough to get right), and I think I’ll try them out some time this week!
About the gym routine: Would you do these as a circle (1 set of each then start over again) or 2-4 sets of the first exercise, then move on to the next? Or does that even matter?
@ Anne: I would do them one exercise at a time. Saying that mixing things up could make for a pretty effective workout, more crossfit style…..The choice is yours just make sure you keep things as explosive as possible!
Comment by David at Animal-Kingdom-Workouts.com
16 March 2009
I really like the jumping pullups. I can see how these would build explosive power, and I would think they’d also help you if you couldn’t do a regular pullup. Great tip!
- Dave
Comment by Son of Grok
16 March 2009
I am learning the joys of plyo exercises. Explosive is key!
The SoG
Comment by Phil
17 March 2009
Great post….To mix up my routine tried the outdoor version this morning. Overcame some hesitations with the ledge jump and was quite amazed how high I could jump. Fantastic way to start my day.
Comment by Yavor
20 March 2009
You know what I’ve been trying lately? Explosive handstand pushups. I lean against a wall of course, but I’ve already been able to do little half inch take offs. Pretty crazy…
One thing you should be careful with though is to do the explosives with proper technique/biomechanics
Cuz you’re begging for injury otherwise..
Yavor
Comment by Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips
29 March 2009
Some fantastic advice here Chris. I really need to incorporate a lot of these exercises into my workouts. Recently I’ve been trying to do more squats because I naturally shy away from them.
Comment by Girlwithnoname
17 October 2009
WOW, that is freakin’ awesome. that squat vid was really interesting, some of those chicks looked like they were doing alright until the titles pointed out their errors. GREAT valuable info, particularly since I’ve got a client right now that just can’t seem to get the mechanics of the bodyweight squat down. This will help her.
the other stuff is great too, I’m gonna try to do the jumping pullups to see if I can get my numbers up… having a hard time cracking 6 in a row (not bad for a chick tho right? LOL)
thanks again, truly a great post.
Comment by TestMonkey
16 July 2010
These type of workouts seem VERY beneficial to even the average Joe on maintaining or even just getting into shape…especially for someone like me
I like the intensity of the workouts, too. I’ve been sort of veering away from just strictly weight-training and have been looking for a good alternative/addition and this seems to be the winner so far. Thank you SO much for this article and explanations!