For those of us who can easily fall into a comfortable workout routine, here is a great workout that will allow you to change it up and focuses on specifically targeting the chest.

An important training principle that fitness enthusiasts often forget is muscle confusion.  Maybe your chest hasn’t been responding to isometric exercise as it should. Or perhaps you have been applying muscle confusion training to your workouts and are using adjustable dumbbells.  Well, it’s time for your training to get taken to the neXt level with a plyometrics workout.  This plyometric workout will give the boost your chest needs to get the deep inner cuts in your pecs.

I’m talking about using plyometric moves.  Plyometric is a type of exercise that suddenly preloads and forces the stretching of a muscle an instant prior to its concentric action.  Explosive plyometrics forces your body to trigger fast twitch muscle fibers.  Why is this important? Because of these fibers have the greatest potential for strength gains.  The exercise we are going to do is called… the plyo pushups or plyometric pushups — and this exercise will really kick your butt. It will help train your muscle fibers to produce a greater amount of force in a very short period of time.

Plyometric training is used by trainers and coaches to increase speed, strength, and build power in athletes.  But plyometric exercises, which involve jumps, hops, and bounding movements, aren’t just for athletes.  Adding plyometric drills to your regular strength-training regimen will increase your endurance, burn calories and help you shed body fat.

Here’s How to Do Plyometric Pushups
* First, you will need 2 boxes or benches of equal height.  Place them about 6 inches outside your shoulders.

*Second, position yourself in between the boxes and get yourself into the push up position….with your hands on the boxes your feet on the floor and arms extended.  Make sure you keep your back flat and your abdominal muscles engaged.

Now take a deep breath and tighten your upper body.
Quickly move your hands from on top of the boxes and reach for the floor. As your hands contact the floor quickly slow down your body’s descent. Wait until your body has come to within 1 inch from the floor approximately. Then explode in the opposite direction trying to push your self off the floor as high as you can. You must land on top of the boxes with your hands, your elbows bent and then repeat the exercise.
Do this exercise five times, this is one set. Perform a total of 4 sets resting for approximately 30 seconds between each set. You will find these plyometric pushups to be a great tool in your muscle building arsenal. Add these to your plyometric workout and you will be quickly surprised at your strength and muscle gains in your chest.

As this may be a more advanced workout for some people’s fitness level, you can build up to the above exercise level by starting with the modified version of the exercise.  Get into a regular push-up position, or start on your knees if need be, lower your chest to the floor and explosively push off, forcing your hands to leave the floor.  Land and lower your chest to the floor again, then push up again into your next rep.  Keep your body straight, with your abs tight throughout the exercise.