How to Do a Intermediate Push Up Matrix!

The intermediate push-up matrix is finally here!

First and for most I would like to thank the awesome Instructables.com, My subscribers & and all the people who sent me wonderful emails supporting my work & my Fitness Blog: DyingWill.com! Without you guys my effort would mean nothing.

Anyhow time to get busy!
In This intermediate push-up matrix I decide to make it a little more dynamic and cardio based. This will improve the all around intensity and fat burn! Since summer is approaching so fast we all should focus on burning as much fat as possible. What good are muscles if they are hidden? Burn that fat and show them off!

I also have a special guest appearance in my video! If you’re a real hardcore foodie then you all should know Jess and her awesome food blog, LittleGirlBigAppetite.com. She will demonstrate some modified versions of my routine!

It is advised before you begin this new routine that you learn and master the forms from my Simple Push-Up Matrix. This is crucial to advancing to this phase of the matrix.

In the following, I will talk about some important key points, so please read before you begin so you can get a better understanding of what's shown in the video. I prefer to write the key points here because it’s very hard to do the exercises and talk about them at the same time. Phew that would be exhausting lol!

Here we go:

Plyometric Hopping Push-Ups:
1. Keep the standard push up form taught by me in the earlier video.
2. Lower your body toward the floor without touching your chest focusing on building up energy. It’s Kind of like your compressing a metal spring.
3. Explode your energy (release the metal spring) propelling your body upwards to the top of the form. Since such an explosive burst happened your hands should leave the floor slightly.
4. Try your best not to let your hands go to high off the floor, unless you very experienced at this. Start off with very small hops gradually increasing.
5. Just because your hands cant hop off the floor right away doesn’t mean the plyometric isn’t working. It’s all about you exploding upwards. That’s what counts most! As you practice you will achieve higher hops.

Push-Up Jacks:
1. Standard push-up form. Lower your body towards the floor. Then raise it returning to the starting position.
2. When you reach the top position, completing one rep get a strong base by tightening your arms and chest making them sturdy. Shift your weight a bit forward.
3. Open and close you legs just like a standard jumping jack. This will be easy for you due to the face of your legs being a little lighter from your weight being shifted forward.
4. In the modified version Jess uses less push-ups and more emphasis on the cardio portion (“the jacks”). This is great for people who are still learning pushups. This version is even effective without doing any push-ups. Just by doing the jacks and stabilizing your upper body you chest still gets a workout from the isometric holding and balancing.

Twisting Kick Out Push-Ups:
1. Begin the pushup as normal with feet about 10 inches apart.. When pushing up start to stabilize your right arm and shift your weight to the right side of your body.
2. Keeping a sturdy base, kick your leg through towards you left twisting your hips.
3. Allow your left hand to touch your right ankle. Return your leg back to the right side thus complete the first movement.
4. Mirror steps 1-3 for your opposite side.
5. In Jess’s modified version twisting your hips and touching the top of your knee is very effective as well.
6. It’s very important during this and all these pushup variations to keep your core tight as you can!
7. If you’re not great “yet” at doing push-ups, you can still get a great workout by doing no pushup and just doing the kicking motions while stabilizing your upper body with your arms. Isometrics give great results too!

So guys & girls that is that! Take it slow in the beginning to learn the form and increase the intensity as your body and nervous system adapts. A lot of people don’t realize that besides muscles, your nervous system need to be trained to except new movements. This will increase the all around effectiveness of every exercise you will ever do. So give your body time to rest in between workout days at least 48 hours of recovery.

A good rule to follow for now until I help you build your workout data base is:

Start with the Simple Push-Up Matrix for 2 rotations to get the body warmed up. Follow this matrix with the intermediate version for 5 rotations. In between each rotation rest for 2 min for beginner 1 min for more advanced. Give your chest 24-48 hours of rest in between each training session. So minimum, do this every other day but ideally every 2nd day. A “rotation” is a completion of a matrix for example; the hops, the jacks and the kick outs would be one complete rotation. Don’t forget to put the isometric chest squeeze in between each exercise!

I have included a printable workout log\tracker for your use. You can edit it in Microsoft word or print it out and use a pen. You can download it HERE. A workout log can be a really useful item in tracking your progress. If you have any question on how to fill it out please feel free to ask!

Special thanks to Jess at LittleGirlBigAppetite.com make sure you check out her blog she has some healthy recipes in there!
Make sure You show me some love on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheFitnessBlog or my Fitness blog at DyingWill.com.

Advanced Push-Up Matrix Coming Soon!