How to do a Shove-Off

What is a Shove-Off?

I remember the very first time I saw someone do a clap push-up. It was the 6th grade, and our P.E. teacher decided one day that he would have us 6th graders do a push-up contest. At the beginning of the class he demonstrated for us how to do the push-up movement. I remember watching him do 5 push-ups, then 10 push-ups, then 20 push-ups, then 30 push-ups, and around the 30 mark he started doing clap push-ups until he hit about the 40 mark. I was mesmerized. 

 

That night at home, I tried doing a set of my own clap push-ups… and failed immediately. My hands barely left the ground. The clap push-up takes explosive strength that needs to be developed, first by doing push-ups, and then secondly by doing an exercise called the Shove-Off. The Shove-Off is an upper body strengthening exercise that performs the explosive clap push-up movement, only using an elevated surface that makes a challenging movement a lot easier.

The following muscle group is engaged by the Shove-Off:

• Chest
• Shoulders
• Triceps

How to Do a Shove-Off (Instructions):

Trainer Tips for the Shove-Off:  

• Progression (make harder)
  • Use a lower platform when performing the movement. If you put your hands on the ground and do the movement and clap at the top of the movement… you are now doing a clap push-up!
  • Use one hand. If you do this, move your legs farther apart and try doing it on a higher platform than you would do regular shove-offs on. 
• Regression (make easier)
  • Use a higher platform when performing the movement. 
• Application:
  • Do one Tabata with the Shove-Off.
    • A Tabata is a 4 minute workout, made up of 8 intervals. Each interval is 20 seconds of activity and 10 seconds of rest. There are a lot of free apps for your smartphone that provide an automatic timer for the Tabata workout. I utilize the Tabata Stopwatch Pro.
    • For the Shove-Off Tabata, perform 20 seconds of body squats followed by 10 seconds of rest, and repeat until you reach the 4 minute mark.