​

The push up lie boxers believe

You end off every training session with a push-up circuit:

• 20 clap push-ups
• 20 wide grip push-ups
• 20 diamond push-ups
• Burn out with 50 standard push-ups

You've been doing this for years, but….

You still can't keep your guard up during sparring

Your arms still feel like lead after 20s of bag sprints

Your snappy punches turn stiff and heavy after three combos.

Here’s the truth: doing more bodyweight push-ups won’t fix it.

Grinding out more reps or sets won’t improve your hand speed, punching power, or shoulder resilience.

Just because it burns and makes you tired ≠ it’ll translate to the ring.

Why It’s Not Working

You're training hard, but not smart.

You’re using the wrong tool for the job. You’re using the wrong exercise, with the wrong structure, wrong sets and reps, and the wrong intent. It's like trying to drink soup with a fork.

For most boxers, bodyweight push-ups are:

• Too slow to build speed
• Too light to build strength
• Too controlled to build explosiveness

That’s why you can do the same push-up circuit for years and not make progress.

Worse? Your shoulders end up stiff, sore, and overworked affecting the next day’s training. You’re not challenging your body in the right way, at the right time, or with the right focus.

What you really need is:

✅ Velocity
✅ Explosiveness
✅ Impact resilience
✅ Efficient upper-body force transfer

Push-ups can deliver all of that, but only if you use the right variations, with the right intent. After making the same mistakes for years, I learned the hard way.

Push-up circuits weren’t getting me stronger, faster, or more durable. But these 4 variations changed that

🔥 Variation 1: Band-Assisted Plyo Push-Up

​

What it improves:

• Pure speed
• Neuromuscular reactivity
• Upper-body rate of force development

Why it works for boxing:

• Trains your brain and body to fire faster
• Improves punch acceleration and hand speed
• Builds the ability to punch with less tension and more intent

How to perform it:

Set up bands under your armpits and anchor them above chest level (like a pull-up bar or power rack).The band reduces your bodyweight so you can push off faster than usual, exposing your nervous system to supramaximal speeds (think of it as going 110% or boosters of an engine).

The exposure to such high speeds improves how quickly and rapidly your mind can coordinate the muscular contractions, and increases the explosive capacities of the upper body.

How to program it:

• 2–6 sets
• 5–10 reps
• 2–4 mins rest between sets
• Intent: Move as fast as possible every single rep.
• All repetitions should feel light, snappy and explosive. Stop the moment you start to slow down or feel your arms get heavy.

💥 Variation 2: Drop & Catch Push-Up

​

What it improves

• Eccentric control
• Shoulder bracing
• Impact absorption

Why it works for boxing:

• Builds reflexive shoulder stiffness to absorb impacts
• Prepares your upper body for hard punches, clinches, and collisions
• Helps you brace and recover faster between exchanges

How to perform it:

From the top of a push-up, drop fast and free-fall toward the ground. Catch yourself with a tight brace just before your chest hits the floor.Stop dead. Push back up under control.

This trains rapid relaxation and contraction. This improves reactive bracing and increases impact resilience, your ability to instantly brace, control impact, and absorb high forces without breaking down.

Programming:

• 1–3 sets
• 5–10 reps
• 60 - 90s rest between sets
• Intent: Catch with control

⚡ Variation 3: Reactive Plyometric Push-Up

​

What it improves:

• Reactive strength
• Stretch-shortening cycle efficiency
• Full-range explosive power

Why it works for boxing:

• Builds spring-like explosiveness in the upper body
• Helps you throw punches in bunches with less fatigue
• Trains you to generate power in quick, repetitive bursts

How to perform it:

Explode from from each consecutive repetition as rapidly as you can. Perform each rep using a full range of motion, but aim to bounce off the surface like a spring.

The rapid consecutive explosive repetitions build reactive strength, a key mechanism for generating explosive power.

Reactive strength is your ability to store and release energy quickly like a spring. This rapid store and release amplifies the amount of force that can be produced, in less time.

Programming:

• 2–5 sets
• 3–6 reps
• 90–180s rest between sets
• Intent: Minimize time on the ground. Maximize rebound energy.
• Rest long enough to maintain explosive power, use an elevated surface to ensure the movements stay explosive and consecutive

🧱 Variation 4: Depth Drop Push-Up

​

What it improves:

• Impact resilience
• Advanced reactive strength
• SSC performance under high force

Why it works for boxing:

• Strengthens your wrists, elbows, and shoulders for real-world impact
• Builds the ability to absorb punches and fire back instantly
• Develops explosive power from awkward, reactive positions

How to perform it:

Start on two elevated surfaces (like boxes or benches).Drop off. Catch and reverse direction as fast as possible into a push-up.

Dropping from the extra height multiplies the amount of force your upper body must absorb, building impact resilience.

The acceleration from the drop also gives you less time to catch yourself & redirect the force back into the explosion upwards, further challenging and improving reactive strength.

Programming:

• 2–4 sets
• 3–6 reps
• 90–180s rest between sets
• Intent: Catch low. Explode high.
• Dont let your face smash into the floor

✅Summary

TL;DR: Want stronger, faster, more resilient shoulders?

Use:

1. Band-Assisted Plyo push ups
2. Drop & Catch push ups
3. Reactive Plyo push ups
4. Depth Drop push ups

High rep push ups may feel useful , but do not carry over to the ring

If you want to hit harder, faster and build resilient shoulders for boxing, you need to hit the right qualities: Speed, reactive strength & impact resilience

These 4 variations do that, take less time and require minimal equipment and will actually improve your boxing performance.

It's time to level up your pushup game and stop believing the push up lie

​

Chua Rui Yan | The Boxing PT ​Instagram / Threads / Schedule a 1 - 1 ​ Outsmart - Outbox - Outperform

​