Do Divebomber Pushups

The humble pushup is the unsung hero of bodyweight exercises. If you want to build strength and get fit more quickly, adding some pushup variations to your workout regimen is one way to accomplish that. The dive-bomber pushup is one such variation that provides a grueling whole-body workout. Once you've mastered the dive-bomber pushup, look for other pushup variations you can add to your routine for variety.

Steps

Perfecting the Dive Bomber Pushup

1. Start in regular pushup position. You need to master a full pushup before you can start doing the dive bomber pushup, which is an advanced variation of a regular pushup that challenges your entire body.
   • Make sure your hands are directly under your shoulders. Keep your back straight and avoid hunching your shoulders.
   • Separate your feet so that they are approximately shoulder-width apart to get into the starting position for the dive bomber.
2. Lift your hips towards the sky. While keeping your arms and legs as straight as you can, raise up so that your body creates an upside down "V" over the ground. This is considered the "starting position" for a dive bomber pushup, and the position to which you will return to do multiple repetitions of this exercise.
   • Your back should be flat, shoulders not hunched up around your ears.
   • You should be standing on your toes or the balls of your feet. Lengthen your hamstrings by pulling down through your heels towards the ground.
3. Lower your torso. For the next movement in the dive bomber pushup, imagine a dot or target in between your hands. As you lower towards the ground, aim to place your nose on that invisible dot or target you've imagined.
   • Flare your elbows out to either side as you lower. This part of the movement is what distinguishes the dive bomber from the Hindu pushup or a yoga pushup, in which you keep your elbows flat along your side.
4. Flatten your torso to the ground. With your elbows still flared out, flatten your body, as though you were trying to slide under a fence. Ideally, your torso will be parallel to the ground but not touching it.
   • At this point, you are roughly halfway through the exercise. The rest of the exercise consists of returning to the starting position so you can repeat the entire set of movements.
5. Raise back up to start. What makes the dive bomber pushup different from other variations is that fact that when you return to the starting position, you flare your elbows out to the sides again as you did when you first lowered.
   • First raise your torso, keeping your hips close to the ground without touching it. Then flare out your elbows and push back through, raising your hips. Practice until you can complete the dive bomber pushup in one continual movement.
   • You can do dive bomber pushups in sets of 10 to 20 repetitions, or you can do them as part of an interval. To include an interval of dive bomber pushups in your workout, set a timer for 30 seconds or a minute and do as many dive bomber pushups as you can with good form during that time.

Learning Dive Bomber Variations

1. Try wall-plank dive bombers. Because your feet are at an elevation and there's a balance element involved, wall-plank dive bombers present your body with more of a challenge than the regular dive bomber pushup.
   • Stand with your back to a wall and kick your feet up onto the wall. To start, you probably want to keep your feet pretty low on the wall. The higher your feet are on the wall, the more challenging the exercise.
   • Complete the dive bomber pushup with your feet on the wall. You won't be lowering your torso and hips all the way to the ground since your feet are on the wall, you'll just be lowering your hips to roughly the same level as your feet.
2. Do dive bombers on a BOSU ball. A BOSU ball, which is half a stability ball with a flat surface on the other side, is a variation of the dive bomber pushup that adds a balance element.
   • Instead of placing your hands on the floor, place the BOSU ball in front of you, ball-side on the floor, and grasp either side of the flat surface with your hands. Keep your arms straight and maintain balance and even weight distribution.
3. Combine dive bombers with renegade rows. When you add a renegade row to the end of each dive bomber push up you do, you build strength in your arms and shoulders while also working on your core and back.
   • Choose dumb bells that are a good weight for you for rowing exercises (you may want to start lighter than you first think), and hold them in your hands from starting position. The dumb bells should be sitting on the floor, so if you have dumb bells that have hexagon-shaped heads you might want to use those so they don't roll around.
   • Do the dive bomber pushup like normal, but when you push back up to starting position, lift the weight with a rowing motion, first with one arm and then with the other. Stay in dive bomber start position with your stable arm straight, wrist directly below your shoulder.

Adding Other Pushup Variations

1. Learn Hindu pushups. There is a lot of debate in the fitness world over which variation is a better whole-body workout: the Hindu pushup or the dive bomber pushup. However, both are challenging variations and you can switch between the two to decide which one you like better.
   • Unlike the dive bomber pushup, when you press back up to starting position with the Hindu pushup, you do not bend your arms outward. Rather, you keep your arms straight and lift your hips, pushing your torso backward.
   • With a Hindu pushup, you also want to keep your elbows to your side when you lower your body. You won't flay your elbows out to your side as you do with a dive bomber pushup.
2. Move on to pike pushups. Pike pushups are a challenging workout for your shoulders. You also can use this exercise to help you transition if you gradually want to get into handstand pushups.
   • Stand in a position similar to your starting position for the dive bomber push up, with your hips lifted toward the sky. However, your arms should be perpendicular to the floor, so your hands will be a little closer to your feet than they are when you're doing dive bomber pushups.
   • From this position, simply lower your head all the way to the floor, bending your elbows, then raise back up to start. You can do this exercise in sets of 10-20 repetitions, or you can do an interval of 30 seconds or a minute with continual movement.
3. Improve your balance with the spiderman pushup. The spiderman pushup works your obliques. This pushup is done from your standard pushup position on your toes and hands, with your wrists directly below your shoulders.
   • As you lower, bend one leg at the knee and bring it up to your side, so that your knee is near your elbow.
   • From here, you can keep your knee out and do several pushups, then bring it back to start and do the other side. You also can bring it back to start immediately and switch legs with every repetition.
4. Work your quads and calves with the corkscrew pushup. This twisting variation on the standard pushup gives your obliques a good workout and helps with your balance, as well as getting your lower body into the action.
   • Get in standard pushup position to start this exercise, with your feet together. When your arms are fully extended, your body should be parallel to the floor.
   • As you lower, twist your legs and lower body sideways, like you're a cork being twisted by a giant corkscrew. Come back to top center, then twist down on the other side.
   • You can do this exercise in sets of 10 to 20 repetitions (remember to keep both sides even), or you can do as many as you can with good form in an interval of 30 seconds or a minute.
5. Build fast-twitch muscle with explosive pushups. If you want to improve your speed and explosive power, explosive pushups can help build and strengthen the muscles that make that possible. Typically an explosive pushup is one combined with another movement, such as a clap or a jump.
   • For example, to do an explosive pushup with a clap you simply push off with your hands so hard that your body is lifted off the ground. Clap and return your hands to the floor. Once you get more explosive power, you can work up to double claps or even triple claps.
   • Explosive pushups typically are better done in intervals, so you can control the movement and remain in continuous motion to get more explosive power.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Do a One Arm Pull Up
• Build Muscle Doing Push Ups
• Do a Wall Push Up
• Work up to a Handstand Push Up
• Do a One Armed Push Up
• Do 1000 Push Ups
• Increase the Number of Pushups You Can Do
• Do a Clapping Push Up
• Do Hindu Pushups
• Do a Push Up

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