The plate push-up exercise is a great way to add a little more difficulty to the push-up exercise. If the player can easily rep out push-ups, you may want to consider adding a weighted plate to their back to help make them work harder. Along with making them work harder, this basketball workout will also allow them to see more strength gains.
This basketball exercise is also a great transition exercise between push-ups and bench press. If there is a younger player that isn’t quite ready to get on the bench and start using free weights, you can use the weighted plate. It will allow the player to keep progressing with their strength development but keep them away from free weights if they aren’t quite ready for them yet.
Basketball Exercise Overview
Exercise Name: Plate Push Up Exercise
Equipment Needed: Weighted plate.
Similar Basketball Exercises and Resources
Goals of the Exercise
- Develop upper body strength in the chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back.
Coaching Points
- Keep your body in a straight line the entire time and keep your core tight.
- The tendency will be to let your hips drop, but make sure that you don’t.
- If you have a partner, it is ideal to have them place the plate on your back, but you can do it by yourself if needed.
- Make sure that you go all the way down and up on each repetition.
- You can change up your hand position to focus on different muscles.
Basketball Exercise Instructions
- Get down into a push-up position and put a weighted plate squarely on your back.
- With your body in a straight line, lower your chest down to the ground.
- Touch your chest to the ground, and then push yourself all the way back up.
