explosive excersize

[Hourglass]

Just a quick question about training. I have been working out for a while now and I used to box for a little while. I learned some of the basics and I am now training again and want to get back in a real gym.

Anyway, im trying to put on some muscle but also keep my boxing skills sharp. My muscle building workout is working the way I want it to. I can put on a little bit of muscle, but I also stay very lean and cut. Im not lifting huge amounts of weight at very low and slow reps. Im lifting enough that I can do 9-12 reps and it seems to work (about 210 pounds on bench press). I noticed that I am not able to do the amount of pushups I used to do though. Depending on how sore I am, I can only **** out maybe 50 at most, far from doing them all the way up and down. I was always taught that pushups were a big part of building explosiveness in punches. The reason why I cant do the push ups isn't a matter of cardio as I run a lot and have no trouble with my weekly 3+ mile run or sprinting. I practice on the heavy bag a lot and my punches seem pretty hard and quick considering how much I have trained.

my question is, is the high rep nature of pushups what helps with being explosive, or is it simply the act of using light weight and putting it up really hard and fast? If I can still do 35 pushups, pushing myself up off the ground high, clapping and coming back down, does it really matter that I cant do more than 50 normally? Whats everyones take on this?

thanks!

[PunchDrunk]

To a certain extent, strength is a skill. If you practice a certain strength quality a lot, you get better at it. If you neglect it, your ability decreases.
The high rep nature of pushups is all about muscle endurance. This muscle endurance is specific for the muscles involved, specific even to the movement performed. This means that running endurance won't help your pushup endurance.
50 pushups is an okay, way above average (although a quick survey on an internet forum would have you under the impression that everybody can do 500, easily ) number. 35 clap pushups is good too. That is definitely a good base to build some extra power from, which means that there isn't really a need to try get your number up further, for boxing anyway. 100 pushup max won't make you more explosive, since it's just muscle endurance. A higher max strength, plus some power conversion work WILL make you more explosive, so I think that's what you should focus on.

Remember that there's more to punching than upper body strength though...

[Hourglass]

Thanks! When you say higher max strength, do you mean lifting more weight? Also, sorry to be a noob but what is power conversion?

I work out my lower body as well and I frequent the heavy bag. I try to use my whole body rather than just upper body. As for doing more pushups, I guess what your saying is that doing more pushups may help with muscle endurance for those specific muscles but i'd probably be better off actually hitting a heavy bag to get more muscle endurance on the muscles specific to boxing?

thanks again!