As one in every of the foundational movements of any workout program, the push-up is greater than just a method to extend your upper body strength and endurance. Depending in your hand position, tempo, and body angle, this seemingly straightforward exercise can provide a sufficient stimulus to not only construct an even bigger chest but additionally increase your core stability and overall fitness.

In reality, studies show that a better baseline push-up capability is related to lower incidence of heart problems events. (1) Plus, perfecting your technique and expanding your push-up repertoire can put you in a more advantageous position to crush compound lifts just like the bench press and overhead press.

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While it could look like second nature to drop to the bottom and begin pumping out reps like you probably did in middle school gym class, step one to maximizing your strength- and muscle-building efforts is to make certain you understand the biomechanics of the nice ole’ push-up. When you’ve really mastered the fundamentals, you possibly can level-up your training by swapping out the usual type of this time-tested exercise with unique push-up variations that concentrate on specific muscles more directly.

What Muscles Do Push-Ups Work?

The right way to Perfect Your Push-Up Technique

Luckily, the push-up is much easier than something just like the clean & jerk. Still, it’s critical to perform any exercise with the right technique for safety and efficiency — and it’s not different on this case.

Because push-ups can place quite a little bit of stress in your wrists, being aware concerning the alignment of your hands can go a good distance in staying pain- and injury-free. As well as, knowing learn how to position your elbows could make a serious difference in completing a clean rep or setting the stage for potential shoulder problems.

If you ought to make sure you’re getting essentially the most bang to your buck, here’s what you could do to perform the right push-up.

1. Start in a “high plank” position along with your hands barely wider than your shoulders and your elbows just barely bent. Maintain straight legs without dipping your hips toward the bottom or climbing them upward.
2. Engage your core by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
3. Slowly lower yourself to the ground, ensuring to maintain your elbows tucked near your sides as your arms bend toward a 90-degree angle.
4. When you reach the underside of the movement, contract your chest and triceps muscles and thrust back through your hands until you reach the starting position.

Muscles Worked During a Push-Up 

Although many individuals take a look at the push-up as solely an upper body exercise, it’s actually a closed kinetic chain movement that involves multiple muscle groups from head-to-toe. After all, since push-ups primarily involve the pectorals (major and minor) and triceps, it’s easy to see why they’re a well-liked selection for chest and arm day programming.

Yet when you think about the total scope of what the movement entails, you could possibly make the argument that a push-up is really a full-body exercise. In spite of everything, not only do you could utilize your pecs, triceps, and shoulders, but you furthermore may must recruit your abdominal, lower back, and leg muscles to perform a correct rep.

Here’s a breakdown of how and when the first and secondary muscles are recruited during a push-up.

Pectoralis Major 

The most important of the chest muscles, your pectoralis major is a thick, fan-shaped muscle that acts because the agonist (primary mover) during a push-up. It consists of two heads: the clavicular (which originates from the front surface of your clavicles) and the sternocostal (which originates out of your sternum and upper ribs).

The pec major lengthens and stretches as you lower yourself down in the course of the eccentric phase of a push-up and it contracts as you thrust back as much as the starting position.

Pectoralis Minor 

Positioned under the pec major, the pectoralis minor is a small, triangular muscle that originates from the third to fifth ribs and inserts into your scapulae (shoulder blades). Even though it pales compared to the dimensions of its larger cousin, it still plays a critical role.

As you perform a push-up, the pec minor keeps your scapulae in position. Nonetheless, tightness on this muscle, or having relatively weak rotator cuff or scapular stabilizers, can result in discomfort and imbalances. This makes upper body mobility work particularly vital.

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Triceps 

Besides the pec major, no muscle advantages more from the push-up than your triceps brachii. Positioned on the back of your upper arm, this three-headed monster includes the medial, lateral, and long heads — each of which has a singular origination point.

Through the initial phase of a push-up, the triceps helps stabilize your torso. Then, once the muscle is under tension, it takes over because the agonist if you extend your arms to lockout the highest of the movement.

Anterior Deltoids 

Just like the triceps, the deltoids are comprised of three heads (anterior, lateral, and posterior). These large, triangular muscles are positioned on top of your shoulder joints, with the anterior head playing essentially the most energetic role during a push-up. Besides assisting with shoulder stability in the course of the eccentric phase, your front delts also help bring your arms inward towards your chest in the course of the concentric portion of a push-up.

Core

Your core will receive a wake-up call if you perform a push-up, too. Comprised of 5 primary muscles — the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, and the relatively small pyramidalis — your abdominals work synergistically along with your erector spinae to maintain your torso straight throughout the movement.

Failing to maintain your core engaged from start to complete can affect your total-body position and alignment. Ultimately, poor core control may put you in a compromising position that would cause problems, and even pain, down the road.

The right way to Goal Particular Muscles During a Push-Up 

The fundamental push-up does a solid job of recruiting several muscle groups, namely your chest and triceps, and even upper back for stability. Nonetheless, you don’t at all times must subscribe to the usual form, especially if you may have specific muscle-building goals in mind.

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Prioritize Your Triceps

To give attention to constructing your arms, all you could do is change your hand placement, as studies show that a narrow-width push-up provides more triceps activation. (2) The closer you set them together, the more you’ll shift the main target away out of your pecs and toward your triceps.

While a close-grip push-up will definitely get the job done, you possibly can make this triceps-centric exercise even more difficult by forming a diamond shape along with your hands. Place your index fingers and thumbs in order that they touch, engage your core, and punctiliously lower yourself to the ground. Your triceps may detest you at the highest of a diamond push-up, but they’ll thanks later for giving them direct attention with nevertheless many reps you get through.

Goal Your Upper Chest

To emphasise your upper chest, steal a page from the normal weight training playbook and press at an incline as an alternative of a flat angle. To make this adjustment during a push-up, it’s essential to elevate your feet.

Even though it could appear counterintuitive on the surface, doing a decline push-up — so named because your body is technically “declined” along with your head lower than your feet — provides a stronger stimulus for the upper a part of your pectoralis major than the usual version.

You should utilize a weight bench, plyo box, yoga blocks, and even stairs to show an bizarre push-up into something that’ll provide help to develop more thickness at the highest of your chest and allow you to fill out your t-shirts just just a little bit higher.

Activate Your Lower Chest

In case you’re seeking to construct more muscle in your lower chest, take the precise opposite approach from targeting the upper portion. Fairly than raising your lower body to stimulate your upper chest, place your hands on a step, platform, bench, or other apparatus to perform an incline push-up.

Changing your leverage and pressing angle in this fashion will let your lower chest tackle a more energetic role despite the more limited range of motion.

Push-Up Variations for Constructing Strength, Muscle, and Power

While the targeted variations outlined above are a solid start, they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Whether you’re an athlete seeking to increase your power or a house gym enthusiast who wants to include dumbbells right into a push-up, there’s a big selection of push-up variations that’ll serve your needs.

Listed below are three favorites that it’s best to consider adding into your training regimen.

Plyometric Push-Up

A sophisticated variation tailor-made for athletes, the plyometric push-up (more commonly known as the plyo push-up) adds an explosive element by recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers. Not only does it strengthen your chest, core, triceps, and shoulders, nevertheless it also may help improve your conditioning when performed as a part of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout.

The right way to do it:

1. Start in a high plank position along with your hands directly under your shoulders.
2. Brace your core and lower yourself down until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
3. Engage your chest and triceps to push upward with sufficient force in order that your hands actually leave the ground. (Optional: Clap your hands together at the highest.)
4. Land calmly on the bottom in the identical starting position, then perform the following rep immediately.

Renegade Row Push-Up

You possibly can kill two birds (aka your chest and back) with a combo move that comes with dumbbells into the last word push-pull exercise. The renegade row push-up is not at all easy, nevertheless it’s an efficient example of learn how to superset exercises for higher efficiency and results. Essentially, you’ll be working your pecs, triceps, lats, rhomboids, and core, all while working to take care of stability and balance during this dynamic movement.

One note on this variation: The closer your feet are to every each, the harder it should be in your core. A wider stance will offer higher stability and reduce the core-training challenge.

The right way to do it:

1. Place a pair of dumbbells on the bottom about shoulder-width apart.
2. Place one hand on each dumbbell along with your palms facing in, so the weights are parallel to one another.
3. Arrange in a high plank position along with your feet shoulder-width apart to start out.
4. Lower yourself down until your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
5. As you thrust back up, keep your body in a straight line and, at the highest of the push-up, perform a dumbbell row by pulling the dumbbell up toward your ribs on one side.
6. Lower the dumbbell back down and perform one other push-up, followed by a row with the other arm. Repeat in alternating fashion.

Spiderman Push-Up

Demanding, dynamic, and definitely not meant for beginners, the Spiderman push-up is an awesome option to get your core and lower body involved. This variation will get up your obliques, rectus abdominis, hip flexors, and quadriceps while still providing good enough of a challenge to your chest, triceps, and shoulders. Ultimately, your mobility and adaptability will likely be tested just as much as your strength and endurance.

The right way to do it:

1. Start in a high plank position along with your hands barely wider than shoulder-distance apart.
2. Brace your core and punctiliously lower yourself toward the ground, keeping your elbows at a 45-degree angle out of your body.
3. Through the lowering phase, pick up your right foot and draw your right knee “up and out” so it approaches your elbow at the identical time your chest is a number of inches from the ground.
4. As you extend your elbows to press up, extend your leg backward and return your right foot to the starting position.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Get Creative to Get More Out of Push-Ups

Stop limiting yourself by solely sticking to the usual version. From narrowing your hand width to elevating your lower half to adding resistance, you possibly can quickly transform the fundamental push-up into an exercise that’s much more dynamic, difficult, and deliberate in its purpose. Challenge yourself to try a latest variation on a weekly basis, be aware of any roadblocks, and keep expanding your arsenal so you possibly can increase your strength, confidence, and coordination each time your chest hits the ground.

References

1. Yang, J., Christophi, C. A., Farioli, A., Baur, D. M., Moffatt, S., Zollinger, T. W., & Kales, S. N. (2019). Association between push-up exercise capability and future cardiovascular events amongst energetic adult men. JAMA Network Open, 2(2), e188341. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.8341
2. Marcolin, G., Petrone, N., Moro, T., Battaglia, G., Bianco, A., & Paoli, A. (2015). Selective activation of shoulder, trunk, and arm muscles: A comparative evaluation of various Push-Up variants. Journal of Athletic Training, 50(11), 1126–1132. https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-50.9.09

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