When you probably think of bodyweight exercises you’ll probably instantly think of the push-up. This is because it’s one of the most effective and straightforward of moves that you care able to do and it works not just your chest but your shoulders, triceps and abs as well.
Push-ups can be performed anywhere and at any time, and if you’re looking to specifically target your chest area, then they’re a great place to begin.
We’ve put together a simple guide to the best push-up moves if you want to build muscle in your chest.
How To Do Push-Ups Correctly
- Put your hands directly under your shoulders.
- Keep your head, back as well as your buttocks in a straight line.
- Extend your legs so that your weight is on your toes.
- Engage your core and glutes.
- Pull your shoulder blades down and back.
- Lower your body in a regulated manner until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
- Make sure that you keep your elbows tucked in close to your body.
Wide-arm push-up
Putting your hands in a wider position, approximately double shoulder-width apart, places more of the focus on your chest area as opposed to your arms or shoulders.
Align your body as normal and complete a press up as you normally would, pausing at the bottom and pushing up powerfully to the starting position.
Clap Push-Up
Make sure to land with soft elbows after the clap that you do. As always, a tonne of core control is extremely important to performing this push-up variation properly. Don’t be afraid to begin on your knees or on an incline in order to get the hang of the timing.
Inverted Push-Up
This will target the different muscles in the chest area, making for a more rounded workout routine.
In order to complete an inverted push-up, take your usual push-up position with your hands, however, place your feet on a higher surface such as a chair, workout bench or couch.
The change in angle with work the chest in a different way, utilising the pectoralis major muscle in a different way.
Staggered Plyo Push-Up
Switch out the position of your hands after every single push-up. If this movement is far too explosive or challenging for you just switch your hands without the “jump” until you have the ability to work your way up.
Expert Push-Up Tips
Far too many individuals think that the push-up is an exercise that is far beneath them. They prefer barbell bench presses, dumbbell flyes, cable crossovers as well as other weighted moves to build up their chests.
However, the push-up is a tried-and-tested upper-body muscle builder. The beauty of type of exercise is it can be performed at any time. To achieve the gains that you want, don’t rush your reps – taking your time in order to lower and lift your torso.
Try out a 4010 tempo – a four-second lowering phase, no stop at the bottom, a one-second pressing phase and then no pause at the top – in order to get your muscles better at controlling each movement. Alternatively try out a 3110 tempo which introduces a one-second pause at the bottom of each rep – all of a sudden this ‘simple’ and ‘boring’ bodyweight exercise is a legitimate muscle-building move.
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