A real man is not afraid of difficulties, so we offer you complicated push-up options. At first they may seem too simple to you - you underestimate them! After performing such exercises, strength, pumped-up chest and coordination will become your faithful companions.
Maximum possible number of repetitions + 2 sets + two months of training = double your own push-up record!
To achieve the greatest effect, you should choose any two options from those described here, replacing them with regular workouts and exercising 2 times a week.
The key word is stability!
Exercise “Push-ups on medicine balls”
Place three to five medicine balls in a semicircle near you. The more medicine balls, the more difficult the exercise. Your task: gradually walk the entire semicircle from left to right. On one ball, both hands - push-ups. Then the right hand goes to the next ball. The left hand remains in place - push-ups again.
The left hand joins the right hand - again a push-up. And so on until all the balls are used in turn. Then you go back in the same way - this is one repetition! Difficult? But it’s effective!
Some secrets of execution: the palms are directly under the shoulders. The muscles of the abdomen and thighs are weaker, therefore, with such weak muscles, ordinary push-ups may well cause a lower back injury. You need it? Of course not! Therefore, the exercise “Push-ups on medicine balls” strengthens the stabilizer muscles by 20%.
The key word is chest emphasis!
What are the advantages of this exercise?
- No special equipment required.
- The risk of injury is minimal.
- Involves several muscle groups.
- Effective for beginners and high-level athletes.
- The results are noticeable within the first month of training.
- The cardiovascular system is strengthened.
- Impact speed increases.
- Increases endurance.
Photo: istockphoro.com
Despite all the benefits of push-ups, you can easily make a mess if you do them incorrectly. Inexperienced athletes often make mistakes during training that undo all the work they have done.
Exercise “Push-ups with a stop”
The usual starting position for push-ups. Go down halfway - pause. Go even lower - another pause. Return to the halfway position. Another pause. Return to the starting position. Take a final pause. You did one rep! Pauses in this exercise play a very significant role!
Some secrets of execution: the chest goes down first, and only then the pelvis. The neck should be in line with the back. Even with the best workout, there are still areas that are not used. For regular push-up exercises, this is the top third, middle or bottom third of the amplitude. The pauses you make in the exercises increase the strength of the load not only by a third of the amplitude, but also by 10 degrees to the right and left. Due to this, muscle growth is stimulated. Therefore, performing the exercise without pauses is not effective!
The key word is strong shoulders!
Are there any benefits to weighted push-ups?
Developing pectoral muscle mass using push-ups alone has a limited resource, even if additional weights are used.
Sooner or later, the exercise becomes easy, which means it no longer provokes the growth of muscle mass and strength.
As a rule, push-ups help increase muscle volume during the first 3-6 months of training. And this only applies to beginners!
Then weights are used, but over time this develops into a problem, since performing the exercise with a large weight becomes simply inconvenient.
When push-ups become easy even with weights, other basic chest exercises are performed instead.
At home, as a rule, it is replaced with push-ups on uneven bars with additional weight. But more often you have to go to the gym.
To progress further, you need to perform heavy barbell or dumbbell presses.
Exercise “Push-ups on a fitball”
To perform this exercise you will need a fitball. Tighten your abdominal muscles. Don't forget that you need to move your shoulder blades out to the sides.
Starting position: hands are on the ball, feet together. Be sure to place your palms under your shoulders. Push up, slightly touching your chest to the ball. Rise up and push off the ball in a sharp, explosive way. Don't forget to abduct your shoulder blades!
Some secrets of execution: you have one forgotten muscle, which is located in the area of the upper ribs and shoulder blades. Its weakness leads to two problems. The first is that you are performing push-up exercises poorly. The second is that the rotator cuff muscles work harder than they can bear. So this weak muscle can become much stronger thanks to push-ups on a fitball. It is very important to move your shoulder blades away from each other.
The key word is biceps under load!
Magic "50"
In fact, the panacea for flabby muscles is push-ups, 50 daily. This idea was once suggested to me by a man who is now 57 years old, and at this age he has an excellent figure, feels great and is full of energy. When you do push-ups, your abdominal muscles, back, and legs work. And, in principle, such a load is enough to keep the entire body in good shape. Well, if you wish, you can also add exercises for the biceps, which does not work very actively during push-ups. The threshold of 50 push-ups may seem prohibitive to some. But you just need to set yourself the right task. Do 10 first, then straighten your tie - and get to work. After a while, step aside, take off your jacket and do 10 more push-ups. And so by the end of the day, bring the push-ups to the required amount. And you don’t have to chase the number of push-ups. The magic number “50” keeps any body, even the most trained, in good shape. I seem to be a sporty person, but push-ups worked a real miracle for me. I had quite saggy breasts due to the fact that I had to reduce the load. I have already said that if muscles that were trained in the past are not trained enough, they become filled with fat. So, after two weeks of push-ups, my chest became toned, I even surprised myself.
Exercise “Dumbbell push-ups”
Place 2 dumbbells in front of you. Stand on them with your hands, turn your hands with your palms away from you. The middle of the chest is equal to the dumbbell line.
Lower yourself down, lightly touch the dumbbells with your chest and rise up again. Be sure to make sure that your elbows do not diverge to the sides.
Some secrets of execution: the elbows should be pressed tightly to the body. If you take into account regular push-ups, they mainly involve the muscles of the delta, chest, and triceps. And when you turn your palms forward, the biceps take a considerable part of the load on themselves, which significantly increases the effectiveness of the exercise.
The key word is degreasing!
Why T?
This is a more difficult type of classic push-up. It consists of raising your arm to the side and simultaneously twisting your body. By exercising in this way, you work out the pectoral muscles, back muscles, shoulders and the entire body in general. And in general it can be safely called complex. I advise more experienced fighters to try exercising with dumbbells, this will only enhance your results.
- One-arm push-ups.
By doing push-ups on one arm, you develop the overall power of each arm separately, and also use the intercostal muscles and oblique abdominal muscles.
In addition to different grips, you can change the surface of the support. In general, there are not many of them.
- On the palms of your hands. The simplest way. Popular mainly among girls or in very hard surface conditions.
- On fists. Used in all martial arts to strengthen the hand and striking surface. If you do push-ups with your fists, make sure that the entire weight rests on the first two knuckles from the thumb.
- On fingers. A specific type of push-up. It will help you create a dead grip and make your phalanges stronger and more resistant to damage.
And for one thing I will discuss one of the most popular questions.
Exercise “Cross push-ups”
The right hand is on the floor, the left hand is located on the disc from the barbell. Get down. Push up from the floor with a sharp, explosive movement. Try to point your body up and to the left. You need to land now with your right hand on the disc. Repeat the movement in the opposite direction. Congratulations! Replay done! Place your palms slightly wider than your shoulders.
Some secrets of execution: the explosive push-up mode requires much more energy compared to the regular push-up method. You push off the floor with force - more muscle fibers are involved. Consequently, there is a large loss of calories. And the result is steel muscles instead of fat deposits.
The key word is a balanced body!
When to start using weights
The use of additional weights for push-ups primarily depends on your training goals.
Once the upper rep range for developing a certain quality is reached, the exercise becomes easy. This means it’s time to complicate it with additional weight.
In practice this means the following:
- for strength gains, upper rep range: 6 reps per set
- for muscle growth – no more than 12 repetitions
- when training for relief – 15-20 repetitions per set
- strength endurance – 20 repetitions and above
- speed – no more than 10 repetitions per approach, at the fastest possible pace
Exercise “Dumbbell push-ups with deadlifts”
This exercise requires dumbbells. Starting position - hands on dumbbells, which are parallel to each other.
Do push-ups. Keep your abdominal and buttock muscles tense. From the starting position, pull the right dumbbell towards your waist. At the same time, contract your back muscles. Repeat this with the other hand!
Some secrets of execution: as a rule, there are much more pressing movements than pulling movements. This imbalance leads to injuries to the shoulder joints. Dumbbell push-ups eliminate this imbalance, and as a result, there is no injury.
What are these features?
- Breath
Any experienced athlete knows that breathing is life. Not only in sports!
When performing any physical exercise, remember that your breathing should not be blocked. Feel the rhythm of the movement and breathe in time. Exhale while tense, inhale while relaxing. It's simple. Read more about this in the post about breathing when doing push-ups.
- Completeness of implementation
Completeness is always important in exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and squats. By not going all the way down, you can only pump up your triceps. But if you force yourself to touch the floor with the tip of your nose with each push-up, you will immediately feel how your back muscles, chest, abs and shoulders will come into play.
- Constancy
Any exercise loves consistency. If you do push-ups regularly, you will feel how your arms will become much stronger and more resilient than they were a month ago.
At first it seems boring to do the same action. But once you achieve perfection in a simple push-up, you can move on to more interesting tricks and various handstands.
Before you begin various tricks on your hands, first master such basic push-ups as: Push-ups with a narrow, medium, wide grip, as well as push-ups on one hand.
For what? In order for your muscles to be strong and resilient in any position of the hands. Even if the entire load falls on one hand, this should not strain you.
- Using a narrow grip you will pump up the muscles of the shoulders, chest and triceps
- Medium will put tension on the biceps and back.
- Wide will focus tension on the latissimus dorsi and chest muscles.
And now I’ll tell you about those same T-push-ups that were mentioned at the beginning.
