Push-Ups For Building Muscle

How to make a home program of push-ups to achieve the growth of pectoral muscles and how often and how many times do you need to do it? These are some of the most important questions asked by people looking to build muscle at home. We offer you below answers to all these questions and an innovative opinion about push-ups' effectiveness.

Isolated Push-Ups Exercises Are Key

Despite the frequent advice about performing as much as you can, doing more than 15 push-up exercises is not efficient. Since in this case, you're not working on muscle strength, and volume but on endurance. In addition, performing push-up exercises many times can burn muscle. That’s why keep in mind that the maximum your muscles need is 4 sets of 12 repetitions.

Also, it’s very important to understand that you do not need to increase the number of push-ups but work on technique and the complexity of motion. It’s about moving to push on the platform and using just one hand.

Which muscles are involved in work while performing push-up exercises? Depending on the type of push-ups vary involved muscles. For example, in the classical performing most requested are chest muscles, part of the load falls on the triceps, and quite a bit on the press and back.

By changing the position of the hands, you can change the load on different muscles. You can load chest muscles of the chest (wide hand position), or triceps (narrow hand position). In addition, push-up exercises on fingers or fists strengthened the wrist.

Push-Ups with Weights:

Studies have shown that during conventional push-ups you are working 64% of your body weight. When performing push-ups on your knees - 49%. In other words, if your weight is 80 kg, then when you do push-ups you are working with 51 kg.

For a beginner is highly advisable to start with 35 kilograms (push-ups on knees), then increase the weight to 45 kg. But, unfortunately, very soon you will need to increase the load. Those attending the gym would say that it is with a weight of 45 kg is not so much.

That’s why another frequent question is the possibility of increasing the load while performing push-up exercises. Here you need to know that if you use a footrest, you may increase the load. The same study says that using the stand at 60 cm beneath the feet increases the workload to 75% of body weight. In addition, you can do push-ups on one arm.

Another way to increase the load in the push-ups is to use extra weight, which is located on the back. Unfortunately, this is possible only with the help of a training partner, whereas placing the weight on your back is quite difficult.

How to Build Chest Muscles at Home?

Push-ups are recommended by professional trainers only to those who have never been engaged in a power training room. For those who are fully engaged in fitness, push-ups can be used more as a means of maintaining the form without simulators - for example, during a vacation.

It is important to know that for those who are seriously engaged in the gym, is not necessary to add this exercise to the main program. Be aware of the fact that performing 50-100 push-ups daily, does not build muscle but only worsens the recovery process after exercise.

So push-ups are needed only for those who were never engaged in strength training. As part of the program, they are useless. Also, do not burn yourself with hundreds of repetitions. Keep in mind that 4 sets of 12 reps are more than enough.

Start with easy types of push-ups like standing with the arms, then move on to the push-ups on your knees, the usual push-up exercises, push-ups with a footrest, and one-arm push-ups (or push the load). In addition, practice up to three times a week.

How to do Push-Ups Properly?

As we said in other posts to properly do push-up exercises, you must learn to feel the muscles of the chest stand straight, hold the front of the palm to the chest, then slowly allot arm forward as if pushing something away from you, trying to stretch the chest muscles.

Repeat the movement again and again; feeling included in the work of the chest muscle. Second hand you can put it on the chest to get a better feel of it. The next step will be slow push-ups from the knees, again, with full control of the muscles.

Overall

Despite popular opinion, push-ups are not a magic exercise. It may be useful for beginners or those who want to keep fit outside the gym, but it does not need to be included in the basic training program.

Must Read: How to Set up Your Own Bodybuilding Training Program