Muscle Weight Gain with Simple Pushups
Many people don’t realize that you can build muscle without using any fancy gym equipment — in fact, simple bodyweight exercises like pushups can be effectively used to build muscle up.
Frankly, it’s easy to underestimate just how effective pushups can be at building your chest and arms. Pushups might appear plain and boring on the surface: up down, up down, up down — that’s it. And that’s true to an extent. But most people outside of fitness enthusiasts are only familiar with the standard pushups that they were taught in their high school phys ed classes.
There is a wide variety of pushups that you can use to isolate different muscle groups, but we’re going to concentrate on five styles in this article. These will not be the best five for all people, but they should open your eyes to the variety available in simple bodyweight exercises.
Military pushups: military pushups are similar to standard pushups, except that you move your hands underneath your shoulders and tuck your elbows tightly to your side. This variation works the triceps more than the chest.
Fist pushups: Sometimes referred to as “knuckle” pushups, require the use of your fists, instead of the palms of your hands, to bear your body weight during the pushup. Fist pushups are beneficial because they target different areas of your body than traditional pushups, and may actually increase the effectiveness of your workout.
Yogi pushups: also referred to as “divebombers,” you start the pushup in the yoga downward dog position, which is similar to a pike. On the down rep, you transition into the upward dog position in a motion that is similar to sliding under a fence, reversing this movement on the up rep. These pushups are brutal and really work your shoulders.
Incline pushups: Incline pushups are the exact opposite of decline pushups — instead of placing your feet higher than your head, your head should be higher than your feet for this exercise. Any sturdy surface that will allow you to perform the pushups unencumbered can be used. Incline pushups work your lower pectoral muscles.
Stacked pushups: with stacked pushups, one arm is spread wide to the side as in wide pushups, and the other is tucked in tight like military pushups. After 5 repetitions, the hand positions are switched.
Here is a more detailed listing of variations you can consider to achieve muscle weight gain: wide, fly, diamond, military, fist, yogi, incline, decline, stacked, deep, prison cell, and inchworm pushups.
To get the most out of your pushup workouts, remember to add some weight once the pushups begin to get easy. You don’t want to push out 50 easy reps. Rather, struggle with 20 or 30. Also be sure to add variety by varying your hand position for each of the above types of pushups.
Push ups are a great way to strengthen your upper body and exercise, build muscle at the same time. If you keep it interesting by mixing up your hand positions and trying a few different styles of pushups you can increase the effectiveness of your at-home exercising and relieve the boredom!
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