Special exercises for muscle growth based on push-ups

Push-ups are basic exer­cis­es with which you can exert intense phys­i­cal stress on the mus­cles of the chest and the entire shoul­der gir­dle. The diver­si­ty of this train­ing move­ment makes it pos­si­ble to include it in class­es designed for both begin­ners and peo­ple with exten­sive expe­ri­ence in fit­ness.

Classic technique and the benefits of push-up fitness training

By includ­ing push-ups in their var­i­ous vari­a­tions in fit­ness class­es, you can work out the fol­low­ing mus­cle groups:

• chest mus­cles;
• tri­ceps and oth­er shoul­der mus­cles;
• small mus­cles of the palms and fore­arms;
• back mus­cles;
• press.

In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing a dynam­ic and iso­met­ric load on the above mus­cles, reg­u­lar fit­ness train­ing with push-ups leads to such pos­i­tive results:

• the vol­ume and mass of tar­get mus­cles increas­es;
• increase in strength and endurance;
• phys­i­cal fit­ness improves.

The tra­di­tion­al tech­nique of push-ups from the floor involves the fol­low­ing sequence of actions:

• Accep­tance of the start­ing posi­tion in the exer­cise.

Get on your knees or bend so low that you can rest your palms on the floor, plac­ing them approx­i­mate­ly under the shoul­der joints. Take the low­er limbs back and lean on the socks. The dis­tance between the feet can be 20–30 cm. The head should be raised, and the back, stom­ach and but­tocks should be strained to avoid deflec­tions and sag­ging. The whole body should form a straight line.

• active phase.

Inhal­ing, low­er the tor­so to the floor by bend­ing the upper limbs at the elbows, which should be direct­ed back. You need to go down so low that the chest almost touch­es the floor sur­face.

• Neg­a­tive phase in the exer­cise.

Hav­ing reached the low­est posi­tion, linger in it for a sec­ond, start­ing to exhale at the peak of the load. Dur­ing the exha­la­tion, it is nec­es­sary to straight­en the elbows and take the start­ing posi­tion for the next rep­e­ti­tion.

Features of fitness for weight

In order to stim­u­late the active growth of the mus­cle mass of the chest and shoul­der gir­dle with the help of push-ups, it is nec­es­sary to take into account the fol­low­ing nuances when orga­niz­ing fit­ness class­es and direct­ly per­form­ing the ele­ments:

• the empha­sis of the load on a par­tic­u­lar mus­cle group depends on the set­ting of the palms.

If the brush­es are set wide, then the mus­cle fibers of the chest are active­ly con­tract­ed, and if they are nar­row, then the entire load is focused on the tri­ceps. Push-ups in the tra­di­tion­al tech­nique, which assumes a dis­tance between the palms equal to the width of the shoul­der joints, can even­ly work out both the chest and shoul­ders. To strength­en your wrists dur­ing fit­ness train­ing, you need to do push-ups on your fin­gers or fists. There­fore, the type of push-ups includ­ed in the pro­gram must be con­sis­tent with its pur­pose;

• to increase mus­cle mass, the num­ber of rep­e­ti­tions in one approach should be no more than 15.

With more rep­e­ti­tions of one exer­cise, mus­cle devel­op­ment stops, but endurance is trained. In the case when it is nec­es­sary to increase mus­cle mass with push-ups, it is rec­om­mend­ed to per­form 4 sets of 12 rep­e­ti­tions, regard­less of the type of push-ups cho­sen;

• In addi­tion to the num­ber of rep­e­ti­tions, the process of mus­cle devel­op­ment is also affect­ed by the use of addi­tion­al weight in fit­ness train­ing.

This pat­tern is explained by the prin­ci­ple of increas­ing the vol­ume of mus­cle tis­sue. Under the influ­ence of heavy phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, myofib­rils — mus­cle fibers — are injured, and in the process of regen­er­a­tion of these micro­trau­mas, new cells are formed. Con­se­quent­ly, the fibers length­en and thick­en, and the mus­cles grow;

• the process of mus­cle devel­op­ment described above requires a con­stant increase in load.

Oth­er­wise, the mus­cles adapt to the impact, microfrac­tures no longer occur in the myofib­rils, and new cells are not formed for their regen­er­a­tion. To increase the load when doing push-ups, it is nec­es­sary to com­pli­cate the tech­nique and use weights in exer­cis­es. When fix­ing addi­tion­al weight on the body, you need to do it as reli­ably as pos­si­ble and observe all safe­ty mea­sures dur­ing work.

The nuances of performing exercises on the uneven bars

In addi­tion to push-ups from the floor, fit­ness train­ing to build mus­cle mass in the chest and shoul­ders should include work on the uneven bars or in the grav­it­ron, an ana­logue of this track and field equip­ment, which is most often used in the gym. The tech­nique of push-ups on the uneven bars may vary slight­ly depend­ing on which mus­cles you need to exert the max­i­mum load on.

To work out the pec­toral mus­cles in fit­ness class­es, it is nec­es­sary to include such a vari­ant of push-ups on the uneven bars:

1. Tak­ing an empha­sis on the cross­bars, tilt the body as far for­ward as pos­si­ble, while main­tain­ing the posi­tion of the fore­arms, per­pen­dic­u­lar to the floor. The low­er limbs can be slight­ly bent and crossed at the ankles to reduce the risk of tor­so sway­ing dur­ing core work. When per­form­ing the exer­cise, you need to point your legs down all the time, and not back.
2. Inhal­ing, slow­ly low­er the tor­so into the space between the bars, while mov­ing the elbows to the sides. You need to go down until the moment at which the shoul­ders are in the same par­al­lel with the floor.
3. After a short pause in the low­er posi­tion, as you exhale, gen­tly straight­en your elbows and rise to the upper posi­tion. In order to avoid shift­ing the load on the tri­ceps in the exer­cise, you should not lift the body from the slope and bring your elbows clos­er to it.

In order to stim­u­late the growth of tri­ceps mus­cle mass dur­ing fit­ness, you need to per­form this type of push-ups:

1. Hang on the cross­bars so that the body is per­pen­dic­u­lar to the floor. The gaze must be direct­ed for­ward to avoid an invol­un­tary tilt of the head down. The knees should be bent and the shins crossed.
2. Tak­ing a deep breath, slow­ly low­er your­self down, bend­ing your elbows and pulling them back. When the fore­arms are slight­ly below the par­al­lel of the floor, pause for a sec­ond.
3. Exhal­ing, slow­ly pull your­self up due to the inten­sive work of the mus­cles of the shoul­ders. With­out stop­ping in the upper start­ing posi­tion, repeat the exer­cise.