Body-weight Basics: The Push Up

The Push Up

- The push up is one of the pillars of calisthenics (bodily fitness). This a is a move in which you show that you can raise and lower your body. 

- This exercise targets the pectoral muscles, triceps, and anterior deltoids (front shoulder). Also target but not as much as the above are the rest of the deltoids, serratus anterior (lats), and your entire midsection.

Wide-Arm Push Up

- The wide push up vastly improve how much your pectoral muscles are targeted. You almost exclusively use your chest to perform this variation of push up.

Diamond Push Up

-The Diamond Push up is also known as the close hand push or tricep push up. This is simply because when conducting this exercise your hands are either touching or almost touching and your triceps is the muscle that carries the load. This is one of the tougher push ups to complete, especially in the middle or towards the end of your workout.

How-to Train

There are multiple ways to train using the push up. Here are some ways:

Super Set - When lifting in the gym, after completing a weight lifting exercise, immediately follow it with 10-20 push ups or muscle failure.

Work/Rest Sets - You simply knock out a set of push ups, rest for a given amount of time and proceed to your next set.

Accountability Sets - Some people will do push ups through out the day and break it down on a time or action basis. Every hour on the hour you can knock out 40 push ups or a muscle failure set. Others are action base, for example: do 20 push ups every time to pass through the kitchen doorway.