Push-ups are one of the most common exercises, as they are quite effective and do not require any additional equipment. In addition, the execution technique is quite simple and does not require long-term learning with the trainer. Nevertheless, there are a lot of nuances in push-ups that will expand the functionality and make them more effective. After all, if you know how to do push-ups from the floor, you can achieve good results in building the muscles of the body, without wasting money on an expensive gym membership. Moreover, not everyone has the time and opportunity to go there.
Push-up technique and its features
Probably each of us has done this at least once in a lifetime. Therefore, almost everyone knows how to do push-ups from the floor. Nevertheless, there are a number of special techniques that are worth exploring in order to expand your arsenal of exercises. This will allow you to most comprehensively affect the muscles of the shoulder girdle. So, to do the correct push-ups from the floor, take the appropriate starting position. To do this, you need to do the following:
- Move to a horizontal position and rest your hands straight on the floor.
- The whole body should form a straight line.
- Do not lower or, on the contrary, raise your head, as this is fraught with a sprain of the neck muscles or trauma to the cervical vertebrae.
- Tighten your buttocks, leg muscles and abdomen to maximize your torso
- Bend your arms and lower yourself down. In the lower position, it is necessary to touch the floor with the chest. If you still can not do this, use simplified push-ups, which will be discussed later.
- When you go up, do not fully extend your elbows. Firstly, it will help you maintain tension in the pectoral muscles, thereby accelerating their development. Secondly, the full extension of the elbows in this position can cause injury to the elbow joints.
The correct implementation of push-ups from the floor is guaranteed to help you develop muscle groups such as:
- Triceps. Their function is to extend the arm, respectively, they are tensed in any movement that extends the arm.
- Pectoral muscles. Their function is to bring the hand, perpendicular to the spinal column, to the body. Therefore, any exercise that mimics this movement serves to develop this muscle group.
- Deltoid muscles, namely their anterior bundle. This part of the shoulder muscle is responsible for raising the arm in front of you. Therefore, any movement in which the hands are in front of the body develop it.
Proper breathing when pushing up from the floor
So, you already know how to do push-ups from the floor. But that is not all. The correct technique of push-ups from the floor implies not only their implementation, but also correct breathing, which is important, especially for the development of the heart muscle, because improper breathing can negatively affect it. Proper breathing when pushing up from the floor looks like this: going down, take a deep breath, and the stomach should slightly inflate. It is necessary to exhale on the most difficult upper part of the ascent. Slow exhalation is also allowed throughout the lifting of the body. Remember - holding your breath during the exercise is strictly prohibited! This can lead to overpressure and, as a result, cause a persistent increase in blood pressure. And in severe cases, even damage to the vessels of the brain may develop. If you make this mistake systematically, hypertension can occur over time.
Types of push-ups
Today, there are a great many different types of push-ups, each of which pursues a specific purpose. So, people practicing martial arts are best suited for so-called “explosive” push-ups. If your goal is to build muscle, it’s best to use extra weight and work in 8-12 reps. If you still do not know how to do the correct push-ups from the floor, and have never practiced this exercise, it is worth starting with push-ups for beginners. To date, the most common types of push-ups are:
- Classic.
- From the wall and from the knees.
- For triceps muscles.
- For the pectoral muscles.
- On fists or fingertips.
- On one arm.
- Explosive.
- Circular.
- With steps.
- Opposite.
- Head down.
- On the supports.
- Burdened
Of course, there are a huge number of different push-ups, but the most common ones were listed here.
Push ups for beginners
If you have never tried push-ups and do not know how to do push-ups from the floor, or tried, but nothing works for you, you need to use the so-called push-ups for beginners. If your arms and chest are very weak, you need to start push-ups not from the floor, but from the wall. This is done like this: you stand near the wall at a slight angle and begin to push up. Once you master this exercise and can do it 20-30 times, you can increase the angle of inclination. Gradually, your muscles will grow stronger, and you can push up from the floor. It is advisable to start push -ups from the knees, and then move on to full-fledged classic push-ups. To learn how to do push-ups from your knees, take your starting position as with classic push-ups, and then kneel down. As soon as you can perform 20-30 repetitions in this way, feel free to switch to the classic exercise - you are completely ready for it.
Usually girls complain of weakness in the muscles of the arms and chest, so it will be especially useful for them to follow this pattern of development of these muscle groups. After you can confidently work out 3-4 approaches in the classic version, you can use a variety of complicated types of push-ups from the floor.
Complicated push ups
As mentioned earlier, as soon as you learn to perform the correct push-ups from the floor in the classical style in a sufficient number of repetitions, you can try to complicate this exercise to increase its effectiveness. Different types of sophisticated exercises can serve a specific purpose or simply add variety to the routine of the training process. In any case, this will help you act on different parts of the muscles so that they develop as harmoniously as possible.
Push ups for martial arts
If you are a fan of martial arts and seriously follow the path of turning your body into a perfect war machine, you need to slightly modify the classic push-ups to adapt them to your goals. A person engaged in martial arts does not really care about muscle mass. Much more important things for a fighter are such parameters as endurance, strength and speed of impact. All these qualities will more than help to develop simple push-ups. Only you need to do everything right. You ask: how correctly? Push-ups from the floor need to be done in large quantities - and endurance will certainly increase.
With the force and speed of impact, things are somewhat more complicated. But here there is one modification that will help you in the development of these characteristics. These are explosive, or hopping, push-ups. To perform this exercise, take the same starting position as for the classic push-ups from the floor. Slowly lower yourself down, and then with a powerful and sharp movement push off the floor, so that the body goes up. After the body under the influence of gravity goes down, lower yourself on your hands and again do the next repetition. Particularly strong athletes further complicate this type of push-ups. During the flight phase, they use clapping and other similar tricks. Also, a serious effect is produced by jumping in this way on an elevation, for example, on two step platforms or pancakes from the bar. Here you are not limited by anything but imagination. Hopping push-ups are guaranteed to increase your explosive strength and impact speed. Do not also forget about push-ups on the fists. They can significantly strengthen your fists and make them less sensitive to shock.
Muscle building up
If you want to increase the volume of the muscles of the shoulder girdle, classical push-ups will not help you much, because they are quite simple. A trained person does not need to do 50 reps in 3-4 approaches. But such a number of repetitions, as you know, only increases strength endurance. To increase muscle mass, you need to, having squeezed 10-12 times, you can no longer do a single repetition. This is achieved by using additional weights. The size of the burden depends entirely on your fitness. The main thing is that you can perform no more than 12 repetitions. As weights, you can use pancakes from the bar. If you do not have them, use any heavy objects that you can put on your back. An interesting solution can be a backpack with some heavy things. Also, as an option, you can use a partner who will put pressure on you with his weight.
After doing push-ups with weights, you can perform the same exercise, but on the supports. Any object can serve as supports, for example, two stools or stacks of books. Push-ups on the supports will allow you to stretch the pectoral muscles a little more, and as you know, they are most actively involved in the work when they are initially in the most extended position. This type of push-ups will help you to "hammer" the pectoral muscles and ensure their growth.
Often in athletes, the lagging part of the pectoral muscles is their upper segment. To emphasize it, it is recommended to use push-ups with legs on the support in your workouts. In this case, the legs are above the head, and the maximum load falls on the upper part of the pectoral muscles.
Push-ups for the development of different muscle groups
As already mentioned, during push-ups, three muscle groups are actively working - triceps, pectoral and anterior deltas. But you can emphasize any of these muscle groups. To do this, you simply need to slightly modify the classic exercise. Correct push-ups of one kind or another from the floor with a guarantee will allow you to tighten the lagging muscle group.
Triceps push ups
Triceps performs the function of extending the arm in the elbow joint, which means that you need to maximize the activation of this particular part of the push-ups. To do this, in the starting position you need to put your hands already shoulder width. When you fall, try to squeeze your elbows to your sides and make sure that they do not move apart. After doing a few repetitions in the correct technique, you will immediately feel the triceps work, and this is exactly what was needed. Triceps push-ups can be somewhat complicated if you put your hands as close as possible so that the palms touch each other. It is extremely difficult to rise from this position, but the effect is immediately apparent - your triceps will burn with fire.
Pectoral push-ups
The pectoral muscles, as we have said, lead the hand to the body. So, logically, the correct push-ups from the floor for the pectoral muscles will look like this: in the initial position for the classic push-ups, change the position of the hands. You need them to be divorced wider than the shoulders and at the same time perpendicular to the body. In this case, the breast will receive maximum stimulation. To further complicate the exercises, you can spread your palms to the side, which will further complicate the work of the pectoral muscles. Push-ups on the supports also develop them well, and an exercise in which the legs are above the head. We already wrote about them earlier.
Sample training program
In order to maximally harmoniously develop all the muscles of your body, push-ups must be combined with other exercises, such as pulling up the back muscles, squats for the legs and twisting for the abs. Only in this case you can develop in the right direction.
It will optimally do about 3-4 times a week. Most often it’s not worth it, because the muscles will not have time to recover. It is necessary to adhere to the technique and perform only the correct push-ups from the floor. Do not do the approaches too often, take enough respite between them. If you can calmly perform 20-30 repetitions in the classical style, you can advise such a training scheme.
The program will allow you to significantly increase your strength endurance and increase the number of push-ups performed. After you complete this program, you can surprise your friends and acquaintances by squeezing 100-200 times in a row. If you set yourself other goals, you can make yourself a program yourself, using the recommendations that were given earlier.
So, in each workout you have to perform 5 sets of push-ups. Between sets, rest for 30-45 seconds. In the first week, start with 20 repetitions in the approach and gradually reduce the number of repetitions to 10. After that, increase the number of repetitions by 5 weekly. If in any of the weeks you did not manage to do the planned number of repetitions, do not despair. Just increase the number of repetitions next week. As a result, after 3-4 months you can calmly perform 100 push-ups. After that, you can try to complicate this exercise. Experiment, try different options, combine different types of training - and your body will respond to this with muscle development and good health.