Some novice athletes do not understand what muscles work when push-ups, and therefore very often consider this exercise useless and refuse to perform it.
There is also an erroneous opinion that the more times a person is squeezed out, the more his muscles will be stronger and more voluminous. However, experts prove the opposite and advise pushing up no more than 15 times, and the load should be increased due to the complexity of the exercises themselves. In addition, an excessive number of repetitions only exhausts the muscles and can lead to catabolism.
To increase strength and muscle mass, you need to work, first of all, on the technique, and secondly, on the complication of movement (for example, to perform push-ups from the stop or on one arm).
So, to the question - which muscles work during push-ups, an answer can be obtained based on the physiological characteristics of the human structure. For example, the load distribution between the pectoral muscles and triceps depends on the width of the arms. The hands are already set, the less load on the muscles of the chest. The position of the legs also regulates the load on certain muscles. When setting the legs on the support, the load is accentuated on the upper part of the chest muscles (this exercise is an analogy of the bench press on an inclined bench).
The setting of brushes during push-ups is also of great importance. The traditional setting of brushes is parallel to the body. To increase the load on the triceps, you can put your hands as narrow as possible, and turn the brushes with your fingers inward. And push-ups on fingers or fists help strengthen the wrists.
Exactly what muscles work when pushing up from the floor can be seen based on the technique of the exercise itself. So, scientific studies have shown the dependence of the load on the position of the legs during exercise. If you work in a classic form (even feet rest against the floor), then the load is 64 percent of the person’s weight, but during push-ups with support on the knees, 49 percent of the weight is used.
For beginners, the second version of the exercise is suitable, but after a month you need to switch to the classic version.
To increase the load, weights of various weights can be used. If there is no assistant nearby, then additional weight is provided with the help of a backpack behind the back, filled with this very weighting agent.
What muscles work when push-ups can be felt by putting your legs on a chair during exercise. In this position, the load increases to 75 percent of body weight. The same effect is achieved with push-ups on one arm. When performing this exercise, the legs should be wider than usual to achieve body balance. In this case, the supporting arm should be located in line with the body and not deviate to the side.
With classical push-ups, a large load is mainly on the upper pectoral muscles. However, there are still push-ups on the uneven bars.
What muscles work when push-ups on the uneven bars show exercises from the bodybuilder program. The universality of such classes lies in the simplicity of sports equipment. Sometimes it’s enough to find two pieces of pipe fixed in parallel and, regularly engaged, you can get developed pectoral muscles and triceps.
The main emphasis of the load depends on the position of the hands, namely: on the location of the hands and the width of the grip. When the arms rest on shoulder width, the main load falls on the middle and lower chest muscles. The emphasis goes on triceps when the grip is narrowed.
When changing the position of the head during the exercise, you can also feel which muscles work when pushing up. A raised head gives a load on the lower part of the pectoral muscles, and a lowered one - on its upper part.
When push-ups with a jump, coordination improves and muscular strength develops.
It is necessary to monitor not only the position of the body (a flat back and without undue stress), but also the correct breathing, the success of classes depends on it by a third. During lowering, a deep breath should be taken, while lifting, a slow exhalation with retraction of the abdomen. These respiratory rules are followed by professionals.