Exercises to Improve Pushups – Introduction
What are the best exercises to improve pushups for beginners?
The humble push-up, also known as a press-up, is probably the most widely performed exercise in the world.
From Olympic athletes to kids in Phys ed class – almost everyone who works out does push-ups.
Push-ups develop your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
They’re an excellent muscular endurance exercise that you can do anywhere and anytime.
Push-ups are perfect for home trainees, as you don’t need any equipment to do them.
Go on; drop down and give me 20!
But, for beginners, push-ups can be a tricky exercise to master.
After all, to do push-ups, you need to be able to lift about 65% of your body weight using just your arms.
That’s no mean feat.
This article reveals the exercises that will make you better at push-ups and provide you with a simple program to see your push-up numbers soar.
The Best Exercises to Improve Pushups
The best way to get better at push-ups is to do push-ups!
But, that’s not the only way to improve your push-up performance.
There are several additional exercises you can do that will make you better at push-ups.
#1. Kneeling push-ups
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
If full push-ups are too demanding for you right now, kneeling push-ups are a great option.
Instead of lifting 65% of your weight, kneeling push-ups reduce the load to about 50%, so you’ll find them considerably easier.
If you want to increase your push-up volume, kneeling push-ups should be your go-to exercise.
You can also do them after regular push-ups as a sort of “drop set.”
How to do it:
- Adopt the push-up position with your hands shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward, and legs and body straight.
- Brace your abs and bend your legs, resting your knees on the floor.
- Bend your arms and lower your chest to the floor.
- Push back up and repeat.
- Move your knees closer to your hands to make this push-up variation even easier.
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#2. Bench press
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
The bench press works many of the same muscles as push-ups.
You can do bench presses with heavy weights to build raw strength or lighter weights to increase muscular endurance.
Bench presses are an excellent alternative to push-ups, and because you can adjust the weight, you can customize your workout based on your strength.
How to do it:
- Lie on your bench with your eyes directly under the bar.
- Reach up and grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip.
- Plant your feet firmly on the floor, brace your abs, and pull your shoulders down and back.
- Unrack the bar and hold it over your chest.
- Bend your arms and lower the bar to your chest.
- Press the weight back up.
- For safety, bench presses are best done in a power rack or with a spotter on hand to help you if you cannot complete a rep.
- You can also do bench presses with dumbbells.
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#3. Floor press
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
No bench?
No problem!
You can work your chest, shoulders, and triceps with nothing more than a barbell or dumbbells.
This exercise is also very shoulder-friendly, so it’s a good option if your shoulders are sore or tired.
How to do it:
- Lie on the floor with your legs straight or bent as preferred.
- Hold the weight(s) over your chest, arms straight.
- Brace your core.
- Bend your elbows and lower the weight until your upper arms lightly touch the floor.
- Push the weight back up and repeat.
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#4. Decline push-ups
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
If you want to do more push-ups, you need to get stronger.
Raising your feet puts more weight on your hands so that when you return to regular push-ups, they feel easier, and you can do more reps.
How to do it:
- Adopt your normal push-up position but then raise and place your feet on a knee-high bench or chair.
- Brace your abs.
- Bend your arms and lower your chest to the floor.
- Push yourself back up and repeat.
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#5. Deficit push-ups
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
Like decline push-ups, this exercise makes push-ups harder so that, when you make the switch back to regular push-ups, you’ll be able to pump out more reps.
This exercise also increases chest engagement, making it a useful pec builder.
How to do it:
- Using push-up handles, a couple of yoga blocks, two bricks, or a few hardbacked books, adopt the push-up position with your hands raised about 6-inches above the floor.
- Brace your abs and pull your shoulders down and back.
- Keeping your body straight, bend your arms and lower your chest down below the level of your hands.
- Push yourself back up and repeat.
- You can also do this exercise on your knees – the deficit kneeling push-up
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#6. Push-up plank
Muscles targeted: Core
Also known as the high plank, the push-up plank (PUP) works your core.
Your core plays an essential part in push-ups, keeping your body straight and ensuring your midsection remains rigid.
If your midsection collapses, you’ll waste energy and could also hurt your lower back.
While you can do planks on your elbows, this variation is more push-up specific.
How to do it:
- Adopt the push-up position with your arms extended and body straight.
- Brace your abs.
- Without holding your breath, maintain this position for the prescribed duration.
- You can also do this exercise with your arms bent and “hovering” with your chest a few inches above the floor, i.e., the bottom position of the push-up.
Push-up Plank to Elbow Plank (and back)
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#7. Band pull-aparts
Muscles targeted: Trapezius, rhomboids, posterior deltoids
While push-ups are undeniably a chest, shoulder, and triceps exercise, your upper back is involved too.
The muscles of your upper back help stabilize your shoulders, making your movements more efficient.
Exercises like pull-ups, bent-over rows, and incline rows are great back builders, but band pull-aparts may be a better choice as you can easily do them between sets of push-ups.
How to do it:
- Hold a resistance band with an overhand, shoulder-width grip.
- Raise your arms in front of you to shoulder height.
- Your elbows should be straight but not locked.
- Open your arms and stretch the band out across your chest to form a T shape.
- Return to the starting position and repeat.
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#8. Skull crushers
Muscles targeted: Triceps
Of all the muscles involved in push-ups, the triceps are arguably the weakest.
Lack of triceps strength will bring your set of push-ups to a premature end.
Eliminate this weak link by strengthening your triceps with skull crushers.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back on the floor or an exercise bench.
- Hold a barbell or dumbbells over your chest, hands shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your upper arms vertical, bend your elbows and lower the weight(s) to your forehead.
- Extend your arms and repeat.
- Take care when doing this exercise, and don’t train to failure.
- They’re called skull crushers for a reason!
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#9. Diamond push-ups
Muscles targeted: Triceps, pectoralis major, deltoids
Diamond push-ups are so-called because your thumbs and first fingers form a diamond shape when you place them on the floor.
This exercise puts more weight on your arms, making it a good training exercise for regular push-ups.
It’s a useful triceps exercise for anyone without access to weights for skull crushers (exercise #8).
How to do it:
- Squat down and place your hands on the floor so your thumbs and first fingers touch.
- Walk your feet out and back into the push-up position. Brace your abs.
- Bend your arms and touch your chest to the back of your hands.
- Push yourself back up and repeat.
Tricep Blast Including Diamond pushups
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#10. Band assisted push-ups
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps
This exercise is designed to make push-ups a little easier.
While you can’t adjust your body weight, you can use a resistance band to counteract some of your weight so you can pump out more reps.
How to do it:
- Hang a loop-type resistance band over a set of parallel bars, such as a power tower.
- Adopt the push-up position by putting your upper body inside the loop, with the band around your chest.
- Do your push-ups as normal with the band taking some of your body weight.
- Reduce the strength of the band as you get stronger.
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Exercises to Improve Pushups Workout
If you want to get better at pushups, this Fit Apprentice workout will help.
But, before you start, make sure you spend a few minutes warming up to prepare your muscles and joints for what you’re about to do.
Start with 5-10 minutes of easy cardio followed by dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your upper body.
Ready?
Let’s begin!
Do this workout 1-2 times per week.
If you do it twice, choose non-consecutive days, e.g., Monday and Thursday.
Exercise | Sets | Reps | Recovery | |
1 | Push-up | 3 | AMRAP* | 90 seconds |
2 | Bench/floor press | 3 | 12-15 | 60 seconds |
3 | Band pull-apart | 3 | 15-20 | 60 seconds |
4 | Deficit push-ups | 3 | AMRAP** | 60 seconds |
5 | Push-up plank | 3 | 30-60 seconds | 60 seconds |
6 | Push-ups | 1 | 2 minutes** | 60 seconds |
For the push-up variations, you can do kneeling push-ups if necessary).
*AMRAP = as many reps as possible. Just keep pumping out the reps until you reach muscular failure.
** Do as many reps as you can in two minutes. Rest when you need to, but remember the clock is always ticking.
How to unlock your strength and get better at pushups
Best Exercises to Improve Pushups – Wrapping Up
If you want to get better at push-ups, make sure you supplement your workouts with some push-up assistance exercises.
Also, consider engaging in some grease the groove (GTG) training.
With grease the groove training, you do several low-intensity push-up workouts per day to try and clock up a lot of volume without tiring yourself out.
For example, if you can do a maximum of 20 reps in one go, your GTG sets would be no more than about 8-10 reps.
This should feel very easy.
Do a GTG set every waking hour or two every day for four weeks, except on the days you do a “real” push-up workout.
Using GTG, you’ll accumulate a lot of push-ups each day, and way more than you could do using traditional training methods.
Retest your maximum after a month, and you should find you can do significantly more than your original 20 reps.
Push-ups are an incredibly beneficial and effective exercise.
If you want to do more push-ups, these exercises, this workout, and GTG training will take your performance to a whole new level.
Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer), an