Best Press Exercises – Introduction

What are the best press exercises & a great push day workout?

The push-pull workout is one of the most popular ways to organize your strength training.

As the name implies, day by day, you alternate between pulling exercises and pushing exercises to train all your major muscle groups equally.

The push-pull workout is well-liked by bodybuilders and can also be used by general fitness enthusiasts like you and me!

You can read all about the best pulling exercises + workout here.

This reveals the very best press exercises and also provides you with a push-day workout routine to try.

What Are Press Exercises?

Pushing (or pressing) exercises involve joint extension, which is another way of saying the joint is opening, or that the joint angle is increasing.

Somewhat confusingly, muscles actually pull your joints into extension, so, from an anatomical point of view, there is no such thing as a pushing exercise!

That said, there are obvious movement differences between a pull-up and a push-up, which is why the terms pulling exercise and pushing exercise make sense and are so widely used.

While most exercises can be classified as a push or a pull, there are a few that defy this categorization.

For example, lateral raises are not really a push or a pull.

However, because they mainly target the deltoids, which are pushing muscles, it makes sense to call lateral raises a pushing exercise.

That said, in some cases, deciding whether an exercise is a push or a pull is a judgment call.

What Muscles do Press Exercises Work? 

As already mentioned, pushing exercises involve joint extension.

Examples of joint extension movements include extending your knee or straightening your elbow.

As such, you can often identify a pushing exercise by the joint movement and the muscles doing most of the work.

The most obvious pushing muscles are:

• Pectorals major – front of the chest
• Medial and Anterior deltoids – front and side of the shoulders
• Triceps brachii – back of the upper arm
• Quadriceps – front of the thigh
• Gluteus maximus – back of hip
• Gastrocnemius – main calf muscle
• Soleus – secondary calf muscle
• Erector spinae – lower back muscles

 The 7 Best Press Exercises for Strength and Fitness 

It’s no easy task to pick the best pushing exercises because every exercise serves a purpose, and what is best for you may not be best for someone else.

For example, where barbell bench presses may be best for me, push-ups may be better for you.

That said, here is a list of some of the best pushing exercises for your upper and lower body.

Include these exercises in your push workouts to train all your major pushing muscles:

Upper Body Pushing Exercises 

1. Barbell bench press
2. Dumbbell bench press
3. Barbell overhead press
4. Dumbbell overhead press
5. Push-ups
6. Dips
7. Triceps Skull crushers (supine triceps extensions)
8. Triceps pushdown

Lower Body Pushing Exercises 

1. Squat
2. Leg press
3. Leg extension
4. Forward lunge
5. Hack squat
6. Bulgarian split squat
7. Standing calf raise

Press Exercises Workout Routine

Now you know how to identify a push exercise and have learned some of the best options for your upper and lower body, you should have no problem putting together a push day workout.

But, to save you the bother, we’ve written one for you!

Do this work out in conjunction with a pulling workout.

Alternate between pulling and pushing workouts to balance your muscular development, i.e.:

Push-Pull Workout Day Options

Reverse the sequence the following week, so you do push, pull, and push, to train everything equally. 

Of course, before you start, you should always take some time to prepare your joints and muscles for what you are about to do.

Begin with 5-10 minutes of easy cardio followed by joint mobility and flexibility exercises for the body parts you are about to train.

This pushing program is essentially a full-body workout, so warm-up everything thoroughly.

Pushing Program

Push Day Workout Press Exercises Descriptions 

You can do most exercises in one of two ways – right or wrong.

The right way is the safest and most effective, but the wrong way is less effective and could lead to a risk of injury.

It’s always best to choose the right way, so follow these step-by-step instructions to get the most from each exercise.

#1. Barbell back squat 

Target muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, erector spinae, lats, traps, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, biceps, core.

The squat is the ultimate lower body pushing exercise.

In fact, if you are short on time, you can just do squats and skip the next two exercises entirely!

Squats are often called the king of exercises, and that’s a title they definitely deserve.

A workout without squats is barely a workout at all!

How to do it:

1. Preferably using a squat rack, rest and hold a barbell across your upper back.
2. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
3. Brace your core and look straight ahead.
4. Bend your knees and descend until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
5. Do not round your lower back.
6. Stand back up and repeat.

#2. Leg press 

Target muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps.

The main advantage of leg presses over squats is that they support your lower back, so you’re free to focus on working your lower body to the limit.

Also, there is no real danger of getting pinned under a heavy weight during leg presses.

Squats are still the king of leg exercises, but leg presses make an excellent addition to your lower body workout.

How to do it: 

1. Sit on the leg press machine and place your feet on the footplate, so they’re about hip to shoulder-width apart.
2. Then, straighten your knees and release the safety catches.
3. Bend your legs and lower your thighs toward your chest, taking care not to round your lower back.
4. Push the weight back up and repeat.
5. Flip the safety catches back in at the end of your set so you can safely exit the machine.

Using the Leg Press as a Deadlift Cue

The leg press is one of the best accessory exercises for the deadlift as it helps you improve your leg drive.

So, think of the excellent cue ‘leg press’ when you deadlift.

This effective tip helps you focus on pushing against the floor to start your lift as if you’re doing a leg press, instead of attempting to raise the bar from the ground with your arms or back.

Doing so could expose you to some of the more common deadlift injuries.

Therefore, a leg press machine is a great way to help the deadlift beginner build leg drive for the first phase of the deadlift up to your knees.

#3. Leg extension 

Target muscles: Quadriceps.

Leg extensions isolate your quadriceps.

If you are trying to develop your thighs but aren’t getting the results you want from squats or leg presses, this exercise can help.

Leg extensions are excellent for triggering localized muscle growth.

How to do it: 

1. Sit on the machine and position your knees so they’re in line with the machine’s lever arm pivot point.
2. Place the leg pad across your lower shins.
3. Extend your knees until your legs are fully straight.
4. Pause in this position for 1-2 seconds.
5. Lower the weights but do not let them touch down between reps.

#4. Barbell bench press 

Target muscles: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps.

If the squat is the king of leg exercises, the bench press deserves the same title, as it is one of the best exercises for your upper body.

Like squats and deadlifts, the bench press is one of the three big lifts in the sport of Powerlifting and is also hugely popular with bodybuilders.

If you want a larger, stronger, more muscular upper body, the bench press will help.

For building muscle mass and upper body strength, the classic barbell bench press is hard to beat!

How to do it:

1. Lie on the bench press with your eyes directly beneath the barbell.
2. Reach up and grip the bar with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip.
3. Press your upper back into the bench, plant your feet firmly on the floor, and brace your abs.
4. Unrack the bar and hold it over your chest with your arms straight.
5. Bend your arms and lower the bar to the highest part of your chest.
6. Do not bounce the bar off your sternum!
7. Push the bar back up to arm’s length and repeat.
8. For safety, this exercise should be done with a spotter or in a power rack.

#5. Incline dumbbell bench press

Target muscles: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps.

While the bench press is a tremendous general chest exercise, it doesn’t do much for your upper chest muscles.

Because the chest is made up of three sets of fibers (upper, middle, lower), it’s a good idea to do pressing exercises that affect these different areas.

The lower pecs usually take care of themselves, but the upper pecs need more direct attention.

The Incline bench press with dumbbells is one of the best upper chest and triceps exercises around.

How to do it: 

1. Set your bench to around 30-45 degrees.
2. Lie on the bench with a dumbbell in each hand.
3. Raise your weights to your shoulders, palms facing forward.
4. Press the weights up and together above your chest.
5. Lower them back to the outside of your shoulders and repeat.
6. Take care not to bounce out of the bottom of each rep, as that can lead to a shoulder joint injury.

#6. Barbell overhead press

Target muscles: Deltoids, triceps.

Before the bench press became the world’s favorite pushing exercise, the overhead press was the dominant lift.

Golden era strongmen, weightlifters, and bodybuilders all worked hard to improve their overhead pressing prowess.

As well as being an age-old test of strength, the barbell overhead press, also known as the military press, is one of the best ways to build and strengthen your deltoids.

How to do it: 

1. Hold a barbell across the front of your shoulders using a shoulder-width, overhand grip.
2. Your forearms should be vertical, and your elbows slightly in front of your hands.
3. Stand with your legs straight and feet between shoulder and hip-width apart.
4. Brace your abs and pull your shoulders down and back.
5. Without using your legs, press the weight overhead.
6. Lower the bar back down your shoulders and repeat.

#7. Skull crusher 

Target muscles: Triceps.

Your final push day exercise isolates your triceps, which are the muscles at the back of your upper arms.

This exercise is so-called because you could all too easily hit yourself in the head while doing it!

As such, you should probably do this exercise with a spotter on hand to safeguard your noggin.

If this is not possible, make sure you end your set a couple of reps shy of failure.

How to do it: 

1. Holding a barbell or EZ bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip, lie on a flat bench.
2. Press the weight up so your arms are vertical.
3. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and lower the bar to an inch above your forehead.
4. Take care not to strike your head.
5. Extend your elbows and repeat.

Best Press Exercises – Wrapping Up 

The push-pull workout is a straightforward way to make sure that you train all your major muscles fairly equally.

Muscles are arranged on your body in opposing pairs, and if you train a pulling muscle, you should also train its partner, e.g., biceps and triceps, quadriceps and hamstrings, etc.

That said, there are drawbacks to doing lots of pushing (or pulling) exercises back to back.

For example, it means using the same muscle groups several times in a row, which can create a lot of localized fatigue.

Even if you mix chest and shoulder exercises, doing several upper-body pushes may mean that your triceps are so tired that you cannot do as many reps or lift the same weights as you could have with a more varied selection of exercises.

The good news is that the push-pull workout method has been popular for decades, and for many exercisers, the benefits far outweigh any drawbacks.

Is the push-pull workout right for you? Try it for a few weeks, and then decide!