Push-ups are a strength training exercise commonly used by military personnel and those interested in basic fitness. It's an effective exercise that can be done nearly anywhere and without any additional equipment, because it uses your own body weight for resistance. Although you'll need a variety of push-up types to do so, it's possible to build muscle with the exercise.
Technique
Push-ups are completed by lying prone on the floor. Place your hands slightly outside of shoulder width and with fingers facing forward. Rise up onto your toes so that your torso and legs make a straight line. Contract your abdominals to keep your hips from dropping. Bend your elbows to lower you chest toward the floor. Once your elbows are bent slightly further than 90 degrees, push up off the floor to return to the starting position.
Muscles
The primary mover of the push-up exercise is your chest muscles, consisting of your pectoralis major and minor. Your deltoid, or shoulder, and your triceps--the muscles that run down the back of your arms--contribute significantly to the movement that occurs at your shoulder and elbow joints. In addition, your core musculature must contract to keep your torso in a straight line.
Muscle Building
To build muscle mass, you must frequently overload your muscles with high-volume workouts. According to Georgia State University's Department of Kinesiology and Health, to build muscle mass, you should perform two to three exercises per muscle group and for each exercise, complete four to six sets of each. The push-ups must provide enough resistance that you're fatigued after each set. You may need to wear a weight vest if you're able to complete a large number of repetitions without being fatigued.
Push-Ups To Build Muscle
As long as push-ups provide your muscles with enough resistance to overload them, using them to build muscle is possible. You still need to complete an adequate amount of exercises, sets and repetitions to see muscle mass gains. You can complete a variety of different types of push-ups to get enough exercises in. For example, you can do the basic push-up, then also incorporate other variations--such as the decline push-up, military push-up, diamond push-up and ballistic push-up.
Considerations
Muscle mass gains from push-ups are limited to the muscle groups that are trained during the exercise. Therefore, if you complete push-ups in a muscle building program, they will cause increases in the size of your chest, shoulders and tricep muscles. If you're interested in building muscle throughout your body, you'll need to incorporate more exercises.
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