Push-ups strengthen the shoulder, arm, back and abdominal muscles, and along with sit-ups and a 2-mile run, are the exercises in the Army Physical Fitness Test. It's impossible to do push-ups without using your triceps muscle.
Triceps Muscle
The triceps muscle got its name from having three points of origin. The long head begins on the scapula while the medial and lateral heads start from the humerus. The three heads converge to one insertion point on the oleocranon. The triceps muscle is on the posterior portion of the arm. When the triceps muscle contracts, the elbow is extended.
Triceps Action in Push-ups
In push-ups, the triceps muscle works eccentrically by slowing the body down during the descent, isometrically by holding the body in position at the top and bottom of the exercise, and concentrically by contracting to extend the elbow and raise the body. Christina Bair of Wichita State University studied muscle activity during push-ups and found that the triceps muscle was most active during the down position of the push-up.
Variations in Push-up Exercises
Variations on push-ups include varying foot and hand positions: narrow hand placement that also is called "triceps push-up", wide hand placement, almost touching feet and wide foot placement. Beginners might do push-ups with their knees on the ground. Raising the hands above the feet makes push-ups easier, while raising the feet above the hands increases the difficulty. Bench push-ups have the feet on the bench while the hands are on the floor.
More Difficult Push-up Variations
Advanced variations include doing push-ups on an unstable surface, one-handed push-ups, headstand push-ups, or plyometric push-ups. In plyometric push-ups, the body is pushed up rapidly so both hands lift off the floor. Several push-up videos can be found at "Fitness" magazine's website.
Other Tricep Exercises
Since the triceps works to extend the elbow, any exercise that extends the elbow builds the triceps. Popular exercises to build the triceps include dips, pull-overs and pull-downs.
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