What Do Push-ups Do?
Push-ups, with their short list of required equipment (you and the floor) and moderate difficulty, have weathered countless muscle-building pop trends for two reasons: They're simple and they work. The muscles that do most of the work in push-ups are your chest (pectoralis major), shoulders (anterior, medial and posterior deltoids) and the backs of your arms (triceps brachii). Push-ups also work muscles in your abdomen, back, butt, hips and legs. Training consistently with resistance exercises such as push-ups strengthens muscles, builds muscle mass and increases muscle tone. Push-ups don't instantly make you look great with your shirt off or melt "bingo wings" (underarm flab) in one session, but with commitment, push-ups are a great exercise to achieve the body you want.
Types of Muscle Contractions
Push-ups involve all three types of skeletal muscle contractions: concentric, eccentric and isometric. An isometric contraction is when a muscle contracts but doesn't move. This is the kind of contraction you would use if you pushed on a wall or "made a muscle" for the mirror. Isometric contractions tone your abs, lower back, posterior and quadriceps as the muscles in your trunk and legs keep your body rigid and flat during the push-up. Concentric muscle contractions are the kinds of movements that we imagine when we think of weightlifting: a shortening of the muscle against resistance. In the "pushing up" phase of a push-up, the muscles in your chest, shoulders and triceps contract concentrically, pulling on the bones in your arms to straighten your elbows and lift your body away from the ground. Concentric contractions make you stronger, but eccentric contractions are where push-ups pack the biggest muscle-building punch. An eccentric contraction (pronounced ee-SEN-trik) is when a muscle lengthens against resistance. The eccentric part of a push-up is when you lower your chest to the ground slowly enough to save your face from smashing into the floor. Because the muscle must lengthen and contract at the same time, eccentric contractions cause the most microscopic muscle damage, leading to bigger, stronger muscles once they have recovered and rebuilt.
Using Push-ups to Build Muscle
To get a balanced physique, vary your hand and elbow positions and angles to emphasize different muscle groups. A stance with your hands at shoulder-width or wider puts most of the load on your chest. Holding your hands very close together so that your thumbs and index fingers form a diamond ("diamond push-ups") emphasizes your triceps. Another way to emphasize your triceps is keeping your elbows close to your trunk and upper arms parallel with your rib cage as you do your push-up in the position that yogis call "chaturanga" (see Resources). If you are very powerful, you can try one-armed push-ups or clapping push-ups (pushing up with enough force to lift your hands off the ground and clap before landing for another push-up). To avoid muscle imbalances and injury, incorporate exercises such as pull-ups into your training to strengthen your upper back and biceps. For more detailed plans for building muscle mass through push-ups, see the articles in the References section.
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