Pushups are a popular form of exercise that belong to a class of muscle-building activities called calisthenics. When you perform pushups, you can gain strength and size in several different muscles in your upper body. However, pushups don't really work your bicep muscles, which form the front parts of your upper arms.
Understanding Pushups
Traditional pushups and pushup variations make you raise and lower your chest repeatedly with your arms. While the motions required for a pushup work the triceps muscles in the backs of your upper arms and the deltoid muscles in your shoulders, they don't really work your bicep muscles, explains the American Council on Exercise. In addition to your triceps and deltoids, pushups work the pectoral muscles in your chest, as well as muscles in your abdomen, back, legs and buttocks.
Bicep Exercises
You need your bicep muscles to help rotate your arms, flex your elbows and keep your shoulder joints stable. Exercises that will help you strengthen these muscles include barbell curls, dumbbell hammer curls, overhead cable curls, seated high back rows, standing rows, barbell calf raises, barbell bent-over rows, dumbbell preacher curls and dumbbell wrist curls. You can also strengthen your biceps with the help of seated rows, machine biceps curls, seated dumbbell biceps curls and seated bent-knee biceps stretches.
Pushup Benefits
Pushups can help improve or confirm your fitness in a number of ways. For instance, they are commonly used as a way to measure muscle endurance in your upper body; people with good muscular endurance have the ability to perform repeated tasks throughout the day and respond to emergency situations as they arise. Regular performance of pushups improves your ability to burn off excess calories and stored fat and give you a relatively simple way to work a lot of muscles in your body at once. In addition, you can perform pushups almost anywhere and adapt them to your current level of fitness and physical or health limitations.
Considerations
You can combine a variety of exercises for your upper body into a single routine, the American Council on Exercise notes. This type of routine usually contains exercises for your biceps, as well as pushups or other exercises that work your chest, arms and shoulders. Typically, you will perform an upper-body routine at least twice a week, while allowing at least one day between sessions to rest your affected muscles. For more information on pushups, bicep exercises and appropriate workout routines, consult your doctor and a certified fitness instructor.
References
- Military.com; Fitness Center: Avoid the Gym by Using Calisthenics; Stew Smith
- American Council on Exercise: Arm Exercises
- MyWeightlifting.com: Pushup Exercise: Benefits of Pushups
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Tendonitis of the Long Head of the Biceps; October 2009
- The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; Fitness Fundamentals; Guidelines for Personal Exercise Programs; January 2011
- American Council on Exercise: Shoulder and Arms Workout
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