Push-ups perfectly sculpt and strengthen the arms. The classic variant of this exercise, however, can be varied, for example by changing the spacing of the hands or using additional devices (a chair, dumbbells, handrail). In this way, we will engage more muscle groups to work, including muscles of the legs, abdomen and stabilizing muscles. See 22 types of push-ups with different levels of difficulty.

The most populartype of push-upsare classic push-ups, which are performed with the hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart. They engage in work, among others shoulders, biceps, forearms and chest muscles. This is an appropriate variant of the exercise for people who start training and want to prepare the arm muscles for greater loads. After a few weeks, you can include other types of push-ups in your training plan that activate selected muscle parts to a greater extent, e.g. back, triceps, abdomen.

Read about 22 types of push-ups and watch the video where the trainer Kasia Wanat shows the 10 most popular variants of the exercise.

1. Classic pumps

Place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders width. Rest your torso on straight arms and your legs on your toes. Tighten your abs and buttocks. The body should be in a perfectly straight line. Bend your elbows to a right angle and lower your torso to the ground. Then straighten your arms and lift yourself up. Remember to breathe in the right way: inhale when lowering, exhale when rising.

Check: How to properly do push-ups to strengthen the chest?

2. Knee pumps (women)

If you can't handle traditional push-ups, tryknee push-ups . They are easier, but still make the shoulders and chest heavily work. Position your body in the same position as with a classic push-up, but rest your legs on slightly bent knees. Remember not to push your buttocks up - they should form one line with your back. Then proceed as for the basic push-ups.

3. Push-ups with lying down

Take a position like a classic push-up. Bending your arms, lower your torso to the ground and lie on your stomach. Lift your arms off the floor and then raise your arms again until your elbows are straight. Make sure your body remains in a straight line at all times.

4. Triceps pumps

Place your hands shoulder-width apart (they should be perfectly under the shoulders). Bring your head forward sharply and lower your torso evenly, keeping your elbows as close to your body as possible. This version of push-ups engages the back muscles of the arms - the triceps - more strongly. Women can perform it with a support on their knees.

5. Push-ups with the head down

Place your hands shoulder-width apart and go to the support with your front arms straight. Raise your buttocks as high as possible, and place your feet on your toes. Bending your arms, lower your head towards the floor (make the movement as if you would stand on your head). This type of pump strengthens the shoulder muscles in particular.

6. Diamond pumps

Diamond pumps rely on placing your hands close together and arranging them in a diamond shape by joining your thumbs and index fingers. They are much more difficult than push-ups with a wider arm spacing, so it's better not to do them if you can't do at least ten regular push-ups.

7. Spider push up

Spider push ups are push-ups with pulling the knee to the elbow. In addition to strengthening the arms and chest, they also strongly engage the abdominal muscles. The procedure is as follows: take a prop position, place your palms slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Begin lowering your chest to the floor and at the same time bring your right knee towards your right elbow. Then, while straightening your arms, lift your torso up and put your leg back in place. Repeat push-ups alternately, pulling the left leg once, then the right leg to the elbow.

8. Push-ups with a romper

Take a position like a classic push-up. Moving down dynamically, with a jump, extend your legs as wide as possible. While rising in one quick motion, bring your feet together. Thanks to these push-ups, you will additionally strengthen and shape your leg muscles and burn more calories.

9. Inverted pushups (French)

This time, go to the support with your back, i.e. belly up. Lower your buttocks slightly downwards. Point the fingers of your hand forward. Bend your elbows back, lower your hips to the floor (but do not sit down completely!), And then, straightening your arms, lift them up. When doing this movement, work only with the muscles of your hands - don't tense your buttocks to keep your hips loose. By performing the inverted push-up you will strengthen, among others triceps.

See also: POMPKI - 30-day challenge for beginners and advanced

10. Walking push-ups (crabs)

Move to the support in front of you, then move your arm and leg to the left - so as to make a fairly large step. In this position, do the push-up, rise, and bring your arms and legs back together again. Then slidearm and leg to the right and repeat the push-up. Come back inside. Perform push-ups alternately in both directions.

11. Push-ups by the wall

Stand in front of a wall farther than your arms length. Keeping your torso straight all the time, lean forward and start push-ups - bend your elbows to the sides bringing your face closer to the wall, then straighten your arms. If you want to engage your triceps more, keep your elbows as close to your body as possible while bending down.

12. Side to side pushups

Quite a difficult version of push-ups, thanks to which you will increase the load and work harder on the arm muscles. It consists in the fact that when going down, you should tilt the torso slightly to one side - so that the weight of the body is to a greater extent only on one hand. When we come back up, we rest our torso evenly on both hands. Remember to perform the exercise symmetrically (the same number of times on each side).

13. One-leg push-ups

Position yourself as for a normal push-up, then lift one leg slightly upwards. You can rest it on the other foot. When doing this push-up, remember to work hard with your abs to keep your balance.

14. Hindu pumps

Interesting push-ups with yoga elements that will increase the flexibility of your spine. Start with the dog's head down position: lean on your arms, lift your hips high up, head down, and tuck between your shoulders. The spine and legs should remain perfectly straight. Then bend your arms and lower your torso so that it is parallel to the ground (as in a classic push-up). Straighten your arms again, lift your head up high, but leave your legs and hips just off the ground (cobra pose). The entire sequence of movements corresponds to one push-up.

15. One-hand push-ups

Do push-ups as in the basic version, except that you put one hand behind you. A variant only for advanced people who want to significantly increase the difficulty of the exercise.

16. Push-ups with raised legs

Have a stable chair or stool ready. Rest your legs on it and place your hands on the floor. Straighten your elbows (ideally your silhouette should be parallel to the ground). Lower and raise the torso as in classic push-ups. In this version of the exercise, the upper part of the chest works harder.

17. T pushups

Thanks to T pushups, you will additionally work on the stabilizing muscles that are responsible for the correct posture. Take the starting position as for a normal push-up. Go down, get up, and when you straighten your arms completely, take one hand off the floor, twist your torso, opening your chest, and lift your arm above you(perpendicular to the ground - so that your body takes a shape similar to the letter T). Return to the starting position. Repeat the push-up, this time lifting the other hand.

18. Plyometric pumps

The plyometric pump is not the easiest one, but it has a very important advantage - it helps in the development of fast twitch muscle fibers. Thanks to their strengthening, you will improve your speed and agility. How to do such a push-up? Start with a classic starting position. Lower your torso, then very dynamically straighten your arms so that you bounce off the ground. After taking off, your arms should be above the ground for a second. Then come back to the starting position on the arms and immediately bend your elbows to lower yourself. Repeat the entire sequence smoothly and dynamically. For even greater difficulty, you can clap when you take your hands off the ground.

19. Push-ups with an exercise band (expander)

For this push-up you can use an elastic band (tape) for exercise or an expander. Grab both ends of the strap to your hands and pass it behind your back (it should be at the height of your biceps). Then go to the front support and perform a classic push-up. The resistance of the rubber will make your arm muscles have to do even more work.

20. Dumbbell push-ups

Prepare two large dumbbells with plates of the same size. Lay them parallel to each other, slightly wider than the width of your shoulders. Place your hands on the bars of the weights and do the push-up. To make it more difficult, after returning to the starting position, you can lift the dumbbell with one hand to the level of the chest.

21. Handstand push-ups against the wall

Variant only for advanced people who know how to stand on their hands. Without mastering this skill, you should not attempt the exercise at all, because it is very easy to injure the neck. It is better if you are accompanied by the second person during your first attempts.

Start from the prop facing the wall (approx. 1 step). From this position, bounce with your legs and switch to a handstand, resting your feet against the wall. Then slowly lower yourself vertically downwards bending your elbows to an angle of approx. 90 degrees. As you breathe out, straighten your arms and come back to the starting position.

22. Push-ups on the rails

The exercise can be performed in the gym with the use of special handrails or at home using two stable chairs with high backs. The procedure is as follows: grasp the handrails with a neutral grip (toes pointing outwards), bend your knees so that they do not touch the ground. The elbows are straight. While inhaling, bend your elbows to a right angle and lower your torso. As you exhale, start straightening your armsgoing up. When exercising, try not to tilt your torso - it should be stabilized. Push-ups on the bars engage the shoulder muscles and the triceps of the arm to the greatest extent.

Category:

Anatomy