Best Push-Ups For Chest To Mass And Strength

Push-ups are among the most effective bodyweight exercises for building a bigger, stronger chest. They also work various muscle groups, including the triceps, shoulders, core, and back.

Push-ups can be performed regardless of where you are; best of all, they are completely free. No expensive equipment or annual gym fees are required.

The chest and other push-up variations are effective exercises for both novices and athletes. They don’t require special equipment.

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about push-ups for the chest, including:

• How to do a push-up properly
• Different push-up variations that target different areas of the chest
• How to create a push-up routine for chest
• Tips and Proper Form

How To Train Chest With Push-Ups

There are many ways to do push-ups to work different regions of the chest muscles. Many biomechanical variations of the Push-up exercise can alter muscle activity by providing a lesser or more significant challenge to the target chest muscle.

The various types of push-ups involve varying hand and foot positions, which affects muscle recruitment patterns.

That is why some types of push-ups focus on the upper chest, some on the lower chest, some on the triceps, and others on the shoulders.

• The standard push-up has survived the test of time and is the single most efficient exercise for simultaneously strengthening the chest, arms, deltoid, lower back, abs, and glutes.
• Incline chest push-ups are easier than normal because of the angle at which the exercise must be done. The inclined surface means that more of the lower chest, shoulder muscles, and triceps are used. It’s the best choice for beginners.
• The decline chest push-up is a more advanced version of the standard push-up due to the angle at which it must be performed. The decline position means that more of the upper chest, shoulder muscles, and triceps are used decline push-ups.
• Narrowing your hand spacing is a simple way to target the inner chest with a push-up. Close-grip push-ups can also be used to build the inner chest.

For simplicity, I have divided chest push-up exercises into several sections, such as

• Chest push-ups for beginners
• Intermediate Chest Push-ups
• Advance Push-ups

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Beginner Push-Ups For Chest Growth

There are endless ways to modify chest push-ups for your specific needs. First, we will see beginner-friendly options.

1. Wall Push Up

The wall push-up is a simple and easy type of push-up that dramatically reduces the pressure on the arms, upper back, and abs.

It is a good choice for beginners or those just starting with strength training.

The closer you are to the wall, the easier this chest push-up will be. But remember that you still need to keep your body aligned when you do it.

How To Do

1. Stand approximately 2 to 2.5 feet away from the wall, arms held at shoulder height in front of you.
2. Place your hands against the wall with your body straight and your legs a few feet behind.
3. Lean your body forward so that your elbows flex and your chest comes within inches of the wall.
4. Use your hands to push your body into a standing position.
5. The movement should be smooth and controlled.

2. Knee Push-Up

The knee push-up, also known as a modified type push-ups, are a great way to strengthen your chest muscles and train your shoulder and triceps.

The knee push-up is a brilliant chest exercise for beginners. If you’re having trouble performing a full push-up, practice an easier push-up variation, the knee push-up.

How To Do

1. Kneel on the floor. Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor.
2. Make sure your back is always straight, never slumped.
3. To lower yourself, bend your elbows and bring your chest to the floor.
4. Make sure your body is straight from your head to your knees.
5. Raise your body to the starting position by pushing up with your arms.

3. Incline Push-Up

The incline chest push-up is a great bodyweight exercise for building chest strength. It offers numerous benefits and perfectly suits BOTH beginners and experienced athletes.

The incline push-up for the chest is a variation of the push-up in which you push yourself off from a raised object instead of the ground.

You can also use objects like a chair, a gym bench, a sofa, a box, a sturdy table, or anything else.

How To Do

1. Reach forward and grab the sides of the chair or in front of the bench.
2. Be sure the bench or chair is stable and secure before you perform the push-ups.
3. Keep your body straight from head to ankle.
4. Slowly lower yourself by flexing your elbows so that your chest is close to the edge of the chair or bench.
5. Using your hands, push yourself back to the starting position.
6. The movement should be smooth and controlled.

4. Standard Push Up

Standard push-up workouts are popular types of push-ups that build your entire upper body, shoulders, chest, and arms.

Check out how to do them correctly and blast your muscles at home or the gym. This workout must be included in your push-up arsenal.

How To Do

1. Lay face down on the ground with your legs straight and arms supporting your upper body.
2. Keep your elbows close to your body.
3. Raise yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and your arms.
4. Raise until your elbows are locked, and pause momentarily at the top.
5. Now lower your body slowly and steadily until your chest is close to the ground.

Intermediate Chest Ups

If you have mastered the beginner push-up, it is time to push yourself with intermediate chest push-ups. These variations are more difficult and will help you build strength and muscle mass in your chest.

5. Knuckle Push Up

If you experience wrist pain while doing standard chest push-ups, doing push-ups on your knuckles may be a good way to benefit from wrist pain.

The knuckle push-up is an advanced exercise that requires extra strength and stability but can offer powerful rewards for those who master this challenging workout.

How To Do

1. Start in a plank position with your hands in a closed fist position and your knuckles facing the ground.
2. Perform on an exercise mat to avoid any discomfort on your hands.
3. Keep your elbows close to your sides as you lower your body towards the ground.
4. Your chest should come close to touching the ground.
5. Push back up to the starting position.

6. Stability Ball Chest Push Up

Studies indicate that push-ups performed on a stability ball can lead to different muscle activation levels than standard push-ups.

One study found that push-ups with hands on a Swiss ball significantly increased the activation of the triceps brachii and rectus abdominis compared to traditional push-ups on a stable surface.

How To Do

1. Place your hands on the ball at the sides of your chest.
2. Place your feet back and lean forward so your chest is directly over the ball, and you are supported on your toes.
3. Do not let your lower back sag or your butt rise. Ensure your body is straight and rigid.
4. Push your body up, until your arms are almost straight (do not lock your elbows). Pause here for a second.
5. Breathe out and extend your arms to bring your upper body back to the starting position.

7. Wide Push Up

If you can perform regular pushups and wish to target your muscles differently, wide pushups are a good option.

Wide grip push-ups provide all the benefits of a normal push-up, with a special focus on shoulder and outer chest.

How To Do

1. Lay face down on the ground with your legs straight and arms supporting your upper body.
2. Put your arms in the 90/90 push-up position.
3. Remember to always keep your back straight with your abs and glutes contracted.
4. Slowly go down to the floor. Descend until your arms are parallel to the floor.
5. Try to return to the starting point by extending your elbows and driving your palms into the floor.

8. Dumbbell Push Up

Dumbbell for push-ups makes push-ups a more powerful exercise and helps you increase upper body strength, muscle mass, and overall balance.

Dumbbell push-ups target the same muscle groups as regular push-ups, including the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Still, they can also provide an additional challenge by requiring additional stability and balance.

How To Do

1. Grip a dumbbell in each hand and get into a plank position with your palms facing down towards the floor. 
2. Now lift yourself off the ground and straighten your elbows and arms. Keep your elbows close to your body.
3. Raise your arms until your elbows are locked.
4. Slowly lower your body until your chest is close to the ground.

Advance Chest Ups To Build Mass and Strength

You’ve built a solid foundation of chest strength. It’s time to introduce hardcore advanced push-up variations that will ignite new muscle growth and power.

These intense techniques will strengthen your chest, shoulders, and triceps while improving balance and coordination.

9. Decline Push Up

Decline chest push-ups are the same as normal push-ups but with your legs on a bench. Although this push-up is called the decline push-up, it focuses more on the upper chest.

Furthermore, since your lower body is raised from the floor, the resistance your body encounters increases compared to doing the push-up on the floor. This makes the decline push-up harder than the standard push-up.

How To Do

1. Placed your hands firmly on the floor and spaced slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Put legs on the bench or the pad roller.
3. Now, lift yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and arms. Keep your elbows close to your body.
4. Raise until your elbows are almost near to locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
5. Now lower your body slowly and steadily until your chest is near the ground.
6. Vary the position of the bench to hit different angles of the upper chest.

10. Feet On Stability Ball Push-Up

The push-up with feet on a Swiss ball is a progression of the decline push-up that targets the upper chest, shoulders, and triceps while engaging the core.

How To Do

1. Lie face-down on the ball with your arms supporting you in a push-up position.
2. Roll forward until your pelvis and thighs are off the ball, then position your feet on top of the ball.
3. Your hands should be directly beneath your shoulders.
4. Breathe in as you lower yourself by bending your arms until your elbows form a 90-degree angle.
5. You should pause at the bottom for one to two seconds before breathing out and using your arms to push you up to the starting position.

11. Weighted Chest Push Up

Weighted chest push-ups are a great way to add resistance to your chest workouts and build strength and muscle mass more quickly

The practice of weighted push-ups can have numerous benefits, such as a massive chest, stronger core, and stronger arms. They can also naturally improve testosterone, transforming the body into a fat-burning furnace.

Start with a small weight plate and work your way up.

How To Do

1. Get in the standard push-up position. Have a partner load a weight plate onto your back.
2. Keep your core tight, and slowly lower your body to the ground.
3. Make sure to keep your elbows tucked in close by your sides so they make a 45-degree angle with your torso.
4. Once your chest touches the ground, pause, then press back up to the starting position.
5. Have your partner remove the plate at the end of the set

12. Fingertip Push Up

Doing push-ups on your fingertips can look impressive, and it’s also an efficient exercise to increase your grip for basketball, bodybuilding, or rock climbing.

It also keeps your wrists straight, making it an excellent way to eliminate wrist pain from the 90-degree bend when your palms are flat on the floor.

Note: Due to their complexity, fingertip push-ups can lead to injuries if performed incorrectly or without adequate preparation

How To Do

1. Take a standard push-up position, then spread your fingers apart slightly for balance.
2. Then, take a plank position on the floor, with only the fingers and toes remaining in contact with the ground.
3. Then, bend your elbow and lower your body until it is several inches off the floor.
4. Breathe out as you push yourself up using your arms.
5. Think of raising yourself by attempting to push the ground away from you.

13. Single-Leg Push Up

Studies have shown that single-leg push-ups increase the activation of various upper body muscles compared to traditional push-ups.

Specifically, the pectoralis major, triceps brachii, and anterior deltoids exhibit heightened activity due to the increased demand for stabilization while performing the exercise on one leg. 

How To Do

1. Assume a standard push-up position, but place one foot on top of the other or one foot in the air straight behind you.
2. Lower yourself by bending your elbows. Ensure your chest is close to the floor and your body is straight from head to toe. Lift one leg up in the air.
3. Raise your body to the starting position by pushing up with your arms.
4. Repeat the desired number of repetitions.
5. Make sure to alternate legs between sets or repetitions to create a symmetrical body.

14. One-Arm Push-Up

A one-arm push-up is a compound exercise that requires far more strength and balance than a standard push-up using two arms.

It just might be one of the most challenging bodyweight exercises to master.

How To Do

1. Get in the standard push-up position. Place one hand on the ground directly beneath your chest and the other behind your lower back.
2. To maintain balance, turn your torso slightly away from the pushing arm.
3. Breathe in as you lower your angled torso to the ground until your chin is a few inches above the floor.
4. Breathe out as you push yourself up from the floor.
5. Stop just before you lock out your elbow at the top of the movement.

15. Clapping Push-Up

Clapping Push-ups is an advanced type of chest push-up exercise that works your chest, triceps, abs, and shoulders.

It can help burn fat and build muscle. Many athletes use them to improve their athletic performance by building strength, endurance, and speed.

How To Do

1. Start with a standard push-up.
2. Start to lower your body as if you’re going to do a push until your chest is almost touching the floor.
3. Reverse the motion by pushing hard through the palms; just as your arms reach full extension, pull your hands up off the floor.
4. Rapidly clap your hands together and return them to their original position before your body falls to the ground.
5. Be sure to exhale when exploding off the ground and inhaling on the way down.

Make Chest Push Up Easier Or Harder

Modifications can make many of these push-ups easier or harder, but not every modification will work with every push-up.

Make It Easier

• Knees: Perform push-ups on your knees instead of your feet to ease the difficulty on your upper body. This is a great way to build up to more difficult variations.
• Incline: Elevate your hands on a bench, chair, or table—the higher above your feet, the easier.

Make It Harder

• Unilateral: Cross one ankle over the other so only one foot is on the ground. This requires more core activation for stability.
• Decline: Elevate your feet on a box or bench to increase the activation of the upper chest muscles and the front of the shoulders (anterior deltoids). The higher your feet, the more difficult.
• Weighted: Have a friend place a weight plate on your back for an added strength challenge.
• Plyometric Combinations: Transition between different types of push-ups. For example, go back and forth between narrow and wide hands or the fore and after positions of staggered hands. Get creative.

FAQs

Can you grow a chest with push-ups?

Many types of push-ups help to grow the chest, shoulder, and tricep muscles. Push-ups are often modified by changing the hand and foot positions.

That is why some types focus on the upper chest, some on the lower chest, some on the triceps, and others on the shoulders.

Which push-ups are best for the chest?

The standard push-up is one of the best chest exercises. It has survived the test of time and is the single most efficient exercise for simultaneously strengthening the chest, arms, and deltoid.

The Incline Push-up works your lower chest. On the other hand, the decline push-up works the upper chest and front shoulders more than the regular or incline variation.

How many pushups a day is good?

There’s no limit to how many push-ups you can do daily. Many people do more than 200 push-ups a day. Even 50 to 100 push-ups should be enough for an average person to maintain a good upper body.

The number of push-ups you do daily depends on your fitness level.

• If you are a beginner, you should start by doing push-ups on your knees or incline push-ups. I recommend doing 10–20 push-ups a day. But do not stick to this number. It is important to keep increasing the number to challenge your body.
• If you are an intermediate, you should start by doing standard Push-Ups. I recommend doing 50–100 push-ups a day.

References

• Behm D.G., Anderson K., Curnew R.S. (2002) Muscle force and activation under stable and unstable conditions. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 16(3): 416-422.
• Calatayud J., Borreani S., Colado J.C., Martin F., Rogers M.E. (2014) Muscle activity levels in upper-body push exercises with different loads and stability conditions. Physician and Sportsmedicine 42, 106-119.
• Clemons J. (2019) Construct validity of two different methods of scoring and performing push-ups. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 33, 2971-2980.
• Chulvi‐Medrano I, Martínez‐Ballester E, Masiá‐Tortosa L. Comparison of the Effects of an Eight‐Week Push‐Up Program Using Stable Versus Unstable Surfaces. International journal of sports physical therapy. 2012 Dec;7(6):586.Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3537455/ (accessed 16.11.2021)
• Cogley RM, Archambault TA, Fibeger JF, Koverman MM. Comparison of muscle activation using various hand positions during the push-up exercise. Journal of strength and conditioning research. 2005 Aug 1;19(3):628.

Manish Kumar

Manish is a NASM-certified fitness and nutrition coach with over 10 years of experience in weight lifting and fat loss fitness coaching. He specializes in gym-based training and has a lot of knowledge about exercise, lifting technique, biomechanics, and more.

Through “Fit Life Regime,” he generously shares the insights he’s gained over a decade in the field. His goal is to equip others with the knowledge to start their own fitness journey.