By Jeff Millet
Push-ups are one of the first exercises you learn as a kid. It is a simple but valuable exercise that can be overlooked in programming.
Everyone wants a strong upper body, and many people focus primarily on exercises like the bench press to build muscle. Bench presses are great for developing chest and shoulder strength, and we use a lot of different bench press variations at Northcore. However, they keep your shoulder blades trapped down and don't allow your scapula to develop strength and stability. To build total scapular control, stability, and strength in pushing movements with the chest we also program a variety of different push-up exercises.
Here are 7 of the push-up variations we use with our clients.
Add 1 or 2 of these into your workout 2-3 days per week. Do 2 or 3 sets of 10-20 reps.
Yoga Push-up
Use as a movement prep / activation exercise
Push-up with Shoulder Tap
Push-up with Dumbbell Row
Push-up with Weight - Chains or Plate
Incline Push-up
Band-Resisted Push-ups
Spider-Man Push-Ups