What MUSCLES DO FLEXIONS WORK?

You do not know which muscles are worked with push-ups or push-ups, even though you’ve been doing them for a long time? Don’t worry, you are not the first or the last person to experience this. Many people do sports to get in shape, but do not know what the training they are doing involves. Thus, these are the muscles that are worked with push-ups:

• Pectorals (minor and major).
• Anterior deltoids.
• Triceps brachii.
• Serratus anterior.
• Infraspinous.
• In addition, the heart muscles are more activated, favoring an improvement in cardiovascular capacity.

The closed push-ups work more on the triceps, pectoral and infraspinatus and somewhat on the anterior deltoid, while the open push-ups they involve more work on the anterior deltoids and serratus, as well as some of the pectoral.

If you don’t know either what do push-ups strengthen, at oneHOWTO we help you discover it. In addition to emphasizing that open push-ups contribute to increasing chest work, it is important that you know the muscles that are involved:

• Pectorals.
• Deltoid.
• Triceps
• Quadriceps.
• Buttocks.
• Muscles that stabilize the body.
• Strengthening the core (center of gravity of the body).

Among the types of push-ups and the muscles they work, it is also convenient to know the push-ups on the wall, vertical push-ups or push-ups on the wall at mid-height. They are very useful for anyone who begins to exercise, although precisely because they are simpler they are a little less effective than the rest of the push-ups. The muscles that are worked with the push-ups on the wall are as follows:

• Pectoralis major, both clavicular and external.
• Triceps brachii.
• Anterior deltoids.
• Abdominal rect.
• Brachial biceps.
• Erector (spine).
• Oblique.

The different types of push-ups can be divided into the following:

• Light push-ups: They are the most classic and simple among the different types of push-ups, which is why they are also called classic push-ups. Thus, they are the most suitable for those who are not yet ready to do push-ups continuously. They are used to train before moving on to the more complex ones. Later we will see how to do this basic type of push-up.
• L-shaped bends: the base position, where the feet rest, is on top of a box, stool or any raised surface so that the body adopts a horizontal L shape. The arms are extended and the hands are supported on the ground to be able to make the movement when bending the elbows correctly.
• Mountain bending: They are done by supporting the feet and hands on the ground. You have to lift your glutes and make a figure similar to a pyramid when you do the push-up movement. You must keep both your back and legs straight at all times.
• Diamond push-ups: with these the triceps are especially worked. Its execution is similar to the classic ones and only the position of both hands is changed, thus narrowing the base created to perform the flexion. In this position, you are forced to strain with your triceps. Here you can learn more about how to do tricep curls.

Knowing which muscles the push-ups work, you may wonder what types of push-ups there are of this style. The best movements of this type of exercise for work your pecs more They are the slap, plyometric climbing, archery, Superman and one-arm push-ups.

Slap push-ups

In these lizards there are two keys:

• Control the core to do the exercise well.
• Land on the ground without having to force your wrists when you do the push-up movement.

To start the slap push-ups, you can do it while bent over or with the help of your knees. In addition to the classic slap push-ups, there are more varieties:

• With a cross slap.
• Slap both knees, activating the lower abs and raising the glutes as you push your legs forward.
• With a pat behind the back. Dare with them if you have a special flexibility in the shoulders.

Scaled plyometrics

To do them successfully, you have to change the position of both hands after doing the push-up and with each repetition doing a jump. If the movement is too demanding for you, avoid jumping.

Goalkeeper push-ups

These push-ups are mainly lateral movement, you must separate your hands exceeding the height of the shoulders. You just have to flex one arm: switch arms with each repetition. The one that you are not flexing can be slightly bent, although most of the time you should keep it straight.

Superman push-ups

The movement of these push-ups is similar to the position indicated by their name. Get into position to do normal push-ups, start to do a push-up and when you are going up jump with your whole body, extend your arms and legs and as you fall, place your hands open to land carefully. At this point you will be down, but you can take advantage of the energy generated by the movement and the impact to go up and do a normal push-up, before repeating the entire exercise.

To do this type of difficult push-up it is very important to have warmed up the joints well first, since it is an impact exercise.

One-arm push-ups

Spread your feet and support your body with one arm during the push-up, which you’ll do just like the basics. In addition, we recommend that you place the arm resting against your back. With this movement, you will improve the balance of the body.

Now that you know which muscles the push-ups work, before doing this exercise in its different versions, it is important that you know how to do the classics correctly and that you do them with some ease, so that later you can move on to other types and angles to do this exercise. with less risk of hurting yourself. At OneHOWTO we recommend that you follow this step by step to achieve it:

1. Lie on the floor face down.
2. Extend your hands and place your palms on the floor at shoulder height.
3. Keep your back straight at all times to avoid injury during exercise and to work your core and arms well.
4. Raise your body by straightening your elbows and pushing your arms until both arms are well stretched, but not as far as possible. Be very careful not to force the joint or give a sharp blow that forces the elbows.
5. Bend your arms until you reach the original position to lower your body. The chest can only touch the ground when you lower the body: do not support it because otherwise the exercise will not have the expected effectiveness.
6. Keep your pelvis in the air and look straight ahead when your chest touches the ground.
7. You will count one rep each time your chest is close to the ground.

For more information, here you can see How to start doing push-ups and, in addition, in this video you can see how to do the push-ups step by step and some very useful tips.

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