6 Best Pushup Variations to Target Different Muscles

“Staying healthy should be everybody’s foremost goal,” declares Scott Capelin. Mr. Capelin is a fitness, health, and business expert. To stay healthy, you need to eat healthily and be fit. When you eat right without exercising, you’re not fit. Exercise helps in digestion and staying in shape. It also reduces your visits to the doctors.

There are different kinds of exercises you can do. Sportsmen or sportswomen have different routines. For example, a weightlifter would want to train his upper body strength to facilitate weight lifting. While a gymnast will engage in stretching exercises to increase flexibility.

The workout of someone who wants to lose weight differs from a body builder’s.

Developing your muscles is a part of exercising. Make sure you get it right, else you may end up with overdevelopment hence damaging your muscle.

One way of developing your muscles is through pushups. It’s a form of exercise that requires endurance, strength, and consistency.

Categories of Pushup for Different Muscles

There are many types of pushups depending on your desired muscle type. For example, there is a pushup for developing lower muscles.

If you’re interested in building your upper muscles, the pushup is different from developing lower muscles.

Here are the 6 different types of pushups for different muscles suggested by Scott Capelin:

1. Wide Push-up

This pushup is for building the chest muscles.

Instructions: Position yourself on the floor. Settle your physique in a pushup elevated plank posture. Join your feet and let your neck be straight. Align yourself with this posture. Put both palms on the floor. Widen the distance between both hands. The distance should be more than your shoulder widths. Let the tips of your fingers face up. Gradually lower your chest to the floor. Tilt your elbows and slowly breathe in. Halt for a minute or two depending on your endurance. After that, gradually raise your chest from the lowered position to your former rising posture. Exhale slowly as you bring your upper body up. Bunch up your middle to flow with your body movements.

2. Biceps Muscle Building Push-up

This pushup is used to develop the muscles of your biceps.

Instructions: Put yourself in an elevated plank posture. Align your body the same as in the wide push up above. Breathe in, tilt your elbows little by little, and gradually lay your upper body to the floor. Your biceps should be perpendicular to the floor. Fold both elbows inline with your chest and glance at your legs, recommended by Scott Capelin.

3. Tricep Muscle-Building Push-up

This push is used to develop the tricep muscles.

Instructions: Position your body, hands, feet, and neck the same way you do a wide pushup. Put both palms downwards beneath your chest. Link your fingers and thumbs in a triangle. Gradually put your upper body on the floor and inhale. Align your elbows and waist. Stop a bit after lowering. Afterward, slowly exhale and lift your upper body.

4. Shoulder Muscles Building Push-up

Place yourself in the same elevated positions as in the other pushups. Align your body parts the same as in a wide pushup. Let the tips of your fingers face up and widen the distance between each elbow. Position each foot in the direction of each hand. Raise your hips and shape your legs and hands in a V shape. Gradually put down your chest and torso to the floor. Bend your elbows and breathe in. Tuck in your elbows and straighten the lowered torso. Stay in that position for a minute. Then gradually rise to the elevated posture and exhale while doing so.

5. Arm Muscles Building Push-up

This is done to strengthen the arm muscles.

Instructions: Situate yourself in the standard elevated posture with joint feet and aligned body. Put both palms on the exercise mat.

Widen the distance between each palm. This posture is named an elevated posture. Start from the left-hand side and gradually slide your upper body to the ground. Tilt your left elbow and inhale. While doing this, raise your right hand and unbend it. Uphold the posture for a minute then rise to the elevated position. Repeat the procedures for your right arm.

6. Back Muscle Building Push-up

This pushup exercise is performed to develop the back muscle.

Instructions: Situate yourself in an elevated position as if you are performing arm muscle-building push-ups. Arrange both palms exactly as you would during wide pushups. Put your head one meter behind both hands. Breathe in as you gradually place your upper body on the floor. Unbend yourself and tighten your torso. Stay like that for a minute, then gradually rise to the previous elevated posture. “Don’t forget to exhale,” advised Scott Capelin.

Conclusion

The push-up exercise is a wonderful way of staying healthy and building muscles. Consistently do pushups for at least 30 every day to see good results.