Are pushups good enough to get ripped?  You bet! Few compound exercises can rival the effects of a push up workout.  While most people focus on the pecs, pushups work the huge muscles of the back not to mention secondary muscle groups of the arms and shoulders.  If you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck then it’s time to learn a bit more about the good ole pushup!

What Muscle Groups Do Pushups Work?

Obvi… the chest.  Two muscle groups form this slab of muscle on the front of your upper chest.  Pectorialis Major is a fan-shaped muscle that spans the width of half the chest.  If you were to hold a stack of popsicle sticks inbetween your fingers and fan them out, that represents pectorialis major. Originating at your shoulder it stretches to the front mid chest at the sternum.  The Pecrotialis Minor is also a triangle shape and is the support underneath it’s big bro.

Smack The Back

You may not think that pushups work the back, but they do.  With any exercise or workout you do in or out of the gym, there is always an antagonist or secondary muscle group involved.  As you are pushing the weight of your body up from the floor, the huge muscles of the back are there to stabilize the effort.

Shoulders and Arms

Think of the chest and back as two huge cruise ships.  The smaller muscles of the arms and shoulders are the tug boats.  The big guys can’t even do their job without the little guys there to tow the line.

The Best Pushups Workout To Get Ripped

Here’s secret no muscle head in the weight lifting room want’s to admit (if they even know it themselves):  A good push ups workout WILL add muscle just as well as weightlifting!

Think about it.  When you do a pushup you are lifting almost the entire weight of your body off the ground.  Let’s say you weigh 170 lbs, do you think you can go do 50 reps of 170 chest press even with magical workout gloves?  Doubt it.  Therefore a pushups workout is going to help build muscle.

Getting “ripped” is a slightly different goal.  Ripped refers to being able to see striations in the muscle.  In order for this to occur your body fat has to be low enough to see those sexy little muscle fibers!

What is Proper Push Up Form?

Begin on the floor with your hands about shoulder width apart at the sides of your body.  Line your hands up w/ your nips and make sure your legs are extended straight our behind you.

The push-up effectively works the chest muscle in both the positive (pushing up) motion as well as the negative (returning down) motion, so the key is slow and controlled movement.

Do as many pushups as you can until you can’t push yourself off the floor.  That will count as one set.  Rest for two minutes and do it all again.  Keep going through as many sets as you need to till you’re about to puke.  Then you can stop.

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