Push Ups vs Bench Press for Muscle Hypertrophy - ULTIMATE Comparison (8 Studies)
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- The bench press is probably the most popular upper body exercise. The push-up is also quite a popular upper body exercise. When the push-up is compared to the bench press for muscle hypertrophy, it's far from uncommon for individuals to assume to bench press is superior. In this video, we're going to assess this claim via evaluating the current scientific research. Is the bench press truly superior to the bench press for building muscle?
0:00 Intro
1:02 Longitudinal Research: Bench Press vs Push-up
8:52 Muscle Excitation: Bench Press vs Push-up
13:27 Overloading the Push-Up: Harder Variations
17:45 Overloading the Push-Up: Weighted Push-ups
20:04 The Carryover Between the Bench Press and Push-up
22:22 Push-up Recruits the Abdominals More
23:04 Push-up Recruits the Serratus Anterior More
23:42 Takeaway Points
References:
Kikuchi and Nakazato - www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Lopez et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33433...
Kotarsky et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29466...
Vigotsky et al. - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Alizadeh et al. - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Tillar and Ball - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32774...
Tillar - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Ebben et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21873...
Calatayud - et al. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25419...
Song L'Indécis - Soulful chll.to/64a098ba
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I want to state something here. I did a push up with my upper half on a scale. It was about 65% of my body weight like in the video stated, but once i went all the way down, it was about 75% of it. The reason for this is the angle. Like how the elevated hand positions take weight off, the same thing happens in a normal push up. The closer you get to the floor, the heavier itll be based on your foot position. In the future I'd recommend looking into the varying range of top and bottom positions, and then find a range on top of it. 10% is a huge deal. If you add 30 lbs onto a 300 lb bench it'll be extremely apparent as far as reps and maxing goes.
i tested the same thing a few years ago. placing the feet on a higher surface increases the percentage but at some point it becomes a shoulder exercise.
You aren't lifting your lower arm, and you're lifting only half your upper arm, in a push up.
@Nicky Bobby Weighted Dips build your chest? Please explain
@Nicky Bobby you're right though. I do feel it in my chest too not. Just my triceps when I do dips
@Nicky Bobby true! But more the lower and midle chest.
But it's definitely a top chest builder.
Flawless animations, scientifically accurate and carefully explained, all of this with a soothing voice...this channel is the most underrated thing in existence....
Thank you, that's extremely kind of you! :)
100th like
Is that really all you got out of this video was the guys soothing voice and how it was explained instead of the exercise itself
SOOOO TRUE BRO!
Just discovered this channel today. You right.
Progressive overload is key to building muscles regardless of the type of exercise
150%; more reps, more weight, weaker leverages etc. You won't grow if you don't progress.
not really. If thats the case people won't do pull up because its far easier to do progressive overload on lat pulldown.
So is building every part of the muscle 360 through the whole movement, calisthenics, gymnastics, kettlebells and cables build muscles that you didn't know you had lol
@@ggh_-ts6pn pullup is way better in a compound sense and stability mobility sense too being able to shift side to side and do much more plus it makes you ways stronger with hand, wrist and forearm strength and size
ok but this doesn’t remove exercise selection as a factor
This is like responding to a comparison of tires by saying the key to winning an F1 race is going faster.
I'm 54 years old and a long time weight lifter. Last year I started doing calisthenics because I enjoyed challenging the body with many of the movements they espouse.
So I decided to do a 6 week calisthenics only program, except for lower body, to see what would happen. Well, it must be said that my physique has changed drastically! Shoulders, chest, biceps, triceps, abdominals and trunk extensors are more developed, bigger as well as stronger. I'm not the only one who has noticed but others as well. Thanks for the education.
Awesome to hear, congrats dude :)
Hey man not trying to insult you but the idea you noticably gained any size at age 54 after a few weeks of push-ups and calisthenics is pretty unlikely ESPECIALLY because you’re a long time lifter, unless maybe you haven’t been working out for some months/year and are quickly regaining some lost muscle
Well , I noticed your gains ( ;
It maybe due to newbie-gains to specific movement patterns.
You challenged the body to do something which you do not usually do ...... SO MAYBE
I noticed the exact opposite. Switching to bench, with heavier sets - I gained more strength and size than I did for 2 years of doing calisthenics.
Weighted pushups with a plate on your back are a killer exercise. You can fail in the 10-15 rep range and keep adding weight to make the exercise harder as you get stronger. I like this because when I bench my scapula wings and puts my shoulder in a bad position, but the pushup helps keep my shoulder blades retracted and helps with stability in my shoulders.
Awesome stuff :)
won't the plate/s fall off though? im new to calisthenics but i feel that need to add more weight as my exercises are getting easier
@@yami-9436 Backpack
@@yami-9436 There is a way to do it with rings/ elevation if you have a belt
ua-cam.com/video/QqTlnhzku5c/v-deo.html
do you mean fail or fall ?? ples tell me
Hope you're all having a great autumn! There's a slight glitch at the start of the video, but the rest of the video is okay. Anyway, I hope the video is useful or informative in some way!
0:00 Intro
1:02 Longitudinal Research: Bench Press vs Push-up
8:52 Muscle Excitation: Bench Press vs Push-up
13:27 Overloading the Push-Up: Harder Variations
17:45 Overloading the Push-Up: Weighted Push-ups
20:04 The Carryover Between the Bench Press and Push-up
22:22 Push-up Recruits the Abdominals More
23:04 Push-up Recruits the Serratus Anterior More
23:42 Takeaway Points
Too this day, the routine that has developed my chest the most has easily been the weighted pushup. It just seems to load the muscle differently than pressing weight off of you.
I'm in awe at the scientific rigour and clear, competent reasoning behind this dissertation. Wonderful video
Thank you so much dude, I appreciate you!
I like to follow my benching with 2 sets of push-ups to failure, and i feel it has helped me in many ways like strength and balance.
Awesome, that sounds ike a solid way to incorporate both of them :)
Usually just bench until you cant do a single pushup though lol
I’m gonna try that
@@phoenixharker1833 push up is more likely less load. So unless you're unloading after maxing your bench, pushup to failure seems much more straight forward
I do push ups then do bench. Knee bends then squats.
I've done both, when I was younger, I used to do all push-ups and dips. I used to get creative and do 25 push-ups, but go down and count 1, go up then down and count 1, 2, go up and down and count to 3, I did this up to 25, I think that was the best and most challenging exercise I've done, sometimes I would do sets of 25 staying in the down position for 5 seconds each time, also a great workout,
Going slower on the downwards does a lot of good for building muscle
I can do push-ups anywhere any time which makes it better for Me anyways.. 250 to 500 a day
350 situps every morning
Best shape of my life at 40 years old..
Eat whatever I want and hike 5 to 10 miles a day..
Push-ups win in my book
@@adambozentko5877 that's incredible
@@adambozentko5877 you're in great shape. I'm 37. I can maybe do half of that followed by me throwing up all over the place
For long armed people like me the Bench Press works mainly the front delts. And over time the movement is a delt destroyer. I started dong weighted Push-ups and occasional dumbbell fly's and my chest grew and my delts stopped aching.
Thanks for all the effort put into this video - this channel deserves much more notice!
Full of interesting info, references so we can look stuff up (great that you have title and author in those corner boxes, might be nice to have the date too?), balanced and well-explained commentary (especially appreciated your correction on the excitation/activation point), really neat animation, and lots of food for thought!
Will be looking up more of your videos...
Thank YOU for checking out the videos dude, I appreicate you!
Very comprehensive video, I haven't purchased a bar yet so it's nice to know that at least for a while I can keep getting good results with bodyweight and dumbbells.
Great to hear! Barbells are great, but you can achieve a lot with bodyweight and dumbbells :)
This is the first channel I think about when someone mentions underrated. It would really suck if a channel of quality this stopped making videos because it wasn't blessed by the youtube alhorithm gods. Thanks for the videos!
I appreciate the kind words! I plan to make much more videos :)
Over the past few months or so i've started doing basic body weight training with resistance bands for specifics here, i've had my very lazy periods where i didn't do anything for sometime so inevitably lost muscle but over the past month i've tried getting a bit more disciplined with it. Now I generally try and do 2-3 days focusing on push ups to failure than i'll do a lighter set afterwards in form just against the wall but i'll vary the stane/difficulty of it just to load up a bit more on speicifc muscle sets if possible then i'll generally do some resistance sets some time later.
This seems to be working nicely for me in that I always used to struggle doing just a push up but now im finding i can have a burst of fast push ups and i can generally get in around 10-12 in a set and i'm noticing muscles forming where i used to have none.
I think those studies and my experience show that for beginners/semi experienced push up and resistance training variations can have really big results long as you're disciplined with it and it'll take you some months or longer before you'd have to think about even starting to go to the gym or buying anything too elaborate but i guess it all depends on how fast you want results I guess.
At the minimum for people i think to avoid burn out/loss of enthusiasm and wasted money it's best to just to stick home training with just your body weight, when you can physically feel muscles forming where there used to be none or very little that alone is a big boost to keep on a more disciplined home training regiment before deciding on the move to an actual gym.
what a blessing to find this channel. thank you guys for your hardwork
Thank YOU for your kind words, I appreciate you!
So much quality on this channel. Thank you and well done!
Thank YOU for checking out the channel dude!!!
Those videos are criminally underrated. Informative, science-based and with great visuals. Keep it up and I hope your channel will grow very soon.
Also, you are the only person in the fitness youtube I've seen that correctly understands the meaning of data not being statistically significant. Other fitness youtubers that quote studies often commit a very serious mistake by saying things like "the numbers were not statistically significant, but we can still see that X" and it drives me mad.
Thank you so much for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. I have been (and continute) to study statistics so I can better interpret research! :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy As someone who studied statistics and done a few studies I really appreciate the effort, it's certainly not easy to read and understand all those studies. That's why we need more channels like yours to adequately explain them.
I discovered this channel only a couple of weeks ago but it has quickly become one of my favorites!
Thank you so much dude, that truly means a lot to me!
As an ncaa strength coach and exercise science graduate I’m impressed with your research and knowledge on this subject now I have to check out all of your videos !
Thank YOU so much my friend, I appreciate that!
The push-up is one of the best workouts…it took me 18 months to go from 5 push-ups to 250 push-ups straight…push-up wheel really got me to that next level…wide arm push-up to regular push-up to diamond push-up no stopping…you will do a perfect circle by just moving 1 arm left or right…
What kind of pec development did you gain?
I’ve always loved push-ups. I think it is a great exercise. I haven’t bench pressed in about 20 years because it bothers my shoulder so I switched to dumbbell bench press or resistance bands standing chest press . I am 59 now and have been training for about 40 years so I just do exercises that work for my body and the bench press is not one of them. You can get the same results with dumbbells and a good set of the thick resistance bands. Do push-ups with the resistance band to make them more difficult and increase overload on the muscles. Glad to hear this research because I no longer bench press. The bottom line is you need to use the proper intensity in order to see results not how much weight you push. Research shows that intensity is more important than volume and how much weight you use
I've been enjoying your channel.
The reason a pushup increases the biceps is because of the isometric aspect when the arm is in the straight position. Gymnasts have large biceps because they do a lot of straight arm isometric exercises.
that definitely could be what's going on! asnd thank you for your supports
Only with a forward lean (pseudo planche), but then the push ups work mostly the shoulder and the upper chest. There's so many push ups variant you can target pretty much any muscle you can think of.
I did loads of push ups for years, and my biceps didn't grow at all. After a few weeks of curls and incline curls, they got bigger straight away.
@@goodyeoman4534 yes, isometrics on there own don't so much and you need to do them with intensity.
@@hicoteo Will certainly look into that, mate. I like the idea of isometrics. I'm assuming the injury risk would be minimal too.
Wow! Very thorough video! I do both! Excellent! Thanks
Awesome to hear, thank you!
I truly believe push-ups is the best exercise I've ever done I was doing 500 push-ups a day along with 500 setups and I truly felt I was in the best shape of my life at age 44
Hell yea
I guess if that's how you want to spend your time. I used to do push ups but my chest wasn't getting bigger like I wanted it to. My core was strong but the muscles didn't grow till I started benching because I can add more weight and do the same number of reps as push ups. You can't always stack plates on your back. Besides the injury implications, stacking more than one plate would be difficult if you're alone. Seems all that effort doing so is solved by just benching. Keep it simple and straight forward.
@@karimamin2 who cares?
@@eddiedevereoxford4995 Who cares about what? Are you asking a question or making a statement?
@@karimamin2 yo! I was not concentrating on building my chest up to start with I was doing it for the overall benefit that push-ups can bring you besides I've always had a big chest naturally that was sculpted through genetics, on the other hand when I was doing bench presses and maxing out at 300 lb my joints hurt more and I was looking for something less impact on my joints and shoulders and I found it doing push-ups and setups also
Loved this video, was curious about push ups vs bench press myself!
Also lots of others good information that you could probably break down into multiple videos too if you wanted!
Thank you my friend!
Very nice video, I was doing bodyweight exercises (push ups and pull ups basically) and I gained a lot, but I was feeling I was not progressing the last months so I decided to buy a rack, barbell and a pulley lat so I can overload progressively since I also have not time to do more reps within body weight exercises anymore and now I will be able to hypertrophy in a more effective way. Anyways, your video has just gave me the ida of implementing bodyweight exercises as a finisher exercises after my bench press/pulleys series.
Summarizing: Bench pressing is very good for those advanced users and also for those with no time, but you will hit harder if once you have finished with your reps and rested at least 2min, a pushups until failure are executed (no weight is necessary, just hit the failure).
Great comment, very interesting to read. I appreciate it :)
Overloading the push up is done quite easily with exercise bands as it gets more difficult through the range of motion. This makes it ideal for both eccentric and concentric reps. Try these and see just how difficult they are with even a 10lb-30lb band. Personally I've found dumbbells less stressful on the shoulders than barbell bench. Maybe you could compare dumbbells vs barbell bench? Thanks for the great channel!
Definitely love your content. Thorough and great advice.
Thank you so much my friend :)
This is an excellent video, thank you. There is nothing scientific about this, but I currently like to do my push ups on gymnast rings and then I continue the training by raising the rings and doing pull ups on them. It "feels" like a simple and nice pretty full upper body exercise, while engaging a lot of muscles for stabilization.
Thank YOU for checking out the video dude! That sounds like a pretty awesome thing to do, gymnastic rings are great :)
Great video, loved how much it covered
Thank you dude! :)
This video is a work of art. Truly intelligent. Expressed every single limitation of every study with finesse. You must’ve been one hell of a student in University!!
Thank you so much, I'm not actually a student, haha :)
Use a back pack with added plates to load the push up.
This was extremely nerdy and technical, and I enjoyed every minute 👌🏻
Haha, thank you dude!
Push ups in gymnastic rings is the best exercise for chest and triceps.
The reason why it's better than bench press is that you can move the scapula. If you do it right, you utilize the serratus anterior just as much as the pecs.
Actually, rings is an entire gym for the upper body.
But you need good technique to get the full effect of it.
I just bought some rings last summer and I LOVE them. I keep them at my office so I can crank out dips, push-ups or leg raises between appointments.
They were wicked humbling at first but I love the challenge.
Really useful video with great animations
Thank you! :)
Loads of work in this video. Tnx!
Nice video, well done!
Thank you my friend!
You can also increase pushup intensity by slowing down the reps, or use an exercise band strapped across your upper back with each end in each hand and/or doing a pre-exhaust set first of another pec exercise followed immediately by pushups.
All great points :)
If you are planning on slowing down the reps, slow down the descent, and make the ascent as explosive as possible without actually leaving the ground
Or narrow pushups
Side staggered pushup
Negative incline pushups
Weighted pushup
Archer pushups
One arm pushups
Explosive pushups / w/claps
There's a lot of variations
i add a weight vest and it works quite well.
Thank you very informative video 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Any thoughts on rows vs pull-ups?
No problem :)
Rows and pull-ups are probably a great combination for back development. It's likely rows target the middle of the back more, while pull-ups do a better job for the lats. Indeed, an electromyographic study supports this (www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/certified/april-2018/6959/ace-sponsored-research-what-is-the-best-back-exercise/) Therefore, they together are a great partnership for back development.
Perfectly explained 👌. Thank you
Thank YOU for checking out the video dude! :)
This is good stuff. The story seems without a flaw!
You're da goat🐐👏🏽
Haha, I appreciate that, thank you :)
from my own experiences in bodybuilding for about 20 years now i tried a lot of things for my chest as i had difficulties to develop this muscle group.
I did bench press as everybody said it's the best exercise for building a big chet and while the workout my chest got pumped well but the next day the chest was flat again like the day before chest workout.
Years later i removed barbell bench press from my chest workout and used dumbbells instead, this already helped me a lot to develope my chest more than with regular bench press.
But in the last two years i added calisthenics to my workout routine + ring workout and this was the thing that helped me a LOT to develop my chest even more, since i workout my chest mostly with rings i don't use any weighted exercises on the bench so that i can say as me goes, push up variations (with Rings) helped me the most to develope my chest.
Fantastic insight! I am in similar position with regard to dumbbells and chest development over many years. I'll take your advice! Thank you.
@@AlphaMale_1 The only weighted exercises i do from time to time is after my chest workout as some kind of finisher are front raises with dumbbells but palm points upwards, you can also do a hammer curl position from the beginning where palms point to the body and rotate when you raise your arm above and slightly to the center of your body to get some pump into the chest. For the other exercise i use cables, similar like cable flys but arms are not straight, arms are tight to the body and just push the weight from one side of the body to the other.
I felt my chest a lot from that exercise as you hit it much more than with any fly or bench press because you can really squeeze your chest much more.
If you put your arm in front of you and tighten your chest like you do a bench press, you can put your other hand on the chest to feel it, if you than move your arm more to the center than you feel how much more you can produce pressure on the chest, that's why most people get better results from dumbbells compared to barbell.
@@FLYSKY1 is it possible to you to share your workout routine? i do calisthenics and have been struggling to develop a nice chest and other parts of my body.
@@IdkWhyMyNameIsB The question on first is if my workout routine would help you developing your muscles as my workout is a specific workout for my personal needs and i don't know how experienced you are.
But i do for example Chest and Biceps on monday, 6 exercises for biceps and 4x10 sets, 26 sets just for biceps which could be a too high volume for any other athlete.
For chest i do 7 exercises, also high volume so i get about 28 sets, tuesday is leg day, wednesday is triceps and back, 4 exercises each 4x10 sets, so 16 sets in complete, back are 7 exercises also about 4 sets each except for one exercise, it's one arm pull up, i do about 6 sets with 1 up to 3 reps.
On thursday biceps again but light weight and 3 sets each exercise with 15 reps but 6 exercises, chest about the same, 3x15 reps each exercise.
Exercises are the same like on monday just with the difference in weight, reps and sets (my so called recovery workout).
Friday is triceps again (light weight, same exercises like on wednesday but 3x15 reps each) and shoulder, 3 exercises and 3x15 reps.
One exercise is planche on parralel bars.
But as i said, my routine works for me, doesnt mean that it will work for you aswell as in bodybuilding and also calisthenics you have to get to know how your body will react on the workout, recovery, diet and so on.
For my chest i mostly use just rings and sometimes cable mashine, i would recommend ring workouts from chris heira for example, i do pelican push ups, deep push ups, push ups with lifted legs, bulgarian ring dips, dips on parallel bar, for back i also use front lever on rings or high bar.
Oh, and i do core workout every day, leg raises on high bar and leg raises on parallel bar, on each i do 10 sets each, so 20 for both, first set i do 10 reps, 10 seconds rest, than 9 reps, 9 seconds rest 8 reps and so on until i reach the last set with just one rep.
Core workout is the most important for any calisthenics, if you struggle with any exercise like leg raises, just make longer breaks between the sets for example.
I'm gonna combine both.
personally I feel pushups far more than bench press (weighted ofc). The ideal bar for chest hypertrophy is a cambered neutral grip bar which essentially mimics the ROM and position of dumbbells while being easier to load and progress on.
In a past life, I was an electrophysiology tech (registered polysomnographic technologist, research and clinical). It is my understanding that the signals received from EMG electrodes placed on the skin was from the muscle contraction itself - as opposed to nerve conduction studies, done with needle electrodes, which are directed at nerve - and not muscle - tissue. What we're measuring is the *end result* of any CNS (brain & spinal cord) excitation/enervation. We're picking up all these action potentials of the muscle cells firing and contracting, not any signals being sent from the CNS.
I hope the above is somewhat intelligible, and possibly even helpful, my apologies if not. Great channel, btw, really good stuff, thank you for it!
Just do both on full body workout days. Do pushups to failure right after waking up and stretching, then workout at least one hour later. Or, do pushups to failure 5 minutes after your full body workout (just one set). It’s been working for me.
Awesome video
Thank you dude! :)
Extremely thorough. Actually it was brilliant.
Thank you again my friend, I appreicate you!
I like both but I feel like Bench Press with overloading is more convenient when going solo. Plus for my manual labor job which sometimes has me stiff arming and pushing a large load, BP builds up and keeps my arms (triceps) nice and rigid without feeling fatigue.
100k soon king 👑 . Here since 10k
Thank you dude, I truly appreciate you!
Seeing this months after it was launched, but amazing video. I prefer push-ups and was with this doubt. So I will invest in doing weighted ring push-ups. I also found that the final rotation contracts a lot of my chest.
Awesome stuff, thank you for checking out the video and you kind words :)
Great video!
I use resistance bands to help overload my push-ups. Love doing both bench press and push-ups. Prefer push-ups because they are available anytime anywhere for free, but the satisfaction of a new PR on bench is amazing for sure. I like 'em both
Awesome stuff dude! :)
I started college unable to do a single pushup. I took weight-lifting as a class my first term, which included the bench press. A few weeks into the term, it occurred to me that they were similar, and I got down on the floor and did several pushups for the first time in my life. I was thrilled! :-)
It occurred that what was smaller?
dope channel...i love ur voice too...it reminds me of some history channels i follow..keap it up,greetings from greece
Thank you so much for your kind words dude, that means a lot!
Good analysis. I Think you could get a sliding scale by also adding free weight, pulley or smith machine. Then you can show the progression from free or unstable to completely isolated movements. I would mix to continua excite the muscles. I don’t think anyone should only do barbell push ups. They do at least one other less stable exercise. Yes, it depends.
Nice video. I think what you ultimately decide to do really depends on what movement you’re looking to perfect. Do you want to be able to do a crazy amount of push-ups? Or do you want to achieve a crazy benchpress 1RM? In my personal experience benchpress is the easier way to go and therefore the way I have chosen to go insofar. Progressive overload is the determining factor of muscle growth, a lot easier to just throw more weight on the bar.
I’d also like to add to one of your last notes on whether or not the benchpress transfers as well to push-ups. I personally have gotten to a 285lb benchpress max and have done a minimal amount of push-ups. Currently I’ve tested my push-up max with body weight and was able to get to ~55 reps. The movement is not too different but I’m more more accommodated to lifting more weight for less reps.
Very interesting to hear, thank you for sharing dude!!
Loved the vid as always.
I love pushups.
I do it with a gym band.
Awesome stuff, great to hear!
today i did pushups on blocks instead of my smith machine chest 4 sets...i got an incredible pump... at 63 the weight i use for chest is no where near as heavy as i used many years ago... so since i did chest after hitting back i was even weaker... i added a plate on my back and could only get 10 reps... each set of pushups got harder...last set only 6-7 reps...after that i did incline dumb bell flys..i also finished with landmine chest press.. 25 mins total for chest...it was done...i believe in variety in training...i also do different movements..form and muscle mind connection is the key...
Cool. 55 just getting started again.
Love the data, side note that's one of my favorite songs playing in the background. 😁
Haha, awesome to hear :) L'Indécis as a whole produce awesome tunes
Your channel is a blessing. Thanks for the content and never stop it!
Thank you for the kind words, they mean a lot to me :)
21:00 specificity also matters in regards to measuring your 1 rep max of any given movement. the bench press group also had more practice bench pressing than the push up group.
Exactly, they should have chosen a testing method on which neither group was familiar with, say for example a push machine.
I love pull ups and have been wanting to branch out to more calisthenics types like pushups, so this video is helpful to me
Really nice to hear, thank YOU for checking out the video!
Do both enough said. Thank me and be grateful. You’re welcome
Back in the day at highschool when I was 17 I started doing push ups. In like 4-6 months I went from 5 set of 3 to 4 rep to 5 set of 20 rep. At some point with my school I could access a bench press and discovered that this let me directly to a max rep of 80kg (176lb) on the bench press which made me the strongest of the group session but I was normal on everything because uneducated as I was, I only trained push ups
Very interesting!
For push-ups, i believe the best is to use three types together, higher footing - equal footing - lower footing, in that order, always at failure. What do any of you push-up enthousiasts think?
Rather use hand positions. Hands at your navel or lower, then at chest and last at your heads height.
i think that wider footing makes it easier.
I’m a certified personal trainer and Strength & Conditioning coach. I use all 3 progressions of push ups as well
You can add wide and narrow pushups too, diamond pushups, etc. Makes it less boring and helps stimulating muscles from different angles.
@Tony yeah, i laughed too when i thought about it, but after 5 sets to failure of the other 2, it still hits.
We're all gonna make it brah!
Nice video! All depends on your goals right ;)
Thank you, and yep :)
Thank you so much for this video, wish I had seen this earlier but better late then never. Had an shoulder impingement issue that was killing me when I was doing bench it would hurt like hell. Not wanting to give up I had no choice but to do pushups, i pushed the reps to 50 per set before adding weight. Now I have switched to weighted pushups with25 pounds in a backpack and doing these gaining more reps. Having weight in the backpack after a point is going to be a problem, 25 is not a problem but can't say for sure 50 pounds wont be a problem can't imagine rigging 100 pounds on oneself. Either case this is not hurting my shoulder, and doing active hangs to address the impingement issue helped greatly.
Awesome stuff dude!
A tip to help with higher weight: Use a backpack that has both an upper chest strap, and a hip belt, and which is heavy duty in nature (can carry 50+ lbs no problem). But more over, put foam pads in the backpack. This helps to keep the weight from moving/shifting around as you move up and down--keeps them more stable (it also cushions your back from the weight). Put a foam pad in the backpack, then a weight on top, put another foam pad on top of that, and then a weight on top of that, etc, etc. Some foams, like EVA foam, is quite grippy.
@@justinw1765 Never thought about the foam between weight nor the belt, two great ideas man thank you!!
BTW when I went from bench to doing pushups I thought I would be able to easily do pushups no problem, but it was harder than I thought. I think pushups work good for bench but not the other way around. Thanks again for the ideas, I have some thin neoprene foam laying around, need another backpack with a belt buckle 🙂
@@johnkkkj No problem, hope it helps.
Interesting about the non translation between bench to pushups. Seems like the video and studies cited agree i.e. easier to go from pushups to bench than going from bench to pushups (as to keep the weight similar).
Did you notice good Hypertrophy gains as well as strength?
I feel like many people think that lifting super heavy bench press is the only way to get a nice or big chest. I'm not convinced that's true. Like I heard James Grage say recently, there's a lot of strength training advice/wisdom that makes it into hypertrophy training. Those two are related but not the same.
I'm not sure why those studies didn't utilize banded pushups for overloading it. It works really well and I'd rather do that than some goofy alternate pushup. Did them at the gym today. Take a band/ribbon (though you could use the tube style ones if you only had those), I wrap each end around each hand once to get it more secure, and bring it around your back a little lower than your scapula. Works great. Use multiple bands if you need to make it harder.
@24:41 This is purely anecdotal based on my own personal experience, but I couldn't do more than two pushups until I started doing bench presses. I'm still no Hercules, but I can knock out 50 pushups in a minute now with a year or so of primarily compound lifting. So the bench press has helped me increase pushups. That said, these days, i incorporate both in my workout plan.
Very interesting to hear!
What i conclude from watching the video is that the best opción is adding one drop set to your last set per muscle
I switched to doing body circuit training 6 days a week and it is the best gains I have had in a while given I am also 40 now. Not to mention a sick pump constantly without over straining the muscles.
Very interesting, awesome stuff :)
Learned the one arm push up. Max around 10 reps per arm. Much better than the bench press
That's the reason the barbell bench press increased biceps was due to racking and unracking the weights not the exercise itself it's also possible that those participants were spotting other people which requires you guessed it biceps
Good points.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Definitely racking and unracking would work biceps.
I love the depth. It goes against conventional wisdom about weight over reps. But it's the pushing till failure that's the point. This is great.
Thank you my friend!
Calisthenics > Weight Training
You need both there is no better
@@rayansimaan856So true, combat fighters do both
...all depends on your goals. Weight training > calisthenics when it comes to things like body building or power lifting.
Best exercise is the one you enjoy enough to do consistently
@@ToddTommow Again, best for what? Of course basically any exercise is better than no exercise, but certain exercises are clearly better for different goals or needs.
Great video. Glad you added the reverse at the end, but two other factors I hoped was included. First reversal, such an "alpha" thing to see a guy with barbell stacked but behind the scenes couldn't do 20 push ups? Your developing lots of minors from feet to shoulders (stabilizing) more cardio. Your back is developed more rather than pushing off of it. Example, my squats were laughable but I could leg press a VW! The bench/ solid object is doing most the work.
Other factor I hoped to see, height and weight of test subject. Throwing 200ps is impressive... if your 125. Next the degree of growth and weight pushed from someone 5'0 -6'10 (yay short guys). Also chance/ degree of injury. Thx again
I haven't been in a gym for over 20 years and have been doing exclusively calisthenics.
I can tell you that I would rather do gymnastic ring or wobble board push-ups than one arm push-ups.
These simulate the instability felt during bench press and missing during push-ups.
By forcing you to control your mass in either one plane with a wobble board or 360 degrees of run out with the rings. All of your accessory muscles get real busy accessorizing leaving your pecs to do more of the work than they normally would.
I think the reason Biceps Brachii grew is because its function is not only to flex elbow but also to flex the shoulder - raise your arm in front of the body. We have the shoulder flexion in both bench press and push-up.
I've done push-up variations for years. It's similar to doing bench presses. However, it is high maintenance to overload push-ups compared to bench pressing. The easiest way to overload push-ups is to do dips. Which is a kind of push-up. (You didn't mention dips in this video.) And then go back to doing push-ups after a few sets of dips.
Interesting! But dips and push-ups likely have differences between them, so I'm not sure if I would consider them "switchable"
Great video 👏 I just hurt my biceps tendon while doing bench press, when I tell people they're like "how?XD" but know I kinda know
Thank you! and sorry to hear about your biceps tendon, I hope it gets better! :
Both are great. Too many reps of pushups sometimes hurt my joints. probably something with my form and getting old.
I don't like to use heavy weights since I am alone. I do pushups. When I needed to increase the overload, I use bands.
Awesome :)
Push-ups have the added benefit of engaging the core, as in the case of a plank pose.
Yep!
Another consideration, going for the higher rep school, there is less risk of joint and tendon injury. exercise is intended to be good for you. Anybody that has been around the gym for a while see a lot of injuries, mostly from young guys trying for max lifts.
just a point of view; when I was in the Army and doing pushups, especially when being tested, I would let my self drop from the top position. I wouldn't do that with the barbell. I control the weight down. Maybe that's why there was a bicep result in the one test group. Also, you are talking about hypertrophy, if you are trying to get stronger, you need to add weight to keep the reps in the 3-5 range.
Interesting! that could have something to do with the biceps gains, also, yeah, strength is best attained with lower reps :)
I've done both but these days I much prefer the Push up as less equipment is required. From a personal point of view I've always gotten much better results by using slower more concentrated reps & reducing my rest periods by when I'm at the point of gassing out I'll switch to working with dumb bells.. when starting out using this method it really takes it out of you with breathing hard but eventually become conditioned to it.. can really see the benefits when I then switch to cardio intervals in the same session.. just something I came up with myself..
I injured my shoulder last year and all barbell push exercises feel like they tweak my shoulder so I’ve since replaced my chest exercises with pushups (variations and weighted).
Healthier for my shoulders and arguably better intensity for me.
Awesome stuff ! :)
The biggest thing for this is the persons body weight. Someone with low body weight will benefit more from bench presses, someone with more body weight will benefit more from push ups. Both are great regardless and I personally do both for chest day
The biceps also rotate your wrist. In bench press most people mostly push with the pinkie side of the palm. Which means you are activery resisting with the rotation of your wrist in the direction that activates bicep.
Simpler and less expensive pushup variation is the banded pushup. Bands are cheap, easy to carry and scalable. Can instantly move along with you in all of the pushup variations. Also, you can get your first 30 in, then slide into archers, etc. You can also push failure by detracting weight by going from toes to knees to finish out the failure. Calisthenic drop sets if you will. Same idea as your ab/core workout.
Solid suggestions! :)
Resistance bands can also be used to increase the push up load.. So combined with a weight vest or back pack, that should be enough.
Great music choice, great voice, like peanut butter and jelly.
You can use resistance bands to add overload to the push up. It is very difficult to do push-ups with a resistance band over the top of your back so that is an option to increase the intensity and overload of the exercise.
You don't need nothing.. Slow them down.. 30 sec to go up 30 sec to go down.. Do a set of 5 reps
@@commantrosexetlos4700 That is also another great way to increase intensity but I find 30 seconds up and 30 seconds down is way too long Try 5 seconds down and 5 seconds up. You should go to failure between 60-90 seconds .
When I started lifting and didn't have the bench press in the right position, I trained my biceps and not my chest. After someone pointed this out to me, I noticed the strain in my chest.
I only do push-ups, 100 daily and I have a great chest
Nice!
I have a friend we both use to do push ups, l continued push ups.
My friend went to the gym main chest exercise was flat bench press.
His chest has blown up , unbelievable with that evidence.
Over time progressive overload with the bench press is King.
I am happy with my declined push ups and l look good, but nothing like my bench press friend.
We both find ways for overloading our exercises.
They dont call it the king of upper body exercises for nothing
It is easier on bench press to increase load, while for push-ups after a certain point you need to use other variations which require to learn new techniques, or increase reps which can be bothersome if you can do over 100.
Please don't take this comparison at face value, as there are many other variables at play here. You can't say with certainty that bench presses are better than push ups with this anecdotal evidence.
Genetics
@@mushshrap6471 is not anecdotal, progressive overload is ultimately what will make you stronger and overloading the bench is a lot easier/safer
You can use a smith machine by putting the bar very low then you can do very heavy weighted push ups. Maybe you can also wrap heavy chains around a "stable" table and then get under those chains. I saw a person on youtube create there own squared rack with four weighted pins in the corners where you can get under it and do push ups it looked very safe. My guess push ups maybe better only at the lighter loads because I think push ups people feel they can exercise fearlessly whilst bench press people are less likely to push themselves all out. I think being fearless a big psychology factor of making gains fast.
Interesting, I had not thought of the smith machine point, thank you for sharing! Also, good point with the push-up being easier to train harder with when someone does not have a bench spotter :)
The gymnastic ring animation has the hands on the upper part of the ring... quite difficult to perform hehe
Subbed.
Thank you dude, Welcome!