The push-up is a pushing exercise for the upper body and it works incredibly well!

The main muscle that is worked during the push-up is the pectoralis major which is active to create adduction and internal rotation of the humerus.

This means that your pecs contract to bring your arms closer, there is still a movement at the humerus even though your hands are fixed on the ground.

The anterior deltoid and triceps are secondary muscles that contribute to the push-up.

Some people have lagging pecs and feel the push-up either in the delts or in the arms!

The anterior deltoid assists the chest to create internal rotation of the humerus.

The triceps are responsible for elbow extension which corresponds to straightening the arms.

Certain practitioners say that the biceps activates because the elbows are bent at the bottom of the movement.

This is wrong because it does not take into account gravity, when you lower down, gravity is pulling you and you push actively up not to smash the floor.

So yes, your biceps are contracting at the bottom, but there is no tension at all!

The core is also active to maintain a stable pelvic position which is usually a slight anterior pelvic tilt.

Calisthenics athletes promote a full posterior pelvic tilt but this is because it is more specific to skills like the full planche.

Finally, there might be some tension on the serratus anterior if you protract your scapulas at the top.

Once again, calisthenics practitioners are the only people doing it because it brings very few benefits.

I prefer seeing someone have retracted scapulas during all the movement to put most of the tension on the chest.

If the goal is to build the delts, standard push-ups with a protracted scapula are not the best exercise, doing pike push-ups or pseudo-planche push-ups would be better.

You can also use weights and do some front raises or an overhead press to work your anterior deltoid!

Finding this image took exactly three clicks after text input into google...

Note that muscles worked depends upon where you place your hands.

Pectoral, triceps, and anterior deltoids are all the primary muscles used in push-ups. The closer the grip, the more triceps you use; the wider the grip, the more pectoral muscles you use.

One of the very best, low-impact body weight exercises out there!

Upper body muscles get targeted when you perform push-ups. But, as we all know push-ups has a lot of variation, so each one focuses on different muscles.

Normal push-up majorly focuses on Chest and Delt. Apart from that triceps and abdominal muscles also gets activated.

Diamond push-up focus triceps bt it also give a good pump to upper chest and anterior shoulder.

Incline push-up activates the lower chest and back whereas Decline push-ups majorly focus on our upper chest.

Different types of push-ups build different parts of muscles:

• Wide grip push-ups for chest muscles
• Staggered push-ups for triceps and abs
• T push-ups for chest and shoulders

and more

Types of explosive push ups

For the most part all push-ups primarily work the chest, shoulders, and triceps.

Different variations target these muscles more or less.

For example.

Wide push-ups target the chest, tricep and shoulders but the chest should be taking more of the load with less weight on the other muscles.

Close push-ups with your arms at your side also work your chest, shoulder and triceps but in this instance your triceps are taking more of the load.

Decline push-ups are generally harder for most people because your shoulders take more of the weight. They're much smaller muscles compared to the chest and triceps which are taking on less work in this exercise making it harder.

Despite Gary’s glowing testimonial to the exercise (and highly suspicious links!)…. The pushup and it’s variations do NOT work the whole body and is a relatively simple exercise that primarily works the chest (pectorals) and triceps.

The front aspect of the deltoid gets a little work.

It does nothing for the back generally, the biceps, the quads, the calves, glutes, etc, etc. the only work for the abdominals is simply in holding your body in place, similar to the “plank” exercises.

Seriously, have you ever heard of anyone having to stop doing pushups because their abdominals got tired?

If you hold your hands closer to your body, the triceps get more work. Further away, more chest involvement. All the rest are just variations.

The pushup can be a good part of a whole body calisthenic/bodyweight exercise program, but it’s not a miracle exercise.

There are lots of push up variations which would change the emphasis of muscles activated but in general the main ones are chest, triceps and shoulders. Your core should be activated and also getting worked.

Something to keep in mind if you want to make your muscles larger, you need to overload them while keeping in a 8–12 rep range. If you can do 20 pushups then you need to make them more difficult to be effective.

I would suggest the following,

First learn to do a “perfect” push up.

Once you can do 15 of these then start to learn more advanced versions that.

Once you can do 15 that work the shoulders, chest and triceps then start working on variations that work one arm like medicine ball push ups or archer pushups.

Also read up on “progressive overload”

Hope that helps.

The diagram pretty much sums up the muscles targeted by push up. However, if you are using progressive overload and doing with full range of motion, it will help build your pecs and triceps and strengthen your deltoids too.

In the standard pushup, the following muscles are targeted:

• chest muscles, or pectorals.
• shoulders, or deltoids.
• back of your arms, or triceps.
• abdominals.
• the “wing” muscles directly under your armpit, called the serratus anterior

Those words may be dreaded, but the pushup is actually one of the simplest yet most beneficial exercises you can perform to gain strength and muscle.

A pushup uses your own body weight as resistance, working your upper body and core at the same time.

In the standard pushup, the following muscles are targeted:

• chest muscles, or pectorals
• shoulders, or deltoids
• back of your arms, or triceps
• abdominals
• the “wing” muscles directly under your armpit, called the serratus anterior

The great thing about pushups is that it will be hard for you and your body to get used to them. There are many different varieties that target each muscle a little differently.

Explosive push ups

If you are interested in how to quickly start the pectoral muscles at home, then pay attention to this exercise, which also gives a good load on the muscles of the arms. PI - take an emphasis lying down, with his hands a little wider than his shoulders. Keep your body straight. The challenge is to go down, touching the floor with your chest, and then push it up, lifting your hands and making cotton. After that, land on bent arms and do another push-up.

The muscles in the upper body do most of the work when a person does pushups. These muscles are:

• chest muscle group, including the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor
• shoulder muscle group, including the deltoid major and deltoid minor
• upper and middle back muscles, including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, and trapeze muscles
• biceps, at the front of the upper arm
• triceps, at the back of the upper arm
• serratus anterior, which sits on the side of the chest beneath the upper arm

However, pushups require many other muscles in the body to work to keep the body in a rigid plank position. These muscles may include:

• lower back muscles
• abdominal, or core muscles
• gluteus maximus and medius, which are the buttocks muscles
• leg muscles, including the hamstrings, quadriceps, calf, and shin muscles

Absolutely, doing push-ups every day can be beneficial, but let’s clarify the context:

If Push-Ups Aren’t Challenging (Greasing the Groove)

• Performing sub-maximal, easy reps daily is excellent for refining technique and gradually increasing your overall reps.
• This method called greasing the groove, helps improve neuromuscular efficiency, making push-ups feel smoother and more natural over time.

If Push-Ups Feel Too Easy

There are plenty of ways to make them harder:

1. Elevate Your Feet: Shift more weight onto your upper body, increasing the difficulty.
2. Slow Down Your Reps: Use tempo training to increase time under tension, which challenges your muscles differently.
3. Increase the Range of Motion (ROM): Place your hands on handles or blocks to go deeper, targeting muscles more effectively.
4. Add Weight: A weighted backpack or weight plate can make push-ups feel brand new.
5. High-Rep Sets: Pushing for 40, 50, or even more reps in a single set can still be a great challenge for endurance and mental toughness.

The Bottom Line

Even if push-ups feel easy, you can modify the movement to keep your muscles adapting. Whether it’s for endurance, strength, or refining your form, push-ups remain one of the most versatile and effective exercises in your arsenal!

This is what I have been achieved while doing 400 to 500 pushups every day for the last 2 months…… the one who says, doing more than 300+ pushups are not effective…. Is a big lie…. First, do it with full of dedication, determination and devotion then the result would automatically be noticed….

((14 May 2021 ))

Edited 2.0 ( 17 JULY 2021 )

After approximately 2 months I'm here to upload my new pics while doing 500+ push ups every single day…. IS IT WORKING?

Edit: there’s always some questions about progressive overload with pushups. Anecdotally, I used to do pushups while on vacation. I would bring a backpack and a couple of dumbells that id stuff in there. Totaling 110 pounds. I’d do pushups with that strapped to my back. It was about the limit of weight that I could do before the pressure on my spine became painful (not in a muscular strength way) weighing 230ish pounds. So if a push-up is generously 65% of bodyweight, plus 110 pounds, this would mean about a 260 pound push-up. Not really enough for someone at an advanced training level.

Two things need to be clarified here

“toning” is a fitness marketing term. There is no such thing as “toning” a muscle. You can make it bigger, and you can lower your bodyfat level to make the muscle appear more defined, but there is no such thing as shaping or toning a muscle.

Muscles are shaped based on your genetics, you can’t change the shape of them by working out, you can only make them bigger within the genetically predefined insertion and origin points that your genetics gave you.

Now that that’s out of the way -

Pushups will build muscle for a short period of time when you are a total novice, but you’ll find the diminishing returns come quickly and if you want to keep building muscle, you’ll need to add resistance. This is called progressive overload.

So…yes they build muscle, no they don’t “tone” you except by virtue of burning a few calories and perhaps helping to shed some fat, but that’s not something you need push-ups for. Any proper diet or cardio will be more efficient than pushups for fat loss.

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Shoulders are the biggest upper body muscle, bigger than pecs and lats. Unfortunately, most people train them very poorly. Here is how to fix that:

Firstly, the average delts stand at 380 cubic centimeters in volume - almost 30% bigger than the pecs. (Vidt et al. 2012, Holzbaur et al. 2011, Langerderfer et al. 2004, Fung et al, 2009)

Secondly, I would never say "most people train them very poorly" without providing any proof, even if I see that every day at my gym. So, according to Jerosch et a., 1989, the size of an average bodybuilder's anterior (front) delt is 5 TIMES that of an average Joe, but the size of their posterior (rear) delt is a measly 10–15% larger.

That's a colossal difference. And rear delts are very important for health and aesthetics. Here is my poor attempt at photoshopping a person with great rear delt development to have average rear delts:

So the first important cue is *balanced* shoulder development. Which brings me to the first delt - the front/anterior delt. (I will get to training frequency and volume later)

Most people do not need any extra work if they are doing bench (or dumbell) press for chest and overhead press. Bench press has been proven to be a great anterior delt exercise (Welsch et al, 2005, Barnett at al, 1995, Trebs at al. 2010) eliciting just slightly less activation that the overhead press (also there). Any additional anterior delt work would likely be unnecessary.

(EDIT: Next I explain how to properly perform some movements. I included pictures at the end as requested.)

When it comes to the shoulder press, DO NOT flare out the elbows and DO NOT use wide grip/ behind the neck press. Even though these exercises increase the EMG activation of the anterior and lateral delt, the difference is only slight, and it not enough to justify the damage you are doing to your shoulder joint. The shoulder joint is positioned to face 30 degrees to the front, it doesn't "face" directly to the side of your body (when you rotate your arm as in a shoulder warmup, it doesn't swing perpendicular to your body, does it? No, it goes to the front a bit). So it's incredibly important to use a shoulderwidth grip on the overhead press and always hold your elbows a bit to the front (30 degrees makes the most sense) when doing *any* pressing movement. (Escamilla et. al, 2009)

Your lateral delt is also tricky. According to Botton et al. 2013, the side raises elicit the highest EMG activation. However, according to Dr. Bret Contreras in his incredibly detailed 2010 experiment, it's the high face pull (which wasn't tested by Botton et al.) followed by the side raises. However, traditional side raises are also taxing for your shoulders. Welsch et al, 2005 recommends performing them slightly in front of your body, called the "scapular plain". It's also wise to fully extend the elbow, rather then using more weight and yanking it like the stereotypical gym bro. That's because the first 30 degrees of the side raise (again the dreaded 30 degrees) are mostly performed by the supispinatus, whereas the lateral delt is most active at the top of the movement (McMahon et al. 1995). This is why some researchers (McMahon) recommend leaning away in the direction of the raise (and of course performing each arm separately, you can't lean to both sides at the same time). However, I disagree with that suggestion, since it implies that training the supispinatus is suboptimal. But in fact, it is an incredibly important muscle for overall health and injury prevention. So it you want to isolate the side delt, just avoid going all the way down with you dumbells.

Now the rear delt, which I began with. According to Dr. Bret Contreras, the face pull reigns supreme for posterior AND lateral delt activation. So it makes sense to me to include a few variations of that movement in your workout. And according to Botton et al, it's the reverse pec deck (reverse fly). But again, they didn't test the face pull, so these findings are consistent with each other. Since posterior delts have almost absolutely no work in any shoulder (or any presses) compound exercises (also Botton), it makes sense to include more than one isolation of them in your program.

When it comes to reps/sets, the delts are evenly split between type 1 and 2 fibers, so working with both low and high reps is optimal. Volume wise, the general recommendation of Dr. Eric Helmes is 40–70 reps per workout (including bench press and any overlapping excercises) and Dr. Mike Israetel recommends about 20–25 sets a week. These are the most reputable researchers in the field, with them competing and placing high in natural bodybuilding competitions.

And finally, according to Damas et al. 2015, beginners should train about 2 times a week due to longer muscle protein synthesis (48–72 hours), whereas more advanced lifters might benefit from higher frequency. I have answers on that if you need more info. This one is getting really long :)

I wish you the best shoulder gains!

EDIT: now the pictures!! I didn't know how to make them smaller on my phone, but at least you can see clearly.

1. Poor shoulder press (too wide)

Proper shoulder press (just wide of shoulder width)

2. Poor dumbell shoulder press (elbows too flared out)

Proper shoulder dumbell press:

3. Proper lateral raises form: watch video

Refer to Athlean X for any injury prevention matter, he is the best source for that stuff.

And for dumbell chest press, also don't flare out your elbows, just like the shoulder dumbell press at number 2. Hope that helps.