As one of the most common chest exercises for men and women, push-ups have become synonymous with working out. When it comes to indicators of raw strength and power, there’s not much that beats the press-up. Luckily, the standard push-up (also called a press-up) can be adapted in lots of ways, creating intense chest-boosting workouts.
Being able to perform a certain amount is the entry standard for various military and sport programs. Most gym users can do repetitions of normal press ups easily. Clearly, an extra challenge is needed.
It’s the only upper-body exercise you can do anytime and anywhere and is one of the greatest exercises ever invented, working all the muscles of the chest as well as the shoulders and triceps, and requiring good core strength to keep your upper body stable.
Below you’ll find form guides for the ten best press-up variations that require no kit, so they can be done at home, on holiday or the pub. Once you can do 15 reps, move on to the next variation.
1. Press-up on knees:
How to:
- Resting your knees on the floor removes some of your bodyweight from the move, making this a great way to start building upper-body strength.
Difficulty: 1/10
2. Wide-arm press-up:
How to:
- Placing your hands slightly wider will reduce the range of motion, making each rep a bit easier.
- It also places greater emphasis on the chest and less on the triceps, which are a weak spot for some.
Difficulty: 2/10
3. Press-up:
How to:
- Place your hands just wider than shoulder-width apart with your body in a straight line from head to heels.
- As you lower keep your elbows pointing back, not to the sides.
Difficulty: 3/10
4. Diamond press-up:
How to:
- Touching the tips of opposite thumbs and index fingers together turns this into a great triceps-sculpting move.
Difficulty: 4/10
5. T press-up:
How to:
- Twisting and raising your arms alternately after each rep forces your core to work harder to stabilise your body.
Difficulty: 5/10
6. One-leg press-up:
How to:
- Lift one leg off the ground and perform the set as normal to work your core, glutes and leg muscles.
Difficulty: 6/10
7. Alternating offset jump press-up:
How to:
- Jumping your hands alternately backwards and forwards hits your chest and triceps muscles from different angles.
Difficulty: 7/10
8. Jump press-up:
How to:
- Pushing up hard so that your hands leave the floor helps develop explosive upper-body strength and power.
Difficulty: 8/10
9. Clap press-up:
How to:
- Pushing up explosively after each rep so that you can clap your hands recruits more fast-twitch muscle fibres, which leads to greater size and strength gains.
Difficulty: 9/10
10. One-arm press-up:
How to:
- The ultimate show-off move, performing press-ups with only one arm requires great upper-body strength and stability because your core must keep your torso steady so that you can complete each rep without falling over.
Difficulty: 10/10
