Why is increasing chest mass important?
Increasing chest mass can be important for a number of reasons, depending on one’s fitness routine and goals:
- Increasing bone density: Chest mass building exercises such as bench presses, push ups, etc., help increase bone density in the upper body.
- Improving Posture: Balancing chest strength with back and shoulder muscles helps improve posture and lowers the risk of muscle injury.
- Athletic Performance: Chest forms an important part of the body for physical activities. Increasing chest strength can help improve athletic performance.
- Injury prevention: A balanced workout along with building chest mass can help increase shoulder strength and strengthen body joints, hence reducing the risk of injury.
What are some exercises to increase Chest strength?
Some exercises to increase chest strength include:
- Bench Press: Helps working out of key chest muscles, including Pectoralis major.
- Push ups: Helps building upper chest, shoulder and triceps muscles
- Chest fly: Helps in strengthening Pectoralis major muscles
- Chest dips: Helps building lower chest, shoulder and triceps muscles
- Cable crossovers: Helps building inner and outer chest muscles.
- Dumbbell flyes: Helps strengthen Pectoralis major and minor muscles.
A balanced training routine, incorporating the above exercise, can help build chest strength.
How effective are Push ups to increase Chest strength?
Push-ups are an extremely effective way to build upper body strength and promote muscle growth, particularly in the chest. The best part of push ups is that it requires no equipment, can be performed almost anywhere, and is easily adaptable to suit different fitness levels and goals. Let us list down some key benefits of push up exercises:
- Push ups improve the body’s overall functional strength by improving one’s core strength.
- Push ups do not stress your joints, unlike other strenuous exercise, and can be said to be ‘joint friendly’ especially for those who have joint pains.
- Push ups can be performed anywhere, without any equipment, making it an ideal exercise for people with limited access to gyms or equipment.
- Push ups can be scaled up, in terms of intensity, from basic push ups to various variations of the same, including using a resistance band to make it more intense.
What are the various variations of Push up exercises for chest growth?
Push ups can be done in a number of variations, depending on your body requirements and fitness routines:
- Standard Push-Up
- Process: Plank position with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the ground, then push back up.
- Benefits: Entire pectoralis major, triceps, and core.
- Wide-Grip Push-Up
- Process: Hands placed wider than shoulder-width. Lower your chest and push up while maintaining proper form.
- Benefits: Emphasizes the outer chest fibers.
- Diamond Push-Up
- Process: Hands placed close together under your chest, forming a diamond shape with your thumbs and index fingers. Lower and push back up.
- Benefits: Inner chest and triceps.
- Incline Push-Up
- Process: Hands placed on an elevated surface like a bench or table. Perform a push-up as usual.
- Benefits: Lower chest and is great for beginners.
- Decline Push-Up
- Process: Keep your feet on a bench while keeping your hands on the floor. Perform a push-up.
- Benefits: Upper chest and shoulders.
- Archer Push-Up
- Process: Shift your weight to one side as you lower yourself, keeping the other arm straight. Alternate sides.
- Benefits: Unilateral strength and targets the chest in a unique way.
- Plyometric Push-Up
- Process: Perform a push-up explosively, lifting your hands off the ground at the top.
- Benefits: Builds power and fast-twitch muscle fibers.
What are some tips to maximize benefits of Push Ups for increasing Chest mass?
Push ups can be made more effective by way of the following:
- Progressive Overload: Overtime increase the intensity of the Push ups (e.g., a backpack), increasing reps, or introducing advanced variations.
- Proper Form: Ensure that your posture is straight during the push up exercises to avoid injuries.
- Rest and Recovery: Allow 48 hours between intense push-up sessions to let your muscles recover.
- Nutrition: A protein-rich diet is essential to ensure muscle recovery and growth during push ups.
- Consistency: Around 3-4 Push ups focused sessions in a week is ideal to yield good results.
- Combination exercises: Combining Push ups with other chest-focused exercises, such as bench press, dumbbell flyes and dips, can help accelerate Chest mass.
What are some common mistakes to avoid during push ups?
While push ups can be an effective and easy to do exercise for increasing chest growth, some common mistakes, as listed below, should be avoided:
- Overtraining: Overexerting yourself without taking any break or rest can lead to fatigue or injury
- Incorrect technique: Your chest should be fully lowered, during push ups, so as to engage your chest muscles optimally.
- Incorrect posture: Make sure that your body is straight, in a single line from head to toe, while you do push ups.
- Lack of variation: One should incorporate different variations of push ups so as to target all areas of the chest.
What should be the right diet to go along with push ups with the objective of increasing chest mass?
The ideal diet to support your push up exercises for building chest mass should include necessary proteins and nutrients to help in muscle growth, recovery and optimizing performance:
- Protein is essential for muscle growth. Some sources of protein include Chicken, turkey, eggs, fish, lean beef, tofu, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, etc).
- Carbohydrates: For energy and glycogen replenishment. Some sources include Whole grains (brown rice, oats, quinoa), fruits, vegetables, and legumes, etc.
- Fats: Supports overall health. Some sources include vocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), and dark chocolate.
It is also important to drink 2-3 litres of water stay hydrated to support muscle recovery.
FAQS
How often should one do push ups to build chest muscles?
The number of push ups depend on your fitness levels and goals. Ideally, beginners may do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps while more advanced individuals can do 3-5 sets with 15-20 reps.
How long does it take for chest growth to be visible after push ups?
Provided that push ups are done on a consistent basis, in the right posture and applying the right techniques, results are visible in 4-8 weeks usually.
Can push ups alone help in increasing chest mass?
While push ups is a good exercise to increase chest mass, adding intensity and weight to your push ups or combining it with other chest exercises such as bench press or dumbbell flyes can help accelerate chest growth and yield faster results.
What are the different types of push ups which are effective for chest growth?
Some effective push up techniques include:
- Wide-grip push-ups: For focusing on chest overall.
- Incline push-ups: For targeting upper chest.
- Decline push-ups: For targeting lower chest.
- Archer push-ups: Provide unilateral chest work.
- Explosive push-ups: For building power and strength
Should one do push ups daily to increase chest growth?
While consistency is important, doing any exercise, including push ups, daily, without any break or rest is not advisable. It is important that you let your body recover and pace your exercises accordingly. Doing push ups every alternate day or 3-5 times a week is more effective for muscle growth.
How to make your push ups more intense and harder?
Some ways by which you can make push ups more intense include:
- Using weights on your back.
- One–arm push-ups or archer push-ups.
- Using resistance bands.
Can push ups cause injury?
Yes, improper posture or wrong techniques can lead to injuries such as wrist pain, strain in the shoulder, back pain, etc.
Are push ups safe for individuals with back pain or shoulder pain?
While push ups are generally safe, people with back or shoulder pain should consult a doctor or a physical therapist before undertaking any exercise, including push ups.
