53 Strength Building Push-Up Variations
Here are 53 strength building push up variations from novice to advanced, that will keep things fresh and keep you getting stronger with nothing more than a few pieces of equipment or just the floor.
Pushing Up Your Fitness
There isn't a more convenient fitness tool than the push up. All you need is a floor or the earth to get stronger and work most of the muscles in the body. This is where most people get there “start” in fitness, but once someone can do 30, 40, or 50 in a row the tendency is to “move up” to weights and leave their old friend behind. This is a mistake, because now that higher reps can be achieved, it is the perfect finisher to a upper body workout, for training strength endurance or with its own progressions to more advanced versions.
Blurring the Lines
Once high repetitions can be achieved, that is when this “old girl” gets fun! The push up can bridge the gap between strength, endurance, and even cardiovascular training. As a pro MMA fighter for almost a decade the push up was always in my tool box.
Always having elbow issues which usually limited me from pounding heavy bags for too many rounds; the push up and it’s many variations were the perfect solution. I was able to develop high levels of endurance and never had my shoulders get tired even when throwing in high volume.
The Formula for Success
It’s considered a “simple” move, but it is easily the most massacred move around. Between the hips sagging because of poor core stability, the flaring of the elbows because of weak triceps, and the dreaded “half-rep” from people trying to do 100 in a shot. This move gets no love or attention when it comes to form and usually leads to injury.
Knockout Power
Having coached numerous athletes in both Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing, one thing they always want is to have more power. To be able knock someone out is a combination of timing, speed and strength. The plyo-push up from boxes or plates is a great way to increase the rate of force production(power) and was always a staple in our training.
However, recent studies has shown that executing push ups with full range of motion and as much speed as possible, develops even more power than it’s high flying cousin in trained individuals.
Putting It Together
A simple ways to get stronger and see you numbers increase is doing a set of push ups just short of failure until reps can’t be achieved anymore without stopping. Then rest 1 minute. Repeat and shoot for 5-10 less reps than the previous set. Repeat until 6 sets have been a achieved and do as many as possible on the last set. Tracking your numbers and shoot for a few more on each set and track your totals. Doing this a 2-3 times per week will have you gaining, strength, muscle, and endurance with you numbers of how many you can do in a set going through the roof after only a month. As with anything, consistency is the key.
Once you can do 50+ in a shot you can do the same progression with any of the push up variations in the video below. Or you pick any ten variations and do 10 sets of 10 reps and rest whenever you need, but you are timing yourself. Work the same variations and try to beat that time for next time.
Two of my favorite way to get stronger and more fit only using the floor, but as you can see the combinations are almost infinite. Do the work, shoot for a realistic goal with each session and you will feel why the push up is such a powerful exercise!