Push-up variations part 1

Doing push-ups is not restricted to the schools or the armed forces. It is an excellent body-weight exercise to improve your upper body’s muscular size, power, strength and endurance. Unlike pull-ups where you need a bar, push-ups can be done anywhere without any equipment. If the weather or schedule forbids you to go to the gym or outdoors for your workout, you can simply perform push-ups at home or even in your office or school.

I read it somewhere that you support around 60% of your body weight during a push-up. For a 60 kg person, he is in fact pressing a load of 36 kg (similar to a bench press of the same weight). For those who quit doing push-up, the main reason would probably be that it is too "easy". It does not contribute much to adding muscle mass or strength. Of course, if you keep doing the same kind of push-up (for e.g. basic push-up) over and over again, eventually it will not be challenging enough to achieve your goal even if you can hit a couple of dozens or hundreds.

A rule of thumb:

If you can perform 10 reps comfortably, it is time for you to increase the challenge level. You can simply add weight by wearing a weighted vest or bag etc; or more practically, switch to a more challenging version. The videos posted below are some variations which you may find suitable.

1. Basic push-up
2. Knee-assisted push-up
3. Inclined push-up
4. Declined push-up
5. Close-grip push-up
6. Wide-grip push-up
7. Archer push-up
8. Cobra push-up
9. Dive bomber push-up
10. Reverse burpee