7 Advanced Push-ups to Build Muscle

Posted On Nov 3, 2016 By Tom Holland

7 Advanced Push-ups to Build Muscle

If you forced me to choose just one exercise that was my all-time absolute favorite, I would answer without any hesitation whatsoever: The push-up. No question.

I first began doing push-ups at the age of 13, when I read in a magazine that a famous football player did 300 of them every single day, I started doing the same, beginning with sets of ten. I would spread them out over the course of the day until I hit that magic number 300. I built up to sets of fifteen, then twenty, and after a few months was up to six sets of fifty.

After just a few months my upper body had changed dramatically. My chest, shoulders and arms were visibly bigger. I was considerably stronger. My sports performance improved as well.

Should you do 300 every day? Probably not. Most people will benefit from doing push-ups a few times a week, 1-3 sets per day, taking one day off in between. One of the great aspects of the push-up is that there are almost an infinite number of variations to choose from, different versions that will keep you stimulated mentally as well as recruiting different muscle fibers to keep you seeing results.

Here are seven advanced versions of the push-up to add to your exercise tool-box:

The 7 advanced push-ups demonstrated in this video are:

  1. Diamond push-ups
  2. Push-ups with a clap
  3. Push-ups with a slide
  4. Push-ups with alternating raised legs
  5. Spider-man push-ups
  6. Knee-to-opposite-elbow push-ups
  7. Eccentric push-ups

Want more quick workout ideas? Check out our Quick Workouts playlist on our YouTube channel.