MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

"I Did 300 Pushups Every Day For 30 Days - Here's What Happened"

"I Did 300 Pushups Every Day For 30 Days - Here's What Happened"

This Guy Attempted To Break The 30-Second Pushup 'World Record'...Again

This Guy Attempted To Break The 30-Second Pushup 'World Record'...Again

This Close-Grip Pushup Tweak Builds Serious Arm Size

This Close-Grip Pushup Tweak Builds Serious Arm Size

This Guy Did 100 Pushups And Pullups Every Day for a Whole Month

This Guy Did 100 Pushups And Pullups Every Day for a Whole Month

{headline}

{headline}

This Guy Did 100 Pushups Every Day For A Month

This Guy Did 100 Pushups Every Day For A Month

Burn Out Your Triceps With This Killer Pushup Finisher

Burn Out Your Triceps With This Killer Pushup Finisher

What Is The 100 Pushups Challenge And Should You Try It?

What Is The 100 Pushups Challenge And Should You Try It?

{headline}

{headline}

This 10-Minute Circuit Practically Guarantees a Ripped Upper-Body

This 10-Minute Circuit Practically Guarantees a Ripped Upper-Body

This Guy Learned How to Do 40 Pushups While Holding His Breath

This Guy Learned How to Do 40 Pushups While Holding His Breath

Apple Fitness Plus Has Added A Bunch of New Workout Programs to its Platform

Apple Fitness Plus Has Added A Bunch of New Workout Programs to its Platform

Here’s What MMA Legend Georges St-Pierre Eats In Real Life

Here’s What MMA Legend Georges St-Pierre Eats In Real Life

Our New Podcast ‘Ask Men’s Health’ is Officially Live

Our New Podcast ‘Ask Men’s Health’ is Officially Live

Comedian Ronny Chieng Thinks You Should Quit Your After-Work Sports Team and Start Fighting

Comedian Ronny Chieng Thinks You Should Quit Your After-Work Sports Team and Start Fighting

This 73-Year Old Sprinter Shares His Secrets To Running Fast

This 73-Year Old Sprinter Shares His Secrets To Running Fast

  1. Home
  2. Fitness

These 5 Pushup Variations Will Pump Up Your Chest Day

Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean-X breaks down the chest day home workout that will keep those gains coming in isolation - by Philip Ellis
  • 15 Apr 2020

While working out at home has swiftly become the new normal as lockdown continues, Athlean-X expert Jeff Cavaliere C.S.C.S. is aware that it's all-too-easy to let the intensity of training slide. In his latest video, he explains how to ensure that those chest gains keep coming, even without access to the gym.

WATCH: Jeff Cavaliere Explains How To Do The Bear Push-up For Huge Gains

"When you're home, the tendency is to not train hard enough," he says. "You don't have the benefit of a real heavy bench press to create tension. What we need to do here is create more of a metabolic overload, and take it to failure."

Home Chest Workout for Hardgainers (NO EQUIPMENT!)

Cavaliere structures his chest day workout into 5 exercises, starting with the easiest and then increasing in difficulty. They are:

  • Incline rotating pushup
  • Hand release pushup
  • Bear pushup
  • Decline wall pushup
  • 1-arm posted pushup

The incline rotating pushup feels easy in one way, as you're letting gravity do some of the work, but the rotational movement also creates relative adduction which contracts the chest. The hand release pushup provides a little reinforcement, as your chest actually touches the ground at the bottom of the movement. The external movement of the arms in this variation also works the rotator cuff, and the reps become more challenging the more of them you do.

The bear pushup, performed with your feet up against the wall, makes lifting your bodyweight more of a challenge. (This might be easier barefoot than in shoes.)

Similarly, the decline wall pushup works the chest harder by removing the pressure that you would usually put on your toes. The exercise that arguably makes you work the hardest, though, is the single-arm posted pushup, which maximises the pressure and contraction on one side.

RELATED: 2 Pushup Workouts That Hit Every Muscle In Your Core

Your task is to pick the pushup variation that you find most difficult and can only manage 3 to 8 reps of, and begin the workout with that movement. Perform the exercise until failure and then follow it with a 30-second crossover isometric squeeze to create contraction in your chest. Complete 4 sets, with 2 minutes of rest in between.

Once you have finished your most difficult exercise, you then work your way back through a dropset of the remaining exercises without rest, taking each move until failure for 3 to 4 sets. By sequentially performing moves that are decreasing in difficulty, Cavaliere says you will be able to keep repping out even if you're exhausted from the harder sets at the beginning.

"This will always scale with you," explains Cavaliere. "You can continue to add a more difficult or explosive version of a pushup... The best option you have is to ensure that you're training to and through failure."

This article originally appeared on Men's Health

Philip Ellis
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer & journalist

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Recommended to you

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

"I Did 300 Pushups Every Day For 30 Days - Here's What Happened"

"I Did 300 Pushups Every Day For 30 Days - Here's What Happened"

This Guy Attempted To Break The 30-Second Pushup 'World Record'...Again

This Guy Attempted To Break The 30-Second Pushup 'World Record'...Again

This Close-Grip Pushup Tweak Builds Serious Arm Size

This Close-Grip Pushup Tweak Builds Serious Arm Size

This Guy Did 100 Pushups And Pullups Every Day for a Whole Month

This Guy Did 100 Pushups And Pullups Every Day for a Whole Month

{headline}

{headline}

This Guy Did 100 Pushups Every Day For A Month

This Guy Did 100 Pushups Every Day For A Month

Burn Out Your Triceps With This Killer Pushup Finisher

Burn Out Your Triceps With This Killer Pushup Finisher

What Is The 100 Pushups Challenge And Should You Try It?

What Is The 100 Pushups Challenge And Should You Try It?

{headline}

{headline}

This 10-Minute Circuit Practically Guarantees a Ripped Upper-Body

This 10-Minute Circuit Practically Guarantees a Ripped Upper-Body

This Guy Learned How to Do 40 Pushups While Holding His Breath

This Guy Learned How to Do 40 Pushups While Holding His Breath

Apple Fitness Plus Has Added A Bunch of New Workout Programs to its Platform

Apple Fitness Plus Has Added A Bunch of New Workout Programs to its Platform

Here’s What MMA Legend Georges St-Pierre Eats In Real Life

Here’s What MMA Legend Georges St-Pierre Eats In Real Life

Our New Podcast ‘Ask Men’s Health’ is Officially Live

Our New Podcast ‘Ask Men’s Health’ is Officially Live

Comedian Ronny Chieng Thinks You Should Quit Your After-Work Sports Team and Start Fighting

Comedian Ronny Chieng Thinks You Should Quit Your After-Work Sports Team and Start Fighting

This 73-Year Old Sprinter Shares His Secrets To Running Fast

This 73-Year Old Sprinter Shares His Secrets To Running Fast

MensHealth
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe to Digital
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe to Digital
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement

Brands

  • Women's Health

Our Network

  • Paragon Media Pty Ltd
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from Men's Health

Magazine Subscription Offer

Subscribe Now-

Shop This Offer
Subscribe Now