This exercise is an advanced progression of the push-up that can really hit your chest hard.
When it comes to creating and crafting that stellar bodybuilding physique, we need to look no further than our chest as a muscle group to really grow. With so many chest exercises out there, and so many people claiming that each one is so special, weeding through all the nonsense is important for your time is valuable. You might not have hours to spend in the gym, but you certainly have the time to make a great routine that will be as effective as possible when it comes to your time management and bodybuilding goals. The T-Push Up is a great chest exercise to fire up your pecs and really see some great growth take place.
Having a strong chest will not only make that physique of yours pop, but it will work in a number of ways to seriously enhance your gains by increasing strength, aiding in pushing power, support your back muscles, and improve posture. All of these benefits will allow for bigger lifts, more muscle growth, and an insanely stellar aesthetic we all desire most. The T-push up is a great bodyweight exercise to target your chest, challenge your core, and give you a simple workout to enhance growth.
Let’s check out the T-push up and see just what this exercise can do for us. From what it is, to muscles worked, and the many benefits of this great exercise, the T-push up is one you will want to include into your daily routine. On top of that, you won’t be disappointed with the results.
What Are T-Push Ups?
T-push ups are a great bodyweight upper body compound exercise that will target your pecs for a great pump while also hitting other muscles groups as well. This advanced progression of the standard push-up also serves as a Pilates exercise and is an interesting variation that works to challenge your core as you open into a bit of twist (1).
Some may ask, why you would do a T-push up when you can do a regular one? The benefit this has on your chest is really improved in terms of strength and your obliques actually get a fair amount of work down as you hold a side plank while twisting. You can also use dumbbells or kettlebells for this to add some resistance and that extra bit of time under tension.
Muscles Worked During This Exercise
The main muscles worked during this exercise are your chest, shoulders, and abs, in particular, your obliques. This is largely due to the twisting motion that occurs at the top of the exercise. Other muscles worked hard, but that are not primary movers, are your arms, traps, and glutes. Much of this comes from holding the position, as well as working on that rotation and allowing the larger muscles to use the smaller ones as stabilizers.
Benefits Of The T-Push Up
Great Upper Body Growth
The T-push up is one of those exercises that will really work to challenge your body in ways a normal push-up would not. The added bonus of using a dumbbell or kettlebell will not only force you to work harder with your grip, but also really feel a burn in your obliques as you open up into that rotation at the top. This will really enhance that desired strength and size of your upper body for a stellar physique.
Build Functional Strength
Focusing on workouts that build functional strength will allow for more diversity and versatility in all of our workouts, especially when it comes to bigger lifts and everyday activities (2). This is mainly because we are using our bodyweight for resistance and the movement is similar to that of activities we perform in our daily lives, making functional strength important for living a healthy lifestyle while still getting huge in the gym.
Simple & Efficient
This exercise is simple to learn, for most of us can perform a push-up as is. The rotation at the top may take a rep or two, but once you nail that down, this exercise is all yours. As a compound exercise, the T-push up works to target many muscles at once including your chest, abs, arms, traps, and delts, which will save you time in the gym and make you maximize efficiency to line up with your busy schedule.
How To Perform This Exercise
Here are the steps for performing the T-push up. For those who want to add some weight, you can use a dumbbell or kettlebell to enhance some strength gains during the rotation portion at the top of this exercise.
Begin in a traditional push-up position with your hands at around shoulder width apart and your legs the same. Perform a normal push-up motion by lowering to the ground, leaving your chest just off the floor. As you push back up, raise one arm to the ceiling and slowly rotate open towards the open arm. Make sure your eyes follow your hand as it travels up. Rotate back down and find yourself back in the starting position. Repeat for your desired number of reps.
Wrap Up
The T-push up is a great variation of the traditional one to really target your chest and obliques, as well as other stabilizer muscles. With much of this exercise revolving around the rotation at the top, what you’ll find is that you are working towards building strength in areas that a traditional push-up may not be able to cover. This will prove to be huge for your gains in the long run as you look to maximize the benefits of not only a strong chest, but also your abdominals. As a simple and convenient exercise to learn, the benefits are amazing and should absolutely be in your training routine to maximize all of your gains. Look into the T-push up today and really see what this can do for you.
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*Images courtesy of Envato
References
- Contreras, Bret; Schoenfeld, Brad; Mike, Jonathan; Tiryaki-Sonmez, Gul; et al. (2012). “The Biomechanics of the Push-up”. (source)
- Weiss, Tiana; Kreitinger, Jerica; Wilde, Hilary; Wiora, Chris; et al. (2010). “Effect of Functional Resistance Training on Muscular Fitness Outcomes in Young Adults”. (source)
