Diamond pushups use more chest than wide pushups (from a study that also examined standard, pseudo-planche and simplified Lalanne pushups)

[thomaslowrens]

@richtoday Since the form of the exercises is similar, with only moderate differences in hand placement, it should reliably tell which of these 5 variations activate some muscles more than others.

Other than intensity, more range of motion also affects gains, but for these pushups it's similar.

I'd say this study shows that wide pushups on the floor are overrated for chest growth, Tykato's video explains that they are also more likely to cause impingement, so narrower pushups are more useful, but on rings you can use the width more freely since you can avoid elbow flare and they adapt to your anatomy. FitnessFaqs' video shows how to do ring flyes correctly.

 

[richtoday]

@thomaslowrens Could I please have a source for the link between strength/hypertrophy gains and EMG results?

 

[thomaslowrens]

@richtoday This article is good for understanding hypertrophy.

Not sure about the relation between EMG and gains, this reply could be useful to you.

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@thomaslowrens

• I find these EMG studies miss the point of the concept of progression exercises and don't really reveal anything novel about the hypertrophy process. Just because an exercise activates the chest more, means it will cause the chest to get bigger? Not really.
• Exercise Programming: sets, reps, weekly frequency, rest times and appropriate exercise selection (for the progression one is at, for the intensity one wants to choose, for the sets/reps they need to achieve that day/week, depending on their undulating periodization or lack of if it's linear periodization) is far more important than what some EMG shit says if hypertrophy is your goal.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@fromgenesistorevelation Good points, especially about volume and periodization.

I saw a comment on yesterday's thread about pushups getting a lot of upvotes when recommending wide pushups for chest, and since I find them overrated I looked back at this article I had read and thought was more useful than it is.

But on the bright side this post contains some useful pushup variations, so maybe with all these views more people will learn about them.

I wonder how many have just read the title and upvoted though. lol

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@thomaslowrens

I wonder how many have just read the title and upvoted though. lol

Probably all of them. LOL... I have little faith in humanity.

I do like all the suggestions you gave though. Weighted PPPU's are cumbersome to setup (I often ask a friend to put the weight on me) but so great for effectiveness.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@fromgenesistorevelation What lean angle do you use for weighted PPPUs?

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@thomaslowrens Depends on the periodization of the day.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@fromgenesistorevelation Do you change both lean and added load? What's the advantage over only changing the lean angle?

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@thomaslowrens I do whatever I want. There are many ways to skin a cat. You won't need as much of a lean if you can put a lot of weight and the advantage of that is less wrist aggravation.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@fromgenesistorevelation Didn't think about wrist strain, that's a good reason.

 

[sarah5]

@thomaslowrens I've been doing pushups on my counter because I'm not strong enough to do them on the floor. Does it make sense to move my hands closer together to make it harder, or should I find something lower? Or rather, should I do progressions on diamond pushups, or progressions on regular pushups?

 

[thomaslowrens]

@sarah5 First progress with shoulder width pushups on lower surfaces, then progress to diamond after being able to do normal ones on the floor.

 

[dawn16]

@sarah5 Thank you for asking this.

 

[brotherjay]

@thomaslowrens Thanks for this. Just changed a bit of my training for the better thanks to you.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@brotherjay What changes do you have in mind?

 

[brotherjay]

@thomaslowrens I never thought diamond pushup was good for me as I found a good transformation in dips. But now I know that diamond pushups are better for chest I'll do this more. Thanks again!

 

[thomaslowrens]

@brotherjay Dips are also good for the chest if you do them with some forward lean, and when you can do more than 8 diamond pushups it's good to transition to harder pushups (rings, pseudo-planche, unilateral, weighted etc.).

High reps of diamonds are good to prepare the elbows for slow muscle ups or for hypertrophy if you do your sets close to failure.

 

[bmscott85]

@thomaslowrens My whole life is a lie

 

[thomaslowrens]

@bmscott85 The study may not be as useful as I thought after some replies I got, but I still think wide pushups are less useful (and even harmful if done with the commonly used bad form/ T shape) than the other variations.