Settle a debate between my friend and I about decline/incline push ups.

[fabregas]

Lets get this out of the way and for arguments sake say that there is an advantage to doing different lifts/exercises to hit different portions of the chest.

So he tells me that doing push-ups with feet up/hands low(such as feet on a chair hands on the floor) hits lower chest and feet low/hands up(feet on floor and hands on bench) hits upper.

I believe the opposite. Who is correct.

[fatgutguy]

You guys can just do them until failure and see what part of your back hurts.

[JamesRhodes]

Feet high > Upper chest
Feet low > Doesn't really do anything, just make the load alot lighter.

Use weights

[TheBroBrah]

Push-ups are the opposite of bench

Decline Push ups aka feet up works your upper chest

Incline Push ups aka hands up works lower chest.

[33wolf]

You are correct, just have to look at the angle of the torso to realise that the push-up with feet elevated works the upper chest and front delts more.

[liftingson]

you sir are correct. Hands down = upper chest, hands up = lower chest.

[chazzy1864]

Lets get this out of the way and for arguments sake say that there is an advantage to doing different lifts/exercises to hit different portions of the chest.

So he tells me that doing push-ups with feet up/hands low(such as feet on a chair hands on the floor) hits lower chest and feet low/hands up(feet on floor and hands on bench) hits upper.

I believe the opposite. Who is correct.

You are.

Feet high > Upper chest
Feet low > Doesn't really do anything, just make the load alot lighter.

Use weights

Push-ups are the opposite of bench

Decline Push ups aka feet up works your upper chest

Incline Push ups aka hands up works lower chest.

You are correct, just have to look at the angle of the torso to realise that the push-up with feet elevated works the upper chest and front delts more.

you sir are correct. Hands down = upper chest, hands up = lower chest.

^ those

[Tyrbolift]

The real question should be "Is my friend just ignorant, or is he really an idiot?"

[Beachman]

Lets get this out of the way and for arguments sake say that there is an advantage to doing different lifts/exercises to hit different portions of the chest.

So he tells me that doing push-ups with feet up/hands low(such as feet on a chair hands on the floor) hits lower chest and feet low/hands up(feet on floor and hands on bench) hits upper.

I believe the opposite. Who is correct.

You are correct and your "friend" is a moron. Don't even tell him the answer, actually don't talk to him anymore it will be better for you in the long run.


Good luck!

[mmorton]

Lets get this out of the way and for arguments sake say that there is an advantage to doing different lifts/exercises to hit different portions of the chest.

So he tells me that doing push-ups with feet up/hands low(such as feet on a chair hands on the floor) hits lower chest and feet low/hands up(feet on floor and hands on bench) hits upper.

I believe the opposite. Who is correct.

I think the better debate is which one is more effective. with regular pushups you are pushing up around ~70% of your body weight. the higher the incline of your feet (aka feet on bench) the more weight your chest is supporting. the opposite is true for the decline. feet on bench hits most of the chest and you are supporting more weight so it is the better option. pushups with hands on a bench = less weight supported and thus less effective.

[chazzy1864]

I think the better debate is which one is more effective. with regular pushups you are pushing up around ~70% of your body weight. the higher the incline of your feet (aka feet on bench) the more weight your chest is supporting. the opposite is true for the decline. feet on bench hits most of the chest and you are supporting more weight so it is the better option. pushups with hands on a bench = less weight supported and thus less effective.

So how is that a good debate, if you were just able to solve that mystery in one short paragraph?

[mmorton]

So how is that a good debate, if you were just able to solve that mystery in one short paragraph?

I'm not involved in the debate with his friend. the point was that instead of worrying about which part of the chest a certain pushup works, focus on which one is more effective.

[ZoranM]

Looks like the debate has been seattled.
Let's all do just those two pushup variations and watch our middle chest lacking.

[vampborn]

I'm not involved in the debate with his friend. the point was that instead of worrying about which part of the chest a certain pushup works, focus on which one is more effective.

I did a set of 100 incline push-ups this morning before bench. I like hitting flat, incline, and decline, although decline doesn't use much chest since you use so much shoulder. Maybe the key is to not have a severe angle at all with incline and decline.

Edit: I found this thread through searching google. Sorry for necro'ing.

[Rayzor84]

When I developed my pushups in jail (no weights), I did all three variations. As others have stated, feet up works upper chest, and hands up works lower chest. I did hands-up off the bolted-down stools at the table, so it wasn't too high up. Also, this allowed me to go very deep down, further than is allowed by the floor with the other two variations. Obviously this won't happen with hands on a bench, though. But yeah, we mixed them up so we hit the entire chest and it worked pretty well. Plus, the feet-up did add a little more muscle (limited in its own right with no weights), due to the increased load on the arms. I did notice that a steep feet-up pushup worked the shoulders more, and improper form with hands-up put excess stress on the shoulders. So, I would recommend finding a reasonable angle for each. You'll feel in your shoulders if your feet up angle is too extreme, or your hands up form is improper. Note that I mean REALLY improper, like back arched and head dipping.