Push-ups for chest

[Rislaw7]

What kinds of push-ups are the best for chest in particular around the breasts zone. Some people told me that you have to put you hand as farther as possible, others said as closer as possible and I don't know what to belive. I want to gain some muscles on the breasts and I don't know how to put my hands, so far I've made push-ups without knowing that the distance between the hands matters and I've only gaind muscle below armpits. So how do I have to put my hands while making push-ups in order to get muscles in the breasts zone.

Thank you

[heinstein]

The wider you go, the more focus will be on your chest. Unfortunately the wider you go the less your range of motion.

Best answer is do pushups with all kinds of different hand placements and widths.

[DJAuto]

A range of different approaches is usually best...

[Rislaw7]

I'd do pushups with all kinds of different hand placements and widths but the thing is I already have a lot of muscle at the top sides of the chest right near armpits and almost no muscles in the middle zone and I want to work on those. Also I've seen some exercises called Isometric Chest Squeezes, they seem pretty easy, are they good for anything ?

[heinstein]

I'd do pushups with all kinds of different hand placements and widths but the thing is I already have a lot of muscle at the top sides of the chest right near armpits and almost no muscles in the middle zone and I want to work on those. Also I've seen some exercises called Isometric Chest Squeezes, they seem pretty easy, are they good for anything ?

You kinda can't choose how far in your chest muscles go. It's the same as you cant choose how high up your calves are.

Doing "inner" chest exercises might help a little, but it won't be much.

[BojackuUSMC]

I work in a jail so I see bunch of weird type of push ups done by inmates. Spartan push ups, incline push ups, regular push ups, diamond push ups, diver bomb push ups, clapping hands push ups.
I guess you can do all those different type of push ups and see what works best for you.

[kayot1k]

What kinds of push-ups are the best for chest in particular around the breasts zone. Some people told me that you have to put you hand as farther as possible, others said as closer as possible and I don't know what to belive. I want to gain some muscles on the breasts and I don't know how to put my hands, so far I've made push-ups without knowing that the distance between the hands matters and I've only gaind muscle below armpits. So how do I have to put my hands while making push-ups in order to get muscles in the breasts zone.

Thank you

An article on this forum, probably like a few days back "5 must do chest exercises" by alex savva
suggest that " Back in 2005, researchers at the Mayo Clinic tested 11 men and 29 women to determine the effect of three different hand positions when performing the push-up: shoulder-width, wider, and narrower. The study showed the EMG activity in the pectoralis major was greatest during push-ups with a narrow hand position"

since reading that and giving it a try i have noticed that it is alot easier to a deep contraction (squeeze) with the close width pushup than the wide width. i like it as a finisher as it allows you to get a massive pump in the chest.

[maxmuscleseeker]

even though as quoted, the narrower hand width positions may target the pectoralis muscles better (overall) it may be better for you to just incorporate some flies into your workout. Unless of course, you aren't in a position to do so, then just experiment with all different push up techniques and see which works best for yoy

[Rislaw7]

Ok, I'll add narrow push-ups to my exercises, thank you all.

[Iliander]

Wide grip to stretch the chest.

Close grip to contract the chest.

Shoulder width grip might be overall best.

But I'd say just do all kinds of different grips.

Something that works really well for the UPPER chest are decline diamond push-ups.