How to train the upper chest with push ups
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Thanks to sports scientists at Inje University in South Korea, we now know that the good old push up is far more versatile than we realized. The Koreans discovered a way for athletes to develop the upper part of the chest muscle by doing push ups.Trunk flexion
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The way of doing push ups that the Koreans studied is shown on the right: the lower body is flexed at an angle of 30 degrees.The researchers got 15 male students to do push ups in the traditional way and with a flexed trunk. They had attached electrodes to the muscles of the subjects' upper body and core so that they could measure the electrical activity in these muscle groups.
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The figure below shows the activity expressed as a percentage of the activity during maximum voluntary isometric contraction [MVIC].Muscle activity
When doing push ups with a flexed trunk the abdominal muscles worked less hard than when doing regular push ups. The activity in the lower part of the chest muscle ? the sternocostal portion of the pectoralis major [S in the illustration] ? was also a little less.
On the other hand, the activity in the upper part of the chest muscle ? the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major [C in the illustration] ? was higher when performing flexed-trunk push ups, as was the activity in the serratus anterior.
Source:
J Phys Ther Sci. 2014 Jun;26(6):909-10.
[TABLE="align: right"]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Thanks to sports scientists at Inje University in South Korea, we now know that the good old push up is far more versatile than we realized. The Koreans discovered a way for athletes to develop the upper part of the chest muscle by doing push ups.Trunk flexion
[TABLE="width: 358, align: right"]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The way of doing push ups that the Koreans studied is shown on the right: the lower body is flexed at an angle of 30 degrees.The researchers got 15 male students to do push ups in the traditional way and with a flexed trunk. They had attached electrodes to the muscles of the subjects' upper body and core so that they could measure the electrical activity in these muscle groups.
[TABLE="width: 155, align: right"]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The figure below shows the activity expressed as a percentage of the activity during maximum voluntary isometric contraction [MVIC].Muscle activity
When doing push ups with a flexed trunk the abdominal muscles worked less hard than when doing regular push ups. The activity in the lower part of the chest muscle ? the sternocostal portion of the pectoralis major [S in the illustration] ? was also a little less.
On the other hand, the activity in the upper part of the chest muscle ? the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major [C in the illustration] ? was higher when performing flexed-trunk push ups, as was the activity in the serratus anterior.
Source:
J Phys Ther Sci. 2014 Jun;26(6):909-10.
