Why is it good to position my hands differently while doing pushups?

Question

A friend mine told me that it's good to do pushups with hands place differently. Will this work other muscles?

Answer 1

yes. you have distinct muscle groups; such as the chest muscle, biceps, triceps, etc. But within those muscle groups are muscle fibers which are unique; each is optimum at certain ranges of motion.

When you do pushups, some part of the chest muscle is worked optimally, while the other simply acts as a support. This is why you would want to vary the push up, by changing the hand positions.

changing it sideways should work well (diamond push-up, regular, and wide pushups). For practical purpose, I don't think you need to vary your hand positions vertically, since the position is awkward anyways (you could get injured), and you exercise these other muscles when you do your shoulder training.

Answer 2

Do not do diamond pushups! It will cause you more pain than good. Instead, make your hands like a field goal.

Answer 3

Sure does!! If you put your palms (or fists, depending on how HARDCORE you are) by your side, so your elbows are paralell to your side when you go down, it works different muscles than if you do it with your elbows pointing out on a 90 degree angle from your body. And if you get both your hands and put your index and thumbs together, to make a diamond shape under your chest, and do push ups like that, it's AgOnY!! But works different muscles again....

Answer 4

changing the position of the hands does not change the mechanics of the exercise. far too many use localized fatigue to judge the mechanics of an exercise.

Answer 5

That's correct. For example, putting your hands close to your body and keeping your elbows in tight works your triceps.