Standard Push Up Vs Incline Push Up Vs Decline Push Up

With a regular (normal) push-up, you are lifting about 64% of your own bodyweight.

When you do decline push ups, you push up more of your bodyweight, which makes the decline push up variation harder and more efficient than the Incline variation. Furthermore, the higher you place your feet, the harder it will be.

Incline push-ups are easier than compared to the normal push-ups ones because of the angle at which the exercise has to be done.

If you want to make incline pushups easier, place your hands on a wall or more inclined surface.

Incline Push-Up

The incline push up is a great bodyweight exercise that you can do to build your chest. It offers numerous benefits and is perfectly suited for both beginners and experienced athletes looking to build upper body strength.

The incline push up is a variation of the push-up where you push yourself off from a raised object instead of the ground.

You can also use objects like a chair, a gym bench, a sofa, a box, a sturdy table, or anything else.

Incline Push Up Muscles Worked

Depending on the degree to which you perform this exercise, it will be the muscles that are worked and with greater or lesser intensity. The main muscles involved in push-ups are:

Main muscles during incline push ups: Lower Chest, Anterior deltoids (shoulder muscle), and triceps.
Secondary muscles during incline pushups: The upper chest, lateral deltoid, serratus, trapezius, and core muscles

How To Do Incline Push-Up On Box

Stand approximately 3 to 3.5 feet away from a low bench or sturdy chair.
Reach forward and grab the sides of the chair or in front of the bench, keeping the balls of your feet in contact with the ground.
Slowly lower yourself by flexing your elbows so that your chest comes within a few inches of the edge of the chair or bench.
Using your hands, push yourself back to the starting position while focusing on maintaining a straight body position from head to ankle.
The movement should be smooth and controlled.

Incline Pushups with hands on a ~30 cm box use 55% of your bodyweight.

Pushups with hands elevated on ~60 cm box – 41% of bodyweight

Standard Push-Ups

The standard push up is the popular type of push-up that to build your entire upper body, shoulders, chest, and arms.

Check how to do them correctly and blast your muscles at home or at the gym. This workout should be part of your push-ups arsenal.

Normal Push Up Muscles Worked

Depending on the degree to which you perform this exercise, it will be the muscles that are worked and with greater or lesser intensity. The main muscles involved in push-ups are:

Main muscles during regular push ups: Chest, Anterior deltoids, and triceps.
Secondary muscles during normal pushups: lateral deltoid, serratus, trapezius, and core muscles.

How To Do Standard Push-Ups

Lay face down on the ground with your legs straight, and arms supporting your upper body. Keep your knees off the ground.
Raise yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and your arms.
Raise until your elbows are locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
Now, lower your body slowly and feel the motion all the way down until your chest is very close to the ground.

Regular push up (“standard” pushups) – 64% of bodyweight

Decline Push-Up

The Decline Push-up is a great exercise to start with if you want to train your upper chest with push ups at home.

It is similar to normal push-ups, but with your legs on a bench. Although this is called the decline push-up, it focuses more on the upper pecs.

Furthermore, your lower body is raised from the floor, the resistance your body provides is increased compared to doing the push-up on the floor. This makes the decline push-up harder than the standard push-up.

Decline Push Up Muscles Worked

Depending on the degree to which you perform this exercise, it will be the muscles that are worked and with greater or lesser intensity. The main muscles involved in push-ups are:

Main muscles during decline push ups: Upper Chest, Anterior deltoids (shoulder muscle), and triceps.
Secondary muscles during decline pushups: Lower chest, lateral deltoid, serratus, trapezius, and core muscles.

How To Do Decline Push-Up

Placed your hands firmly on the floor and spaced slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Put legs on the bench or the pad roller.
Now raise yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and your arms. Keep your elbows close to your body.
Raise until your elbows are almost near to locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
Now slowly lower your body until your chest is very close to the ground, feeling the motion all the way down.
Complete 3-4 sets of 8 to 20 repetitions.

Decline Incline push ups with feet elevated on a 30 cm table (box) use 70% of your body weight.

Decline Pushups with feet elevated on 60 cm use 70% of their body weight.

So, the more of your body weight you have to move, the harder the push up variation will be. There is also a difference between core activation and other stuff, but that’s not as important.

Tips And Techniques For Standard, Incline and Decline Pushups

Follow the proper foam and techniques to get the most out of this move. Whether you’re doing traditional push-ups or an incline/decline variation, you can avoid these common mistakes to prevent ruining your gains and possibly injuring yourself. When going through your push-up sets, make sure you aren’t making these errors:

For the push-ups, begin by performing 2–3 sets of 6–8 repetitions. Add more reps and sets as you build strength.
Choose the exercises as per your fitness levels. And also choice your sets and repetitions based on your ability to maintain good technique throughout all sets and repetitions.
Pay extra attention to your form and emphasize quality over quantity to improve your upper-body strength.
When you’re in the high plank position for any push-up variant, you need to engage your glutes to make sure your spine doesn’t sag or bend.
Don’t stop early, incomplete push-ups simply will not be as effective at growing muscle and functional strength.
Your neck should be aligned with your body, not tilted up, which could strain the neck.
If you are having trouble perfecting your form for this incline push up, it can be helpful to break down the movement, regress, and work on the foundation.
To see continual progress and build body strength, incorporate proper warm-ups, rest, and nutrition into your exercise program.
Slow down all of your movements and really stay focused on your form.
Rest for 36 to 48 hours before training the same muscle groups to allow sufficient recovery.

Which Type Of Push Up Should You Do?

For a more well-rounded physique, you might consider using various push ups.

Standard push ups are best for chest, shoulder and tricep.
Incline Push Up works your lower chest and back more.
On the other hand, the decline push-up works the upper chest and front shoulders more than the regular or incline variation.
Close grip push-ups focus more on the tricep than the chest.
Pike Push-ups focus more on shoulder than chest and tricep.

Takeaways

Push-ups are a compound strength-training exercise, and they are one of the greatest general conditioning exercises for the outdoor athlete. You can do them anywhere, no equipment required.

You can progress from incline push-ups with your hands raised to normal push up to decline push-ups with your feet raised. Embrace all kinds of push up variations.

Muscle Activation During Incline, Standard & Decline Push up

Which Push Up Is Easier and More Difficult?