Chest Workout Without Weights: Variations on the Push Up
This, my friends, I like to call the push up. Of course that’s not the only option, but if you’re looking for a good chest workout without weights, this classic move is a great place to start. Performing these exercises with your knees on the floor, rather than your feet, is a simple modification if full push ups are too difficult. If your wrists are weak or the execution of a push up just feels uncomfortable, try using a pair of handles, or even working with the knuckles of your fists on the floor, rather than flat hands.
Though the push up seems fairly straightforward, it can actually provide you with a number of different workouts—that is, you can strengthen different muscles in different ways—just by changing the position of your hands on the ground.
For a basic push up, your hands will be spread a little wider than your shoulders. Moving them in (toward one another) will cause the triceps to work more. Moving them out farther will engage the lateral fibers (closest to the armpits) of your chest muscles.
To strengthen the more diagonally oriented chest muscle fibers, change your starting position so that one hand is slightly forward of your shoulder and the other is slightly back. Do a set of push ups in this position; then switch the positions of your hands.
To recreate the effects of exercises like the dumbbell press or chest fly that produce that “squeezing” sensation as your hands come together in front of your chest, go get a couple of paper plates and try this. Set the plates on the ground so that you can put one hand on each and be in your starting push up position: wrists below shoulders. One at a time, move a paper plate out to the side, perform a push up, and slide the plate back to its starting position. For an added challenge, try sliding both plates out before you do a push up; then sliding them back to the center simultaneously.
Try any of these with your hands (less difficult) or feet (more difficult) raised slightly, or with one foot lifted slightly off of the floor. Sometimes the slightest change can create an entirely new challenge.
Of course, the push up is not the only way to get an effective chest workout without weights. Resistance bands allow you to recreate many of the exercise you might perform in a gym, in an outdoor setting or in your own home. But if you’re looking for a great upper body and core workout with no equipment at all (paper plates aside), you can’t do better than going back to the basics.
Tags: Chest Workout Without Weights, core workout, resistance bands, upper body