Ditch the Bench, Build a Monster Chest: 5 Killer Push-Up Variations for Rapid Gains

The barbell bench press is, without doubt, the most popular chest-building exercise. In fact, it’s unusual to find a chest training program that doesn’t revolve around bench pressing. This makes a lot of sense, given how effective the bench presses can be for developing mass and strength.

However, that doesn’t mean the bench press is compulsory and that there aren’t alternatives.

I’m a 35-year veteran personal trainer and former powerlifter, and I know that bench pressing has a dark side. For example, shoulder injuries are common, and a missed rep, especially without a spotter, can cause severe injuries.

In addition, home exercisers may be unable to do bench presses, as the necessary equipment is expensive and takes up a lot of space.

The good news is that there are plenty of exercises you can do instead of barbell bench presses. Dumbbell bench presses are an excellent choice, as are floor presses and chest presses. Even parallel bar dips are a good chest-building alternative to the classic bench press.

However, one of the most surprising alternatives to the bench press is push-ups.

Research suggests that push-ups use the same muscles as bench presses (1) and can be equally effective for building muscle (2). Push-ups also tend to be more shoulder-friendly. Best of all, you don’t need any equipment to do them, so they’re perfect for home workouts.  

In this article, I share five of the best chest-building push-up variations and a four-week training program to develop the chest of your dreams at home.

The 5 Best Push-Up Variations for a Massive Chest

The push-up is a surprisingly effective chest builder, but you’ll need more than the regular kind to build the chest of your dreams. Here are five challenging push-up variations for bigger pecs. However, make sure you master basic push-ups before attempting any of these intense exercises.

1. 1 ½ Rep Push-Ups

Research suggests that the stretched part of a repetition is the most important for hypertrophy (3). As such, many lifters include stretched partials in their workouts. But, while stretched partials can be effective, most people should also include full-range-of-movement exercises in their workouts. Partials alone are not sufficient.

1 ½ rep push-ups combine stretched partials with full-range reps to provide the best of both worlds. This unique push-up variation will deliver a skin-splitting pump and is an awesome alternative to bench presses.

Steps:

1. Adopt the push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your body straight.
2. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
3. Bend your arms and lower your chest to within an inch of the floor.
4. Extend your arms and come halfway up.
5. Bend your elbows and lower your chest back to within an inch of the floor.
6. Extend your arms and come all the way up.
7. That’s one 1 ½ rep – keep going!

Tips:

• Add a 2 to 3-second pause in the stretched position to make this exercise more challenging.
• Experiment with the width of your hands to determine what feels most comfortable and effective.
• Strap on a weighted vest to overload your muscles sooner.

Related: 6-Week Program for Push-Up Mastery

2. Deficit Push-Ups

Doing push-ups with your hands on the floor limits your range of motion and reduces the amount of muscle-building stretch you can get during your workout. Placing your hands on raised handles or blocks allows you to descend more deeply than usual, potentially increasing muscle growth.

However, it’s worth noting that this exercise puts a little more stress on your shoulders than conventional push-ups. Increase your deficit gradually, and be prepared to skip it if it aggravates your joints.  

Steps:

1. Place two push-up handles, yoga blocks, bricks, bumper plates, etc., on the floor so they’re slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Place your hands on the raised surfaces and walk your feet back into the push-up position.
3. Pull your shoulders back and down and brace your core.
4. Bend your arms and lower your chest down between your hands.
5. Extend your arms and repeat.

Tips:

• Pause for 2-3 seconds at the bottom of each rep to make this exercise even more effective.
• Use a suspension trainer (e.g., TRX) or gymnastic rings to combine instability with an increased range of motion.
• Start with a low deficit, e.g., 1 to 2 inches, and increase it as you get used to the movement.

3. Plyometric Push-Ups

It’s generally accepted that strength training is best done using a slow, controlled tempo. Some fitness experts go so far as to prescribe the exact speed you should do your reps, e.g., lift in four seconds and lower in four seconds. They believe this creates the optimal time under tension (TUT) for muscle growth.

However, a growing body of research suggests that faster tempos may be better for engaging and building muscle (4). Plyometric push-ups are done explosively, which should produce superior gains to slow-motion reps.

Steps:

1. Adopt the push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your body straight.
2. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
3. Bend your arms and lower your chest to within an inch of the floor.
4. Without pausing, explosively extend your arms and push yourself away from the floor as hard as possible. Ideally, your hands should leave the ground.
5. Land on slightly bent arms to absorb the shock, descend into another rep and repeat.

Tips:

• Imagine the floor is hot to minimize ground contact time and make this exercise as effective as possible.
• Avoid this exercise if you have a history of wrist pain.
• Do this exercise on a gym mat for comfort.

4. Archer Push-Ups

Most push-up variations work both arms and both sides of your chest equally. As such, they’re similar to bench presses. However, archer push-ups emphasize one arm at a time. This puts more weight on the target muscles and helps eliminate left-to-right strength imbalances. Archer push-ups are pretty challenging, so don’t worry if you cannot do as many reps as you hoped.

Steps:

1. Adopt the push-up position with your hands about 1 ½ shoulder-widths apart. Brace your core, pull your shoulders back and down, and turn your hands slightly outward.
2. Bend your right arm and lower your chest down toward your right hand. Keep your left arm relatively straight and turn your head to look at your left hand.
3. Press down through your right hand and return to the starting position.
4. Do your next rep to the left-hand side.
5. Alternate sides for the prescribed number of reps.

Tips:

• Place 1-2 yoga blocks under your chest to reduce your range of motion and make this exercise a little easier.
• Descend slowly and then push up powerfully to maximize muscle engagement.
• Keep your extended elbow slightly bent to minimize joint stress.

5. Decline Push-Ups

Most people do decline or feet-elevated push-ups to put more weight on their arms. This makes sense because that’s exactly what they do! However, they also shift your weight toward your upper chest, especially if you lift your feet higher than your shoulders. Think of decline push-ups like incline bench presses, as well as a more challenging push-up variation.

Steps:

1. Stand with your back to a knee-high step, box, or bench.
2. Adopt the push-up position with your body and arms straight and your feet on the platform.
3. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
4. Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the floor.
5. Extend your arms and repeat.

Tips:

• Take care not to arch your lower back, which is a common problem during decline push-ups.
• Raise your feet to make this exercise more challenging.
• Experiment with the width of your hands to determine what feels most comfortable and effective.

4-Week Push-Up Program for a Bigger Chest

While any of the exercises described above can help you pump up your pecs, you’ll probably get better results in less time if you follow a more prescriptive program.

This four-week plan features two weekly workouts (e.g., Monday and Thursday) and all the exercises outlined in this article, used in rotation to keep things fresh and interesting. The volume also increases as the rest periods decrease from week to week to maximize your results.

But, before you do any of these workouts, make sure you spend a few minutes warming up and readying your body for the challenges that await. Start with 5-10 minutes of easy cardio followed by dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your shoulders and elbows. Finish your warm-up with a couple of easy sets of regular push-ups.

Warmed up and ready to go? Then let’s do it!

Week 1

Workout One
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	1 ½ rep push-ups	2	AMRAP	90 seconds
2	Deficit push-ups	2	AMRAP	90 seconds
3	Plyometric push-ups	2	AMRAP	90 seconds

---

Workout Two
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Deficit push-ups	3	AMRAP	85 seconds
2	Plyometric push-ups	2	AMRAP	85 seconds
3	Archer push-ups	2	AMRAP	85 seconds

AMRAP = As Many Reps as Possible – rep out to 1-2 reps of failure, stopping your set when your form breaks down.

Week 2

Workout Three
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Plyometric push-ups	3	AMRAP	80 seconds
2	Archer push-ups	3	AMRAP	80 seconds
3	Decline push-ups	2	AMRAP	80 seconds

---

Workout Four
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Archer push-ups	3	AMRAP	75 seconds
2	Decline push-ups	3	AMRAP	75 seconds
3	1 1/2 rep push-ups	3	AMRAP	75 seconds

AMRAP = As Many Reps as Possible – rep out to 1-2 reps of failure, stopping your set when your form breaks down.

Week 3

Workout Five
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Decline push-ups	4	AMRAP	70 seconds
2	1 1/2 rep push-ups	3	AMRAP	70 seconds
3	Deficit push-ups	3	AMRAP	70 seconds

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Workout Six
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	1 1/2 rep push-ups	4	AMRAP	65 seconds
2	Deficit push-ups	4	AMRAP	65 seconds
3	Plyometric push-ups	3	AMRAP	65 seconds

AMRAP = As Many Reps as Possible – rep out to 1-2 reps of failure, stopping your set when your form breaks down.

Week 4

Workout Seven
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Deficit push-ups	4	AMRAP	60 seconds
2	Plyometric push-ups	4	AMRAP	60 seconds
3	Archer push-ups	4	AMRAP	60 seconds

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Workout Eight
#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Plyometric push-ups	5	AMRAP	55 seconds
2	Archer push-ups	4	AMRAP	55 seconds
3	Decline push-ups	4	AMRAP	55 seconds

AMRAP = As Many Reps as Possible – rep out to 1-2 reps of failure, stopping your set when your form breaks down.

Conclusion

Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need to lift weights to build muscle and get strong. Not convinced? Just check out the physiques of top male gymnasts, most of whom train exclusively with bodyweight exercises.

While I can’t promise you’ll ever be as ripped and muscular as an Olympian, I do believe you can get in great shape by doing push-ups for your chest.

Use the exercises and workouts in this article to build the chest of your dreams without bench presses. Remember, it’s dedication and consistency that builds muscle, and not your choice of exercises or equipment.

Learn more about what’s important for building muscle in this in-depth article, the Hierarchy of Successful Hypertrophy Training.

References:

1. Gottschall JS, Hastings B, Becker Z. Muscle Activity Patterns do not Differ Between Push-Up and Bench Press Exercises. J Appl Biomech. 2018 Dec 1;34(6):442-447. doi: 10.1123/jab.2017-0063. PMID: 29809073.
2. Kikuchi N, Nakazato K. Low-load bench press and push-up induce similar muscle hypertrophy and strength gain. J Exerc Sci Fit. 2017 Jun;15(1):37-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jesf.2017.06.003. Epub 2017 Jun 29. PMID: 29541130; PMCID: PMC5812864.
3. McMahon GE, Morse CI, Burden A, Winwood K, Onambélé GL. Impact of range of motion during ecologically valid resistance training protocols on muscle size, subcutaneous fat, and strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Jan;28(1):245-55. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318297143a. PMID: 23629583.
4. Wilk M, Zajac A, Tufano JJ. The Influence of Movement Tempo During Resistance Training on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy Responses: A Review. Sports Med. 2021 Aug;51(8):1629-1650. doi: 10.1007/s40279-021-01465-2. Epub 2021 May 27. PMID: 34043184; PMCID: PMC8310485.

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