How The Hand Release Push-Up Targets Chest Growth

A unique push-up variation, this exercise is great for chest growth and development.

When looking to increase strength and size in our chest, it is important to know that certain exercises exist to help get us there. The hand release push-up is an interesting variation of the traditional push-up that works for increased chest growth and development by working your chest in a slightly different way. For many of us, finding the right exercises can be challenging and with so many out there, too often do we stick to what we know. But our muscles get used to this and it starts to greatly hurt our gains. Changing up and focusing on a different exercise can be a game changer and the hand release push-up may be the one for you.

Having a strong chest works for us in terms of sport specific and more functional movements. It greatly affects our pushing power and offers added support and stability for our upper bodies, especially during those lifts that don’t require your chest as much (1). Plus, a strong chest offers a nice aesthetic that is awesome to see and one that others will certainly envy. The hand release push-up is one exercise to help get you there and really can provide for a nice addition to your chest day repertoire.

What Is The Hand Release Push-Up?

The hand release push-up is a unique push-up variation that uses your bodyweight to work muscle groups throughout your body, most notably the chest (2). This is performed similar to a traditional push-up at the start but involves you lifting your hands off the ground in between each rep for that added challenge. A great strength training exercise, this is a normal fitness level and is easy to learn for all to see valuable gains.

Muscles Worked

Hand release push-ups primarily target your chest, which is no surprise given this movement stems mainly from the chest in the first place. This ensures great growth and development in your pecs. Other muscles worked, although not nearly as much, are your shoulders, triceps, and mid-back, along with your traps. As part of the general movement, these muscles do see some action although not nearly as much as your chest.

Benefits Of The Hand Release Push-Up

When it comes to the hand release push-up, it is important to recognize the benefits around this exercise and what you can truly gain from doing it. It is important to know what you can get out of it before you begin to know what to look for as you look to maximize your gains.

Benefits of the hand release push-up include:

• Build chest strength: As the primary muscle targeted, you can greatly develop your chest muscles to really grow in strength and size, either for sport specific or more functional movements.
• Develop other muscles: Since other muscles do see some action, you can work to develop these as well to add to better support this exercise.
• Must reset after each rep: By resetting after each rep, it allows you to focus a bit more on form so you are always thinking about it.
• Better range of motion: With this exercise, as you lift your arms after each rep, you must stretch your core which allows for greater range of motion.
• Nice variation: A unique variation of the traditional push-up, this can target your chest in a different way to ensure gains.

How To Perform It

Here are the step for performing the hand-release push-up.

1. Begin in a push-up position. Your wrist will be just under your shoulders and your core tight and engaged.
2. Lower down to the ground similar to the traditional push-up until you are fully touching the ground.
3. Once at the bottom, lift your hands off the ground.
4. Place your hands back down, brace your core, and push back up to the starting position.
5. Repeat for your desired number of reps.

Featured Supplement For Push-Up Gains

When it comes to these exercises and seeing the gains we want most, it is important to have a great supplementation routine to really push yourself to the next level. A pre-workout or protein supplement are perfect for those pre- and post-workout needs in terms of energy, growth, and recovery, and something like creatine or a fat burner can aid in that muscle growth and desired fat loss to change your body composition for that desired physique. But what about during the workout? This is where a great intra-workout BCAA supplement can come to your aid and help you push past fatigue and offer continued energy so there are no signs of slowing down (3).

Kaged Muscle In-Kaged

Kaged Muscle In-Kaged is a solid intra-workout supplement to fuel even your toughest workouts. Formulated to maximize endurance, provide unstoppable energy, and provide for muscle pumps, this product will keep you going strong all the way through training. As a health forward brand, Kaged Muscle keeps performance in mind for both men and women who want results with a clean product. Award winning and third party tested, this supplement is accurate and comes from a reputable company. No artificial additives or fillers is matched with 9 ingredients each placed in one of three powerful matrix mixes to give you all the growth and strength gains you hope to see.

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Wrap Up

The hand release push-up is a great push-up variation to add to your chest day routine and can greatly affect your gains when it comes to chest growth and development. By working your chest, and other muscles differently, and offering things like more focus on form and better range of motion, you can certainly work to challenge yourself to see increased gains that you want most. Give the hand release push-up a try and see what this can do for your gains as you won’t be disappointed by the results.

Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

*Images courtesy of Envato

References

1. Saeterbakken, Atle H.; van den Tillaar, Roland; Fimland, Marius S. (2011). “A comparison of muscle activity and 1-RM strength of three chest-press exercises with different stability requirements”. (source)
2. Cogley, Robert M.; Archambault, Teasha A.; Fibeger, Jon F.; Koverman, Mandy M.; et al. (2005). “Comparison of muscle activation using various hand positions during the push-up exercise”. (source)
3. Blomstrand, Eva (2006). “A role for branched-chain amino acids in reducing central fatigue”. (source)