Push-ups: a way to reduce man boobs

When it comes to perfecting a body, there might be some problems with certain areas, especially if there are a lot of extra pounds present. This means that some special treatment is necessary for those problematic regions. One of those is definitely the abdominal area, but there are also some others that might become an issue, so the chest area will be mentioned here.

Upper Torso

Sometimes, when there is a lot of extra fat tissue present and that tissue is eliminated with the help of dieting, exercising, supplements, surgery, etc, a lot of skin might be left behind and that is usually called man boobs (when we talk about men, of course). And in cases when there is some fat left, this problem is emphasized even more. So, what would be the solution here? Push-ups are certainly a way to reduce man boobs! This exercise is one of the most important things that need to be done in order to get rid of man boobs. Of course, this is the situation when no additional weight is used.

Push-Ups

This is an overall great exercising form because it affects several muscle groups. How is it done? The body has to be parallel with the floor and propped on the toes and palms. Hands are straight, set at the shoulder width. The body is lowered then by bending the arms in elbows. Of course, the body gets as low as possible without touching the ground and then goes back the same way with straightening the arms.

This simple form affects the arms, upper torso (boobs), back, abdominal region, and even thighs are slightly affected. It is interesting that slight modification can change the focus on certain muscles with this exercise. For example, performing push-ups with palms placed one next to the other will greatly shift the focus on the triceps. Widening the distance from shoulder width will start focusing shoulder muscles.

Push-up exercises are commonly performed to strengthen the upper extremity muscles. However, the relationship between the push-up speed and upper extremity fatigue is not well understood. Accordingly, the present study investigated the effect of the push-up speed on the maximum possible number of push-up repetitions until fatigue and the upper-extremity muscle activity, respectively, in order to identify suitable push-up strategies for upper-extremity muscular strengthening.

Fifteen healthy males participated in the study. Each subject performed push-ups at three different speeds (i.e., fast: 7 push-ups/10 s; regular: 5 push-ups/10 s; and slow: 4 push-ups/10 s) until fatigued.
The muscle activity signals were measured during the push-up tests via surface electromyography. The strengthening effect of the push-up exercises was evaluated by measuring the myodynamic decline rate at the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints using an isokinetic dynamometer.
The results showed that the maximum possible number of push-up repetitions at the fast push-up speed was around 1.34 and 1.33 times higher than that at the regular push-up speed or slow push-up speed, respectively. However, the endurance time (i.e., the time to fatigue) at the slow push-up speed was around 1.20 and 1.24 times longer than that at the fast push-up speed or regular push-up speed, respectively.
Finally, at the slow push-up speed, the total muscle activations in the triceps brachii, biceps brachii, anterior deltoid, pectoralis major, and posterior deltoid, respectively, were 1.47, 2.43, 1.42, 1.48, and 1.91 times higher than those at the fast push-up speed.

✓ Fact confirmed: Effect of Push-up Speed on Upper Extremity Training until Fatigue Hsiu-Hao Hsu; You-Li Chou; Yen-Po Huang; Ming-Jer Huang; Shu-Zon Lou; Paul Pei-Hsi Chou; January 2011

There are other forms of push-ups that should be mentioned as well. For example, the level of the legs can be raised and that will create more pressure on the hands. Also, there is a difference if feet are positioned close one to another or if there is a lot of distance between them.

There is another interesting exercise that evolved from push-ups. Feet are far apart and the lower back area is positioned as high as possible (just like an angry cat!). The regular push-up is not performed, but something different. Palms are positioned out in the front as much as possible, and then the torso is sliding near the floor, passing the palms and entering one of the yoga positions, with hips opened as much as possible. And after that, the torso goes back. The exercise is very intensive, very hard, and it works the entire torso, arms, and hips.

As for some other forms of push-ups, there are clap push-ups, one-hand push-ups, inverse stand push-ups, etc. Some exotic specialties such as push-ups are performed without using the entire palms but only two fingers can also be done.