Hey everyone Daniel Vadnal fitnessfaqs the bicep push-up is it good is it bad is it something that
you should be doing I won't be covering the pros the cons the good and the bad points of
this exercise and I don't have a discussion if you will a debate about this exercise let's go
I believe the main issue that we're having here is a argument of nomenclature exercise name the size
vers strength discussion as well as context all right let's start off with the good parts about
the biceps push-up which is formally known as the pseudo planche push up in the calisthenics
community to start with no one has ever said that a push-up is the most effective muscle
building exercise for bigger biceps the push-up itself is merely a vessel by which to train the
stabilization component of the bicep let's take a look at what I mean we're taking a block straight
away of being in weight-bearing position which is functionally relevant for building effective
strength and for cal snacks step number two is we're stressing that straight arm component and
especially specific to the exercise were in forearm supination and external rotation at
the shoulder how is that relevant so most of the high end strength movements that we're trying to
progress towards if we want to master our body involves those parameters think about things
like planchas back levers where weight bearing we're in a straight arm position and we're in
supination and exhortation of the shoulders as well as being in a straight arm position
so that in itself is why this specific exercise is very useful for strengthening the biceps in
its stabilization role in terms of the different functions of the bicep we all know the main one
it's an elbow flexor but it also does supination and number three it's a shoulder flexor which is
important for the bicep pushup one of the criticisms of the exercise is that you're
going from a shoulder extended position to a slightly less extended position which is
shoulder deflection the criticism is that it's better to get the biceps working from anatomical
neutral up through range but that position is what makes the bicep push up so effective
because if you're doing the exercise correctly and you're maintaining that forward lean your body is
in such a mechanically disadvantageous position that when you're coming up the bicep is working
tremendously hard to lock out in that straight position acting as a stabilizer it's perfect for
creating a ton of tension in the bicep at that peak straight arm contracted position phenomenal
for building bulletproof tendons ligaments and other passive structures and really developing
that bicep resilience against injury in a straight arm lockout position plus or minus
around ten degrees from that lockout which is what we know is the position most likely for injury if
we're doing our bicep push-ups and we're just going like this in a very vertical fashion of
course you're not going to be stimulating the bicep as a stabilizer because you're just doing
a traditional vertical push-up which is going to train the prime movers in the chest shoulders and
triceps the magic of this exercise happens when you are maintaining a forward lean throughout the
full range of motion and the real magic happens at the top at the lockout I'm pushing very forcefully
that elbow straight and my bicep is stabilizing the my body if I am leaning forward like this of
course if you here look gravity is just down your joints are stacked your triceps contracting the
biceps doing a minimal stabilization you put that bad boy here oh and you do it properly good luck
telling me that doesn't stimulate the bicep as a stabilizer for strength with the bicep push up
is this next size that's dangerous is it going to do you harm and you're going to injure your
wrist by doing this exercise well it depends with this movement it's got varying degrees of
difficulty and intensity so if you're starting in this amount of supination it's going to be a lot
easier than going to a fully supinated position it's on you to choose degree of difficulty that
your body can tolerate and is capable of doing if you do that you shouldn't really rain to any harm
or injury if it's agreeable with your body but if you're finding a little bit uncomfortable still
there's always work arounds to make an exercise accommodating one of the options that you have is
with push-up panels or parallettes so what you can do is you can do degree of supination with
the thumbs facing forward and over time you can get more aggressive with it by going into a fully
supinated position wire parallettes and push-up handles accommodating for this exercise well
it puts you in this position of wrist extension so you've got more breathing room on the wrists
complex because the fingers aren't flat and the wrist isn't fully extended what I want you to
talk about with this exercise is just a concept called nocebo so a lot of health professionals
or just people commenting on exercise like this are doing people harm so what I mean by that is
if we tell people you can't do an exercise because you're gonna hurt yourself without any information
regarding context the person's history that is just doing a disservice to people at large as
health professionals as people training hard we should be telling other people that your body is
strong resilient capable of change and adaptation if you're sensible and smart with your progress
if you do your homework so to speak with your joint preparation it's crazy what your body can
achieve look at the changes you can make in terms of muscle mass in terms of strength your tendons
ligaments and muscles are no different they have a higher capacity for adaptation what I encourage
you to do is empower other people to strengthen their resolve what they can do and how they can
change their body not this fear this disbelief of making people feel weak and scared of constantly
injuring themselves let's talk about when a bicep injury is the most common think about what you've
seen online when does a bicep tear happen dead lifts people doing very heavy preacher curls
people doing planches when does this happen it happens in a locked out position this is when the
bicep is you know elongated or stretch position and the body is demanding muscular tension for
the bicep to generate which it can't handle and injury results so for people that are looking to
bulletproof their body who are involved in doing exercise like back wavers planches and anything
that stresses that straight arm component should be involving themselves in conditioning of that
elbow complex you're not going to get stronger in less you progressively expose the body to adapting
through challenging circumstances we need to raise the plastic limit of our tendons especially in the
biceps to prevent ourselves from getting injured to prevent ourselves from having pain during
straight arm movements the only way to do that is progressively overloading progressive adaptation
over time and exposing ourselves to mechanically disadvantageous exercises and positions such as
the bicep pushup to get ourself strong and to get ourself robust I think it's safe to say something
we all agree on is that if you want to build bigger biceps you need to use a full range of
motion going through elbow flexion so you need a concentric component you need an isometric pause
at the top and that important elongation phase of the bicep for building muscle of course we
need to look big-picture most of your training should be on compound exercises taking that
bicep through range pull-ups chin-ups ropes those are the movements that are going to give you the
biggest return because of the progressive overload capacity of course if you want to sprinkle in some
hypertrophy go ahead and do that pick your poison with weights with your bodyweight it
doesn't matter curl it's going to help you with those isolation gains sweet everyone hopefully
this gives you my perspective on the bicep push-up discussion only hear your thoughts
in the comment section bye having a debate by talking about ideas this is how we grow this is
how we evolve is how we learn the name of the game is getting stronger and becoming the best that we
can that's what we're all about so go ahead have a chat in the comment section I want everyone to
stay healthy I want everyone to stay strong and I'll see you very soon on Fitness fa Q's