5 Key Benefits of Wide Grip Push-Ups

What Are Wide Grip Push-Ups?

When working out, one of the most common challenges that people can find is knowing what exercises meet their own needs and goals.

While variety is always important, some key fitness exercises will always stand out – and one of them is the wide grip push-up.

Wide grip push-ups are very commonly used by those looking to really optimise their push-up strength and are similar in most ways to a regular push-up or even a diamond push-up.

If you are looking to do more push-ups, then you should almost certainly look to make the most of this guide to help you understand what it entails.

The Differences Between Push-Up Styles

• For one, with a wide grip push-up as opposed to a diamond or ‘regular’ push-up, you will be working different muscle groups.
• Your hand positions change, too – the form is similar in terms of leg extension and the straightness of the body. Wide grip versions, though, will have your hands flat on the floor, just outside of the shoulder.
• Instead of using your elbows pulled in as you would with the diamond push-up, here you allow them to flare out a touch to the side as you descend, allowing them to bend accordingly.
• The wide grip push-up is ‘easier’ too, as it requires less of a balance to pull off. Since you are using a smaller base in the diamond push-up – your hands – to push all of that body weight with, they are naturally more challenging.

Which Muscle Groups Are Worked?

Since this pulls your hands further apart, you are going to be working the chest muscles more.

This is because, rather than the closer-in styles that work the shoulders & triceps, you will be working your chest muscles almost exclusively.

If your aim is to try and work out the chest above everything else, then the wide grip push-up is a very smart exercise to begin with, for sure.

The 5 Key Benefits of Wide Grip Push-Ups

1. If you are used to doing normal Push-ups, then breaking away from that familiarity can be good for body, concentration and actual performance.
2. Targeting the same exercise and using the same muscle groups over and over means they will hit a plateau, stopping you from seeing progress. This allows you to keep doing push-ups, working other muscles.
3. Since it works the chest muscles so much, it can be a great exercise for helping you to vastly improve how your push-ups actually work the body. If you are finding that your chest needs more work, they are one of the most efficient exercises around for that.
4. It can help to ensure that you can keep getting positives from push-ups; over time, they can begin to vastly reduce in their overall return. Wide grip push-ups allow you to see a ‘reboot’ of the body as you switch from style to style.
5. Overall, the wide grip push-up offers a similar function to the normal push-up or diamond version, but offers just enough variety to work other muscles and make it a valued workout companion.

So what are you waiting for. Get pushing!