2023-05-25 15:00:49
Do you want to develop your pectorals and you have heard that push-ups are your best ally in this quest?
It is perfectly true.
Except that here they are, they have become a little easy for you and you are now able to do 3 sets of 15 properly (if you are not sure, take a look at our tutorial: Don’t do your push-ups like that, NEVER! 10 common mistakes to avoid).
Or maybe you feel your triceps and shoulders working on your push-ups, but not your pecs, that’s common!
For all these reasons and more, today we are going to see a push-up variation, nay, THE best push-up variation to add to your training sessions.
Spoiler, it is done at the gym rings…
Why do ring push-ups?
Gym rings are one of the very best tools you can get, they’re inexpensive and offer a plethora of exercises (see our list of 17 Must-Have Gym Rings Exercises).
As far as the pumps are concerned, they will allow:
- not to have the hands fixed to the ground, therefore to have a freer and more natural movement, but also to be able to benefit from a peak of contraction at the end of the movement (via an adduction of the arms, like on a fly with dumbbells) ,
- to have a better range of motion, we will be able to descend lower since the rings are above the ground,
- to benefit from a whole stabilization work, excellent for the rotator cuff, in particular.
In other words, we will be able to engage our pecs more and therefore develop more muscles.
The exercise that will make all this possible is and the RTOit is used a lot by gymnasts!
The RTO, the gymnast exercise for big pecs!
RTO simply stands for “rings turn out”, it involves doing ring push-ups with a external shoulder rotation at the end of the movement, and it changes everything !
Note that this is not an exercise for beginners and that you should have a perfect command of your floor push-ups before you start.
Then, we always remember to warm up the joints (wrists, shoulders, elbows) before getting on the rings.
For the beginner variation:
- Secure the rings at hip height so you can grab them without bending down,
- Lean forward, shoulder blades low and forward (depression + abduction), lock elbows, supine grip, contract abs and glutes (with retroverted pelvis), body perfectly straight,
- Lower into a push-up position until your pectorals are fully stretched, elbows at 45° to the body
- Go up by turning the rings and adducting the arms, inhale on the eccentric, exhale on the concentric.
At the beginning of the movement, you are in a supine grip (elbow facing your body) then you go into pronation as you go down (internal rotation of the shoulders).
Arm adduction at the very end of the exercise is what allows a better contraction of the pectorals.
This means bringing the wrists together (arms straight, elbows locked), so the arms cross the body midline.
You should feel a big difference in contraction compared to regular push-ups.
For the advanced variation:
The movement is easily scalable in terms of difficulty, that’s the beauty.
The closer your feet are to the anchor point, the more inclined you are and the easier it is.
By moving your feet back, you pass closer to the ground and it gets drastically complicated!
If you want an in-between, get your rings down and do your RTOs on your knees.
If you want even more difficulty, put on a weighted vest or continue with the following variations…
Bulgarian ring pushups
Same principle here, except that we will change the spacing between our rings.
Previously, we had a gap of regarding shoulder width, now we want to aim wider.
The wider the gap, the more stretch we will have in the low position of our push-ups.
The second thing that will change is that the elbows will no longer be close to the body at 45°, but spread apart!
But… nevertheless, we always say to keep elbows close to body when doing push-ups.
Yes, it’s true when you’re on the ground, with your hands in a fixed position, to avoid having shoulder pain…
But on rings, the shoulder blades can move freely, so there’s less stress on the shoulders and the chest.has rotator cuff.
This movement with flared elbows is also reminiscent of the guillotine bench press (the name is not too enticing), known to provide, in theory, better activation of the upper pecs.
The keys to the movement:
- go for a big stretch of the pectorals at the end of the movement with a wide spacing of the rings,
- continue to adduct at the top of the movement for peak space contraction,
- keep the elbows in the scapular plane, slightly down and behind the shoulders.
And if that’s still not enough for you, elevate your feet for maximum tension!
If with this you do not develop a solid bust…
What if I don’t have gym rings?
Buy it, it’s one of the best investments for your workouts:
More seriously, there is another option…a wooden floor (or a smooth surface) and…a good pair of socks to put on your hands.
For the rest, classic push-up position, go down by moving towards a wide spread, then go up by bringing your hands closer to each other, always to get this peak of contraction via the adduction of the arms.
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