Benefits Of Push Ups Every Day: The Gains And Possible Risks

One of the beauties of doing push-ups is you can do them anywhere and at any time. However, there are many health benefits of push-ups every day. Although they may not be your favorite, they’re a great option for building functional strength. It is essentially an effective upper-body exercise that can strengthen multiple muscle groups, including your chest, core, arms, and shoulders. The effectiveness, no-hassle, convenience, and benefits may explain why most people consider doing push-ups every day. 

But what are the benefits of doing push-ups every day? Most people are only familiar with increased muscle mass and strength. However, there are so many more benefits to this exercise than this. Continue reading to discover more benefits of doing push-ups daily. In addition, you will also get insight into the potential risks of doing this exercise daily and how you can prevent them.

What Is a Push-up and What Muscles Does it Work?

A push-up refers to an exercise that engages your upper back, arms, and shoulders when lowering and lifting your body weight off the floor (2). It mostly uses your upper-body muscles, which are listed below (12):

• Shoulder muscles, including the deltoid major and minor
• Chest muscles, including the pectoralis major and minor
• Upper- and middle-back muscles, including the rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, and trapeze muscles
• Triceps
• Biceps
• Serratus anterior

In addition to these muscles, push-ups can also engage these other body muscles (12):

• Lower-back muscles
• Leg muscles, including the quads, hamstrings, shin, and calf muscles
• Core and abdominal muscles
• Lower back muscles

Doing a Perfect Push-up for Maximum Gains

One of the many reasons fitness gurus recommend push-ups is their long list of benefits. However, the problem is that some people do these exercises for a while and only report injuries or no results. 

It can pretty much happen to anyone, even when they use proper form. These are the specifics on how you should do a push-up correctly. It’s the only way you’re guaranteed to reap the benefits associated with doing push-ups every day. So, before we discuss these benefits, let’s take a look at how you’re expected to do a push-up correctly (9):

• Start in a high plank position with your arms stretched and pressed on the floor. Keep your palms flat and directly beneath your shoulders. Keep your feet either together or at least 12 inches apart.
• Keep your back straight and make sure your body weight is evenly distributed.
• Look down and bend your elbows to start slowly lowering your body toward the ground. Go as low as you can while keeping your body stable and aim to get your chest close to the floor. Rest a few inches above the ground and then push back to the high plank position by extending your elbows and focusing the push on your chest. This is one rep. Try to take at least two seconds to lower and one second to lift your body to the starting position.
• Repeat to complete your reps and sets. 

Remember that you can always modify this exercise as necessary to suit your fitness goals and levels. All you need to do is adjust the speed you perform this exercise, the angle of your body, and your hand placement (9).

This leads us to different variations of the push-up. There are several, including the wall push-up, modified, clap, narrow, wide, backward, forward, pike, and elevated push-up. Talk to your doctor and certified personal trainer before you start performing any of these variations as your form is the most important part of these exercises. 

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The Health Benefits of Push-ups Every Day

There are several health benefits associated with this exercise. Take a look at some of the most common push-up benefits:

Increased Muscle Tone and Strength

As we determined earlier, there are different variations of push-ups you can choose to do. Each variation activates your muscles in different ways but can end up toning them and increasing your muscle strength. Here are the muscles that are activated and toned by each push-up variation:

The Standard Push-up (SP)

The SP variation refers to the regular or classic push-up. When doing it, your hands must be shoulder-width apart and directly aligned with your shoulders. You should keep your trunk, upper body, and legs aligned and rigid throughout the movement.

The primary movers when performing the basic push-up are the chest and triceps (2). However, if you do a perfect SP, you also work the muscles between your shoulders and toes. This means that the exercise can tone your core muscles, trunk, abs, legs, and hips (2).

The Wide Push-up

When performing this exercise, the distance between your hands must be twice that maintained when performing the SP. It greatly challenges your upper body, mainly your chest, shoulders, and upper arms. It’s the variation to choose if you want to build core strength or tone these specific areas.

The Narrow Push-up (NP)

As with the other different push-up variations, this one is slightly different. When performing the NP, your hands must be directly below the center of your sternum or breastbone (11). The thumb and forefinger of each hand must also be touching each other. 

If you master the correct technique of the NP, the exercise significantly activates your triceps and pecs (11). These variations are excellent recommendations for anyone who is trying to increase their pec and tricep size, tone, and strength.

The Forward Push-up (FP)

It would help if you kept your hands shoulder-width apart but 20 cm in front of your shoulders (11). This exercise targets your back and abdominal muscles and is best for toning these two areas.

The Backward Push-up (BP)

When performing this exercise, make sure your hands are shoulder-width apart and 20 cm behind your shoulders. This push-up variation activates different muscle groups than other push-up variations (11). Therefore, it is deemed the most beneficial push-up for improving upper-body strength and condition (11).

How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle Using Push-ups?

The common question most people ask after they start doing push-ups every day is how long it will take them to build muscle. It’s not surprising that most people want immediate or fast results. However, this isn’t always the case.

There is no accurate or standard timeline for how long it should take you to build muscle. Muscle growth and response are dependent on several factors, which may explain the different growth rates in other individuals. These include:

Age

Individuals in different age groups tend to build muscle at different rates when doing push-ups. Most people below 40 will build muscle mass faster compared to those above this age. It all comes down to age.

According to the Mayo Clinic, individuals tend to lose skeletal muscle mass after 40. This is due to aging (sarcopenia) and diseases such as cachexia that impair muscle performance (7). It means that people over 40 may take longer to build muscle strength using push-ups than those below this age. 

Read more: Push Ups Calories Burned: How Many Calories Can 1 Push Up Burn

Body Size

If you have more body fat, it will take you longer to shed it and increase lean muscle mass (8). You’ll need to perform more push-ups or any exercise every day to burn extra calories to lose body fat and build muscle mass. 

Hormones

Your hormones are also responsible for how long it takes you to build muscle when doing push-ups every day. One hormone that influences muscle growth is the human growth hormone (HGH). According to WebMD, HGH regulates body fluids, body composition, bone and muscle growth, heart function, fat, and sugar metabolism (6).

Although the pituitary gland produces this hormone, it is also synthetically produced from different prescription drugs (6). Although not FDA-approved, HGH is used together with other performance-enhancing drugs for muscle growth and enhanced athletic performance (6).

What Are the Benefits of Doing Push-ups Every Day?

Performing push-ups daily can provide numerous benefits to your physical and mental well-being. Some of the ways it can impact our bodies include:

Improved Cardiovascular Health

Improved heart health ranks among the benefits of doing push-ups every day. When you’re doing a push-up, various large muscle groups are involved in helping alternately lift and lower your body weight. When this happens, your heart rate tends to increase. 

Increased heart rate during an exercise program is associated with strengthened heart muscle (12). As a result, your heart can pump oxygenated blood efficiently to your lungs and throughout the body. 

Doing push-ups also helps widen your capillaries. These are the blood vessels that are responsible for blood supply from your arteries to your body organs and tissues. Basically, when your heart rate increases while doing push-ups, your body benefits in the following ways (12):

• Reduced blood pressure 
• Regulated insulin and blood sugar levels
• Lower body weight or maintenance of a healthy weight

Uncontrolled high blood pressure thickens your arteries and narrows the vessels that are responsible for blood flow (4). It is one of the significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, high cholesterol levels increase the risk of plaque formation and atherosclerosis (4). This may also result in various heart diseases. As doing push-ups helps reduce high cholesterol levels and uncontrolled high blood pressure, it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases when combined with appropriate eating habits.  

Increased Joint Support

Doing push-ups every day may also increase joint support. These exercises are particularly effective for strengthening the muscles around your shoulder joints. It would help if you exercised these joints as they’re responsible for keeping your upper arm bone in the shoulder socket (11).

However, this doesn’t mean killing yourself with hundreds of push-ups every day. It is helpful to do these exercises in moderation. Start by doing a couple a day and then gradually increase your reps. This will help you slowly build strength in these muscles and prevent overworking them. Remember that overworking muscles can result in tendon and muscle injuries (11).

Improved Balance, Flexibility, and Posture

Doing push-ups every day can also improve your flexibility. You get to stretch your back muscles while lowering your body to the floor. Similarly, you stretch your bicep muscles when you’re lifting your body weight. These movements help improve your flexibility (10).

Regarding posture, push-ups can help correct poor posture, especially in individuals who spend most of their time sitting. The exercise activates and strengthens your core muscles, which helps you attain a better posture (10).

Improved balance also ranks among the benefits of doing 100 push-ups every day. Due to the control you obtain from doing this exercise daily, you get to work on your balance. 

Promotes Calorie Burning

You may have noticed that push-ups are among the most recommended workouts in various weight loss workout plans. In order to see weight loss, you must burn more calories than you consume (5). 

Doing push-ups can also help you burn more calories, which could make you lose weight faster and in a safe manner. As push-ups use a lot of energy and work multiple muscles in such a short duration, it can lead to a larger overall calorie burn. The more push-ups you perform, the more calories you can burn.

However, you must pay attention to the correct form of a push-up. If you do this exercise using the wrong form, you can injure yourself. Again, you should progress at your own pace and not worry about the specific amount of calories the exercise will burn. If you do this with incorrect form, you could injure yourself, which could set you back even further. If you sustain an upper-body injury, this could make it almost impossible to exercise your upper body. This will then lead to you burning fewer calories than if you weren’t injured. 

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Has Bone-Building Benefits

One of the many benefits of push-ups every day for females is increased bone-building effects. WebMD acknowledges that women have an added benefit when they do push-ups as they get to strengthen and build their bones (2).

According to the site, a push-up can also be considered a resistance exercise. This means that it is as effective as any other strength training or weightlifting exercise program (2). Therefore, performing a push-up can strengthen your muscles and make you reap bone-building benefits.

Improved Biomechanics of Aging

In addition to increasing muscle mass and strength, doing push-ups every day can improve significant biomechanics associated with aging. For example, you could decrease your likelihood of injury from a fall. This is because the push-up motion imitates your natural reaction when falling – you tend to extend your arms, wrists, and hands to absorb the impact (13).

Similarly, experts state that push-ups can teach better muscle memory (13). This means that you will react quickly and protect yourself if you stumble. These findings concur with the conclusions of Medline Plus, which acknowledge that doing push-ups every day can help prevent falls (3).

According to the site, push-ups can reduce your risk of injury when you fall or trip as they do the following (3):

• Increase the strength of your muscles and make them more flexible
• Increase the duration you’re active
• Improve your balance

Potential Risks of Doing Push-ups Every Day

Although there are several benefits to doing push-ups daily, this daily act also raises some health concerns. You must be aware of these risks before you perform these exercises. Below are some of the health risks that are associated with doing push-ups every day:

Injuries

You will most likely injure yourself if your focus is on doing 100 push-ups every day, rather than doing the exercise correctly. This is because your aim could be to complete the sets rather than maintaining the correct technique. It is much better to do a few push-ups with correct form than it is to do 100 with incorrect form. The best strategy is to start small with few reps and then increase them over time (1). 

Back Pain

As previously mentioned, some push-up variations activate your lower-back muscles. These include backward and forward push-ups. If they’re done incorrectly, it may result in back pain or discomfort (11).

Therefore, such push-up variations may not be ideal for individuals with existing back conditions. They may also be unsuitable for beginners who are yet to master how to correctly perform the standard push-up. Remember to talk to your physician before you incorporate these exercises into your routine if you’re a beginner or have a back condition.

Reaching a Fitness Plateau

If you constantly do push-ups every day, you may notice that they become less challenging over time. This shows that you have reached a fitness plateau as your muscles are no longer being challenged or developing from the routine. Talk to a certified personal trainer who might incorporate other exercises or variations to help you fight this plateau.

Read more: Wide Grip Push Ups Muscles Worked and Proper Technique

How Many Push-ups a Day is Good?

The number of push-ups you do daily depends on your fitness goals. The range varies between 5   and 100 push-ups, which can be distributed in sets throughout the day to prevent fatigue and enhance recovery.

Ideally, you should start with a manageable number of daily push-ups and add more if your physical capacity allows it. A reasonable starting point is 5 to 6 push-ups performed in 2 sets daily. You can take a one-minute rest between sets, but you must maintain proper form as this will help avoid strain and injuries.

You must understand that quality is more important in an exercise than quantity. If you aim to lose weight, you should include a healthy diet that is within your daily caloric range. It is also recommended to add compound exercises for weight loss alongside the push-ups to ensure your workout brings well-rounded results. If you find push-ups too hard initially, you can modify the exercise by doing it on your knees. Always check with your doctor before you start a new exercise routine.

Ideally, you will start slow and gradually do more push-ups every day if your body allows for it. This is important for everyone, whether you’re new to exercise or have been doing it for a while. If you try to do too many push-ups too soon, you could hurt yourself or get tired of doing them, which could drastically decrease your likelihood of progression. By slowly increasing the number you perform, your body can become stronger and you will be less likely to get injured.

How Do Push-ups Change Your Body?

Push-ups are a staple upper-body workout that is included in training programs that are designed for beginners, athletes, bodybuilders, and those recovering from injuries. You can notice significant improvements throughout your body when you consistently perform push-ups.

Heart Muscles

Increased heart rate during any exercise can strengthen your heart muscles (12). Your capillaries may widen during the workouts, which improves the blood supply from your arteries to your organs.

Posture

Another notable benefit of push-ups is improvement in posture. Keep your tummy muscles tight while doing a push-up. This will help you perform the exercise correctly. Strong tummy muscles are good for your back and help you stand up straighter.

Flexibility and Balance

Improved flexibility and balance are rewards you may experience if you perform push-ups every day. When you do a push-up, you stretch your back and arm muscles down on the way up. This stretching helps your body become more flexible (10).

Weight Loss

Push-ups are highly recommended for those who want to lose some weight. Even if you’ve joined a 4-day workout routine for weight loss, you should include push-ups and other strategies. Push-ups work many muscles at once, which helps you burn calories and lose weight. The more push-ups you do, the more calories you can burn.

You should curate a wholesome workout plan according to your fitness goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, you should adopt other methods to ensure you reach your goals. Ask questions such as: How many calories should I be eating in a day? How will adding in extra movement throughout the day help me burn more calories?  Knowing the answers to these questions can help you make informed decisions and get you closer to reaching your wellness goals

Push-ups can change your body in many ways. However, as with any exercise routine, it starts with doing some research, learning the correct form, and performing the right number of reps.  

FAQs

• Is 20 push-ups in a row good?

The number of push-ups you can do in a row depends on your age, weight, and current fitness level. But if you can perform 20 push-ups straight, that would be a good indicator that you’re relatively fit. If you’re a beginner, you may feel tired after a few reps, so start with a smaller number and gradually increase this over time.

• Do push-ups work your abs?

Yes, push-ups engage your core muscles, including your abs, to stabilize your body during the movement.

• Will 10 push-ups a day make a difference?

Yes, 10 push-ups daily can make a difference if you start from zero. It’s a great way to build strength and establish a solid workout routine. Although it may not lead to drastic muscle growth, you will have greater potential to enjoy perks such as improved posture, better flexibility, and higher calorie burn. Over time, as you feel stronger, you can increase the number of your daily push-ups.

• Do push-ups build the chest?

Push-ups are a basic exercise that many people use, from athletes to those recovering from injury. Although people mostly think of push-ups as chest exercises, they also strengthen your arms, shoulders, and core muscles.

The Bottom Line

There are several benefits to performing push-ups every day, including increased muscle tone and strength, burning calories, bone-building effects, and improved cardiovascular health, flexibility, balance, posture, and biomechanics of aging.

To achieve these benefits, you must make sure you do push-ups correctly. This will help you avoid associated health risks, including injuries, back pains, and reaching a fitness plateau. It’s also recommended that you include other exercises in your fitness routine. Although push-ups can work many different muscles at once, it’s still important to challenge your body and include different exercises to ensure you develop strength throughout your body. This daily push-up method could be a great option for you, but it’s important to assess your own individual goals. What works for one person may not be ideal for you and your goals. You should listen to your body and remember to talk to a healthcare provider before you start doing these exercises daily. Similarly, you should talk to a certified personal trainer to determine the best push-up variation to do every day and further ensure that you’re completing these exercises with the correct form.