The knuckle push-up is a push-up variation where you make your hands into a fist and balance on your knuckles, rather than having your hands flat on the floor. Doing this will give you a greater range of motion which puts more demands on your muscles compared to regular push-ups.
Also, it's worth exploring knuckle push-ups if your wrists hurt when regular push-ups as knuckle push-ups could reduce wrist extension pains because the wrists will be placed in a neutral position. This variation is popular with combat sports practitioners as it replicates punching and conditions your knuckles.
According to research, push-ups encourage metabolism and blood circulation, enabling you to burn more calories throughout the rest of your workout. Moreover, if performed on a regular basis, it will strengthen, tone up the muscles and develop major muscles, which can make your daily activities easier, along with improving your sports performance.
Knuckle push-ups activate more of the upper chest and front shoulders. The primary muscles worked are the pectoralis major, triceps, and anterior deltoids. The secondary muscles worked are the serratus anterior, abdominals, obliques, forearms, quadriceps, and glutes.
The knuckle push-up is an intermediate-level exercise because If you try knuckle push-ups, you will quickly notice that they feel different and harder. This is due to the increased range of motion (of extra 2-3 inches), which will put more time under tension on your targeted muscles. Also, your balance point will be smaller which increases instability and reduce your balance, this is a great way to develop core strength and body proprioception.
Below are four benefits of doing knuckle push-ups:
Begin by forming a fist in both hands and get into a plank position. Your hands are at the neutral grip and are shoulder-width apart, while your feet are together. Engage your glutes and core to keep a straight line. This is your starting position.
Inhale as you gradually lower yourself to the ground by bending the elbows. Keep lowering until your triceps are parallel to the ground. Keep your core and glutes tight and maintain a rigid body.
Exhale as you gradually push back up to the starting position by extending your arms out. Lock your arms out to ensure a full range of motion, and squeeze your chest and triceps at the top position.
Repeat this movement for a desired number of repetitions (see the recommended reps and sets ranges below).
You should move on to harder variations once you have achieved your reps and set goals.
As mentioned earlier, knuckle push-ups are more difficult because they have an extra range of motion. This will increase time under tension, therefore, demand your muscles to work harder with the extra 2-3 inches of the increased range. The larger the range of motion, the greater the gains in muscle size due to higher muscle activation.
Men's Health emphasized that if you do push-ups correctly, you develop your scapular muscles along with your rotator cuff muscles to stabilize your shoulders. The bench press doesn't work these muscles as much in comparison to push-ups
Regular push-ups may cause pain in your wrists which could be due to a lack of strength in wrist extensors or lack of mobility in joints. Therefore, knuckle push-ups are a great alternative for training your chest and triceps without straining your wrists. No more wrist pains!
Making a fist will require you to contact your forearm muscles to keep your body in balance on a smaller surface area than your first. This will increase forearms fiber strength, which will help to define your forearms along with improving your grip strength. You will have that crushing grip strength, which will help you with day-to-to activities such as opening a jar, carrying groceries, or lifting a heavy object!
If you practice martial arts such as boxing or MMA, knuckle push-ups can help reinforce your skin as it will get calloused. You should begin practicing this on padded surfaces such as a mat or a carpet and eventually move onto hard and rough surfaces as your skin gets tougher.
Diamond knuckle push-ups will require you to form a close grip at the center of your chest. This is great for targeting the triceps, pec minor, and anterior deltoids compared to regular knuckle push-ups. You will also have an even smaller balance base, which will recruit your core stabilizer muscles even further. To perform this, you will:
If you want more in-depth guidance on this variation, check out this diamond push-up tutorial where I show you the correct techniques and progressions for this exercise.
Wide knuckle push-ups are great for targeting your outer chest. This variation will require you to use a wider than shoulder-width grip between your fists. Moreover, it’ll be easier to perform over regular knuckle push-ups due to the wider base. To perform this, you will:
Check out this wide push-up tutorial to improve your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of this variation.
This variation is a fun variation that targets the chest, triceps, anterior deltoids, and abdominals. Your grip position will be in a staggered position where one arm would be further away from your body, whilst the other is closer to your body. To perform this, you will:
This is a fun variation that primarily targets the chest, triceps, anterior deltoids, and core. The movement blends standard push-ups with wide grip push-ups because you will pivot your torso 45 degrees to one side with every rep you perform by extending your grip base, and alternate this movement between the left and right. To perform this, you will:
The knuckle push-up, otherwise known as fist push-up is a must-do push-up variation if you experience wrist pains while doing traditional push-ups. This is a great way to take some pressure off your wrist extensor muscles and reduce the risk of injuries. Start out doing this variation on soft surfaces and focus on good form.
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My name is Pat Chadwick, I am a calisthenics coach with over 4 years of experience in helping people from all backgrounds to achieve their calisthenics goals. My goal is to become the number one calisthenics coach in the world as it is my passion to help people change their lives through inspiring bodyweight movements. I believe everyone deserves the right to feel good about their health, body, and be delighted inside and out.
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