Best Way to Do Pushups (For a Bigger Chest)
Summary
Jeff Cavaliere explains why many people fail to feel pushups in their chest and how to fix it. The key issue is that standard pushups don’t allow for horizontal adduction, the primary function of the chest muscle. By applying specific technique tweaks, you can dramatically increase chest activation during pushups.
Key Points
- The chest’s primary function is horizontal adduction — bringing the arm across the body — which standard pushups do not naturally provide
- A narrower hand position puts your arms in a pre-adducted position, creating a stronger chest contraction from the start
- Actively trying to drag your hands together (even though they won’t move on the floor) immediately fires a stronger chest contraction
- Turning the elbows forward as you press up further intensifies the contraction, mimicking the motion of a cable crossover performed from below
- Fewer quality reps with full chest activation are more valuable than high-rep pushups where the chest is underutilized
- Using dumbbells as handles allows a small amount of physical adduction at the top of the movement, adding a true squeeze to finish the rep
Exercise Details
Standard Pushup with Chest Activation Focus
Target Muscles
- Primary: Pectoralis major (chest)
- Secondary: Shoulders, triceps
Proper Form Cues
- Start with hands slightly narrower than a typical wide pushup position
- As you press up, actively attempt to pull your hands toward each other — the floor prevents movement, but the intent activates the chest
- Simultaneously rotate the elbows forward during the press to maximize horizontal adduction
- Think of the movement as a cable crossover performed from the floor
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Placing hands too wide, which removes the chest from the movement and shifts load to shoulders and arms
- Pressing straight up without any inward rotation or adduction intent
- Prioritizing rep count over contraction quality
Sets/Reps
- No specific numbers given, but Jeff emphasizes quality over quantity — expect fewer reps when applying these technique cues correctly
Dumbbell Pushup Variation
Setup
- Place two dumbbells on the floor as handles, set slightly narrower than a standard pushup
- Perform the pushup as normal, but at the top of the movement use your hands to nudge the dumbbells slightly inward
Benefit
- Allows actual physical adduction at peak contraction, intensifying the chest squeeze beyond what the floor alone permits
Mentioned Concepts
- horizontal adduction
- chest activation
- bodyweight training
- cable crossover
- bench press
- progressive overload (implied through quality rep focus)
- mind-muscle connection