There is a very good reason that push-ups are used in every military army to prepare a soldier for battle fitness. It not only works the chest and the upper body but it also calls on all the muscles that increase the central core strength of a person.

There are many ways to do a push-up to change the accent of where the muscle stress is accented. From the one-arm push-up to the close-grip push-up the choices are endless and can be specifically adjusted to suit your own requirements and objectives. But if your objective is specifically to add muscle mass then you have to increase the resistance as well as the reps. There are many ways that you can increase the resistance in order to increase the resistance put on your upper body when doing push-ups.

From adding a few bricks in a knapsack that you put on your back to adding dynamic resistance by crisscrossing heavy chains over your back, with the ends resting on the floor. As you push away from the floor, pick up more links, adding more weight the higher you go. You can accomplish a similar result by using resistance bands or exercise tubing.

It is obvious that changing your hand and feet positions will work your chest, shoulder and arm muscles differently. To focus more on your chest, place your hands farther apart. Bringing your hands together, underneath your sternum, shifts most of the load to your triceps. Elevating your feet on a chair or desk will put more work on your deltoids (shoulder muscles).

When trying specifically to increase the muscle in your upper body doing push-ups a good alternative is to increase the amount of work being done by accentuating the push portion of the push-up. Lower yourself and hold at the bottom for a second, then push yourself up as hard as you can, attempting to elevate your body so your hands leave the floor.

Another version of this explosive-type movement is the hand-clap push-up. An even more challenging version is to explode upward so both your feet and your hands leave the floor and you clap your hands.

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