If you’re anything like me, you often turn to the simple push-up for the bulk of your upper body workout routine. They’re about as convenient as you can get. They are highly effective, and allow you to get a high volume workout done within a short period of time. Maybe you have thought about purchasing some push-up handles or bars to increase the intensity and make your push-ups a little more effective. So the question is, are push-up handles or bars worth it?
Push-up handles, or bars, can really increase the effectiveness of your push-ups. While there are number of benefits that push-up handles offer, they fall under two main points:
- Push-up handles increase the range of motion, making every rep longer and therefore harder. This also calls for more muscle fiber recruitment and will provide more thorough muscle stimulation.
and
- Push-up handles make the exercise easier on your wrists and hands, that is, they are more ergonomic than just using the ground.
While these alone are worthwhile reasons to get a pair of push-up handles, the benefits are numerous and include convenience, low-cost, versatility, and safety. This simple, affordable piece of equipment can make your push-ups do a lot more for you!
So, are the push-ups handles really worth it? Aren’t regular push-ups fine? Will they really make a difference? Read on and we’ll check it out.
Push-up handles vs push-up bars
While push-up bars can help provide stability and grip, increase the range of motion of your push-ups, and ease the stress on your wrists, they simply do not have some of the great benefits to offer that push-up handles have.
For one, it is obvious that push-up handles offer more versatility in hand positioning than a push-up bar. Even a bar with numerous handles on it can only allow for a few different hand positions. With push-up handles, your hands can be in any position you like. You can have your hands parallel, at 90°, 100°, whatever angle to each other you like. Find your groove, have uneven grip, the options are endless.
Secondly, while the push-up bars I’ve seen do increase the range of motion somewhat simply by allowing you to straighten the wrists, they don’t offer the extreme range of motion provided by push-up handles. With the handles, you can go as deep as you like, with your chest going 4-5 inches below your hands! If you raise the handles, you can get an even deeper stretch, if you so choose.
To me, the push-up handles are the clear choice. There are rotating push-up handles, such as the Perfect PushUp brand. These are fine, some people like them and enjoy the rotation. While this style of push-up handle does allow for a better triceps and pectoral contraction, the instability is not something I like, personally. I prefer to have some basic, inexpensive push-up handles with regular rubberized feet. These will stay in place throughout the movement and can be trusted to provide support. They also typically have nice padded handles, easing the pressure on your hands.
How do you use push-up handles?
Doing push-ups with handles is very simple. After all, it is the same exercise with a few differences. The biggest difference is that your wrists will be in a much safer position for the health of that joint. Your wrists will be straight instead of bent at nearly 90°. This will increase the range of motion (distance from the top of the movement to the bottom), and will mean that your chest, shoulders and triceps will have to move your body much further, at least 6”.
When you start out, do a few warm-up push-ups and experiment with different hand spacings and positions. Find the groove that you like and that feels most natural for your shoulders and elbows. To get the maximum benefit from your push-ups, it is important to vary the hand spacing and position from time to time. I like to alternate days between a wider stance to emphasize chest, and a shoulder width stance to emphasize triceps. I also do underhand and narrow stance sometimes to really keep it interesting.
You will find that you won’t be able to do nearly as many push-ups with the handles than you would be able to do without them due to the longer range of motion. If I had to estimate, I’d guess that each push-up becomes about 30-40% more difficult. This is a good thing, as they also become 30-40% more effective, try them yourself and see!
Are push-up handles worth buying?
With all the benefits that you gain from using push-up handles, (increased range of motion, greater muscle fiber recruitment, wrist safety) the argument for their use is a definite winner. When you also take into account the very low cost of these awesome little tools, the cost:benefit analysis is a no-brainer. I got mine for less than the cost of dinner out, and they have lasted for years. In fact they’ll probably last the rest of my life unless I lose one or something!
The cost is very low and you have everything to gain by turning a classic, standard upper body exercise into a far more effective version of itself.
Are push-ups bad for your wrists?
I am not a doctor by any means, so I can’t say for sure whether or not push-ups are officially bad for your wrists, but I can say that after years of doing hundreds of regular push-ups almost daily, my wrists and hands would sometimes hurt. Sometimes the spurs on the back of my hands would be painful enough for me to stop doing push-ups for a while until they felt better (which was weeks sometimes).
Sometimes I would try knuckle push-ups, where you clench a fist and do the exercise knuckles-down. This resulted in a longer range of motion, and took the pressure off my wrists, but was uncomfortable – even painful for my knuckles. Even with laying a folder towel under my hands didn’t alleviate the discomfort. This was unsustainable.
I stayed away from push-ups for a while, then got a pair of push-up handles. These are a lifesaver for your hands and wrists and make the exercise so much more effective, I for one, can’t believe I used to do regular push-ups for so long before!
If you experience wrist pain, or any other type of pain while exercising, stop, and get your doctor to check it out before proceeding.
Do push-up bars or handles save your wrists?
The push-up bars allow you to change your wrist position to straight, simultaneously lengthening the movement and relieving pressure from your wrists. The handles, in particular allow you to position your hands in exactly the right angle for your individual body mechanics and make the push-up as effective and gentle on your hands and joints as it can possibly be.
If you find yourself skipping your push-ups, or constantly having to take time off from them because of discomfort in your wrists, then push-up handles will probably turn out to be really helpful for you. As inexpensive and easy to find as they are, you should really try out some simple push-up handles or bars.
Do push-up bars or handles help your triceps?
The single most noticeable thing when you make the switch from regular push-ups to doing them using push-up handles or bars is that the triceps activation is far greater. The longer range of motion and the deep stretch at the bottom combine with the tighter contraction at the top of the movement to give you a triceps pump and workout previously unheard of with push-ups alone. Your triceps will be stimulated and fatigued from shoulder to elbow, all the way down the three heads of this powerful arm muscle. You will notice the difference immediately!
Do push-up handles or bars have disadvantages?
The only ‘disadvantage’ to using push-up bars or handles is that you won’t be able to do as many as you can do regular ones. Except they will be harder and more effective, so it’s an even tradeoff. However, if you’re the type of person who simply wants to brag about the number of push-ups you can do and just don’t want that number to decrease – no matter how much better the exercise is working your muscles and treating your joints – then you may be a little disappointed. The only other disadvantage is that you now need a small, convenient and transportable item of equipment to do your push-ups and not just… the ground. This is minor at most and will be well worth carrying your push-up handles or bars to the site of your push-up workout.
Overall, these are a very inexpensive piece of equipment that virtually anyone can afford to buy, has room for, and can benefit from – so get yourself some and watch your triceps and chest start to really develop!
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What’s the best way to do 200 push-ups?
I call it PPM (Push-ups per minute). Place a clock or timer near you. You could watch a movie or TV show and have the timer running. Listen to music, whatever. Every minute, on the minute, do 10 push-ups as fast as you can, then rest and stretch for the rest of the minute. Continue this for 20 minutes. You will notice that at first this is really easy, but once you’ve got a few sets under your belt, it’ll start to take a little bit longer. As the sets take longer, your rest periods become shorter, providing less recuperation for the following set. Your heart rate will be elevated for the entire 20 minutes, and for a few minutes afterwards. Providing a workout with a steadily increasing difficulty from warm up to final set.
How can I train legs at home?
Yes you can definitely get a good leg workout at home using no weight. Or you can use objects (or people) around you for resistance to kick it into overdrive.There are a wide variety of exercises, with numerous variations that you can do – with virtually no equipment – to get a good pump and get great results.Don’t be scared of volume and the high training frequency. Especially when only using your bodyweight, you can do these workouts 3,4 even 6 times a week and continue to see results. For specific exercise suggestions read this post.