Two Barbell Bench Leverage Push-Ups

Now I'll just start by saying you don't come to me for normal...and I embrace that :). But there's ALWAYS a method to my madness.

And yes, it looks CRAZY...and it seems like overkill. So if your first thought is "why not do such-and-such exercise instead"... that's what I'm going to tell you!

The goal of this exercise setup is constant tension on the chest with a bodyweight exercise (and it works).

You'll set two bars on a flat bench, one end of each loaded with a 45 lb plate (or whatever is appropriate for your bodyweight...I'm about 195 lbs right now to give you an idea of loading. You can use more or less weight as needed).

The bars will cross over each other like an X (ish), with the fulcrum (pivot point) being at about 1/4 of the bar length or so.

This crossover is necessary for counterbalancing and for getting a good downwards angle on the ends of the bars (which I'll explain about).

Set your feet up on another bench or box or other elevated surface. You need to get enough bodyweight bearing down on the bar ends to raise the weighted ends off the ground.

Set your hands on the fat ends of the bars at a push-up width - a little outside shoulder width.

Now set both feet up on the other bench. The weighted ends of the bars should come up off the ground and STAY off the ground.

Now just do push-ups...not fast or explosively, but with good control and deliberate muscle contraction.

Here's a closer-in view...

And here's why this exercise is so good...

The weighted ends are constantly trying to come back down and your chest is constantly contracting to keep them from doing that.

It's not just passive bodyweight keeping them from coming down...it's active engagement of the chest.

And then you're also balancing on the bar ends, which are moving fairly freely, which requires dynamic stabilization (increasing chest muscle fiber activation)...

And you're gripping the fat ends of the bars, which shifts tension into the chest more effectively than a smaller-sized grip.

And the downward tilts of the crossed-over bars further takes tension off the triceps and shifts it to the chest so that even at the top, you're still putting excellent tension on the pecs.

And bodyweight exercises in general result in more muscle activation by their very nature.

So while you're doing a push-up, you've got all of these various tension-increasing and fiber-activation-increasing factors coming into play at the same time.

I did these two days ago and my chest is still sore.. I also found them to be very easy on the shoulders, which is important for chest work.

So bottom line is this...

Yes, the explanation seems long-winded and complicated, but when it comes right down to it, you're just setting a couple of bars on a bench and do push-ups on the ends.

The constant tension on the chest is AWESOME and well worth the setup time.

You could also potentially load your body up with a vest or plates and do weighted push-ups like this as well (and add some more weight to the ends of the bars to counterbalance, of course).

If you don't have a bench to do these on, you can also use a pair of dumbbells as fulcrum blocks to perform a slightly different form of leveraged barbell push-ups.

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Want more unique and challenging exercises to work your entire body with simple equipment? All you need is just a barbell, dumbbells and a bench. Check out The Best Home Gym Exercises You've Never Heard Of!

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