Changing the push-up to an INWARDS-intention exercise rather than upwards-intention exercise will massively increase chest activation and growth potential in the push-up.
To do this exercise, you'll need a couple of dumbbells (hex ideally) and a couple of plate (bumper ideally). The goal is to create an A frame angle for your hands to set on so that when you do a push-up, you're forced to press INWARDS rather than just upwards.
This automatically creates tension in the pecs and forces them to be more strongly activated.
As well, because the setup elevates the hands, you get increase range of motion and stretch at the bottom.
I've got a pair of 45 lb bumper plates set on a pair of 45 lb dumbbells. I found this gave me a good angle for the push-up.
The hex dumbbells won't roll and the bumper plates are more grippy than steel plates, which is why I prefer these for the setup. Steel plates on top of hex dumbbells will also work but round dumbbells are just going to be tougher to work with.
Make sure you've got about foot or so between the plates at the top. You'll be able to tell pretty quick if you need to adjust.
Set your hands on the plates, fingers wide and get into push-up position.
Lower yourself down into the bottom position. Get a good stretch at the bottom.
Now push back up.
You'll notice that because your hands are at angle, your pecs are suddenly more involved. You HAVE to push inwards in order to do the push-up now.
You may find these easy until you get to the 8 to 10+ rep mark (depending on how strong you are on push-ups)...then suddenly your chest is going to light up.
Do these under control...NOT as fast as you can.
In other words, don't bang out reps like you might normally do with push-ups. Do each rep deliberately, with a good stretch at the bottom and focused push to come up, then squeeze as you finish the rep at the top.
To add resistance, you can also elevate your feet on a bench.
The beauty of this setup is, because your hands are elevated, when come to the bottom, your face won't get in the way of the floor and you won't have to flatten out your body position to accommodate it, making it very effective for targeting the upper chest.
Again, do this exercise under control...make sure you get a strong stretch at the bottom and focus on tension and contraction in the chest as you come to the top.
Another similar concept to this inwards-tension setup is the Bench-Clench Push-Up for upper chest.
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