Do Push-Ups Give You A Pump? (How Many For A Pump!)

Push-ups are a great muscle-building exercise that bring many benefits to your training program.

As much as most gym-goers train to get the long-term benefits from exercises like push-ups, sometimes, the short-term effects, such as a pump, can be as equally rewarding.

Some exercises seem to give you a better pump than others.

In this article, we discuss whether push-ups give you a pump.

We look at different push-up variations to see which one is best for getting a pump in different areas of your body, as well as looking at how long a push-up pump can last too.

Do Push-Ups Give You A Pump?

Push-ups certainly can give you a pump.

A pump is where blood rushes into a working muscle quicker than it can leave resulting in a temporarily larger and fuller appearance of the muscles.

Push-ups are a challenging exercise that cause large amounts of blood to flood the working muscles.

As there’s a lot of blood entering the muscles, the pump you get from push-ups can be quite impressive. 

What Muscles Do Push-Ups Give You A Pump In?

The main muscle where you can get a good pump from push-ups is your chest.

Your chest is the muscle that does most of the work during push-ups so it makes sense that this’ll be where you see the biggest pump.

You can also get a pump in your triceps and shoulders from push-ups.

As these muscles also do a good amount of the work throughout the exercise, they’ll also experience lots of blood going into them resulting in a pump.

How Many Push-Ups For A Pump?

This will depend on how experienced you are in doing push-ups.

For example, if you’re new to push-ups, then doing a small number of them can result in lots of blood entering your muscles as they aren’t used to the movement.

In this situation, you could potentially get a pump from doing less than 15 push-ups.

However, if you’re experienced in push-ups, then it can take a pretty high number of them to get the pump you’re looking for.

For some gym-goers, it can take somewhere between 50 and 100 push-ups to get a good pump.

What’s The Best Push-Ups Variant For A Chest Pump?

A standard push-up will likely be your best bet to get a good chest pump.

As your chest works very hard during a standard push-up, you can get a pretty impressive chest pump from doing the appropriate amount of reps.

To do a standard push-up, have your hands around shoulder width apart and your feet together (have your feet wider apart if you need more stability).

Lower yourself down until your chest is as close to the floor as possible before pushing yourself back up into the starting position.

What’s The Best Push-Ups Variant For A Triceps Pump?

Narrow grip push-ups target your triceps more than the standard version of the exercise.

Having your hands closer together during push-ups can help increase blood flow to your arms resulting in a bigger and better triceps pump.

Narrow grip push-ups can be done with your hands around 2-3 inches apart instead of the standard shoulder width position.

The movement is the same, it’s just that the narrower hand position makes your triceps work harder.

(Diamond push-ups are also a great variation for targeting your triceps.)

How Long Does A Push-Ups Pump Last?

As everyone is different and their body reacts to training in a slightly different way, a pump could last longer for some people than others.

However, as a general rule, a push-up pump will usually last somewhere between one and three hours after you finish doing your push-ups.

The time your pump actually lasts will be dependent on the type of push-ups you did, how many you did, how challenging you found them, and how experienced you are in push-ups.

Should You Do Push-Ups Before Going Out?

If you want to have a pump when you go out, then doing push-ups before you go can be beneficial for you.

If you feel more confident going out when you feel like you have a pump, then it can be a good idea to do push-ups before going out.

However, if doing push-ups is going to fatigue you too much that you can’t enjoy the rest of your day, then it might be best to avoid doing them too soon before going out.

Conclusion

In summary:

• Push-ups can give you an impressive pump in your chest and triceps.
• The amount of push-ups you should do for a pump depends on your fitness and strength levels.

That’s all for this article, but can push-ups cause carpal tunnel? Or perhaps you’re interested in hand release push-ups vs regular?

Hope this helped!

Sources

What Causes A Muscle Pump