Hindu Push-Ups vs Regular Push-Ups (Key Differences!)

There are many variations of push-ups that you can do as part of your fitness program.

Some of these variations are well known and commonly performed by many gym-goers, while others are less popular and aren’t commonly seen.

Hindu push-ups likely fall into the latter category.

In this article, we compare regular push-ups vs hindu push-ups to help you decide which one is best for you.

We look at the difference between the two exercises, which one is better for specific muscle groups, and we also look at which one could be considered safer and more challenging too.

What’s The Difference Between Regular Push-Ups And Hindu Push-Ups?

The movements involved in regular push-ups and hindu push-ups are very different.

In regular push-ups, you’re basically holding a plank position while lifting and lowering your body up and down.

In hindu push-ups, the movement is much bigger and involves much more movement from your back, legs, core, and arms.

During regular push-ups, pretty much all of the movement comes from your upper body and is effectively caused by you bending and flexing your arms at the elbow.

However, when doing hindu push-ups, a lot of your body has to activate and move in order to make the big movement happen.

Your legs, back, arms, shoulders, and even your head will move when doing hindu push-ups.

As so much of your body is working during the exercise, hindu push-ups are an extremely challenging exercise and certainly won’t be suitable for everyone to do as part of their training program.

(Watch below to see how to do a proper hindu push-ups!)

Are Hindu Push-Ups Better For Chest?

Both regular push-ups and hindu push-ups target your chest. However, there’s a difference in the amount that each one targets this part of your body.

Regular push-ups put most of the focus on your chest. While your arms, shoulders, and core are certainly working hard during the exercise too, it’s your chest that’s doing most of the work.

Hindu push-ups also work your chest but the focus of the exercise isn’t placed there. Instead, your shoulders, arms, legs, core, back, and hips all do fairly equal amounts of work before your chest comes into play.

All of this means that, while both exercises work your chest, regular push-ups will likely be better at focussing on it.

Are Hindu Push-Ups Better For Triceps?

Regular push-ups are known for helping to build big strong triceps (as well as other muscle groups too).

While there are other variations of push-ups that primarily target your triceps (diamond push-ups), regular push-ups certainly cause a good amount of activation in your upper arms.

Hindu push-ups bring your arms into play a huge amount during the exercise.

The movement involved in hindu push-ups means that so much of your body is working, and placed under good amounts of stress, that the movement could almost be considered a full body exercise.

As hindu push-ups put more stress on your triceps, it makes sense that they’d be slightly better for triceps development when compared to regular push-ups.

Regular push-ups are decent when it comes to targeting your triceps, but hindu push-ups may be just a bit better at doing so.

Are Hindu Push-Ups Better For Shoulders?

Again, regular push-ups do a great job of causing shoulder activation resulting in bigger and stronger shoulders.

The main thing to keep in mind with shoulder development during both of these exercises is how much your shoulders have to move throughout each one.

During regular push-ups, your shoulders activate but don’t move too much. They’ll follow your arms in an up and down motion but they won’t be moving very much independently.

During hindu push-ups, the movement required of your shoulders is much greater. Your shoulders will need good levels of mobility, flexibility, strength, endurance, and overall health to successfully perform hindu push-ups.

Although both exercises are great for shoulder development, hindu push-ups will likely work your shoulders a bit harder than regular push-ups.

Are Hindu Push-Ups Harder?

Yes, hindu push-ups are much harder than regular push-ups.

The movement involved in hindu push-ups is extremely complex and challenging to get right.

It works pretty much every part of your body very hard and it’ll take a bit of time before you have the appropriate levels of strength and fitness to perform the exercise correctly.

Hindu push-ups are one of the hardest push-up variations you can do so they aren’t suitable for everyone.

However, if you’re able to do them, you’ll likely see some big increases in strength, endurance, and overall fitness.

Are Hindu Push-Ups Safer?

Both hindu push-ups and regular push-ups are safe exercises to perform. Obviously, no exercise is completely risk-free, but the risk of injury involved in push-ups is relatively low.

When comparing the two variations though, hindu push-ups will have a higher risk of injury due to the much bigger movements and more body parts involved in the exercise.

If you want to keep safety as your main priority during your workouts, regular push-ups will be slightly safer than hindu push-ups.

Hindu Push-Ups vs Regular Push-Ups: Which Is Best?

When it comes to deciding which one of these exercises is best, there are multiple factors that need to be considered.

If you’re looking for an exercise that primarily works your chest, involves a simpler movement, and is a bit safer, then regular push-ups will be the best exercise of the two for you to add to your workouts.

However, if you want an extremely challenging exercise that works your upper body, lower body, and core all in one as well as bringing mobility and flexibility into the movement too, then hindu push-ups will be a good choice for you.

Ultimately, the exercise you decide is better will come down to your current fitness levels, your personal preferences, and your fitness goals. 

That’s all for this article, but do push ups build traps? Or do push ups help with back fat?

Hope this helped!

Sources

How To Do Hindu Push-Ups