Push day workouts target your pecs, delts, and triceps. With the proper programming, you can boost muscle strength and improve shoulder stability. Think upper-body movements like bench presses, push-ups, and dips.
Still, what’s the best push day workout, and how can you hack it to support muscle growth? Check out this guide to learn the basics of a push day workout, our favorite exercises, and tips to get more out of your workouts.
What Is a Push Day Workout?
A push day is an essential part of the three-day PPL workout formula. With this approach, you have a pull day, push day, and leg day (PPL). By rotating through push/pull/legs, you can train nearly every day while reducing fatigue, since you’re not hammering the same muscles back-to-back.
On a push day, you exercise all the muscles that push weight away from your body, including muscles in your chest (pectoralis major), shoulders (deltoids), and triceps. Think of a push day as a special training regimen where you focus on all muscles involved in pressing or extending your arms. It includes exercises like:
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Bench press
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Push-ups
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Chest flyes
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Lateral raises
The best push day workout uses both compound and isolation exercises to maximize your workout. Everyone’s program will differ, but a push day generally features six different exercises, usually with three sets of eight to 12 reps.
Remember, push day is part of the PPL formula, so the goal isn’t to do these exercises every day. That’s a recipe for wearing yourself out. Instead, plan for one or two push days a week, at most.
Muscles Worked During Push Day
On push day, you’re focusing on building strength and stability in your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Let’s take a look at these target muscles and why they’re so critical for your performance goals.
Pectoralis Major
Your pectoralis major (also called “pecs”) is the second-largest muscle group in your body. Your quadriceps are the largest muscles in your body, but the pecs are the largest in the upper body, providing both strength and support.
In fact, the pectoralis major has a lot of smaller muscle fibers that stabilize your shoulder. Not only do these muscles pack a punch when you’re doing pushing movements, but they also keep you from injuring your shoulder. Some everyday push day workouts for your pecs include bench presses, chest flyes, and push-ups.
Deltoids
The deltoids are a three-part muscle around your shoulders. They’re made up of the anterior head (front), middle head, and posterior head (rear). However, on push day, you’re just focusing on the anterior and lateral deltoids.
The deltoids are crucial for stabilizing your arm when pressing or doing overhead movements. Exercises like Arnold presses and lateral raises are great for targeting these muscles.
Triceps Brachii
The triceps brachii are on the back of your arms. They’re made of long, lateral, and medial heads, which help stabilize the shoulder so you can extend your elbow during pressing movements. Exercises like dips and overhead presses help increase tricep strength, which helps protect your elbows while lifting heavier weights.
Push Day Workout Routine: Most Effective Push Exercises
So, what’s the best push day workout? Mix and match these ten exercises for a complete push day workout.
1. Bench Press
Bench presses mostly work your pecs, but also require strength and stability from your shoulders and triceps. You can do this exercise with a bar or dumbbells.
How to do this exercise:
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Grip a bar slightly wider than shoulder-width, or grab two dumbbells.
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Lie flat on a bench.
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Bring the bar or dumbbells to your chest.
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Press the weights up until your arms are straight.
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Lower slowly, and repeat.
2. Incline Press
Similar to a bench press, an incline press adds the challenge of sitting on an incline. Your bench should be positioned at 30 to 45 degrees for this setup.
How to do this exercise:
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Grip a bar, cable handles, or dumbbell.
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Lie back on the inclined bench.
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Lower the weight until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle, then press back up.
3. Dips
Dips are a challenging tricep workout, but this compound exercise is a must-have for any push day workout. Avoid leaning forward or back during this motion; keeping your posture nice and straight ensures you’re working the triceps, not your chest.
How to do this exercise:
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Grip a set of parallel bars firmly.
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Lower your body until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
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Push yourself upright until your arms are straight.
If you don’t have access to parallel bars, you can also perform dips using a bench or a sturdy chair.
4. Push-ups
Love them or hate them, push-ups are a classic push-day workout that targets pecs, shoulders, and triceps all in one movement. The great thing about push-ups is that you can modify them. Perform push-ups on your knees if you’re still building upper-body strength. For more of a challenge, you can add weight, perform them with one arm, or try clapping push-ups.
How to do this exercise:
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Place your hands on the ground a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Spread your fingers out to distribute weight. Your body should be in a straight line, from your heels to your head.
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Lower yourself down until your chest is nearly on the floor, then push back up.
5. Skullcrushers
If dips aren’t your thing, skullcrushers are a great triceps brachii workout that targets all three heads of this muscle. For this exercise, you’ll need either one or two dumbbells.
How to do this exercise:
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Lie on a bench with either one or two dumbbells held directly above you.
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Bend your elbows and lower the weight just past your head.
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Extend your arms back up, but avoid locking your elbows.
6. Tricep Pushdowns
Triceps pushdowns isolate the lateral head of your triceps, which is great if you’re working on bigger lifts at the bench. You’ll need a cable machine like the Speediance Gym Monster 2 for this one. To better target the long head of the tricep, try the reverse-grip variation.
How to do this exercise:
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Use a cable machine with either a bar or rope attachment.
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Grab the attachment with your arms at a 45-degree angle.
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Push down to straighten your arms at your sides.
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Slowly return to your starting position.
7. Overhead Press
Overhead presses are a classic push day workout that requires support from your pecs to build shoulder strength and stability. You can use either a bar or dumbbells for this exercise.
How to do this exercise:
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In a standing position, have your feet shoulder-width apart. Bring the bar or dumbbells to shoulder height.
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Press overhead until your arms are extended, then lower the weight back down.
8. Lateral Raise
Lateral raises isolate your lateral deltoids. Not only do they help increase the mass of your deltoids, but they also balance out lift routines that sometimes emphasize the front delts too much.
How to do this exercise:
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Hold two dumbbells at your sides, palms facing toward you, taking care not to lock your elbows.
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Raise your arms to the side until they reach shoulder height.
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Lower the weights back down.
9. Overhead Triceps Extension
This push day workout isolates the long head of the triceps, making it a great complement to pushdowns and skullcrushers. While you can use a bar or dumbbell for vertical push exercises like overhead tricep extensions, cables make it easier to adjust the weight up or down.
How to do this exercise:
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Stand with your back to the machine, using a rope attachment.
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Grabbing behind you with both hands overhead, slowly bend your elbows to lower the weight behind your head. Be sure to keep your elbows tucked in.
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Press the weight back up to return to the starting position.
10. Dumbbell Fly
Dumbbell flyes work the pectoralis major, helping you strengthen and lengthen the muscle without involving the triceps too much.
How to do this exercise:
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Lie flat on a bench, holding dumbbells with your palms facing inward over your chest.
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Keep a bend in your elbows, and lower your arms to stretch out your chest.
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Bring your arms back together above you.
Programming Progressive Overload for Muscle Growth
Following a solid PPL program is a smart way to get stronger. Still, like any workout, the PPL formula will stop working unless you adjust your training to match your new fitness level.
With progressive overload, you gradually increase stress on your body. And we mean gradually: according to The American College of Sports Medicine, you should only increase difficulty by two to ten percent per week.
Adding more weight or reps to your workouts will challenge your body, helping you build muscle and get stronger over time. It’s tempting to stick with what’s worked, but research backs this up. In a 10-week study, participants who increased either weight or reps saw significant strength gains. Those who progressively lifted heavier loads increased their average weight from 52.9 kg (116 pounds) to 69.1 kg (152 pounds), while those who added more reps improved from 51.7 kg (113 pounds) to 66.8 kg (147 pounds).
Progressive loading works, but here’s how to make it manageable for you:
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Focus on form first: Adding weight or reps won’t matter if your form is incorrect. Work with a trainer to make sure you can control the lift with good technique first.
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Track your RPE: How do you know it’s time to increase difficulty? The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a scale of 1 to 10, where you rate how hard the workout is. You should be finishing most reps in the 7-9 range, which means it’s challenging but not impossible. If you’re lower than that, consider upping the difficulty.
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Choose between weight or reps: To progressively load, add one to two reps to each set or increase the weight by five pounds. For example, if you can do three sets of six reps at 150 lbs, try 155 lbs. If you fail the set, stay at 150 lbs and work up to seven reps before trying a heavier load again.
Progressive loading is the key to strengthening your push muscles, but increase reps and weight carefully. Progress comes from small, steady improvements over weeks and months, not massive jumps in weight overnight.
Push Day Workout Tips
Progressive loading is the not-so-secret sauce to getting your best push day workout. Follow these bonus tips to maximize your push day results.
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Watch Your Nutrition
Proper nutrition is key to building muscle. You get out what you put in, so focus not only on the quality of your diet, but its components. A diet rich in protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats supports muscle repair and growth after heavy pressing.
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Add Some Variety
Your body is adaptable. Even if you love your push day workout, chances are, your muscles will get used to these movements. Following a PPL formula limits the exercises you do each day, but even then, you can jazz things up to keep progressing. For example, consider swapping a flat bench for an incline, or experimenting with different grips or angles.
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Follow a Consistent Routine
Scheduling a pull day, push day, and leg day will work out all your major muscle groups. Still, you need to actually follow through on the PPL program to see significant gains in muscle. Consistency beats intensity, so show up for your workouts. Your future self will thank you.
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Track Everything
You don’t have to obsess over your workout metrics, but when you’re building muscle (especially with progressive loading), you need to keep tabs on your performance. You don’t need to do anything complex; just keep track of your reps, sets, and weight so you can see your progress week by week.
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Cool Down
Finish your workout with a cool-down. Stretching your muscles after resistance training can improve flexibility and help you feel less tight. A proper cool-down also allows your body to gradually return to its resting state, helping regulate blood flow and reducing the risk of dizziness or discomfort.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Push Day Supposed To Target?
A push day targets the upper body muscles you use to push away from your body. It targets the pectoralis major (pecs), the deltoids in your shoulders, and the triceps brachii. It’s part of the PPL (push, pull, legs) formula, which allows you to exercise all muscles on a staggered schedule, helping you build muscle with less fatigue.
How Many Exercises Should I Do in a Push Day?
On a push day, you should try to do around six different exercises. Go with three sets of eight to 12 reps per exercise. Start with compound movements like bench presses to hit multiple muscles at once, and then transition to isolation movements like lateral raises to strengthen individual muscles.
Can I Do Push Day Every Day?
It’s not recommended. Following a push/pull/leg day split (PPL) requires training muscle groups one to two times weekly. Recovery is an important part of the PPL formula, so only do push days twice a week to avoid overtraining.
Push Day Training Builds Strength Through Consistency
The best push day workout targets your pecs, deltoids, and triceps. While targeting the right muscle groups is key, form and consistency are just as important, especially when you’re following a push/pull/leg day program. Remember to apply progressive overload, track your workouts, and give your body the nutrition and recovery time it needs to get stronger.
Consistency matters most with push day workouts, but making time to go to the gym is easier said than done. Make every workout your best yet, and bring the gym to your home with Speediance Gym Monster 2.
