Push day is usually a gym goers favourite day of the week. In this blog we will look at how you can make your push day not only enjoyable, but effective for muscle growth.
What Is A Push Day?
A Push Day is a set of exercises where you will be performing a pushing motion. During a Push Day, you will be targeting your chest, shoulders and triceps. This could include exercises like chest pressing, shoulder pressing, side lateral raises and more.
Exercise Selection
When structuring a push day there are a few things to consider. You want to do enough volume but not too much volume. The sweet spot for most people is no more than 3 exercises per muscle group, with high intensity training.
Your exercise selection should depend on how many sessions you are doing per week. In this case lets say you are doing 2 push days per week. Across these two sessions you should choose a set of movements which target all areas of your chest, shoulders and triceps. Below are some exercises you could include:
Chest Exercises
- Flat Chest Press
- Incline Chest Press
- Chest Fly
- Decline Press
- Dips
Shoulder Exercises
- Overhead Press
- Side Raises
- Reverse Fly
Triceps Exercises
- Triceps Extension
- Overhead Extension
- Skull Crushers
- Dips
- Close Grip Press
Push Day Structure
More isn't always better when it comes to a push day so it is important to set up your training in a way where you can perform at a high level without becoming overly fatigue. As a rule of thumb you should start your Push Day with your big compound movements as they will be more taxing on your central nervous system meaning you need to be fresh to perform at your best. Below you can see how you can structure 2 push sessions across a week.
Push Day A (Chest Focused)
- Incline Dumbbell Chest Press - 3x 8-12
- Flat Machine Chest Press - 3x 8-12
- Machine Chest Fly - 3x 10-15
- Side Lat Raises - 3x 10-15
- Triceps Extension - 3x 8-12
- Overhead Extension - 3x 8-12
Push Day B (Shoulder Focused)
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3x 8-10
- Flat Machine Chest Press - 3x 10-12
- Side Lat Raise - 3x 10-12
- Reverse Fly - 3x 10-15
- Chest Fly - 3x 10-12
- Triceps Extension - 3x 8-12
How Many Sets For Muscle Growth?
Unfortunately there isn't an exact answer when it comes to how many sets you should do to build muscle. Training intensity is going to be the most important factor for muscle growth. For example, 10 intense sets will be more effective than 20 low intensity sets. Depending on how much volume your body can take, set yourself between 8-20 sets over the week per muscle group.
Important - higher sets on the muscle group which you are focusing on growing.
