There are multiple types of push up variations. Have you ever wondered what the differences are? With each variation, there is a different stress placed on the body. Whether its your hand position, your foot position, or the angle towards the ground, each variation is perceived very differently on the body. For this week, we are focusing on decline push ups.

With a decline push up, you are elevating your feet to increase the weight put on your upper body. The higher your feet are elevated, the more body weight and gravity resistance is placed on the body. Also, because we are increasing your angle to the ground, we are changing the muscles that are becoming activated. A traditional push up works your chest musculature while a handstand push ups works your shoulder muscles. With a decline push up, your body works a combination of your chest and shoulder muscles together. This is yet another example of how push ups continue to be one of the most versatile compound movements.

But how does this benefit you, Spartan? The decline push up is a great upper body strength exercise to train your body for virtually any Spartan obstacle. It helps to gain shoulder mobility to make the rigs and monkey bars more manageable, it gives us strength to get over walls and to pick up carries, and it allows our body to continue to be more comfortable with its own weight to continue to master any barbed wire crawls and cargo nets.

Get stronger! Download Spartan Bodyweight Workout Plan.