can you do pushups without getting a big chest?

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Im planning to start exercising again next month. I heard doing push ups can be very benefical,especially for developing core strength.however, i really don,t want to develop a big chest.
I'd rather have a slim ,athlectic build. The only place on my body that i want to add size is my legs.does anyone know of a way to incorporate push ups into my workout in a way that won 't beef up my chest?

You'll get some growth but you won't get a "big" chest as it is primarily an endurance exercise. There are a lot better exercises for "core" strength though than push-ups so have a google. It depends what you class as "athletic" really as I'd say for most athletic does mean a small amount of muscle so push-ups should be ok.

To develop a big chest you want to do less reps that are harder. Like doing pushups with feet on a chair so if you don't want big muscled go for higher rep count.maybe hands raised higher than feet to make it easier. Also the closer ur hands are together the more intense and difficult.so fond do that. Keep the hands apart like at shoulder width.

There's also stuff u can do with free weights. If so you want to aim for 12 or more reps to keep from bulking up

Your body weight alone will not cause you to develop oversized pecs doing pushups---they will help shape and tone what you do have.

To add mass, you'd have to add resistance, like doing them with a 45 lb. plate on your back. Or, as someone suggested, changing the angle to make them more difficult. Doing them with your hands closer together will also help you shape and tone your triceps. So will chair dips.

There is no such thing as 'accidentally' getting 'too big'.

Muscle gains are slow and will only be fast within the first 6-12 months, and that's if training and diet are optimal.

You will gain natural strength in these first 6-12 months from any exercises your body has never been exposed to, however body weight exercises have far less resistance on your body than using weights or machines, so the natural strength gains may be minimal.

I gained a reasonable amount of ab strength in my first 3 months of working out, and all I did was daily situps and crunches, but everything else mostly stayed the same.

In the first 6 months of training, you will gain muscle no matter how bad your diet and routine is - but it is ideal to have a healthy diet and be eating in a calorie surplus for the best gains.

If your build is already 'slim' and 'athletic' to get a bit bigger the best plan would be to lean bulk and eat in a slight calorie surplus.

Problem is without pictures of your body or goal there's no way of telling.

It would be good to know what 'slim' and 'athletic' actually means and what your goal is.



Do you look a bit like this guy? Slimmer? Stronger?

I took some pictures of myself shirtless,
But i'm not very computer literate so i don't know how to load them on to wp. Currently im taking karate twice a week. We do a warm up at the beginning of class that consist of push ups , sit ups,
,crunches, and leg raises.we do one set of 25 pushups on our knuckles. I,m somewhat of a slacker and dont take karate seriously enough though. I guess my goals would be to increase my functional strength and overall fitness. Not really worried about body shaping.
I plan to do body weight exercises and a lot of cardio for the first month or to so i can lose excess fat , probably work out three days a week. I'm thinking of starting with basic exercises like crunches ,leg raises and planks the incorperating harder exerisices like buttterfly crunches,mountain climbers,and burpees. After that i might try to join a gym so i can begin training with weights.i have a heavy punching bag to practice on too.i look somewhat similar to the picture above only fatter. When i was in high school i got up to 275. I,m only 5'8. I started working out and got down to 185. I haven't worked out in a few years though and im starting to accumulate fat on my stomach, chest and back again.

'body-shaping' (I assume you mean 'bodybuilding') does not necessarily mean you will become extremely big and 'ripped' so long as you know when to quit.

Casual bodybuilding is a very good start to fitness and will teach you a lot about proper nutrition and strength/weight training.

My personal goal is a swimmer body similar to Michael Phelps, but equivalent to my height (he is over 6 foot and if I had his exact body it would look strange on me, as I'm 5'8'').

My goal is functional strength for multitude of sports I enjoy to play casually; running, parkour, swimming, basketball, soccer, etc.

Along with general overall improved fitness.

The weight room is actually your friend regarding this department, so I'd suggest not to shy away from it.

Many athletes in a particular field may not weight-lift at all and developed their strength naturally for their sport, but this is rare and they've usually trained intensely for several years to achieve this physique.

Michael Phelps has said he does not strength train but developed his body naturally from intense swimming training and a high calorie (10,000) diet, but this does not mean someone at age 20 or so who begins swimming and eating healthy and doing nothing else will develop the same body.

It is far better and more practical to incorporate a routine that imitates the stress a particular athlete's body may be exposed to, to develop the same physique as them.

My personal goal, like I said, is a swimmer's body, but I do not actually swim, and have only just recently taken it up.

Swimmers usually have the 'v-shape', caused by disproportionate/over-sized shoulders and lats, and a fairly well-built chest, so I've been training these muscles at least once a week, and my other muscles only once every two weeks.

I have developed quite a lean body with a v-shape and look like I do swim, even if I do not.

I have however recently incorporated intense swimming once a week as a form of cardio, and I am genuinely interested in swimming, so practice makes perfect.

I went swimming a few weeks ago - the first time I had gone swimming in several months, and yet with my physique managed to swim about 40 metres in only about 50 seconds. Yesterday I reached a new top speed.

In short: I strongly recommend incorporating strength training at least 3 days a week like you say, and do not shy away from it.

If you want a specific body type achieved by specific kinds of activity, then you should do that as well as strength training.

If you want a runner's body, then run, but strength train as well.

The warmups for your karate are relatively not that helpful for actual strength gains and only exist to prepare your body for exercises - that's what warming up is.

Anyway, I suggest you use the karate for cardio (as in, try to go hard, as the movements will get cardio going).

However, I do know what you mean when you say you're not interested in lifting weights ultra seriously and stuff - that's because a lot of young males these days tend to bulk up extremely large, that it's unhealthy.

You are supposed to eat lots of food to gain weight in muscle, but they tend to eat extremely large amounts of unhealthy foods, causing them to be muscukar but also have plenty of fat on them.

Many of them take an unhealhtily high amount of supplements and may experiment with steroids. Many of them do not even train their muscles properly and may only train their Biceps and not their triceps, or do not train legs.

These gymrats and gymbros you usually see are rarely healthy, but beefed up people who don't know when to quit.

Some of them get so large, their strength actually causes them mobility issues, defeating the purpose of traing to get 'functional strength'.

Many of them may not even do cardio.

Anyway, reality is most actual athletes don't even try to look like these beefcakes, and most over-sized gymbros would probably be terrible at the vast majority of sports, even one's that require a bigger body like Rugby football or gridiron.

Also, to post pictures, you cant post pics on Wp, they have to be on another website such as imgur or tinypic, and you have to link them here.

A lot if it is genetics as well. Some people just bulk up easily. Others must really work on it. Everyone has a certain amount of genetic potential to build muscle.

I build muscle quite easily. I also gain strength easily. It runs in the family. I don't tend to get bulky, as I'm quite small and a woman. But I tend to get bigger more easily than many people do. Yet others in my family have larger muscles but less strength than I do.

Supposedly higher reps to an extent are better for hypertrophy, and lower for strength gains. And very high reps generally just build endurance after awhile instead of increasing mass or strength. Pushups will only increase size and strength for awhile. After that the muscles will not tire quickly enough to cause any strength gains or hypertrophy.

All of this to a tee^.

My goal is a body somewhat similar to Michael Phelps, and he is a genetically advantaged beast.

I however kind of got the sh*t end of the genetic stick, though it may just be my family and their lifestyles.

Most of the men in my family are out-of-shape/slightly overweight or even obese now.

All of the older men are middle-aged to elderly, but have really let themselves go - especially my own father at just age 35.

Older pictures of my Dad indicate he was 'skinny-fat' in his early 20's but definitely not chubby or overweight - just out of shape.

The scary thing is most of the males in my family mentioned being decently fit when they were young, and my youngest uncle was very skinny.

And all of the younger males in my family today - my cousins who are the same age as me or slightly older, are all either very built and bulky (on par with Australian rugby players) or skinny, or 'thin but fit'.

I have achieved a 'thin but fit' body, and am doing all I can to work against the genetic history of type II diabetes and such - I seriously hope my efforts aren't fruitless or futile.

I want to break this pattern and do my best to change the genetics of the family, and the fitness of my cousins today make me hope they can keep up the good work too.

^ I think it's great that you're trying to stay healthy and intend to remain in shape. Genetic predispositions aren't destiny; they simply mean that a person is more likely to get a particular illness or disorder. But you can fight it as best you can. Do what you can with what you have, and that's all you can do.

Who knows, maybe the men in your family just didn't care to remain fit, and it may have nothing to do with genetics. Some diseases run in my family, such as type 2 diabetes on one side, and I have no intention of getting it. So I eat healthy foods, exercise, and remain slim.

Unfortunately type 2 diabetes runs in BOTH sides of my family, making me high risk genetically whether I like it or not.

Genetics isn't destiny, but I still find it extremely frustrating your children quite figuratively do have to suffer for your own actions.

My family has been unhealthy on both sides for several generations and far too apathetic to do anything about it.

Obesity is a common issue, and on my mother's side I've always been known as the 'skinny guy' as my three uncles are obese (2) and moderately overweight (1). Mother is technically 'slightly overweight' according to the broken system that is the BMI, but she looks perfectly fine and is average size. Even I'm close to being 'overweight' yet am 5'8'', 163lbs and body fat % only 9 or 10%.

I've always been the fittest of my friends as well, as they tend to be overweight or obese.

My two 'fittest' friends are a skinny-fat 20 year old who's never lifted and is so small he gets mistaken for 16, and a very skinny 15 year old who's active and sporty.

At least they can walk 1mile without getting exhausted and needing to stop for breaks like my other friend.

Do you live in an urban area? Sometimes I think that people in urban areas often don't get enough exercise unless they have money, or live in an area where it's necessary to do a lot of walking.

I think you had mentioned before that you identify as Australian aboriginal? I have read that the ethnic group has a higher percentage of type 2 diabetes compared to the rest of the population, and that the reason could be socioeconomic or genetic. I think it's possible that the change in what was a typical diet and lifestyle in the population to a more European diet and lifestyle could be partly to blame.

I know that here many native American populations suffer from various diseases more so than the non-native population, and it's been attributed to similar reasons. I tend to think that when people have lived a certain way of life for thousands of years, that they have adapted genetically, and sudden changes to that way of life can be detrimental to their health.

So I'm wondering if breaking the cycle in your family by having a different lifestyle may be enough to ward off diabetes. Being active and eating healthy foods may be enough.

Sorry, I always manage to bring anthropology, linguistics, genetics, or biology into a conversation.

No, you took this in a perfectly logical direction and I agree with most of that.

The issue is primarily socio-economic and genetic as yes a lot of the family are from lower or lower-middle class backgrounds.

It took me a bit of persuasion to negotiate with my mother a way for me to eat an almost entirely healthy diet of 6 meals a day for a total of 2,500-3,000 calories.

As I cannot cook yet, I rely on her to prepare meals for me. I do pay board money, of course to cover costs I may take-up.

She didn't have the money for me to be able to have enough healthy meals so that I could eat 2 healthy homecooked meals a day, but we sorted it out.

She isn't Indigenous but white. My family tends to be a sort of halfway point between the middle class life my white family usually lives, and the lower-class background my aboriginal side experience.

type 2 is one of the most prevalent issues genetically.

One thing I have observed, is that most patterns and behaviors and lifestyles are passed from generation to generation.

I use to know this psychological concept had a name, but I can't recall it.

It's like the cycle of poverty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_poverty but more broad.

Essentially, those with a healthy and fit lifestyle and diet, tend to pass these ideals down to their children, I've observed. Along with the other majority of habits, speech patterns, behavior, lifestyle, personal views on the world, etc.

Issues that are commonplace on both sides of the family and have been for several generations: smoking, drinking/alcoholism, unhealthy dieting, disease onset from about age 40 onwards, obesity, etc.

I already break the mold just by being the way I am now as I rarely observe other family members of my fitness level except for same aged cousins, and even then most of these cousins are fine with smoking cigarettes, drug use, unhealthy dieting, and the only reason they're skinny right now is their metabolism hasn't slowed yet.

I can't obviously change genetics in one generation, but raising children after my own health and fitness ideals, and hoping they can continue the pattern with my future grandkids, is a start.

I've always hoped to date a vegan woman, as long as she can accept me for being a meat-eater. Combining our ideals and raising the kids that way would compliment things well.

I'm still awaiting OP to respond to this, as he's kind of left us hanging here.

I agree with you about the culture and attitudes being passed from generation to generation. We tend to live what we know. And how we are raised plays a large part in that, along with the area in which we live.

My family is upper-middle class on one side, and the other is mostly just middle class, with some who are better off. The wealthier side were mostly poor immigrants who came over about 100 years ago.They managed to move up in a generation. And on the other side my ancestors were a mixture of dirt-poor and upper-class people.

So I was raised upper-middle class for quite a bit of my life and didn't have to deal with a lot of the problems that those in poverty face. But, I did have to deal with an extremely dysfunctional family, and grew up in an abusive home. Substance abuse and other problems also going back generations.

So I had to break the cycle in a different way. But either way it's hard, and I'm glad that you are able to be successful thus far.

I would also like to hear more from the OP.