Photo credit: Edgar Chaparro
Which is the more important exercise for overall fitness: push-ups or pull-ups?
If you’re anything like me then you probably like both and that’s a difficult choice.
“It’s like asking which is better smooth peanut butter or crunchy?” says Tony Gentilcore – CSCS – Co-founder of Cressery Sports Performance USA.
But if I really had to choose I’d go with push-ups. Why? Obviously push-ups train your pecs, shoulders and triceps.
But, says Gentilcore, “The real benefit to push-ups is that they help improve truck stability”. You’ll see some guys do push-ups and their lower back starts to cave he explains. – this indicates poor lumbo-pelvic-hip control and is a tell-tale sign of a weak core, more push-ups will fix that”
Push-ups also improve your performance on other big rack exercises like squats and deadlifts
Tony Gentilcore
If you decided to skip them a lack of stability will lead to misalignment, which impairs your ability to transfer force from your lower body to your upper body and vice versa.
And if pumping up your pecs, shoulders and tris, strengthening your core and boosting your squat and deadlift aren’t enough, push-ups are also incredibly versatile.
“You can use them as a strength exercise or as part of a fat-loss circuit or finisher” Gentilcore suggests.
They can also be easily ramped up and made more challenging for advanced lifters or regressed if you’re not quite there yet. But trust me, you will be.
