Banded Push-Ups: Benefits, Muscles Worked & How-To

You don’t need a drill sergeant shouting, “Drop down and give me 20!” just inches from your ear to know that push-ups are the king of bodyweight exercises.

But when you can muster through 40 regular push-ups without pausing or shaking, you’re edging more into endurance territory and quickly escaping the fitness buff’s holy grail: mass and strength.

You need resistance and to step up your push-up game.

Sure, you can load a sandbag or plate on your back, or even jimmy a dip belt around your waist.

Or, you can add some customizable resistance that (a) doesn’t crash to the floor whenever you shake out a numb wrist and (b) require a gym partner’s assistance at the top of every set.

We’re talking about the banded push-up, and we have to warn you, this is one of those “don’t knock it until you try it” types of deals.

What Are Banded Push-Ups?

Banded push-ups are a more intense version of the classic push-up.

With a looped resistance band strapped around your upper back and across your shoulder blades, you can force your chest and triceps to do push-ups under greater resistance.

In theory, adding extra resistance will leave you disappointed in the rep department, just like adding an extra ten pounds to the bar when benching can drop your reps from, say, 15 to 11.

But this extra weight can also trigger more microtears in your muscles and better target strength and muscle building (or hypertrophy).

How to Do Banded Push-Ups

To do the banded push-up, you need a heavy-duty loop resistance band and enough cleared-out floor space as you’d need for a regular push-up.

It also helps to push your ego aside for a moment and do a set or two with a lighter band until you can master perfect form. That black band isn’t impressive if you’re only doing half-rep push-ups.

This is how you do a banded push-up:

1. Get into a kneeling position to get the resistance band positioned just right.
2. In front of your body, grab one end of the loop resistance band with either hand.
3. Bring the band up and over your head and extend your arms out to your sides. (The band should be resting comfortably across your shoulder blades, just under your deltoids.)
4. Holding the band in place, get into a push-up position: hands a little wider than shoulder-width and facing forward, arms and back straight, and toes holding you up. (The band should be secured on either end under your palms and body weight).
5. Slowly lower your upper body toward the floor, arms about 45° from your torso.
6. Pause briefly when your elbows reach 90°. (The band may feel a little loose in the ‘down’ position, but it shouldn’t slide off.)
7. Drive both hands into the floor as if you’re pushing it away from you.

Because you’re using a resistance band strapped around your back, returning to the ‘up’ position will be harder with every centimeter. That’s normal, and also why we recommend starting light (similar to the resistance band chest press).

The Benefits of Banded Push-Ups

Men’s Journal calls it “the upper body exercise your workout is missing.” Well and Good dubs it “the hardest — and most effective — full-body move you’ll ever try.”

Or, will a new fad exercise replace these rave reviews in a few months? After all, isn’t that the fitness community’s trend: try this, no this, okay how about this, just kidding … this!

(Who remembers when raspberry ketone was the “cure” to melting body fat? Thanks, Dr. Oz. To dispel the myth, no human study proved this; in this one, nobody lost even a fraction of a pound.)

The only way to decide once and for all is to look at the banded push-up’s benefits:

It Breaks Through Standard Push-Up Resistance

The problem with the classic push-up is that, without modifications, there’s a resistance cap: wherever your current body weight stands.

A 2010 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research — one of the most respected medical journals in the training community — discovered that:

• In the ‘up’ position, you’re supporting about 69.16% of your body weight, or approximately 138.32 pounds if you stand at 200 pounds.
• In the ‘down’ position, you’re fighting against 75.04% of your body weight, or about 150.08 pounds if you weigh 200 pounds.

Unless you pack on a few pounds, the only way to ramp up the resistance and creep toward failure at 12 reps again (the upper limit for mass) is to add weight artificially.

Resistance bands can add up to 150 pounds to the traditional push-up, without loading a clunky weight onto your back.

Resistance Bands Don’t Require Much Space & Money

The stronger you get, the more bragging rights you earn, the more fellow lifters feel envy when they see you loading yet another 45 onto the bar, and the more you catch wandering eyes.

But the standard gym equipment — like dumbbells, a bench, and barbells — can drain your bank account, and if you don’t have a spare room to convert into a gym, it’s not even an option.

Resistance bands are like the best of both worlds.

They’re cheap, sometimes only $10 for a high-end band or coming in sets with various resistance. You can also roll them up, toss them in a drawstring bag, and hide them in the drawer.

If you’re an at-home fitness junkie, they’re unbeatable.

There’s Varying Tension Throughout the Rep

If you’re no stranger to weighted push-ups, you might be wondering why you’d switch to resistance bands when the weighted vest is working fine.

In a word: safety.

Push-ups may very well be the gold standard upper-body exercise, but they aren’t only sculpting beefier pecs and more well-defined triceps. They also put a strain on those delicate rotator cuffs.

Lowering into the ‘down’ position with a 15-pound sandbag on your back isn’t hard.

But your rotator cuff is relatively weak in this deeper position, just like rising from a squat with your knees at 135° instead of the standard 90°, increasing the risk of injured joints and muscles.

Worst case scenario, if you overload, you tear your rotator cuff or suffer shoulder impingement. Resistance bands, on the other hand, have what’s called “variable resistance.”

That means the resistance drops as you lower to the floor and, on your way up, it gradually becomes more intense. Where your joints and muscles are stronger, they’ll work harder.

At the bottom when the band is loose, you’re essentially pressing up against a fraction of your bodyweight alone. By the top, you might be working against that plus 10-50 extra pounds.

There’s a Link Between Push-Ups and Heart Health (Sort Of)

The scientific community is always discovering things with cinema-level shock value. But a 2019 study might be all the proof you need to tack push-ups onto the end of your chest day.

The Nutrition, Obesity, and Exercise research found that men who can crank out 40 continuous push-ups are 96% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those who can do <10.

Now, the explanation could be as simple as “guys who can do 40 push-ups are more likely to lift weights, weigh less, and be more active, which can all slash your CVD risks.”

But if you’re struggling to reach that 40 push-up gold standard, adding some resistance can build strength and mass in the muscles that could make regular push-ups feel easier.

Of course, you’d want to stick to a higher rep range.

Muscles Worked By Banded Push-Ups

Ask any guy at the gym why he’s draining what’s left in his tank on chest day with push-ups until failure, the answer is obvious: he wants a thicker chest.

But push-ups — and resistance band push-ups — also work the following muscles:

• Pectoralis major: The larger, fan-shaped chest muscle
• Pectoralis minor: The smaller, triangular chest muscle sitting closer to your shoulder
• Triceps: The muscles at the back of your arm; even more so if you choose a narrower hand position where your upper arms are parallel to your torso
• Biceps: The rounded muscles at the front of your arm; add some stability to the movement
• Anterior deltoid: The front-most part of your deltoids or shoulders
• Upper back muscles (latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius): All help to stabilize your position in the up and down positions
• Serratus anterior: The muscles that fan out along your ribs, sometimes referred to as the “boxer’s muscle” because it helps fighters pack a stronger punch

Because banded push-ups also force you to keep a stiff plank-like position, your core (lower back and abs), glutes, and leg muscles will also see a little action.

Banded Push-Ups Variations

The banded push-up doesn’t need reinvention; it works just fine the way it is, and if you can squeeze it into your Monday chest workouts, it might add a twinge more strength and mass.

But you can also swap in a few variations, like:

• Wrapping each end of the band around heavy dumbbell handles instead of keeping them stable under your palms, which can start to dig in after 10, 20 reps
• Opting for banded incline push-ups instead, cutting down on the resistance slightly; position your hands on an adjustable bench instead
• Propping your feet on a bench or a chair to add more natural resistance

Feel free to swap these into your workout to keep things interesting or make the exercise harder or easier.