Are push up boards any good? (Harsh Reality!)

Let’s start with the triceps, two of those yellow marked grips can actually emphasise the triceps more than other muscles. The close neutral grip can work if you know that you have to push more from your elbow. 

The overhand grip can also work if you know that you have to do a sphinx push-up like motion but the manual doesn’t tell you, so if you are not well informed you are not really able to target this muscle on purpose. 

If you do it like this you won’t hit your triceps that effectively and you stress your wrists and shoulders a lot. 

Alright let’s move on to the chest, of course, the board suggests to mostly use wide grips from all the suggested grips. There is only one that makes some kind of sense in terms of chest training and joint alignment and even this can be questioned. 

Studies show that narrow or normal grip push-ups have a higher pectoralis activity than wide grip. 

The other blue-marked grips offer no real benefit for your chest and can even harm your shoulder in the short or long term, especially the wide overhand grip is pretty dangerous because it leads to an internally rotated shoulder without flared elbows. 

To train safely we strongly suggest avoiding this position if you want to do push-ups with wider hand placement.

The next muscle is the shoulder and none of the shown grips offers any additional benefit for these muscles targeting. Your shoulder has very little to do with the grip; the only thing that would make a little difference is the shoulder rotation. 

✔️ If you aim for an outward rotated shoulder you turn away a part of the middle delt and emphasize the front part a bit more. 

But none of these grips shows that position besides from that there are only two ways to increase your shoulder activity when you do push-ups, 

1. Do an overhand push movement like handstand or pike push-ups 
2. Lean forward so that your shoulder travels in front of your wrists. 

The more you shift your weight in front of your wrists the bigger the lever for your shoulder.

Alright, let’s move on to the last grip variation which should work your back similar to the shoulders.

None of the shown grips has any additional benefits for your back muscles when it comes to regular push-ups you can work your back only to a certain extent. 

Of course, you need your erector spinae as well as other back muscles to stabilise your body but in the push-up position, they work more as support muscles instead of primal movers. 

So if you think you can target your back muscles like the lats by only changing the grip you will simply waste your time. 

🔥 Pushup boards are really good because you can move them completely free in any direction but of course, you need some basic strength and coordination to be able to do push-ups on them. 

Using a push up board is fairly simple. You may get a 9-in-1 foldable push up board on amazon that is ready to use. Just fix the handles on the 2 grip positions or holes you wish to train for. Find the stability. Get in a push-up position and take a dip. 

Generally speaking, push up board aren’t as effective as push up bar, or paralletes that are freely movable. You only get 9-in-1 push board exercises, but that is sufficient to target chests from all areas. Rest grips to target shoulders and back muscles aren’t as useful or practical to use.   

You see, push up boards make pushups more navigational. On the ground, you might not be able to find the perfect angle to engage your specific muscle group, but a push board will fix your alignment and enable you to dip deeper for more muscle activation.