If you do push-ups or bench presses with light weights until you can't do another rep, twice a week for two months, your arms and chest will grow just as much — so push-ups can be just as good as gym machines for building muscle, if you push yourself just as hard.

46

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

46

Community contributions welcome

46

Low-load bench press and push-up induce similar muscle hypertrophy and strength gain

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2017 Jun

The study found that doing push-ups with the same effort as lifting light weights on a bench press led to the same muscle growth in the chest and triceps — meaning you don’t need machines to build these muscles if you work hard enough with bodyweight exercises.

Contradicting (0)

0

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No contradicting evidence found

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According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Low-load bench press and push-up induce similar muscle hypertrophy and strength gain

Score: 46

DOI: 10.1016/j.jesf.2017.06.003

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