Help me out with the next body weight exercise which is complimentary to push ups?

Question

I do a lot of aerobic exercise and I finally added some resistance training. The only thing I do is push-ups. My simple plan is three sets of about eight to failure. There's no chance I can do a real push-up yet so I do angle push-ups that is to say on stairs or even a wall. I adjust the "weight" so to speak by adjusting my angle, I choose a "weight" where I fail at about 8 or 9 reps as mentioned. I concentrate on good form and for each rep I use s "3 seconds / 1 second / 3 seconds" approach - because I read that somewhere. I do this on alternate days. I eat a good amount of protein as appropriate.

I love doing my push-ups and I hope one day I can work towards doing a real flat floor push-up.

I do a variety of that form of push-up, ie hands at slightly different widths, grips.

But I guess push-ups focus on one particular group of muscles.

Please tell me one good bodyweight exercise I can add for the arm/upper body muscles I'm missing. Thank you.

Answer 1

Since push up is mainly a push exercise, the obvious choice would be pull up to complement them. Under a table or something at first to make them easier if needed.

Body weight rows could work too, but you would need additional equipment (e.g. rings).

And once your comfortable with your exercises check their variations, they can be great to keep them fun and challenging, and to target other muscles that could be a little left out.

Answer 2

If you want to work the entire upper body, there's a lot missing. Push-ups target mainly chest and triceps, depending on the variation you do.

What's missing:

• back
• shoulders
• abs
• biceps

What you could do:

• back: banded rows, scapular push-ups, body weight rows (under a table or hanging from a door with bedsheets), pull-ups (there are progressions you can follow with negative pull-ups and bands until you develop the strength to perform a regular pull-up)
• shoulders: pike push-ups, wall walks (progressing into a handstand shoulder press)
• abs: crunches and sit ups (there are so many variations), leg / knee raises
• biceps: chin ups, bodyweight curls, reverse grip pushups...
• chest, shoulders, triceps, and biceps: dips

These are just some examples, the internet is filled with calisthenics exercises for the whole body.

I highly recommend getting at least 2 resistance bands (with different resistances - i'd suggest one medium and one medium-harder, you'll get past the ones too easy very fast), it will increase your exercise selection tenfold for everything.

If you can add weights of any kind (a big water bottle, rice bags, anything) then you will also have more options.