I searched "pushup bars" and found one hit in the thread "Dipping at home," with a very recent post...

Are pushup bars better to use than nothing, therefore worth their price to acquire?

I am reading a book on weight training that suggests getting pushup bars for a couple of reasons: (1) they take strain off of the wrists, (2) they enable a slightly wider range of motion.

People have been doing pushups with their palms flat on the ground for thousands of years. I don't know of one wrist injury that anyone's mentioned as a result of flat-palm pushups.

Nevertheless, intuitively it does seem like a less stressful position for the wrist for pushups, if I keep my wrist un-bent. I just wonder if the "straight-arm" compromises any exercise benefit, versus the palms-down, wrist-bent-at-90-degrees-or-so posture.

Another speculation: perhaps the straight-arm posture actually adds exercise benefit, by way of requiring a grip to be maintained throughout the pushup sets.

Still, the idea of the pushup bars is intriguing. The "Dipping at home" thread mentions what seems to me a good use.

Thanks to all responders!

More comfortable for wrists :tu:

You can also use 2 dumbells .

Yes, use two hex dumbells. I suspect these are good. I don't do pushups, but if I did I'd buy them because it's really unnatural on the wrists otherwise.

I think it sounds like a gimmick. Maybe it has some slight benefits, and that's quite a maybe, but I've done push-ups forever with my hands on the ground and never had a problem with my wrists. Hell, even doing explosive clap push-ups (or any other variety) I've never had a problem with my wrists. Also, holding onto dumbells or a push-up bar wouldn't really require any grip strength. If you release your grip, nothing happens, you can still do the push-ups. If you want to improve grip strength, do real grip training!

Thanks to all! Good points about (1) using dumbbell bars (why didn't I think of that?!), (2) how a grip matters, or doesn't matter (makes sense), and (3) affirming that palms-flat is safe!

Follow-up questions, still related to pushups in general (this is as far off-topic for this thread as I intend to go):

1. What about the idea that the bars allow for a slightly wider range of motion? For those of you who use some kind of bar like hex dumbbells, is there a noticeable benefit to having that extra little angle of "dip?" [Personal intuition: seems like if wider range was something I felt was necessary, I'd just find a way, with bars or something else, like straddling a "trench" or a low spot on the ground, to have my hands relatively higher so that I could get that "dip effect."]

2. What about the idea of "slow mo" lowering, followed by "explosive lift" on the pushup? Is there any additional strength-gain benefit to slowing down the pre-pushup (or, post-previous pushup) lowering into the pushup position? [I understand the benefit of explosively pushing up, like with clapping.]

3. Finally, more specific to using bars again: has anyone heard of the idea of "Bennett's Bend?" (I'm frankly tapping deep into my own memory for this!). It's a "magic number" of, I think it's, 19 degrees, that somehow figures into an ergonomically re-rationalized re-design of the shape of handles for all kinds of hand tools, to reduce strain or injury on wrists. I ask about the "Bend" because after studying my grip on dumbbell bars yesterday, I got a little worried that I might actually be doing more harm than good, by gripping a handle while doing pushups, because of the bend in my wrist. When in bar-grip position to do a pushup, there seemed to be an odd-looking angle or lack of alignment of my wrist with the rest of my arm, that had me concerned. I'm thinking, maybe simpler is better, as in, palms-flat, and the forces transmitted through my wrist by a typical bar-grip position might not be such a good idea to allow, after all.

More thanks in advance, to anyone just patient enough to read this far! :lol:

I used to do a lot of pushups and one of the varieties that I like to do were fingertip pushups. I assume that using the bar would be sorta similar to these because the wrist is kept straight in fingertip pushups like so:
http://www.recordholders.org/images/pushup2.gif
Having the wrists straight made me go down farther to complete the pushup and I felt it more.

I do knuckle push-ups to strengthen my wrists along with the other benefits.

I've been using dumbbells for a while now whenever I do them. I do three different kinds: one just about shoulder width apart, one close together, and then a set with my feet on a bench or chair. I prefer them because I can get deeper/lower and really stress my chest and tris (when doing them with the dumbbells close together).

when you do a flat-palm pushup you isolate the triceps to a greater degree than if you use the grips. when you use these you bring the muscles of the fore-arm into greater play.

well certainly not a gimmick obviously u can get down a bit further better for the shoulders i wouldnt do finger tip push ups however thats kinda like asking for arthritis in ur later years

I find that regular push-ups are indeed hard on the wrists, so I make a fist and do them on my knuckles instead. Just make sure to find a carpeted surface to exercise on!

They work.You get a better stretch on the downward motion but if you go too far down you can mess with your shoulders.Be careful.