That’s exactly what we asked Emily Servante, global trainer education manager at Ultimate Performance, in our guide to bodyweight workouts – and the answer is a resounding yes! But you need to know how to increase the difficulty beyond just doing more reps.
“You can increase the intensity by slowing down the tempo,” says Servante. “For example, if you perform a press-up with both feet on a chair, and slow the eccentric [lowering] portion of the movement to four seconds, doing six to 12 reps will feel more difficult. Next time, slow the eccentric portion of that movement to five seconds, then six seconds and so on. Trust me, your chest muscles will grow!”