I'm currently trying to bulk up and increase my muscle mass in my upper body. However, I'm unable to use barbells and dumbbells because of my injured finger (can't grip the bars). I've turned to calisthenics.

I was wondering if pushups would help increase my upper body, like my pecs, arms?

ABSOLUTELY!
YOu can do so many variations of the push-up..as a matter of fact there are apporiximatley 34-37 variations of the push-up. With you injuried finger, I suggest you perform push-ups with the follwoing variations:
Push-up (Floor)
Elevated on your bed or chair
Close grip Push-Up
ELbows out Push-up
T-Rotation Push-Ups
Ballistic Push-Ups
Medicine Ball Push-Ups

I garantee you wil gain LBM and strength in your upperbody. Good Luck!

Thanks for the excellent advice and words of encouragement. Sounds like a solid plan.

I was just concerned because I heard you could not can significant muscle mass (make your pecs look big) with just pushups. Hopefully, this will be temporary and I'll get back in the weight room in a two weeks.

NEGATIVE!

You can increase endurance but not mass. Know your rep range..

>5 reps= strength
6-8 reps= Mass, strength
8-10= Some strength, some mass, some endurance
10-15= Endurance

Bodyweight exercises are definatly not what i would recommend for mass unless you acheive muslce failure on the 10th rep. Sorry to have to break it to you but you just might have to wait until your finger heals for any noticable mass gains....

Actually Cuban..you got your rep numbers wrong...

The current research from the field of strength & conditioning suggests:
-4 Power (not strength)
6-8 strength
8-12 hypertrophy (LBM gain)
12-20 endurance

And even so, these numbers don't take in consideration fitness level, intensity, and calorie intake.

hmm never knew that standAPART. but then again i've learnt most of my shyt from the internet which could have been written by anyone...but luckily for me i have been experiencing nothing but positive effects with my internet research.

Read the Hypertrophy Specific Training Post i made and tell me wut u think of that. Effective or not......

Also wuts the difference between power and strength...

Good question Cuban!
Power is strength X speed. So for instance...if I flipped a tire once to see how far it would go that would be POWER. If I wanted to see how many "times" I can flip the tire --that would be STRENGTH. Hope you get it.

Check out my site. It has video previews of what I'm talking about.

Dude those numbers are wrong. Fact is there are no numbers!!!!

The heavyer the weight, the more of the muscle you work. If you lift light weight, you'll only work the middle of the muscle. If you lift heavy you'll work the whole muslcle.

The reason the hypertrophy range is recognised is due to the fact that when you lift 8-12 you get all the blood in your muscle as you start to use different energy sources, so you muscle gets bigger for a couple of hours. Not true growth.

Lifting under 4reps at your heavyweight will build fast growth and strength. Endurance is just something that you get when your strong, fit and have good amounts of glucose in your body.

WOW! No disrespect, Kent, but that info is way different than anything I've ever read or learned!

"The heavyer the weight, the more of the muscle you work. If you lift light weight, you'll only work the middle of the muscle. If you lift heavy you'll work the whole muslcle."

working the "middle of the muscle" has nothing to do with the amount of the load, but upon the ROM of the exercise; example: a bicep curl to only 90 degrees of elbow flexion will work only part of the muscle.

"The reason the hypertrophy range is recognised is due to the fact that when you lift 8-12 you get all the blood in your muscle as you start to use different energy sources, so you muscle gets bigger for a couple of hours. Not true growth."

It's not due to the fact that different energy systems are being used, it is due to the principle of muscle fiber recruitment. As Type 2 fibers start to fatigue after the first few reps and a load is still present, more muscle fibers will be recruited to try to overcome the resistance. And one of the most important aspects of the 8-12 rep scheme for hypertrophy is thatthe rest interval must be short (30-120 seconds). Studies have shown that "throwing off" the equilibrium of ATP replenishment (by not allowing ATP stores to fully replenish), the muscle adapts by increasing in size.

I do agree with your comment that considerable strength gains wil be made within the 2-6 repetition range rpoviding the muscle is truly and completely fatiguing within the range (many people dont honestly get to that point).

"Endurance is just something that you get when your strong, fit and have good amounts of glucose in your body."

WHAT? You're saying that by not training type 1 fibers, they will just be able to sustain a muscular contraction over a long period of time because you are strong or "fit"?

I'd be interested to read some literature on that or any of the other info.

Again, no disrespect intended; where are you reading this stuff? Maybe my info is off.

When I said middle of the muscle I was just making it easy to understand.
Muscle fibers work only on or off, there is no middle ground, when you lift light you are not using all the muscle fibers, only by lifting your 1rep max are you using 100% of your muscle. Obv we can do this all the time so we do 3-6 with a lighter weight.

2-6 is most benifitial for muscle growth, The only reason we go for other ranges 6-8, 10-15 etc... is just as you said, to mix it up and throwing off the Equilb of ATP replenishment. However 2-6 is where we make our biggest gains. In the higher rep ranges the muscle does increase in size but it deflates after a few hours.

"WHAT? You're saying that by not training type 1 fibers, they will just be able to sustain a muscular contraction over a long period of time because you are strong or "fit"?"

Type 1 fibers are still trained with 3-6reps, more so with a 1second eccentric and 4second consentric count.

Im just trying to make the point that you cant put a number on "this many reps do this and tat many reps do that"
There are all these numbers in books, but at the end of the day its all to do with
1, are you really lifting the most you can for your reps.
2, how fast your doing your reps.

what will work a) type 1, b) type 2 muscle fibers more...
1. 6reps - slow and controled, heavy weight, 1-4count
2. 15reps - fast, light weight, 1-1count.

PPL take what they read too Literally.

Kent,
I agree that the numbers are not concrete, in that, if you do 6 reps of an exercise you are strength building, and as soon as you get to 7, then you're into hypertrophy.

You will make hypertrophy gains with a 4-6 rep scheme, but, numbers aside, bodybuilders do not use a 4-6 rep scheme, and they have the best gains in hypertrophy.

The "all-or-none" theory you talk about does not apply to all of the fibers within a muscle, but to the muscle fibers within each motor unit, many of which make up different muscles.

It is the rest interval, not the rep scheme that throws off the equilibrium of ATP replenishment.

The higher reps (8-12) at 70-85% of 1RM for a given number of sets, usually yields a higher volume than 90-95% for 4 reps, thus leading to greater hypertrophy.

Wes is right on the mark.

The numbers are what has been researched and they are what they are. But gains made are always a neurological response to stress (physical activity).

I'd like to see the research/information myself... because if someone's just starting off, there's no way you're going to start around your 1 RM for your entire workout .... I totally agree w/ gymcoach... it's much more than just how much to lift, it's frequency, intensity, rest period, and so much more...

Standapart....you never answered the part of my question, conerning my hypertrophy specific training....

http://www.fitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7980

I want to kno if its worth it. Does its theories sound credible? Wut do u think....Effective or Not?

So what would be ideal for gaining mass? Using bench press as an example?
I went down to the weight room today, and I CAN bench now. Just haven't done it in 6 weeks so i'll have to work myself all the way back again.

What I'm really trying to do is gain mass in my pecs, especially my inner pecs. Suggestions?