Push Up
The push-up is the benchmark of upper-body bodyweight strength: a moving plank where you lower your chest to the floor and press back up. It trains the chest, shoulders, and triceps together while your trunk holds the line, no equipment, no excuses. It suits everyone from a first-timer working near a wall to an athlete chaining explosive variations.
Why it works
The push-up earns its reputation by making muscles cooperate. The chest and shoulders drive the press, the triceps finish it, and the entire trunk works to keep your body rigid from heels to head, which is why a push-up carries over to sport and daily life better than most machine pressing. It also self-scales: elevate your hands and it gets lighter, elevate your feet and it gets heavier, slow it down and the same rep becomes twice the exercise.
Set up
- Kneel and place your hands on the floor slightly wider than your shoulders, middle fingers pointing forward.
- Step your feet back until your whole body makes one rigid plank, toes tucked.
- Grip the floor with your fingers and rotate your elbow pits slightly forward to set your shoulders.
How to do it
- Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs so your body is one rigid piece.
- Bend your elbows and lower your whole body as a unit toward the floor.
- Keep your elbows tracking back at about 45 degrees from your ribs.
- Touch your chest lightly to the floor, or come within a fist of it, without your hips sagging.
- Press the floor away hard until your elbows are straight.
- Finish tall at the top, shoulders pushed away from your ears, and repeat.
Form cues
- Body moves as one plank, never in pieces.
- Elbows 45 degrees back, not straight out.
- Chest touches first, never the hips.
- Screw your hands into the floor for stable shoulders.
Breathing: Inhale on the way down, exhale as you press back up; on grinding last reps, a sharp exhale helps the press.
Common mistakes
Hips sagging toward the floor so the lower back does the holding.
Fix: Squeeze your glutes before the first rep and end the set the moment the line breaks; a sagging push-up is a lower-back exercise you didn't sign up for.
Half reps that end a hand's width above the floor.
Fix: If full depth is out of reach today, raise your hands on a bench instead of shrinking the range; depth at a lighter angle builds more than shallow reps on the floor.
Elbows flared to 90 degrees like a cross.
Fix: Tuck them toward 45 degrees from your torso; flared elbows grind shoulders that tucked elbows protect.
Leading with the chin and pecking the floor.
Fix: Keep your neck long and let the chest arrive first; the head is a passenger, not the pilot.
How to program it
- Test your max clean reps, then train with sets of about half that number: someone with 10 does 3 to 4 sets of 5, two or three days a week.
- Add one rep per set each week; when you reach 3 sets of 15 to 20, progress to a harder variation instead of endless reps.
- As a finisher, one slow set to near-failure after pressing work squeezes the last drop out of the chest and triceps.
- Balance the pushing with rows or other pulling in the same week, ideally at similar volume.
Safety notes
- Achy wrists usually mean the angle, not the exercise: try push-up handles or fists on a mat to keep the wrists straight.
- Shoulder pinching at the bottom is a cue to tuck the elbows more and shorten the range, not to push through.
Exercise profile
- Force
- Push
- Mechanics
- Compound
- Category
- Strength
Frequently asked questions
How many push-ups should I be able to do?
There's no universal number. A reasonable early goal is 10 clean full-range reps; 20 to 30 is strong recreational territory. Consistency and range matter more than the count: 8 chest-to-floor reps beat 25 shallow ones.
Do push-ups work the chest or the arms?
Both, by design. The chest and front shoulders produce most of the press, and the triceps straighten the elbows to finish each rep. Hand width shifts the emphasis: wider leans chest, narrower leans triceps.
Push-ups vs bench press: do I need both?
The bench press loads heavier and builds maximal strength faster; the push-up trains the same press while your trunk stabilizes, and travels anywhere. If you train at home, push-up variations can carry you a long way. If you have a gym, they still earn a place as volume and conditioning work.
Why do my wrists hurt during push-ups?
Bent-back wrists carry your bodyweight at an awkward angle. Spread your fingers, grip the floor, and if it still nags, do push-ups on fists, on handles, or with hands on a raised edge so the wrist stays neutral.
Can I do push-ups every day?
Easy sets daily are fine for most people, but hard sets to failure need rest days like any strength work. If you want a daily habit, alternate tough days with light, crisp sets at half effort.