Push Up
The most fundamental bodyweight pressing exercise — trains the chest, triceps and front delts in a single, scalable pattern.
How to do it
- Get into a high plank with your hands slightly wider than your shoulders and your arms straight.
- Brace your core, squeeze your glutes and keep your body in a straight line from head to heels.
- Lower your chest slowly toward the floor over 2–3 seconds, keeping your elbows at about 45 degrees.
- Stop when your chest hovers just above the floor, holding the bottom with a short pause and full-body tension.
- Press yourself up by pushing the floor away with your palms until your arms are fully straight.
- Reset your breath and repeat for the whole set, keeping a tight body line on every rep.
Key technique cue
Body in one straight line, hips don't sag, elbows ~45° — not flared into a T.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Letting the hips sag toward the floor, which takes the load off the core and stresses the lower back.
- ✕ Flaring the elbows out to 90 degrees, which stresses the front delts and reduces chest engagement.
- ✕ Cutting the depth short and pressing only the top half of the rep instead of bringing the chest to the floor.
- ✕ Pushing the head forward instead of keeping the neck in line with the spine.
Benefits
- ✓ Builds the chest, triceps and front delts with no equipment at all.
- ✓ Reinforces a strong full-body plank position under pressing load.
- ✓ Scales endlessly, from incline versions for beginners to advanced weighted variations.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 -
Step 2 You are here - Push Up
- Push-Up Wide
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Step 3 -
Step 4
About the exercise
The Push Up is the most fundamental bodyweight upper-body exercise. From a high plank, the lifter lowers the chest to the floor and presses back up, loading the chest, triceps and front delts through a controlled horizontal press. It scales endlessly: an incline for beginners, a deficit or added load for advanced lifters. It is a must-have exercise for beginners, home and travel workouts and warm-ups. It also anchors any pressing progression and is a clear way for brand-new lifters to work on movement quality.
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