Push-Up

How to perform the Push-Up

1. Start in a high plank with the hands planted slightly wider than shoulder width, fingers spread, and the wrists directly under the shoulders.
2. Brace the core and squeeze the glutes so the body forms a straight line from the heels through the head — no sagging hips, no piked hips.
3. Lower yourself by bending the elbows and letting them track back at roughly a 45-degree angle from the torso, not flared straight out to the sides.
4. Descend until your chest lightly touches (or hovers just above) the floor, maintaining the rigid plank line throughout.
5. Press back up by driving the floor away with the palms, finishing with elbows extended and the shoulders pulled down away from the ears.
6. If a full push-up is too hard, elevate the hands on a bench; if too easy, elevate the feet, add a weight vest, or pause at the bottom of each rep.

Suggested working range: 10–20 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Common mistakes

• •Letting the hips sag toward the floor so the lower back arches under load.
• •Piking the hips up toward the ceiling to shorten the range and avoid having to press the full body weight.
• •Flaring the elbows out to 90 degrees from the torso, which loads the front of the shoulder rather than the chest and triceps.
• •Going through partial reps that never reach a real bottom position with the chest near the floor.
• •Letting the head poke forward to chase the floor with the chin instead of keeping the neck neutral.

Variations & alternatives

Swap in a related movement if equipment, recovery, or progression demands it.