Learning how to do a push-up with proper form will help you maximize the benefits of this testing upper-body exercise. Using this guide, you should be able to improve your form and notice gains in strength and stamina.
Push-ups are a functional bodyweight compound exercise, meaning they mimic our natural everyday movement. They also slot nicely into any strength training program, especially if you pick up a set of the best adjustable dumbbells (opens in new tab).
The move primarily works your chest, shoulders, and arms to strengthen your upper body and build muscle mass, but your abdominal muscles will also work hard to protect your lower back and keep your body stable.
Performing push-ups with good form will develop your core strength, helping you to improve exercises like deadlifts (opens in new tab) with less risk of injury. In this guide, we’ve included tips and variations to suit all fitness abilities, so wherever you are in your push-up journey, we’ve got you covered with these simple tricks.
We also enlisted the help of a personal trainer to find out how to perfect your push-ups, common push-up mistakes to avoid, and what muscles you’re really working. Read on for our complete guide below.
How to do a push-up
- First, get into the starting plank position. Keep your legs together, with the balls of your feet and toes planted firmly on the floor. Your arms should be straight, with your hands placed just wider than shoulder width apart.
- In this starting position, your fingers should be spread out and pointed forwards. Most importantly, your body should form a straight line from your heels to your shoulders, with your head up.
- Start lowering yourself down towards the floor, concentrating on maintaining your straight body position. If you pull in your glutes (they’re the muscles in your backside) and your abs, this will help you maintain a rigid body position throughout.
- Keep lowering yourself until your chest almost touches the floor. Pause before pushing back up until your arms are straight. That’s one repetition.
- You should aim to do at least 10 repetitions in a set. Go slowly at first, concentrating on perfecting your form.
If you're looking for how to do a push-up for beginners, then a knee push-up is a great place to start. By placing your knees on the ground, you don't have to support the majority of your bodyweight through your upper body during the exercise.
- Start on all fours and lean forward so your hands are under your shoulders and your weight is over your top half.
- With your elbows facing outwards, lower your body to the floor, keeping a straight back.
- Lift your torso, pushing through your arms, to return to the starting position.
Push-up variations
Whether you want to challenge your muscles or vary your workouts, we’ve gathered lots of muscle-building, metabolism-boosting push-up variations to help you on your fitness journey.
1. Spider-Man push-up
The Spider-Man push-up acquired its superhero-themed name as it mimics the leg movements of Stan Lee’s great comic book creation. It’s an altogether trickier — not to mention tougher — workout.
- Begin in the standard push-up position, with your arms straight and hands placed just wider than shoulder width apart. As usual, your body should form a straight line from your heels to your shoulders.
- As you lower yourself, bring your right knee out sideways and pull it up towards your right elbow.
- Once you’ve reached the lowest position, slowly push back up to the plank position. While you’re doing this, reverse the leg movement so it finishes in the starting position.
- Once you’ve done it with your left leg, swap over and do the same exercise with your right leg. Alternate between the two during sets of repetitions.
2. Judo push-up
This variation on the push-up adds in extra movements for the abs and upper body, so it should help develop your core, and is similar to the exercises you'd do during a core yoga (opens in new tab) practice.
- Start in an adapted push-up position, with your body bent at the hips to make a rough “v” shape. As usual, your hands should be placed just wider than hip-width apart, with your legs together and the balls of your feet grounded.
- Lower yourself down in the adapted position, then bring your hips down to make a standard push up “down” position.
- Pause briefly in the lower position. Don’t allow your chest or hips to touch the floor — pull in your abs and glutes to help maintain good posture.
- As you push back up again, raise your head and shoulders to gently stretch your core and lower back.
- Pause briefly in this position, before lowering your head and shoulders to return to the starting position.
3. Diamond push-up
The diamond push-up uses a closer grip, which makes the move more challenging. It also works the triceps harder, too.
- Assume the plank position, taking care to make a straight line with your back and legs.
- Place your hands a few inches apart, with your fingers pointing forwards at a 45-degree angle and your thumbs extended.
- The tips of your thumbs and fingers should be touching and form a triangle shape.
- Lower yourself until your chest is just a few inches off the ground, just as you would a normal push-up.
- Pause briefly at the lowest point, before slowly pushing back up to the starting position.
4. Scorpion push-up
The scorpion push-up offers a test of your flexibility, and only those with particularly flexible muscles can perform it accurately. Because of this, we’ve adapted the exercise to make it easier for those of all levels of ability and muscular flexibility.
- Get into the plank position, but this time place your feet roughly hip-width apart. Your arms should be straight, with your hands positioned in the standard pose.
- Remember to pull in your glutes and core to help make your body more rigid. This helps maintain the straight line between your shoulders and ankles.
- Lower yourself towards the ground, as if you were doing a regular push-up, until your chest is a few inches off the ground.
- As you push back up, flick your left leg over your right ankle and out to the side. To do this, you’ll need to twist at the core a little.
- How far you are able to flick it out depends on your flexibility; to begin with, don’t try and overreach and concentrate on keeping good balance and control.
- Once your arms are fully extended, go straight into another push-up, lowering your body whilst simultaneously bringing your core and legs back to the usual position.
- When you press back up again, reverse the “scorpion” leg movements so that you’re bringing your right leg over your left ankle and your right heel towards your left shoulder.
5. Walking gecko push-up
This variation on the push-up requires good agility, and provides a workout for the core, legs, and upper body. If you’re having trouble getting the movements right, imagine that you’re walking like a gecko.
- Start in a regular plank position, but with your feet hip-width apart and your hands just wider than shoulder width apart.
- Lower yourself in the standard manner.
- As you come up, simultaneously bring your right knee towards your right elbow, and move your left hand forward.
- As you move forward, your body should naturally lower. In the lowest position, your left hand should be further forward than your head.
- As you come up, raise your left knee towards your left elbow, and push your right hand forwards.
- Complete the movement, so that you’re down low with your left knee touching your left elbow and your right arm extended forwards. That’s one repetition.
6. Push-up into rotation
If you're after a way to build muscle in your upper body and develop core strength, then consider adding a push-up into rotation to your routine. This move combines a push-up with a side plank but also requires your core for stabilization as you transition between the two positions.
- Start in a push-up position, either on your toes or on your knees, and lower your body towards the floor.
- As you rise back to the start position, raise one hand off the floor and rotate up, so your raised hand is pointing towards the ceiling.
- Return to the start position and repeat on the other side.
7. Dive-bomb push-up
This push-up variation blends the bodyweight move with yoga-style stretching. The movement starts in the yoga position downward-facing dog before transitioning into a chest and leg-focused strength exercise.
- Perform a downward-facing dog, raising your bottom in the air, so you look like an inverted 'v'.
- Lower shoulders towards the floor, but before your chin hits the ground, swoop your body forward, so you push your chest out and forwards.
- Your back should be arched and arms locked out.
- Hold the position for a moment, then return to the starting position by reversing the exercise.
8. Close-hand push-up
This move looks similar to a diamond push-up, but the placement of your hands is mid-way between shoulder-width and the diamond position. As a result, it works different muscles and is complementary to a standard or diamond push-up.
- Take up a plank position with your hands placed on the floor, narrower than shoulder-width apart.
- Slowly lower yourself down to perform a push-up until your chest almost touches the floor.
- Pause, then push yourself up to the starting position.
9. Swiss Ball push-up
If you want to challenge yourself and get a whole-body workout, then give this Swiss Ball push-up a try. The exercise targets your chest, triceps, and core as the ball's instability means your whole body will work to maintain balance.
- Perform a press up with your feet on the ball, ensuring that you maintain a neutral plank position throughout.
- Once you have completed your press up, push your body back while keeping your core engaged and return to the start position.
10. Knee push-up
If you're looking for how to do a push-up for beginners, then a knee push-up is a great place to start. By placing your knees on the ground, you don't have to support the majority of your bodyweight through your upper body during the exercise.
- Start on all fours and lean forward so your hands are under your shoulders and your weight is over your top half.
- With your elbows facing outwards, lower your body to the floor, keeping a straight back.
- Lift your torso, pushing through your arms, to return to the starting position.
Which muscles are used during a push-up?
John Solle is a NASM-qualified Noom personal trainer with over 20 years of experience, and a certified nutrition coach.
John Solle, a NASM-qualified personal trainer, tells us that the primary movers involved in the push-up are the pectoral muscles in your chest (pectoralis major and minor), the deltoid complex (anterior, medial, and posterior) located in your shoulders, and your triceps.
But there are lots of other muscles involved that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a push-up. Your supporting muscles, known as “stabilizers,” and your core muscles.
This includes he rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscles), transverse abdominis (a deep belt of muscle around the front of your stomach), the internal and external obliques located down the sides of your trunk, diaphragm, hip complex, and erector spine — stabilizing muscles in the back that hug your spine.
To maximize activation in these muscles, Solle recommends you “hold for a second at the top and squeeze your chest muscles” before lowering back down for the next rep.
It’s also helpful to squeeze the muscles in your back and brace your core throughout to ensure the correct muscles switch on during the push-up rather than loading your lower back — this is the best way to maximize gains and prevent nasty injuries.
You can find out more about what muscles are worked during push-ups (opens in new tab) here.