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Exercise library · Shoulders

Pike push-up

Vertical press for the shoulders with your bodyweight.

How to do it

1 of 3

Hips high, hands shoulder-width

  1. Starting position

    Place your hands and feet on the floor, lift your hips high and keep your hands shoulder-width apart with your eyes toward your feet.

  2. The movement

    Bend your elbows and lower your head toward the floor between your hands, then press back to straight arms.

Most common mistake

Don't flare your elbows straight out, angle them back and keep your hips high throughout the movement.

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Muscle group
Shoulders
Equipment
Bodyweight
Where
Home or gym
Logged as
Reps

Muscles worked

The pike push-up is a push-up with your hips high, so you press at an upward angle instead of straight ahead. That moves the work from your chest to your front delts, while your triceps straighten your arms. Your side delts and upper chest help out, and your abs hold your hips up. The closer your feet are to your hands and the more upright your torso, the more it resembles an overhead press, and the harder it gets.

Common mistakes

  • Feet too far back. Your torso flattens out and the exercise drifts towards an ordinary push-up, where your chest takes over. Walk your feet in until your torso clearly slopes down to the floor.
  • A rounded back. With tight hamstrings it is hard to get your hips up with a straight back. Bend your knees as much as you need to keep your back straight.
  • Only going halfway down. If you stop well above the floor, your shoulders only get the easiest part of the movement. Lower yourself until your head almost touches the floor, and choose fewer full reps over many half ones.

Variations and alternatives

  • The elevated pike push-up, with your feet on a bench or chair, loads your arms more once the regular version feels easy.
  • The handstand push-up against a wall is the goal if you want to press close to your full bodyweight.
  • Push-ups build basic strength in your triceps and shoulders if the pike push-up is still too hard.

Sets and reps

Your position decides how hard the exercise is. Three or four sets of 5 to 12 reps suits most people. If you get fewer than five full reps, put your hands on a low step for a while. Once you can do more than twelve, it is time for a harder position. The guide to sets and reps explains how to structure your sets.

Without weights, progressive overload comes from changing your position: feet closer to your hands, feet on a raised surface, or hands on two sturdy books so your head can go lower than your hands. A three second lowering is another option. The exercise fits well in a no-equipment home programme, where it is often the only overhead press.

Swap for

Taken, or missing the equipment? The same movement with something else.

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