Incline push-up
A push-up with your hands raised on a bench, table or wall. The sensible way to build toward the full version.
The movement
Top
01 Top
Hands on the raised surface, body one straight line to the heels.
02 Bottom
Lower until the chest touches the edge, then press away.
How to do it
Setup
- Put your hands on a sturdy raised surface, such as a bench, a table edge or a kitchen counter, slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Walk your feet back until your body forms a straight line on an angle.
- Tighten your stomach and glutes so your body holds that line.
Execution
- Lower your chest to the edge of the surface with your elbows about 45° from your body.
- Touch the edge lightly with your chest.
- Press back to straight arms without letting your hips sag.
Form cues
- The lower the surface, the harder it gets. Pick a height allowing 8–12 clean reps.
- Move your whole body as one piece, hips travelling with chest.
Common mistakes
- Choosing a surface so high that the reps do almost nothing.
- Bending at the hips instead of holding a straight line.
Worth knowing
- Check the surface cannot slide before your first rep.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The incline push-up is how push-ups are actually learned. Knee push-ups change the shape of your body and teach a position you later have to unlearn. Raising your hands instead keeps the whole body straight and simply takes weight off your arms. The lower the surface, the more of your weight you press, so a wall leads to a counter, a counter to a bench, and a bench to the floor.
Treat each height as its own weight. Own three sets of twelve strict reps before you move to something lower, and your first floor push-up will arrive with the form already built. The incline version stays useful after that too, for high-rep pressing in circuits where full push-ups would fall apart.