Push-up
The basic horizontal press. Chest, shoulders and triceps trained anywhere, with a plank built into every rep.
The movement
Top
01 Top
Rigid line from head to heels, hands under shoulders.
02 Bottom
Chest just above the floor, elbows about 45° from the torso.
How to do it
Setup
- Place your hands on the floor slightly wider than your shoulders, fingers pointing forward.
- Step your feet back until your body forms one straight line from head to heels.
- Squeeze your glutes and tighten your stomach before the first rep.
Execution
- Bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor, elbows about 45° from your torso.
- Stop just above the floor without resting on it.
- Press the floor away until your arms are fully straight.
- Hold the body line on every rep, with no sagging or piking at the hips.
BreathingInhale on the way down, exhale as you press up.
Form cues
- Elbows track back at about 45°, never flared level with the shoulders.
- Ribs down and glutes tight, so the hips arrive with the chest.
- Lead with the chest, not the head.
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging, which turns the exercise into a lower-back hang.
- Flaring the elbows straight out to the sides.
- Cutting the range short at the bottom.
Worth knowing
- Sore wrists are common early on. Turn your hands out slightly, or use push-up handles.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The push-up is the most complete pressing exercise that needs no equipment, and it is harder to do well than its reputation suggests. Done strictly, through a full range with a rigid body and a controlled tempo, it builds the chest, shoulders and triceps while training the same trunk stiffness a plank does.
Progress it like any other lift. Once you can do sets of 15–20 clean reps, adding more reps stops being the answer. Put your feet on a box, take three seconds to lower yourself, or move to the diamond version. Changing your leverage is how you add weight to a push-up.
The trunk usually fails before the arms do. As you tire, your hips drop, and the rep count keeps climbing while the quality falls apart. Stop the set when the body line breaks. The broken reps after that point are training something you did not intend to train.