Types of Push-Ups
The humble push-up is one of the greatest general conditioning exercises for the outdoor athlete, and you can do them anywhere, no equipment required. Push-ups target the chest, shoulders, and triceps and work your core, back, and legs.
Great push-up form starts with a rigid plank. Your arms should be fully extended, with your hands, elbows, and shoulders all in line, and your feet should be no more than 12 inches apart—the closer together, the more difficult the push-up, because it requires more core activation for stability. Throughout the push-up movement (unless otherwise specified by a variation), your spine should be neutral, so that your body forms a straight line from your feet to the crown of your head. Remember to engage your core and thighs to keep your hips flat and level.
You can bend your elbows out to the side in a T formation, which fires up your pecs, or keep them tucked in along your rib cage, which biases the triceps.
Once you’ve perfected your form, push-ups are an excellent way to warm up at the crag, and they’re great mixed into workouts for general conditioning. Plus, there are endless ways to modify them for your own specific needs. Here’s a guide to the classic push-up and our 12 favorite variations, in more or less ascending order of difficulty.
Strict (Military) Push-Up
What It Does Strengthens the upper body and core, with more focus on the pectoral muscles. How to Do It Do a strict push-up, as described above, but with your hands farther out to each side, roughly 2.5 to three feet apart (the farther apart, the more difficult). Keep your elbows tracking back throughout the movement.
Wide Hands Push-Up
What It Does Strengthens the upper body and core, with more focus on the pectoral muscles. How to Do It Do a strict push-up, as described above, but with your hands farther out to each side, roughly 2.5 to three feet apart (the farther apart, the more difficult). Keep your elbows tracking back throughout the movement.
Triangle (Diamond) Push-Up
What It Does Strengthens the upper body and core, with more focus on the triceps. How to Do It Begin in a plank position, with your hands together and angled inward at 45 degrees so that your index fingers and thumbs touch to form a triangle (or diamond). Keep your elbows tight to your body and bend them to lower your chest toward the triangle. Reverse the movement to the starting position for one repetition. Keep the triangle directly below your chest throughout the movement.
Ike Push-Up
What It Does Strengthens the upper body and core, with more focus on the shoulders. How to Do It Begin in a downward dog yoga position, with your feet and hands just wider than shoulder width. Keep your hips high, heels low, and maintain the inverted-V position as you bend your elbows and lower your head toward the floor between your hands. Reverse the movement to the starting position for one repetition.
Super (Hindu) Push-Up
What It Does Works the shoulders, triceps, and core and improves flexibility. How to Do It Slowly swoop from downward dog to cobra pose: from the downward dog position, bend your elbows and lower your nose to the floor between your hands, like a pike push-up, but then, without rising, continue moving your torso forward to slide your chin, chest, and then rib cage between your hands. As your ribs meet your hands, begin to arc your head and torso upward. Continue this upward arc until your arms are straight, hips are pressed toward the ground, and your back is hyperextended in cobra pose. Reverse the movement exactly until you’re back in downward dog.
Staggered Hands Push-Up
What It Does Trains the push-up muscles asymmetrically across the body and requires more core activation for stability. How to Do It From a standard push-up position, move one hand forward and the other backward so they’re offset by about six to 12 inches (the farther, the more difficult). Bend your elbows to lower your chest until it is slightly below the level of your bent elbow, and then extend your elbows to push back up to the starting position. Keep your elbows tight to your body throughout the movement. After one or more repetitions, switch the fore and aft positions of your hands to work each side evenly.
Sphinx Push-Up (Triceps Extension)
What It Does Strengthens the upper body and core, with more focus on the triceps. How to Do It Start in a plank position, with your forearms flat on the ground, shoulder-width apart and parallel. Push up with your triceps to lift your elbows off the ground; continue until your arms are fully extended, then lower your elbows until just above the ground (don’t weight your forearms again) for one repetition. The farther forward you place your arms, the more difficult.