Decline Push Up
Elevate your feet to intensify your push-up, targeting the upper chest and shoulders more effectively.
Description
A variation of the traditional push-up technique where the feet are elevated to increase the difficulty level.
How to Do Decline Push Up
- 1Setup
Position yourself in a push-up stance with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward directly under your shoulders.
- 2Setup
Elevate your feet onto a sturdy surface like a bench or box, ensuring your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels. Brace your core and glutes to maintain rigidity.
- 3
Inhale as you slowly lower your chest towards the floor by bending your elbows, keeping them tracking slightly backward at about a 45-degree angle to your torso. Continue until your chest is just above the floor.
- 4
Exhale forcefully as you push through your palms to extend your elbows, driving your body back up to the starting elevated plank position. Engage your chest muscles fully at the top of the movement.
Tips
- Maintain a straight body line from head to heels throughout the entire exercise by actively bracing your core and squeezing your glutes to prevent sagging hips.
- Control the descent by actively resisting gravity on the way down; this increases time under tension and enhances muscle activation in your chest and triceps.
- Ensure your elbows track at approximately a 45-degree angle to your torso to protect your shoulder joints and optimize pectoral engagement.
- Focus on a strong mind-muscle connection, consciously squeezing your chest at the top of each repetition to maximize muscle fiber recruitment.
Common Mistakes
- ×Sagging Hips: Allowing your hips to drop towards the floor indicates a weak core; fix this by actively bracing your abdominal muscles and squeezing your glutes throughout the movement.
- ×Flaring Elbows: Flaring your elbows out wide puts excessive stress on your shoulder joints; tuck them slightly towards your body, aiming for a 45-degree angle relative to your torso.
- ×Incomplete Range of Motion: Only performing partial repetitions limits muscle engagement; ensure your chest gets close to the floor and you fully extend your arms at the top of the movement.
Variations
Kneeling Push-up
Build foundational chest, shoulder, and triceps strength with the kneeling push-up. Develop proper form and control for a stronger upper body.
Wide Hand Push up
Perform wide hand push-ups to intensely target your chest muscles. This bodyweight exercise strengthens your pectorals, deltoids, and triceps effectively.
Push Up
Master the classic push-up to build chest, shoulder, and triceps strength. This fundamental bodyweight exercise improves upper body endurance and core
Drop Push Up
Master the explosive Drop Push Up to build powerful chest, shoulder, and triceps strength. Start standing, drop into a push-up, and explode back up.
Related Exercises
Isometric Chest Squeeze
Engage your chest muscles with the Isometric Chest Squeeze, a bodyweight exercise focusing on sustained contraction.
Elevanted Push-Up
Elevated Push-Ups target your upper chest and shoulders more intensely than standard push-ups.
Decline Shoulder Tap
Elevate your feet and perform a decline push-up, then tap your opposite shoulder at the top. This challenges core stability and chest strength.
Twist Push-up
Master the twist push-up for a dynamic challenge, building chest and core strength.
Assisted Standing Triceps Dip
Build triceps strength with machine assistance that lets you focus on proper dip form at a manageable load.
Dumbbell Complex Push-up Row Clean and Press
The ultimate full-body dumbbell complex combining a push-up, row, clean, and overhead press in one flow.
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