Push-Up
A bodyweight exercise that lowers and raises the body by bending and straightening the arms while holding a rigid plank line.
Overview
The push-up trains the chest, shoulders and arms while the core holds the body in a straight line. From a plank position with the hands about shoulder-width apart, the exerciser lowers the chest toward the floor and presses back up.
Keeping the body straight from head to heels and moving through a full range keep the push-up effective.
How to do it
- 1Set your hands on the floor a little wider than your shoulders.
- 2Extend your legs and hold a straight plank line from head to heels.
- 3Brace your midsection and bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the floor.
- 4Lower until your chest is just above the ground.
- 5Press back up until your arms are straight, keeping the body rigid.
Key points
- Keep a straight line from head to heels the whole time.
- Lower until your chest is close to the floor.
- Keep the elbows angled back rather than flared straight out.
Where it’s used
Sports that use push-up:
Fitness
Strength and general fitness training — the foundation that supports every other sport.
Calisthenics
Bodyweight strength training — push-ups, pull-ups, dips and progressions you can do almost anywhere.
Functional Fitness
Varied, whole-body training built around everyday movement patterns like squatting, lifting and carrying.
Related techniques
Bodyweight Squat
A foundational lower-body exercise that lowers the hips by bending the knees and hips, then stands back up, using only body weight.
Plank
A static core exercise that holds the body in a straight line supported on the forearms and toes.
Deadlift
A strength exercise that lifts a loaded barbell from the floor to a standing position by extending the hips and knees together.
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Movement patterns
- PushPressing a load or the body away from the torso — horizontally or overhead — by extending the shoulders and elbows, developing the chest, shoulders and triceps.
- SquatA knee-dominant pattern: bending the hips, knees and ankles to lower and rise while keeping the torso upright — the foundation of lower-body strength.
- CarryHolding and transporting a load while keeping the trunk braced and stable — an anti-movement pattern that builds grip, core stability and full-body strength.
- SlideA slide is a controlled, low-friction skid of the body or foot along a surface, used to brake, extend reach, or hold a line, where managed friction and a lowered centre of gravity govern the movement.
- JumpThe plyometric pattern of projecting the body off the ground through explosive triple extension and controlling the landing — the core expression of lower-body power.
Exercises
- PlankA core-holding exercise where you keep your body in a straight line supported on forearms and toes.
- BurpeeA full-body exercise combining a squat, a plank, and a jump in one flowing movement.
- Push-upA classic upper-body pushing exercise where you lower and press your body up from the floor.
- Tricep dipA pushing exercise where you lower and raise your body using your arms on parallel bars or a bench.
- Inverted rowA horizontal pulling exercise where you pull your chest to a fixed bar while lying back beneath it.
Muscle groups
Lifestyle
- No equipmentActivities and workouts you can do with little or no gear, using mostly your own body.
- 20 minutesTwenty minutes is enough for a solid, focused workout — a proper run, an interval session or a full-body circuit.
- EveningUsing the evening to be active after work, whether to unwind or fit in a proper session.
- At homeMovement you can do in your living room — from bodyweight strength to yoga — with little or no equipment.
- 30 minutesA half-hour is enough for a proper, well-rounded session across many sports and workouts.
Sports science
- Movement efficiencyHow economically the body performs a movement — achieving the goal with the least wasted effort.
- BiomechanicsThe study of how the body produces and controls movement — the mechanics behind every technique in sport.
- Energy systemsHow the body supplies energy for movement — the different pathways that power everything from an explosive jump to a long, steady run.
- Aerobic and anaerobic energyThe difference between energy the body produces with oxygen and energy it produces without it — a core idea behind why different efforts feel and last so differently.
- Training adaptationThe process by which the body changes in response to repeated training — the underlying reason exercise makes you fitter, stronger or more skilful over time.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Technique
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-07-09
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