Push Ups: How to Do Them, Muscles Worked and Variations

The push up is the most useful bodyweight exercise there is. It builds your chest, shoulders, triceps and core in one move, needs no kit and no space, and scales from a complete beginner doing wall push ups to an advanced trainee doing weighted or one-arm reps. It is also a genuinely good marker of general fitness. In one study of active men, those who could do more than 40 push ups had a much lower rate of future heart problems than those who managed fewer than 10 (JAMA Network Open push up capacity study). Here is how to do a push up properly, the muscles it works, and how to make it easier or harder to suit you.

How to do a push up

You need nothing but a bit of floor. The whole point is to move your body as one rigid unit, not to bend at the hips.

1. Set your hands. Place your hands flat on the floor a little wider than shoulder-width, with your middle fingers pointing forward or very slightly out. Your hands should sit roughly under your upper chest, not up by your shoulders.
2. Get into the plank. Step your feet back so your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels. Push the floor away so your upper back is broad, and squeeze your glutes and abs so your hips do not sag.
3. Lower under control. Bend your elbows and lower your chest towards the floor, keeping your elbows at roughly a 45 degree angle to your body, not flared straight out to the sides. Take about two seconds on the way down.
4. Hit depth. Lower until your chest is an inch or two from the floor, or lightly touches it. Your body stays in one straight line the whole time.
5. Press up. Drive through your palms and push the floor away hard until your elbows are straight, keeping your core tight so your hips do not lift first. That is one rep.

Muscles worked

The push up is often called an upper-body exercise, but it is really a full-body plank with an arm press bolted on.

• Chest (pectoralis major). The big fan-shaped muscles of your chest are the main movers, bringing your upper arms towards the midline as you press up. Push ups load them through a similar range to a floor or bench press.
• Triceps. The muscles on the back of your upper arms straighten your elbows to complete each press. A narrower hand position, like a diamond push up, loads them harder.
• Front deltoids. The front of your shoulders assists the chest in every rep and works especially hard when your hands are higher or your feet are elevated.
• Core. Your abs, obliques and lower back brace to keep your body straight, resisting the pull of gravity on your hips. This anti-sag work is why a strict push up feels like a plank you are also pressing from.
• Serratus and upper back. The serratus anterior along your ribs and the muscles around your shoulder blades control and stabilise the blades as you lower and press, which keeps the shoulder joint healthy.

If you want to load your chest and triceps beyond what bodyweight allows, a set of adjustable dumbbells or a simple push up board opens up a lot more variety.

Benefits

• It builds real upper-body strength. Chest, shoulders and triceps all work hard, so a few focused sets a few times a week genuinely add pressing strength and muscle, particularly for beginners.
• It trains your core at the same time. Because you hold a plank throughout, you build midline stability without doing a single dedicated ab exercise.
• It needs no equipment or space. A patch of floor is enough, which makes push ups perfect for home training, hotel rooms and quick sessions between other commitments.
• It supports general health. Bodyweight strength work counts towards the muscle-strengthening activity the NHS recommends on at least two days a week, alongside your cardio.
• It scales endlessly. From wall push ups to one-arm and weighted variations, you never truly outgrow the movement. You just change the leverage.

Common mistakes

Sagging hips. The most common fault by far. When your core gives up, your hips drop and your lower back arches, which both wastes effort and stresses the spine. Squeeze your glutes and abs hard and keep your body dead straight.

Flaring the elbows. Letting your elbows shoot straight out to the sides at 90 degrees stresses the shoulders and cuts the chest out of the movement. Tuck them to about 45 degrees so your arms and body make an arrow shape, not a T.

Half reps. Bobbing down a few inches and pressing back up feels productive but short-changes your chest and triceps. Lower until your chest is close to the floor on every rep, even if that means fewer of them.

Cranking the neck. Craning your head up to look forward strains your neck. Keep your head in line with your spine and look at a spot on the floor a little ahead of your hands.

Rushing. Firing off fast, bouncy reps uses momentum instead of muscle. Control the lowering phase for a second or two, then press with intent.

Easier and harder variations

The beauty of the push up is that you can dial the difficulty up or down just by changing the angle or your base of support.

Easier, if you cannot do a full push up yet:

• Wall push ups. Stand arms length from a wall, hands on the wall, and press. The most upright and easiest version, ideal for a true beginner.
• Incline push ups. Hands on a sturdy weight bench, kitchen worktop or a low step. The higher the surface, the easier the rep. Lower the surface over time as you get stronger.
• Knee push ups. A full push up but from your knees rather than your toes, which reduces the load. Keep the straight line from your knees to your head.
• Negatives. From the top of a full push up, lower as slowly as you can (aim for 3 to 5 seconds), then reset. Brilliant for building the strength for your first full rep.

Harder, once full push ups feel easy:

• Diamond push ups. Hands close together under your chest so your thumbs and index fingers form a diamond. This bias towards the triceps and inner chest makes them noticeably tougher.
• Feet-elevated push ups. Put your feet on a bench or box to shift more load onto your upper chest and shoulders.
• Tempo push ups. Take 3 to 4 seconds to lower, pause at the bottom, then press. More time under tension makes bodyweight feel much heavier.
• Weighted push ups. Wear a weighted vest or rest a plate on your upper back (with a partner to place it) to add real external load once bodyweight is not enough.
• Deficit push ups on handles. Push up bars or parallettes let your chest drop below your hands for a bigger stretch and range of motion, and they are kinder to sore wrists.

Reps and sets

A simple plan that works for almost everyone:

• Building strength and muscle: 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps, stopping a rep or two before your form breaks, 3 times a week. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets.
• Working towards your first push up: 3 to 4 sets of an easier variation (incline or knee), adding one or two reps each session. Rest 60 seconds.
• Building endurance: 2 to 3 higher-rep sets of a variation you find manageable, resting 30 to 45 seconds.

Progress by adding reps until you reach the top of your range on every set with clean form, then move to a harder variation and start the count again. That steady climb, rather than testing your max every day, is what keeps push ups working for years.

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4. The best weighted vest in the UK
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