Sagging hips
Brace the abs and glutes to hold a straight line.
Horizontal push · Bodyweight
Push-Up
A bodyweight press where you lower your chest to the floor and push back up. It builds the chest, triceps, and front delts and teaches full-body tension. Works for beginners through advanced lifters with easy scaling.
- Primary
- Chest
- Secondary
- Triceps, Front Delts
- Starting rep range
- 10–25 reps
- Target effort
- 2 reps in reserve
- Progression
- Add reps, then difficulty
Muscles worked
The chest pushes the arms forward, the triceps straighten the elbows, and the front delts assist. The abs and glutes hold the body rigid.
How to set up
- Place your hands slightly wider than shoulders.
- Step your feet back so your body is straight from head to heels.
- Turn the elbow pits slightly forward.
- Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes.
How to do each rep
- Lower your chest toward the floor with elbows about 30-45 degrees from your sides.
- Go until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Push back up to full lockout, moving as one unit.
- Keep the hips level throughout.
Common push-up mistakes
Elbows flared to 90 degrees
Tuck the elbows to about 45 degrees.
Half reps
Lower until the chest nearly touches the floor each rep.
Sets, reps, and progression
Surpass starts the push-up at 10–25 reps with about 2 reps in reserve. As a compound lift it usually belongs early in the session, when you are fresh.
Start with incline push-ups if needed. Once you can do 20+ clean reps, add a weighted vest, deficit, or slow tempo.
Know what to lift next time
Surpass shows what you lifted last time beside a target for this set, and adjusts it from your reps and RIR. Free on iPhone, no account needed.
Push-Up alternatives
These train the same main muscles. Swap when the equipment is busy, something hurts, or progress has stalled for several weeks.
Questions
Are push-ups as good as bench press for chest?
For building muscle, push-ups taken close to failure work well. Bench press is easier to load heavily, so stronger lifters need harder push-up variations to keep progressing.
How many push-ups should I do a day?
You do not need to do them daily. Two to four hard sets, two or three times a week, is enough for most people to keep improving.