Push-Up Form

Check your push-up with your phone

RepSensei has a detailed push-up check. Prop up your phone and it counts your reps and flags these issues as you move:

• Not low enough
• Hips sagged
• Hips too high

Put your phone on the floor, side-on, about 2 metres away. Keep your head to toes in view. The push-up check has been tested on real movement. It sees one angle, so it won't catch everything.

How to do it

1. Place your hands on the floor slightly wider than your shoulders, fingers spread and pointing forward.
2. Step your feet back so your body forms a straight line from head to heels. Squeeze your glutes and brace your stomach.
3. Lower your chest towards the floor, elbows angled back at roughly 45 degrees from your body.
4. Go down until your chest is a fist's height from the floor or lightly touches it.
5. Push the floor away to straight arms, keeping hips and shoulders rising together.

Coaching cues

Plank that moves

Your body should move as one piece; if the hips lag or lead, the trunk is not braced.

Arrow, not a T

From above, your arms and body should form an arrow, not a T, which keeps the shoulders comfortable.

Screw the hands in

Gently turning your hands outwards into the floor helps keep the elbows from flaring.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Hips sagging

A loose trunk lets the lower back drop, which shifts work away from the chest and strains the back. Fix: Squeeze your glutes and brace as in a plank. If you cannot hold it, raise your hands on a bench.

Hips piked up

Raising the bum shortens the movement and makes it easier. Fix: Check side-on that your shoulders, hips and ankles stay in a line.

Elbows flared at 90 degrees

Wide elbows put the shoulders in an awkward position for many people. Fix: Tuck the elbows to about 45 degrees and keep the hands under or just outside the shoulders.

Short range

Bobbing the head down without the chest skips the hardest part. Fix: Lower until the chest nearly touches. Use an incline to make full reps possible.

Head dropping first

Leading with the chin makes the rep look deeper than it is. Fix: Keep the neck in line and look slightly ahead of your hands.

Muscles worked

Main: Chest, Triceps. Also: Shoulders, Abs, Obliques.

Who should take care

If full push-ups are too hard, do them with hands on a bench or wall rather than with poor form. Wrist discomfort can ease with push-up handles or dumbbells; pain that persists needs a doctor or physiotherapist.

Variations

• Incline Push-Up: Easier: hands on a bench or step reduce the load.
• Push-Ups - Close Triceps Position: Variation: hands closer for more triceps work.
• Decline Push-Up: Harder: feet raised shifts more weight onto the arms.
• Plyo Push-up: Harder: an explosive push that leaves the floor.

Filming your push-up

Place the phone on the floor side-on, about two metres away, so your whole body from head to feet is in frame. RepSensei has a detailed camera check for push-ups that counts reps and flags some visible issues from that one angle; it cannot see everything. See how to film your form.

Questions

Are knee push-ups worth doing?

They work, but incline push-ups keep the full body line and usually carry over better to floor push-ups.

How many push-ups should I be able to do?

There is no single standard. Track your own clean reps and aim to add one or two each week.

Should my chest touch the floor?

Touching lightly or stopping a fist's height away are both fine. Keep the depth consistent so your progress is real.

See the Pushups exercise guide with a 3D figure.

More form guides

• Bench Press form
• Overhead Press form
• Triceps Dip form
• Dumbbell Chest Fly form

General guidance, not medical advice. Stop if anything hurts. The camera can miss things, so no issue seen doesn't mean perfect form.