Incline Push Up
A push-up with your hands raised on a bench or box, which takes some of your weight off your arms and makes the movement easier to learn.
- Primary muscles
- Lower chest
- Secondary
- Middle chest, Upper chest, Front delts, Triceps
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Reps
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Why do it
The incline push-up is the usual starting point if floor push-ups are still too hard, and it builds the same straight-body pressing pattern. Compared with push-ups on your knees, your whole body stays in a plank, so you practice the full position from the start. Progress by moving to lower surfaces until you reach the floor. The raised-hand angle also leans the work toward your lower chest, so it can serve as a high-rep finisher for stronger lifters too.
How to do it
Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width on a stable raised surface like a bench or box.
Step your feet back until your body forms a straight line from head to heels.
Lower your chest to the surface with your elbows at roughly 45 degrees to your torso.
Press back up without letting your hips sag. The higher the surface, the easier the push-up, so lower it as you get stronger.
Common mistakes
Using a surface that moves
A light box or bench can slide or tip as you push. Use something heavy and stable, or brace it against a wall.
Hips lagging behind your chest
Your hips should move together with your chest. If they drop or stick up, squeeze your glutes and brace your core.
Staying at one height for months
Once you can do clean sets of many reps, move to a lower surface. Otherwise the exercise stops getting harder.
Hands too far forward
With your hands out in front of your shoulders, the press gets awkward and your chest can't reach the edge. Set them under your shoulders, slightly wider.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
