Elevated Pike Push-Up
ShouldersCompoundPushBodyweightIntermediate
A vertical bodyweight push: hips high in a pike with the feet on a bench, torso nearly vertical, lowering STRAIGHT down with the crown of the head toward the floor. The stepping stone between the push-up and the handstand push-up.
Visual guide
Reference photo — start and end of the movement.
How to perform
- 1.Hands on the floor at shoulder width, feet on a bench.
- 2.Walk your hands toward the bench until your hips rise into a pike and your torso is nearly vertical.
- 3.Lower by bending your elbows, driving the crown of your head straight toward the floor.
- 4.Press back up to full elbow extension without letting the hips leave the pike.
Common mistakes
- ●Flattening the hips and turning it into a decline push-up — the press stops being vertical
- ●Leading the descent with the forehead instead of the crown
- ●Flaring the elbows out
- ●Losing the pike on the press, shifting the shoulders forward
Proper technique
The hips stay high through the WHOLE range: the more vertical the torso, the more shoulder and the less chest. The head travels down between the hands, not in front of them. Elbows at about 45 degrees. It is the overhead press of your own body weight: once it feels easy, raise the feet higher.
Variants
Other exercises that work the same primary muscle.
muscle map
primary
secondary
Primary
- Front deltoid
- Side deltoid
Secondary
- Triceps brachii
- Serratus anterior
- Core
- Upper traps
- Mid traps
- Lower traps