Pike Push-Up

Instructions

1. Start on the floor in a push-up position with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and feet hip-width apart.
2. Walk your feet toward your hands and raise your hips toward the ceiling until your body forms an inverted V shape — the downward-dog position.
3. Keep your arms and legs as straight as possible with your head hanging between your arms.
4. Brace your core and look toward your feet.
5. Bend your elbows at roughly a 45-degree angle to your torso and lower the crown of your head toward the floor between your hands.
6. Continue lowering until your head nearly touches the ground or you reach your full range of motion.
7. Press firmly through both hands to straighten your elbows and drive your body back up to the inverted V starting position.
8. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tips

• Keep your hips high throughout the set — letting them drop shifts the load from your shoulders to your chest and reduces the training stimulus.
• The higher your hips, the more vertical the pressing angle and the greater the shoulder demand, progressing toward a handstand push-up pattern.
• Elbows should flare at roughly 45 degrees rather than straight out to the sides; this protects the shoulder joint and keeps the deltoids under tension.
• Feet can be kept together or slightly apart — the key is that they stay planted so your torso stays braced.
• If the full range is too challenging, limit depth to a comfortable point and build range of motion over time.
• To increase difficulty, elevate your feet on a bench or box, which shifts more of your bodyweight onto your arms.
• This is one of the best floor-based progressions toward the handstand push-up; consistency with technique pays off quickly.