Overhead pressing
Pike push-ups
- Kit
- No kit
- Works
- front delts · triceps
- Also
- upper chest · upper back · core
The pike push-up is a bodyweight press done with your hips high and your head travelling toward the floor between your hands. That angle shifts the load off the chest and onto the shoulders, making it the closest thing to an overhead press without any equipment. It suits anyone who wants shoulder strength at home, and it scales by how high you lift your hips.
Form
How to do pike push-ups
- 1Start in a push-up position, then walk your feet in and push your hips up until your body forms an upside-down V. Hands are a little wider than your shoulders, arms straight, head between them.
- 2Keep your legs as straight as comfort allows and let your heels sit high. Look back between your feet, not forward.
- 3Bend your elbows and lower the top of your head toward the floor between your hands, keeping your elbows tracking at roughly 45 degrees from your body. Breathe in as you descend.
- 4Stop when your head is just short of the floor, then press back up to straight arms, breathing out through the effort.
- 5Hold the hips high throughout rather than letting them drop toward a flat push-up. Come down to your knees to rest if the shoulders fade before the effort ends.
Watch for
Common mistakes
The hips sink so the movement becomes a normal push-up.
Fix: Walk your feet closer to your hands and actively push your hips toward the ceiling before each descent.
The head travels forward past the hands instead of down between them.
Fix: Aim the crown of your head at a spot on the floor level with your fingertips and keep your gaze back toward your feet.
Elbows flare straight out to the sides, which stalls the press.
Fix: Keep your forearms roughly vertical and let the elbows travel back at an angle, not wide.
Variations
Easier and harder
Sessions