Pike Push Up

How to Perform the Pike Push Up

Start in a push-up position on the floor with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Walk your feet toward your hands, raising your hips high to form an inverted V shape with your body.
Position your head between your arms, looking back toward your feet, with your arms and legs as straight as possible.
Bend your elbows and lower the top of your head toward the floor between your hands.
Descend until your head nearly touches the ground or as low as your mobility allows.
Press through your palms and extend your elbows to push back up to the starting inverted V position.
Keep your core tight and hips elevated throughout the entire movement.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Hips sagging during the movement

Keep your hips piked high throughout; if they sag, it turns the exercise into a standard push-up rather than a shoulder press.

Flaring the elbows out to the sides

Keep your elbows at about a 45-degree angle from your torso, pointing slightly backward, to protect the shoulders.

Not achieving enough depth

Lower until the top of your head nearly touches the floor; elevate your feet on a box to increase the range of motion if needed.

✓Builds strong shoulders and overhead pressing strength using only bodyweight.
✓Requires no equipment, making it accessible for home workouts or travel.
✓Develops core stability and upper body coordination that transfers to handstand work.

●Elevate your feet on a bench or box to increase the difficulty and shift more load onto the shoulders.
●Place your hands on parallettes or push-up handles to increase the range of motion.
●This exercise is an excellent stepping stone in the progression toward handstand push-ups.

Strength

4-5 sets of 3-5 reps at bodyweight

Hypertrophy

3-4 sets of 8-12 reps at bodyweight

Endurance

2-3 sets of 15-20 reps at bodyweight

Join 2,000,000+ lifters tracking their workouts with Stronger. Available on iOS and Android.