Incline Push-Up Close-Grip
What you'll gain
The incline reduces load so beginners can keep a rigid plank and tucked elbows.
A narrower hand set shifts more of the lockout onto the triceps than a wide push-up.
Needs only a bench, so it scales from home to commercial gym floor work.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Place your hands on a bench just inside shoulder width, thumbs not touching.
- 2
Walk your feet back until the body is a straight line from head to heels.
- 3
Brace the trunk and keep the elbows close to the ribs.
- 4
Lower the chest toward the bench by bending the elbows.
- 5
Stop just short of the pad, then press the bench away until the elbows straighten.
- 6
Reset the plank if the hips sag, then repeat.
Common Mistakes
Flaring the elbows wide, which turns a close-grip press into a standard incline push-up.
Letting the hips sag or pike, which breaks the plank the chest is supposed to press from.
Setting the hands in a diamond, which the asset does not show and often irritates the wrists.
Choosing a bench so high that the press barely loads the arms.
About This Exercise
Hands on a low bench turn a push-up into an incline press. Setting those hands just inside shoulder width, thumbs not touching, keeps the elbows closer to the ribs so the triceps share more of the lockout while the chest still drives the press. The higher the surface, the smaller the share of bodyweight; a shallow bench is still a real press, not a wall push-up. The body stays one line from head to heels. For a catalog this is the close-grip regression of a floor push-up. It fits beginner pressing progressions, triceps-biased bodyweight blocks, and app pages that need a bench as a surface rather than as a machine.
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An incline push-up with the hands set just inside shoulder width on a bench, loading chest and triceps.
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Specifications
Built for
- Beginner pressing progressions that start off the floor.
- Triceps-biased bodyweight slots in upper body app templates.
- Push-up regression content comparing incline, floor, and decline angles.
- Bodyweight library pages that still need a bench as the hand surface.
Muscles Worked
Details
License Includes
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