Push Up
What you'll gain
Builds the chest, triceps, and front shoulders without any equipment.
Reinforces a strong full-body plank shape under pressing load.
Scales infinitely from incline beginner versions to advanced weighted variations.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Set up in a high-plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width and arms locked.
- 2
Brace your core, squeeze the glutes, and keep your body in a straight line from head to heels.
- 3
Lower your chest slowly toward the floor over 2 to 3 seconds, keeping the elbows at about 45 degrees.
- 4
Stop when your chest hovers just above the floor, holding the bottom briefly with full body tension.
- 5
Press back up by driving the floor away through the palms until the arms reach full extension.
- 6
Reset your breath and repeat for the full set, keeping the body line tight on every rep.
Common Mistakes
Letting the hips sag toward the floor, which removes the core demand and strains the lower back.
Letting the elbows flare to 90 degrees, which strains the front shoulders and reduces chest engagement.
Cutting the depth short and only pressing the top half of the rep instead of touching the chest down.
Letting the head poke forward instead of keeping the neck in line with the spine.
About This Exercise
The push-up is the most foundational bodyweight upper-body exercise. From a high-plank position, the lifter lowers the chest to the floor and presses back up, loading the chest, triceps, and front shoulders through a controlled horizontal press. It scales endlessly: incline for beginners, decline or weighted for advanced lifters. For app and content use, this clip is non-negotiable inventory for any beginner program, home-and-travel track, or warm-up flow. It also serves as the anchor of any push pattern progression in coaching platforms and as a clean teaching piece for movement-quality content aimed at brand-new lifters.
Looking for an exercise animation collection for your app, coaching platform, or content workflow? MoveKit gives you consistent quality across every movement so your product feels cohesive from first launch through scale.
Build faster with related MoveKit resources
The most foundational bodyweight push lift — trains the chest, triceps, and front shoulders with a single, scalable pattern.
Need more than one animation?
Compare our packs to find the right fit, all with commercial licensing included.
Specifications
Built for
- Beginner onboarding programming in fitness apps
- Home-and-travel push-day workouts with no equipment
- Warm-up flows for upper-body strength sessions
- Push pattern education in coaching platforms
Muscles Worked
Details
License Includes
Explore these exercise collections
Incline Push-Up Close-Grip
$4.99An incline push-up with the hands set just inside shoulder width on a bench, loading chest and triceps.
Incline Push-Up Depth Jump
$4.99A plyometric push-up with feet on a box and hands jumping between two low platforms, loading the chest on each drop.
Incline Push-Up Reverse Grip
$4.99An incline push-up with the fingers pointed back toward the feet, loading the chest through a reverse hand contact.
Incline Push-Up Wide
$4.99An incline push-up with the hands set outside shoulder width on a bench, biasing the press toward the chest.
Parallel Bar Dips
$4.99A bodyweight dip on parallel bars that builds the chest and triceps — one of the most demanding pure-bodyweight upper-body lifts.
Push-Up Wide
$4.99A floor push-up with the hands set outside the shoulders, biasing the press toward the chest through a deeper stretch at the bottom.