The Only Push-Up Exercise That Lets You Stick Your Butt In The Air
There’s a few things to remember when doing a proper push-up, one of the main ones being that your body must remain in a straight line—sticking your butt up into the air isn’t allowed. When it comes to doing a pike push-up, however, you can toss that rule out the window.
When people stick their butt in the air during a push-up, it’s typically in an attempt to make the exercise easier (which isn’t good for your shoulders). But in a pike push-up, you have permission to do exactly that… except you turn things up a notch. Pike push-ups are incredibly challenging, and they require a lot of upper-body strength to pull off correctly.
A pike push-up starts in a downward dog position. Then once you’re stable, you bend your elbows and complete an angled push-up, all while keeping your body in an inverted V-shape for the ultimate challenge. Once your head is hovering right above the floor, you finish the push-up by using all your strength to straighten your arms and return back to the downward dog position. It’s anything but easy.
Before you get to put your booty in the air during a push-up, you first need to make sure you’re doing a regular push-up correctly. You can do so by following along with the video above. Once you’re golden, then—and only then!—may you carry on with these pike push-up instructions.
How to do a pike push-up the right way
- Start in a downward dog position with straight arms and legs.
- With your head in line with your arms and heels slightly raised off the ground, slowly bend your elbows as you lower your upper body into a push-up. Make sure to keep your legs as straight as you can.
- Once your head is slightly hovering above the ground, straighten your arms and push yourself back up to a downward dog position.
- Complete 12 reps.
