Dumbbell Deficit Push-Up
Also known as: deep push-up
In SetGrip: Deficit Push-Up (Dumbbells)
The dumbbell deficit push-up is a push-up with your hands on two dumbbells, which lifts them off the floor so your chest can go lower than your hands. It works the chest, with the triceps and shoulders assisting. Use dumbbells that sit flat and cannot roll.
How to do the Dumbbell Deficit Push-Up
- Set two hex dumbbells on the floor a little wider than your shoulders and grip the handles.
- Walk your feet back into a straight-arm plank with your body in one line.
- Lower your chest between the dumbbells, below the level of your hands as far as is comfortable.
- Press through the handles until your arms are straight again.
Muscles worked
Common mistakes
- Round dumbbells that roll — use hex dumbbells or heads that sit flat, so the handles cannot move under you.
- Hips sagging at the bottom — brace your abs and glutes so the deeper range does not pull your lower back down.
- Dropping into the bottom — lower under control; the extra depth is where your shoulders need the most care.
Where it fits in a workout
Use it as a main push-up variation on a chest or upper-body day.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Logging the Dumbbell Deficit Push-Up in SetGrip
SetGrip logs the Dumbbell Deficit Push-Up as reps with an optional added weight, so plain sets need only the rep count; enter a weight only if you wear a weight vest or rest a plate on your back.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Without dumbbell
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
Track the Dumbbell Deficit Push-Up in SetGrip
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More exercises
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. Text: SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.