Kneeling Push-Up

How to do the Kneeling Push-Up

1. 1Start by kneeling on the ground with your hands shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward.
2. 2Extend your legs behind you, resting on the balls of your feet, so that your body forms a straight line from head to heels.
3. 3Engage your core and lower your body towards the ground by bending your elbows, keeping them close to your sides.
4. 4Continue lowering until your chest is just above the ground, then push back up to the starting position by straightening your arms.
5. 5Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tip: Screw your hands into the floor as if turning the fingers outward to set the shoulders before each set.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Hips sagging or piked — the body should stay a straight line from head to heels; squeeze the glutes and brace the abs before each rep.
• Elbows flared to 90 degrees — flaring the arms out wide loads the shoulder joint; keep the elbows tucked to about 45 degrees from the torso.
• Cutting the bottom short — chest should come to within a fist of the floor; if that means fewer reps, do fewer reps.
• Head dropping first — the chin reaching for the floor makes it look like a rep when it is not; keep the head neutral and lead with the chest.

Where it fits in a workout

Push-ups work as a warm-up before bench press, as a finisher after chest work or as the main push exercise when training with no equipment. Superset them with inverted rows or a band pull-apart for balance.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

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.

More exercises

• All chest exercises
• All bodyweight exercises
• Bodyweight chest exercises
• Banded Close Grip Push-Up
• Clap Push-Up
• Clock Push-Up
• Close Grip Push-Up
• Dumbbell Close Grip Push-Up
• Feet on Stability Ball Close Grip Push-Up

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.