Push-Up Plus

Also known as: push-up with a plus, scapular push-up, serratus push-up, protraction push-up, push up plus serratus

Secondary muscles
Triceps, Delts
Body part
Chest
Position
Prone
Laterality
Bilateral (both sides together)
Category
Strength

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Adding the plus, an extra push of the upper back toward the ceiling at lockout, brings the serratus anterior into a rep that otherwise ends early. The pressing portion stays a normal push-up; the protraction at the top is the reason to pick it over the standard version.

How to do the Push-Up Plus

  1. Start in a high plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your body in a straight line from head to heels.
  2. Lower your body towards the ground by bending your elbows, keeping them close to your sides.
  3. Once your chest is just above the ground, push through your hands to extend your arms and lift your upper body up.
  4. At the top of the movement, protract your shoulder blades by pushing your upper back towards the ceiling.
  5. Pause for a moment, then reverse the movement by retracting your shoulder blades and lowering your body back down to the starting position.
  6. Repeat 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

Primary

Pectorals · Chest

The chest drives the arms together as you push, and it is loaded most in the bottom half of the rep when the elbows are bent.

Secondary

  • Triceps — The triceps finish the rep by locking the elbows, and they do more work the narrower your hands are.
  • Delts — The front delts assist the chest, especially on decline variations where the feet are elevated.

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

Similar exercises

Without bodyweight

Easier and harder

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.

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More exercises

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.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.