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How to do the Wide Hand Push Up

ChestBodyweightIntermediate

The wide hand push up is a proven bodyweight movement that shifts greater mechanical tension onto the chest by increasing horizontal adduction demand at the shoulder joint. Master this variation and you build real pressing strength and pectoral thickness without a single piece of equipment.

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Muscles worked

Primary
Pectorals (chest)
Secondary
Front deltsTriceps

Step-by-step

  1. Set your hands roughly six to eight inches wider than shoulder width with fingers angled slightly outward, then lock your body into a rigid plank from head to heel.
  2. Lower your chest straight to the floor under control, keeping your elbows tracking at roughly a 45 to 60 degree angle from your torso rather than flaring wide.
  3. Pause for a count at the bottom with your chest an inch from the floor to eliminate momentum and maximize muscle tension.
  4. Drive your hands into the floor and think about pressing the ground apart as you push back to full lockout, squeezing the chest hard at the top.

Common mistakes

  • Allowing the hips to sag or pike breaks the plank and reduces core-to-chest force transfer, so brace your glutes and abs before every single rep and hold that tension throughout.
  • Flaring the elbows out to 90 degrees places excessive stress on the shoulder capsule and reduces pectoral activation, so keep elbows angled back toward your hips during the descent.
  • Shortcutting the range of motion by stopping the chest several inches from the floor kills the stretch-mediated hypertrophy benefit, so lower completely until the chest nearly grazes the ground on every rep.

Pro tip — As you press up, actively try to drag your hands toward each other along the floor without actually moving them, this co-contraction cue fires the sternal head of the pectoralis major more completely and sharpens the peak contraction at lockout.

Sets & reps by goal

Build muscle3–4 sets × 6–10 reps
Get stronger4–5 sets × 3–6 reps
Lose fat / tone3 sets × 10–12 reps

Rest: 2–3 min between sets (60–90s on lighter days).

More Chest exercises

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