An incline push-up is a push-up with your hands raised on a sturdy surface, such as a bench or a chair seat, so your body slopes up from your feet to your head. You hold a straight line on your toes, bend your elbows to lower your chest toward your hands, then push back up. Raising the hands takes some of your weight off your arms compared with a push-up on the floor. In many upper body programs it sits between wall push-ups and floor push-ups.

How to do the incline push-ups

Choose a sturdy surface at about knee to hip height, such as a bench, a solid step or a heavy chair with its back to a wall. The video uses a chair seat.
Place your hands on the front edge, a little wider than your shoulders. Walk your feet back until you are on your toes, your body is straight from head to heels and your shoulders are over your wrists.
Brace your stomach lightly. Take a breath in, then let your elbows bend so your chest comes down toward the edge, moving your body as one straight piece.
Go down until your elbows are about level with your shoulders, or as far as you can with a straight body. Let the elbows angle back a little rather than pointing straight out to the sides.
Breathe out as you press back up to straight arms. Your hips should rise at the same time as your shoulders.

What you should feel

Effort across the chest, at the front of the shoulders and in the back of the upper arms. Your stomach and buttocks work to stop your hips sagging.

Common mistakes

Using a chair or surface that can slide, tip or fold.
Letting the hips drop so the lower back arches.
Bending at the hips so the bottom sticks up.
Dropping the head toward the chair before the chest.
Holding your breath.

How often

A common starting point is 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 15, on 2 or 3 days a week, finishing each set before your body starts to sag. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Chest pain or pressure, dizziness or feeling faint, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or being far more out of breath than the effort should cause.
A sharp or pinching pain in the shoulder, elbow or wrist.
The chair or surface moves under your hands.
Pain, tingling or numbness that travels down one arm.
Pins and needles in your arm or hand that do not go away after you stop, or part of your arm or hand goes numb. Get medical advice the same day. If one side of your face or body suddenly goes numb or weak, or your speech becomes slurred or muddled, call emergency services, even if it goes away.

From the clinic

The height of the surface sets the difficulty. A kitchen counter is easier than a chair seat, and a low bench or step is harder. Whatever you use must not move: set a chair with its back to a wall so it has nowhere to go, and never use a folding chair, a chair on wheels or a stool that rocks. Wear shoes or stand on a mat so your feet do not slip.

The voice guide says to bend your elbows out to the sides. The steps keep them angled back a little instead, which is the more cautious choice for the shoulders. The voice guide also says to breathe out on the way down. Breathing out as you push up is more usual, but whichever you do, keep breathing rather than holding your breath.

If this is too hard for now, wall push-ups are easier. Once your sets on a chair feel steady, a lower surface makes it harder, and a floor push-up is the usual next goal. After a shoulder operation or a dislocated shoulder, your physio can tell you when pushing exercises are safe to start. With a heart condition or high blood pressure, get your doctor's advice before starting. If chest pain, pressure or tightness does not ease quickly when you rest, spreads to your arm, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, feeling light-headed or being short of breath, call emergency services straight away, as this can be a heart attack. If it eases quickly and none of these happen, get medical advice the same day, and do not exercise again until you have been checked. If you faint while exercising, call emergency services, even if you feel fine again quickly.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Incline push-ups