A pike push-up starts with your hips pushed high, so your body forms an upside-down V on your hands and toes. From there you bend your elbows and lower the top of your head toward the floor between your hands, then press back up. Because you push upward at an angle rather than across your chest, the shoulders take more of the load than in a regular push-up. It is an advanced bodyweight exercise, usually added once floor push-ups feel solid.

How to do the pike push-ups

Get into the downward dog shape on a mat: hands and feet on the floor, hips lifted high and legs as straight as feels comfortable. Set your hands and your feet each a little wider than your shoulders.
Your hips should sit high above your shoulders, with your weight on your palms and the balls of your feet. Let your heels sink as low as is comfortable. In the video they stay a little off the floor.
With your fingers spread wide, press down through the heels of your hands and your fingertips. Keep the hips high from start to finish.
Breathe in and bend your elbows, lowering the top of your head toward the floor between your hands. Let the elbows travel back toward your feet rather than out to the sides.
Stop just before your head touches the floor, then breathe out and push through your hands to straighten your arms.

What you should feel

Hard work across the tops and fronts of your shoulders and in the backs of your upper arms. You may also feel a stretch in the backs of your legs.

Common mistakes

Letting the hips drop, which turns it into a sloping regular push-up.
Letting the elbows splay wide to the sides.
Dropping the head onto the floor or bumping it at the bottom.
Holding your breath as you push up.

How often

Once you can hold the upside-down V comfortably, many programs use 2 to 3 sets of 5 to 8, 2 or 3 times a week, ending each set while the movement is still controlled. 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 headache, pressure behind the eyes, or blurred vision.
Sharp pain in a shoulder, elbow or wrist, or tingling that spreads into the hand.
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

If pike push-ups are too hard for now, hold the downward dog position without bending your arms to get used to the shape, and build pushing strength with standard push-ups or knee push-ups. Lowering only part of the way down is a fair way to start. The closer your feet walk toward your hands, the more upright your arms get and the harder the shoulders work.

At the bottom of every repetition your head is lower than your heart. With high blood pressure, glaucoma, recent eye surgery or a shoulder problem (including a past shoulder operation or dislocation), get the all-clear from your doctor or physio before trying these. Come out of the position slowly and keep breathing throughout. Sore wrists may cope better with your hands on sturdy push-up handles, so the wrists stay straighter. 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.

If you have had a hip replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon or physio before you try pike push-ups. The upside-down V bends the hips well past a right angle, and many surgeons ask you to avoid that for the first months after some operations.

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.

Pike push-ups