Side to side push-ups start like a wide push-up. Once your chest is low, you shift your body across toward one hand, glide over to the other hand while staying close to the floor, and then press back up. Each arm in turn takes more of your weight, so it is harder than a standard push-up and asks a lot of the chest, shoulders, backs of the arms and stomach.

How to do the side to side push-ups

Set up in a high plank with your hands flat on the floor, wider than your shoulders, and your body straight from head to heels on your toes.
Breathe in and bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the floor.
Near the bottom, shift your body toward your left hand so your head moves in front of it. That arm bends more and takes more of your weight.
Staying low, with your chest just above the floor, slide across until your head is in front of your right hand.
Breathe out as you push the floor away until your elbows are straight. Lead the next one toward the right hand, so both sides get the same work.

What you should feel

Hard work in the chest, shoulders and backs of the arms, strongest in the arm your weight has moved onto. Your stomach and the sides of your trunk work to stop your hips twisting.

Common mistakes

Letting the hips sag or twist as the body slides across.
Rising halfway up between sides, so the slide happens with nearly straight arms.
Moving the hips but not the chest, so the shoulders never really travel.
Rushing the slide and dropping onto the floor.

How often

Many programs use 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 6 repetitions, a few days a week, ending each set before your form slips. Your physio will adjust this, including whether you start with your hands raised or on your knees.

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.
Your wrist, elbow or shoulder hurts sharply, or the shoulder feels as though it could come out.
Pain, pins and needles or numbness spreading down your arm or into your 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.
A sudden pop or tearing feeling in the shoulder that brings sharp pain, new weakness or trouble lifting the arm. Stop and contact your surgical team the same day, or get medical advice the same day if you have not had surgery.
The shoulder feels as if it has slipped out of place, looks a different shape or suddenly locks so you cannot move the arm, or your hand turns cold, pale or blue. Go to an emergency department straight away, without driving yourself, and do not try to put the shoulder back in yourself.

From the clinic

Get a steady push-up and wide push-up first. The slide is easier to learn with your hands on a sturdy bench or kitchen counter, or with your knees down as in knee push-ups. You can also make the slide shorter and shift only a little toward each hand. The wrists sit bent well back under a moving load, so push-up handles may help if they ache.

The wide hands and the weight moving onto one arm near the bottom put the front of the shoulder under a lot of strain. After shoulder surgery, a dislocation or a broken arm, or with shoulder pain that keeps coming back, ask your physio before you try this one. After a broken wrist, hand or forearm, or surgery on any of them such as a tendon repair, start only when your doctor, surgeon, physio or hand therapist says the bone or repair is ready for this, and follow their plan for how much to do.

After a broken or dislocated elbow, or elbow surgery such as a tendon repair, follow your surgeon's or physio's plan, and start this exercise only when they have cleared you. If you have just hurt your arm and have severe pain, cannot move the elbow or heard a snap, do not exercise it. Go to an urgent care center or emergency department the same day. If the arm looks a different shape or sits at an odd angle, a bone is showing, or your arm or hand tingles, feels numb or turns cold, pale or blue, go to an emergency department straight away or call emergency services, and do not drive yourself.

If you have recently given birth, including by cesarean section, or you have a gap down the middle of your stomach muscles (diastasis recti), ask your physio, midwife or doctor first. If you are pregnant, check with your midwife or physio before you start. With a heart condition or high blood pressure, check with your doctor before you start, and breathe out as you press up instead of holding your breath.

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.

Side to side push-ups