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Standard push-up

Classic push-up with shoulder-width hand position and a straight body line.

Execution

  1. Hands shoulder-width apart, directly under the shoulders, fingers pointing forward.
  2. Body forms a straight line from head to heels — brace abs and glutes.
  3. Elbows at roughly 45° to the torso, not flared out wide.
  4. Lower the chest under control until it nearly touches the floor.
  5. Press back up powerfully, do not lock the elbows at the top.

Tips

  • Look slightly forward at the floor — do not crane the neck.
  • Breathing: inhale on the way down, exhale on the press up.

Why the standard is the reference point

The shoulder-width push-up is the yardstick every other variation is measured against. In the top position, about 65-75 percent of body weight rests on the hands, and roughly ten percentage points more in the bottom position. At 80 kilograms of body weight, that's about 55-65 kilograms you're moving — hardly "easy bodyweight training," it's in the range of a moderate bench press.

The details that make the difference

The elbows point neither straight back nor straight out to the sides, but at roughly 45 degrees to the torso. Tucked back, the load shifts heavily onto the triceps and the shoulder works in a cramped position; flared out at a right angle, the front of the shoulder joint ends up in a leverage situation that causes trouble over time.

The core is part of the exercise, not just a passenger. Glutes and abs stay active so that head, hips, and heels form one line. Letting the hips sag shortens the range of motion and loads the lower back; pushing the glutes up takes most of the work away from the chest.

Common mistakes

  • Half range of motion. The chest should come down to about a fist's width from the floor. Short reps still count, but build noticeably less.
  • Head pokes forward. The chin drops first and creates the illusion of depth the torso doesn't actually match. The gaze goes down at an angle, the neck stays in line with the spine.
  • Hands too far forward. The wrists belong under the shoulders, not in front of the head. Further forward, wrist load rises significantly.

How to build it into your training

For building strength, three to five sets in the range of six to twenty clean reps make sense, leaving one to two reps in reserve. Anyone getting past twenty clean reps shouldn't keep extending the set — switch to a harder variation instead: feet elevated, a narrow hand position, or unilateral progressions. Two to three sessions a week with at least a day of rest between them are enough for steady progress.