Exercise Guide

Knee Push-up

The push-up scaled to roughly half your bodyweight by dropping the knees, so you can build the pattern with full range instead of half-repping the full version.

BeginnerStrengthPushCompound
Form
Knee Push-up - Start position
Start
Knee Push-up - Mid position
Mid
Knee Push-up - End position
End

Illustrations by Bryl Lim for Workout Guide, after Everkinetic. Used unchanged under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Details

Primary Muscle

Chest

Equipment

Bodyweight

Difficulty

Beginner

Category

Strength

Force

Push

Mechanic

Compound

Secondary Muscles

TricepsShouldersCore
How to Perform
  1. 1

    Kneel down and place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders, then walk them forward until your body forms a straight line from knees to head.

  2. 2

    Cross your ankles and brace your core so your hips do not sag.

  3. 3

    Lower your chest to just above the floor, keeping your elbows at roughly 45 degrees from your ribs.

  4. 4

    Press back up until your arms are straight.

Tips
  • Hips stay in line with your shoulders - the moment they drop, the core has stopped working.
  • Move the knees further back as you get stronger; that is the bridge to a full push-up.
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