How To Do Pike Push Up For Beginners

Pike push up can really be good additions to all of your other chest workouts. The pike push up can build major shoulder and chest strength. If you bring in a few variations, pike push ups can also even help you build bigger forearms. In this article, we’ll offer you some helpful tips for how to do pike push ups with the proper form and get the most benefits out of the exercise. The pike push-up looks like a mash-up of Downward-Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose, and this move can build major strength. Use it as a stepping stone to harder moves or as a goal to boost your shoulder strength. The trick is to make sure you maintain proper form to keep your shoulders healthy and to avoid face-planting!

1. How to do the perfect pike push-up
2. PIKE PUSH UP: MUSCLES WORKED
3. HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU DO PIKE PUSH UP? 

How to do the perfect pike push-up

The pike push up is not a move for beginners, cautions Norvell. She also wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who’s recovering from an elbow or shoulder injury. (Also skip it if you’re prone to dizziness or low blood pressure.) Pay extra attention to your form and emphasize quality over quantity.

“We recommend 5–8 slow, controlled reps,” says Norvell. “To help make them slow and controlled, you can count to four as you go down and four as you return to the start position. ”Just starting? She suggests 2–3 sets of 5–8 reps, no more than twice a week — and rest for 1 minute between rounds for maximum strength gain. Add more reps and sets as you build strength.

Here’s how to do the perfect pike push up, step by step!

1. Start in a plank position on the floor, with hands firmly on the floor, right under your shoulders. Press toes firmly into the floor too.
2. Keep core tight and back flat and engage your glutes and hamstrings. Your whole body should be neutral and in a straight line.
3. Lift hips up and back until your body forms an inverted V shape. Keep arms and legs as straight as possible.
4. Start to bend elbows, and then lower your entire upper body toward the floor.
5. Stay there for a moment, then slowly push back up until your arms are straight and you’re in the inverted V position. Make sure you maintain control throughout the movement.

PIKE PUSH UP: MUSCLES WORKED

Pike push up offer a fundamental movement pattern that can help mobilize your thoracic spine and lessen any back pain you might have. However, keep in mind that it is extremely important to have enough general mobility before you attempt any kinds of new exercises like this one. You never want to start doing any exercises that are beyond the range of motion of the muscles you are trying to train.

You will soon find that the pike push up really works your core muscles and all of your abdominals. As you shift your weight forward into the pike position, your core has to be used to keep you from falling forward. This is why so many people feel an intense burn in their abs after a pike push up workout session.

Your core can almost act as the basis for all of the rest of your weightlifting strength. When you do core exercises, your whole body will get a lot stronger. Your abdominals and lower abs, along with your obliques and deep core muscles like the transverse abdominis, are very important ones when it comes to training your core.

While pike push ups might not build much in terms of forearm size, they can build some impressive strength in and around your wrist area. This is one reason why pike push ups are popular in martial arts exercises. Many fighters have long believed that pike push ups can build more punching power by strengthening their wrists.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU DO PIKE PUSH UP? 

Beginners (with a year or less of training) should usually aim for up to 8 slow, controlled reps as a good starting point. A novice trainee (with two to four years of training) can do 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps about twice a week and rest for a minute between rounds for maximum strength gain, and veterans (four or more years of training) may be able to do 4 or 5 sets of up to 10 reps about twice a week.

Because these exercises work your chest, which is one of the larger muscles in the upper body, you can train it a little more often than some of your other muscle groups.

However, your chest training frequency also depends on your personal workout split. If you are a bodybuilder who only chest trains once a week with a bench press, then you might find the above suggestions a bit much for a single session. However, if you follow a full-body split, six sets of chest per session three times per week will allow you to do more sets in total.

Powerlifters who want to achieve maximum chest strength may even decide to do one low-rep, strength-focused session and then one higher rep, hypertrophy-focused workout that often includes deadlifts or squats. For those athletes, their muscles will generally need a long time to recover properly. Recovery time is often at least 48 hours and up to 72 hours.

If you are mostly working out for general health and core strength, then start by doing a small set of pike push up once or twice a week.

It is quite common to pair your chest with your triceps and the other muscles of your upper arms because those muscles all work together. You might also decide to train your entire upper body on one day (chest day) and then your lower body (leg day) on another day.

A lot of weightlifters vary in terms of the types of exercises they prefer to build their muscles. You will often find that some lifters who already have strong upper back strength prefer chest day, and some lifters who already have strong lower body strength prefer leg day. Finding a good balance between each of the days should be a worthy goal for a beginner.

But why is it so great?

• It’s a major shoulder strengthener. You’re going to feel every single rep in your upper body — but especially in your shoulders, Norvell says. And while it’s sorta like a traditional push-up, “the inverted V shape puts more emphasis on the shoulders versus the chest.”
• It preps you for a handstand. Norvell, who was a runner-up on “American Gladiator,” says you should start by perfecting your regular old classic push-up. Then, once you’re proficient, “the pike push-up is a great transition exercise for someone who is interested in gaining strength for a handstand” — or even a handstand push-up!
• It recruits your core. As you shift your weight forward into the pike position, your core has to fire up to keep you from toppling forward. This advanced push-up helps you “become more in tune with your weight being shifted overhead,” says Norvell.