Wide Push-Up

The push-up is a timeless exercise. It’s a classic test of strength and a cornerstone of chest development. Despite its simplicity, however, it comes in various forms, each targeting slightly different muscle groups and intensities.

The wide push-up is great for hitting the chest, shoulders, and triceps, which is different from the standard push-up variation. If you’ve found yourself stalling in your presses and fancy mixing things up, consider adding them into your chest day.

Nevertheless, get ready to be humbled. Because while you may only be changing your hand placement, this can drastically affect your stability.

How To Do

  1. Begin in a plank position with your feet and hands flat on the floor.
  2. Get comfortable in a standard push-up position with your hands under your shoulders, and elbows 45 degrees from your torso.
  3. Put yourself into a wide position by walking your hands further away from your torso. This will mean your elbows will be flared further out as well.
  4. How wide you go will generally depend on comfort. Typically, a couple of inches wider than your regular push-up placement can be considered a wide push-up.
  5. Engage your core.
  6. Keep your back neutral and your eyes in line with something below you on the floor.
  7. Slowly lower yourself down towards the ground, keeping everything engaged.
  8. Stop just before your hips or knees touch the floor, and your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
  9. Pause for a second.
  10. Push yourself back up to the starting position.

Tips From Expert

  • Ensure your feet are hip-width apart with your hands in a wide position. This ensures targetted muscle engagement.
  • Make sure your palms are facing slightly outwards. This limits wrist stress and injury risk.
  • Ensure your hands are directly underneath your shoulders throughout.
  • Use a full range of motion for each repetition. Your chest should come close to the ground before you extend your arms back to the start.
  • Maintain a straight line from your head to your toes. This helps to prevent your hips from sagging and limit lower back stress.
  • Inhale and engage your core before lowering down. Exhale as you push back up.

Optimal Sets and Reps

How many push-ups are too many? While wide push-ups can be a great bodyweight exercise, they can become less challenging over time. To continue making progress, it's essential to increase the intensity by adding weight to your sets.

Training Type Sets Reps
Strength Training 3 4–8 (weighted)
Hypertrophy 3–5 10–15
Endurance Training 3–5 10–30
Power Training 4 10 (explosive and weighted)
Optimal Sets & Reps of Wide Push-Up

How to Put in Your Workout Split

Wide push-ups are a great way to mix up your upper body days. By extension, mixing up your push-ups will lead to more chest growth.

But where does the wide-push-up fit in a split? Read below for guidance on how to incorporate them into your routine.

  • Bro Split — A bro-split is also known as a body-part split. This is where you focus your day on one muscle group at a time. On chest day, you could place the wide push-up at the start before your weighted compound movement. Or, at the end of the session as a bodyweight finisher.
  • Upper Body — As the wide push-up hits both the chest and triceps, it would fit nicely in an upper body or push-focused day. Again, these sit nicely at the start or end of a routine as a finisher. Pair this with a bench press, shoulder press, and pulling exercises for well-rounded upper-body development.
  • Push Days — On a push day, this exercise would work well as a bench press warm-up or high rep chest-focused finisher. Incorporate this alongside a weighted bench press and overhead press for powerful pushing progress over time.
  • Bodyweight Full Body Days — If you’re a home gym warrior or lacking in equipment, the wide push-up is a great variation to add to the routine. Use this as a push-up variation alongside other upper body movements, or a challenging progression to aim for over time.

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Primary Muscle Groups

Sternal Head of Pectoralis Major

Large muscles located underneath your clavicle head. Makes up most of your chest area

Sternal Head Of Pectoralis Major

The pectoralis major is the largest muscle that covers both sides of the chest. It’s a fan-shaped muscle that inserts at the top of the humerus (arm bone) and has two points of origin. The clavicular head originates at the clavicle (collar bone), and the sternal head originates at the sternum (breast bone).

Push-ups and their variations are observed as highly effective for training the chest. However, there’s not a lot of data highlighting exactly how much a wide push-up activates the sternal head.

In the article above, however, we can see that the sternal head is activated more than the clavicular head during a wide push-up. This suggests that those who wish to improve that head, particularly above the others, would benefit from practicing it.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Quadriceps

Muscles located at the front portion of your upper legs, below your pelvis and above your knees. Consists of four parts.

Erector Spinae

Muscles that span the entire length of your spine on either side.

Upper Rectus Abdominis

Muscles located just below the lower chest and above the lower abdominals. Between your ribs and pubic bone.

Lower Rectus Abdominis

Muscles located below your upper abs and above your public bone between your ribs.

Obliques

Muscles located on the sides of your rectus abdominals. Runs on the sides of your trunk.

Triceps Lateral Heads

Muscles located on the back of your arm between your shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Medial Heads

Small muscles located at the back of your arms. Deep to the triceps long heads between the shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Long Heads

Large muscles located at the back of your arms between your shoulder and elbow. Most outside portion of the tricep.

Wrist Flexors

Muscles that span the inside of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist palm side up.

Wrist Extensors

Muscles that make up the back portion of your lower arm, between your elbow and wrist.

Anterior Deltoid

Muscles located at the front of your shoulder region

Anterior Deltoid

The anterior deltoid is one of the three heads of the deltoid muscle and it sits at the front of the shoulder. Whilst the pectoralis is the primary mover during wide push-ups, the deltoid also plays a part. The anterior deltoid has a muscle activation rate of 26.22% during a traditional floor push-up. This gives us an idea of its engagement during this push-up variation.

Triceps Lateral Heads

The triceps are broken down into three heads: the lateral, medial, and long head. All three are activated during this push-up variation as they help extend the elbow joint during the movement.

Research on the activation rate of the triceps brachii during the wide push-up is limited. However, this study showed that the triceps brachii have a muscle activation rate of 42.45% during standard push-ups.

We could infer that the triceps would see a similar activation rate moving the arms a few inches further out.

Triceps Medial Heads

The medial head sits beneath the other two heads of the triceps and performs the same supporting function as the lateral head. Looking at the same article above we can infer the activation rate of this head during the wide push-up.

Triceps Long Heads

The triceps long head performs a similar function to the medial and later heads. It extends the elbow and stabilizes the shoulder. As with the medial and lateral heads, we would have to infer the activation rate during a wide push-up. We know all three heads are highly active during the movement and can assume their activation is around 40%.

Upper Rectus Abdominis

Do push-ups work abs? Well, the wide push-up is largely a chest and triceps exercise. However, due to the hip support required to provide full-body stability, it’s no surprise the abdominals are activated as well.

This study, in particular, found that the rectus abdominis had a 23.85% muscle activation rate during a standard push-up off the floor.

Lower Rectus Abdominis

As with the upper rectus, the lower rectus abdominis acts as a hip support during a push-up. As such, it can be assumed that the activation rate would be similar to the upper rectus abdominis. To answer the question above, does this mean you’ll get washboard abs from this exercise?

Not really, as ab development requires flexion and extension of the spine under load. And the rectus abdominis only engages statically (with no movement) in this exercise.

Erector Spinae

The erector spinae are three long muscles that run from the pelvis, up the back, and to the skull. Largely responsible for extending the spine, their activation rate during a push-up is small. This study shows an activation of only 2.03%.

Obliques

The obliques are additional abdominal muscles that sit to the side of the trunk, either side of the abdominis. They are responsible for trunk rotation and flexing from side to side. During a push-up, the obliques also contract isometrically and their role is to ensure the spine is stabilized.

Quadriceps

As the push-up is largely a pectoralis and triceps exercise, it’s understandable for the quadriceps to not be largely stimulated. Little to no research shows the quads' activation rate during a push-up. During the wide push-up, the quad simply extends the knee and keeps it stable throughout the exercise.

Wrist Flexors

The wrist flexors are a group of muscles located on the palm side of the forearm. They are a long, thin, muscle group largely responsible for flexing the wrist.

During a push-up, they play a role in supporting the body as it moves through the exercise. This helps the body maintain balance and stability during the exercise.

Wrist Extensors

The wrist extensors are located opposite the wrist flexors on the top of the forearm. They are responsible for extending the wrist. During a wide push-up, they provide stability of the wrist and help maintain a stable base of support.

Equipment

Bodyweight

Bodyweight

Requires bodyweight resistance and additional equipment for proper execution.

Variations

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the same equipment.

Push-Up

Doorway Chest Stretch

Dynamic Arm Swing

T Push-Up

Push-Up to Shoulder Tap

Clap Push-Up

Plyo Push-Up

Grasshopper Push-Up

Spider Push-Up

Knee Push-Up

Alternatives

Exercises that target the same primary muscle groups and require the different equipment.

Barbell Bench Press

Dumbbell Bench Press

Cable Chest Fly

Dumbbell Chest Fly

Chest Press Machine

Banded Push-Up

Dumbbell Floor Press

Negative Push-Up

Dumbbell Svend Press

Who Should Do?

Bodybuilders

Bodybuilders looking to improve definition in their chest would benefit from adding wide push-ups into their routine. The added stimulus provided to the sternal head will help develop larger and more rounded pecs. 

By targeting this specific muscle group, wide push-ups can help bodybuilders achieve a more pronounced and aesthetically pleasing chest. Additionally, this exercise can help improve overall upper body strength and coordination.

Calisthenics Athletes

Calisthenics athletes, who perform bodyweight exercises, or home gym enthusiasts looking to add more variety would benefit from wide push-ups. Typically, a calisthenic athlete may rely on a single push exercise for their chest. The added challenge beyond a standard narrower push-up will provide more adaptation opportunities for this muscle group. 

Add the wide push-up to your push days, and choose the rep range that suits your goals from our recommendations above.  

Who Should Not Do?

People With Upper Body Injuries

If you’re currently experiencing an injury in your chest, shoulders, or triceps, you should avoid the wide push-up. This is at least until a medical professional has given you the green light. 

Push-ups performed on the floor put pressure and strain on the shoulder and elbow joints.  When performed with a suboptimal form or a lack of stability the risk of injury or aggravating existing injuries increases. To reduce this risk, consider performing an inclined push-up against a wall or countertop.

Those who are currently experiencing a weakness in their wrists should also avoid this movement. Your entire body weight is being supported by your wrists thus increasing the risk of aggravating injuries in that area.  

Beginners

Wide push-ups are a challenging movement to perform for beginners and require precise form. If you have yet to perfect a standard push-up with neutral hand placement, you should consider waiting before moving to a wide push-up. 

This is due to the amount of stability and proficiency required, which can be learned by working through the push-up variations. If you are still struggling with a standard push-up, consider starting with a knee push-up or an elevated push-up. 

Benefits Of The Wide Push-Up

Builds Strength

As with any exercise performed under progressive intensity, the wide push-up helps to build strength in your pushing movements. As the chest and triceps are challenged in different ways, the muscles develop and strength improves. 

General benefits of strength training for everyday life include reduced injury risks, increased mobility, and improved posture.

Increases Muscle Mass

A wide push-up variation increases the mechanical tension experienced during the push-up. Mechanical tension is one of the main drivers of hypertrophy, or muscle development. 

Performing this exercise repeatedly over time will see continued muscle growth in the pecs, triceps, and deltoids. This can lead to a more sculpted and defined chest, along with stronger triceps and shoulders. If bodybuilding is a goal, incorporating wide push-ups can help you achieve your desired physique goals.

Improves Balance And Stability 

The benefits of push-ups are many, as highlighted above. However, one often unspoken one is the improvement in balance and stability. 

The wide push-up is an inherently unstable movement compared to the standard variant. It puts the pecs in a weaker position due to its wider hand placement. This means that mastery of it will help improve core balance and stability. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What do wide push-ups work?

Wide push-ups primarily work the sternal head of the pectoralis major. This is often referred to as the middle chest because sits under the thinner clavicular head but above the lower chest.

Are wide push-ups harder?

Wide push-ups are often harder due to the depth they add to the push-up, creating a need for more stability. As a result, you’ll need to be more aware of your core stability and keep the back neutral during the movement.

Do wide push-ups increase chest size?

Placing more emphasis on the middle portion of the pectoralis major can certainly lead to a larger chest over time. Simply adding variety beyond standard push-ups and bench pressing has also been known to improve muscle development.

Which type of push-up is most effective?

Judging each movement as most or least effective is largely a fruitless endeavor. Every exercise has its place in a well-rounded program or routine. The most effective exercise will often always be the one you perform best and most consistently.

Resources

Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.

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