How to do the Close-Grip Push-Up
Step by step
- Set your hands under your chest, closer than shoulder-width, in a push-up position.
- Step your feet back so your body is one straight line from head to heels.
- Brace your core and keep your elbows tucked close to your sides.
- Bend your elbows to lower your chest toward your hands, elbows brushing your ribs.
- Press back up to straight arms, keeping your body in one solid line.
The thing people get wrong
Keep your elbows tucked tight to your body to load the triceps - letting them flare out turns it back into a regular push-up.
Coaching cue
Press the floor away hard and finish every rep with your elbows all the way straight.
Stay safe
Ease off if your wrists pinch; keep your hands stacked under your shoulders.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Do them with your hands on a bench or step.
- Harder: Raise your feet on a low box.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Triceps, Chest
- Secondary: Front delts, Core
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.