Pike Pushup
One of the best ways to strengthen your upper body and core is with a pike pushup.
The pike pushup is a great way for you to increase your upper body strength without the need for dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls or TRX straps.
Pike pushups are functional exercises that train many different muscle groups in your upper body.
Doing enough of these will not only increase your strength, but your endurance, burn calories, and increase mobility in the upper body, shoulder region, and core.
You can also use the pike pushup within a HIIT workout as it’s a great exercise to transition to.
Pike Pushup Target Muscles
The pike pushup targets many primary and secondary muscle groups throughout the body.
The primary target muscles of the pike pushup are the deltoids and pec muscles.
An emphasis is also placed on the triceps, traps, rhomboids, erector spinae, abs, and hip flexors.
If you are starting in a plank position before you pike your hips up, you will hit your abs and obliques every rep.
Pike Pushup Benefits
There are many benefits for adding pike pushups to your workout routine.
First, you will get a strong upper body. Your muscles will become more defined, and this will translate to being stronger with other functional movements.
Next, it will help you burn fat. The pike pushup is an excellent addition to any HIIT workout. Make sure you are giving yourself little to no rest in between exercises to get the greatest effect on fat loss.
Third, your endurance, energy and mood will increase. As you do exercise, you will increase blood flow to your brain and muscles. Your metabolism will increase, and you will begin to have endless amounts of energy.
The last benefit of a pike pushup is your posture will begin to improve. When you must hold your head up in a downward position, your back and shoulder girdle must restrain yourself from collapsing, strengthening the muscles in that area, and improving your posture.
How To Do a Pike Pushup
Here’s how to do a pike push-up:
- Start in a plank position with hands on the floor.
- Lift hips up until your body forms an inverted V shape. Keep arms and legs straight with a slight bend at the joints.
- Start to bend elbows, and then lower your head toward the floor, keeping a neutral spine with a downward shoulder press.
- Push back to straight and repeat.
- You can also kick your legs back and drop back into a plank position to get the added benefits.
You can do a pike pushup on TRX straps, a stability ball, or balance board!!
Did you know??
Pike Pushup Variations
Kneeling Pike Pushup
One of the ways a beginner can progress to a full pike pushup is to first do them on your knees in a kneeling pike pushup form.
Although you won’t be able to get your hips very high, this is a great way to lighten the load on your shoulders and chest muscles.
This may start out as a simple knee pushup. You just need to work your way up to the full pike pushup one day at a time.
Diamond Pike Pushup
Another good variation to the pike pushup is the diamond pike pushup.
This is where you put your hands together and form a diamond with your thumbs and forefingers.
A diamond pike pushup will more heavily target the triceps over the chest muscles.
Elevated Pike Pushup
The last variation of the pike pushup is the elevated pike pushup. This is where you perch your feet up on a chair, bench, or wall to increase the downward angle of the exercise.
Another way to make this even harder is to do this as a single leg exercise.
Adding a weight vest is also another way to make this more challenging.
Pike Pushup for Beginners
If you are just starting out, the pike pushup might seem a bit more challenging than you might have expected.
As a beginner, you need to take this one step at a time.
Don’t overdo it and put yourself in a bad position, leading to an injury.
Make sure your form is solid and use the following progression to get you to your goal.
Pike Pushup Progression
If you want to progress to a solid pike pushup and need a way to progress there and beyond, here are a list of exercises to work through.
- First, begin by doing a plank. This will strengthen your core and get you ready for a full body exercise.
- Next, try some knee pushups. This will help you strengthen your shoulders and chest.
- After this, progress to the full body pushup. Make sure you can do 10-12 of these in a row before you move on to the next step.
- Now you are ready for the knee or regular pike pushup. Try a few sets of these over the course of a few days to get your form right.
- You are ready to progress to something harder. Try elevated, diamond, or single leg pike pushups. This will make it a lot more challenging.
- Last, if this is still not hard enough, put your feet and/or hands in TRX straps to give your body great instability. This advanced move will challenge all the muscles of the body. You can also put your feet on a stability ball for the same effect.
- Add a weight vest to make everything in this progression even more challenging.
Summary: Pike Pushup: Target Muscles, Benefits, Variations
There are many benefits to doing pike pushups on a regular basis. Whether you are strengthening your muscles, burning extra calories, building your core, or correcting your posture, the pike pushup is great for everyone. Make sure you use your pike pushup progression to make it to the top. Don’t skip steps and do these exercises with good form. Mix in the pike pushup with other exercises to create a great HIIT workout and burn additional calories along the way.
