maratoolSuspended Push-Up
How to do the suspended push-up
- Anchor your suspension straps securely to the top of a rack or other object.
- Leaning into the straps, take a handle in each hand and move into a push-up plank position. You should be as close to parallel to the ground as you can manage with your arms fully extended, maintaining good posture.
- Maintaining a straight, rigid torso, descend slowly by allowing the elbows to flex.
- Continue until your elbows break 90 degrees, pausing before you extend to return to the starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the pectoralis major, which drives the upper arm forward and across the body.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range; the triceps straighten the elbow to finish the movement.
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
These train the chest too, using equipment this one does not:
- Wide Grip Bench Pressbench + barbell
- Wide Grip Decline Bench Pressbarbell + bench
- Alternating Floor Presskettlebell
- Around The Worldsdumbbell
- Bench Press - With Bandsband
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 105 chest exercises in this database, 63 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.