Triceps Push-ups: Proper Form vs Common Mistakes

Push-ups are an excellent body weight exercise that targets your entire anterior chain, from your quads and core to your shoulders and chest. It’s true, push-ups aren’t easy, but when you perfect your form, you quickly enhance your upper body strength — all in a single, equipment-free move. Plus, your core also benefits, as you have to hold a perfect plank while completing each set of push-ups.


A triceps push-up can be extremely beneficial in working the back of the arms as well, IF done correctly. Follow along with this video to learn proper set-up and execution for triceps push-ups, as well as common mistakes to avoid that will not only prevent injury, but will also help in making sure that your body is getting the most out of the movement.

As tempting as it is to get lazy and allow your form to suffer, it’s always better to do fewer repetitions with perfect form than more repetitions with bad form. This is because when bad form takes over, you stop effectively targeting the muscles the exercise is designed to hit — simultaneously increasing the likelihood of suffering an injury. So keep things clean and focus on form. If you stick with it, you’ll be knocking out three sets of 10 in no time!


As always, be sure to work within YOUR pain-free available range.