Incline Push-Up Reverse Grip
Trains the Pecs.
- Equipment
- A barbell and a rack
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set your hands on a stable bar at about hip height with an underhand grip, fingers pointing back toward your feet.
- Walk your feet back until your body is in one line from heels to head.
- Brace your stomach and squeeze your glutes.
- Lower your chest toward the bar, keeping the elbows tucked close to your sides.
- Stop when the chest is just above the bar.
- Press back up to straight arms.
Common mistakes
- Doing it on a flat surface. An underhand grip needs something to hook the fingers around; on a flat bench the hands slide and the wrists take it.
- Going as low as a normal incline push-up. The reverse grip holds the shoulder in external rotation, which is a less strong position at depth — the range ends sooner.
- Forcing it if the wrist objects. The grip puts the wrist into extension with the body's weight on it, and some wrists simply will not take that comfortably.
- Expecting it to isolate the upper chest. The underhand grip changes the shoulder's rotation and keeps the elbows in, which shifts the work toward the triceps and the upper fibres a little — it does not turn a push-up into an incline press.