Push-Ups - Close Triceps Position
Also works: Chest · Shoulders
A push-up with the hands set inside shoulder width so the elbows must travel backwards along your ribs instead of flaring out. Narrowing the hands lengthens the distance the elbow has to extend, which shifts work off the chest and onto the triceps without any equipment at all.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Set your hands directly under the lower half of your chest, index fingers roughly 15-20 cm apart. Diamond-shaped hands are optional, narrow is the point.
- Turn the hands out 10-15 degrees if your wrists complain — the elbow path matters, the exact hand angle does not.
- Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs so the body is one plank from heels to head.
- Set your shoulders down and away from your ears before the first rep, not after the third.
- Look at a spot on the floor about 30 cm ahead of your hands so the neck stays neutral.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Inhale on the way down, exhale hard through the press. Two seconds down, a brief pause with the chest just off the floor, then a fast but controlled push up.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Bodyweight. If you cannot get 8 clean reps, put your hands on a bench or a low box and lower the incline over a few weeks. Once you pass 20 reps, stop adding reps: raise your feet onto a bench, slow the eccentric to five seconds, or lay a plate across your upper back.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Film one set from the front. If your arms make a T, slow the descent to three seconds and consciously drag the elbows past your ribs — the narrow hands mean nothing if the elbows still flare.
Squeeze the glutes hard for the whole set and stop at the last rep where your body stays a straight line. Drop to hands-on-a-bench height rather than grinding out sagging reps.
Move the whole plank as one piece. Cue your hips and chest to arrive at the bottom at the same moment, and shorten the range if they will not.
Bring the hands back so they sit under the lower chest, not under the face. If they still complain, do the movement on parallettes or gripping a pair of dumbbells so the wrists stay neutral.
Why bother
Hand width changes the moment arm at the elbow. Set the hands under your chest rather than under your shoulders and the elbow has to travel further through a bent-arm position, so the triceps do more of the extension and the pecs, working from a shorter fibre length, do less. Same movement, different bill.
It is also the cheapest triceps overload most people have access to. A close push-up loads roughly 65 percent of bodyweight at the hands, which for a beginner is heavier than the dumbbell they would otherwise pick for an extension — and it costs nothing but floor space.
Where it fits
Late in a push session as a finisher, or as the whole triceps portion of a bodyweight-only program. Two to three times a week tolerates well because there is no external load hammering the elbow. If you are already doing dips and close-grip bench in the same week, this is the one to cut.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Do I have to make a diamond with my hands?
No. The diamond is a wrist position, not a triceps mechanism. What matters is that the hands are inside shoulder width and the elbows stay tucked against your ribs. Plenty of people get more triceps and less wrist pain with the hands parallel and 20 cm apart than with the thumbs and index fingers touching.
Is this better than a normal push-up for arms?
For the triceps, yes — narrowing the hands measurably increases triceps involvement and reduces pec involvement. For chest, no. Run the wide version for chest work and this one when the arms are the target, rather than expecting one hand position to do both jobs.
How do I make these harder without equipment?
Elevate your feet onto a bench to shift more bodyweight onto the hands, slow the eccentric to five seconds, or pause for two seconds with the chest just off the floor. All three raise the difficulty without needing a plate or a vest.
My wrists hurt. Can I still do them?
Usually yes, with a change of implement. Grip a pair of hex dumbbells or push-up handles so the wrist stays straight instead of bent back 90 degrees. If it still hurts on a neutral grip, use a machine or cable extension for a few weeks and let the wrist settle.