Strict Standard Push-Up

Push horizontal · reps · bilateral The floor of the whole chain. The pattern and the full-body tension you carry, unchanged, all the way to the one-arm endpoint.

The movement

This chain assumes you can already perform 2 strict standard push-ups. From a locked-out plank, hands a little wider than the shoulders, lower the chest to the floor in one rigid line, then press back to straight arms. Body, hips and head travel as one block — nothing leads, nothing lags.

Set-up — and what each part is for

  • Hands flat under the collarbone line, slightly wider than the shoulders, fingers spread, middle fingers pointing forward. This sets the elbow path.
  • Feet on the balls of the feet, heels lifted and driven back, hip-width or together for a tighter line.
  • Body one straight line, head to heels. Glutes squeezed, abdominals braced as if expecting a light punch, ribs pulled down toward the pelvis. → Feel a flat, hard panel from chest to pubis; no pinch in the low back.
  • Shoulders down, away from the ears; upper back wide. The serratus (the muscle along the side of the ribs, under the shoulder blade) holds the blades flat to the ribs. The working armpit is closed — lat engaged.
  • Hands screwed into the floor: an outward rotational intent without the palm moving. → Feel like you push the floor away, not just lock the elbows.
  • Neck long, eyes to the floor just ahead of the hands.

The rep — rehearse it before you do it

  • Down (1–2 s). Elbows bend back at ~45° from the trunk, forearms toward vertical. → Feel the load spread across chest and triceps, the lat catch the descent — not pile onto the front of the shoulder.
  • Bottom. Chest grazes the floor, brief still pause. → Feel the trunk still rigid: the hips have not dropped, the chest arrived first.
  • Up. Drive the floor away to a complete lockout, shoulder blades spreading slightly around the ribcage. Hips and shoulders rise together.

Watch for

  • Hips sagging into a hammock → brace before the descent, not during.
  • Head diving first → long neck, the chest measures depth, not the forehead.
  • Elbows flaring to a T → keep ~45°; it spares the shoulder.
  • Partial range → chest to floor and full lockout, or the rep does not count.

Breathing

Inhale and brace at the top, hold the pressurized trunk through the descent, sharp exhale as you drive out of the bottom.

Within the level

  • Harder: feet together; 3 s descent; pause at the bottom; hands on low blocks for extra depth.
  • Easier: feet wider for a more stable base.

Dose

Test a clean max; work at half (rounded down), max 5 reps per set, spread through the day. Stop each set well short of failure.