CalisthenicsIn review

Pike Push-Up

A bodyweight press with the hips high, which moves the push toward the shoulders like an overhead press.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Vertical push
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Start in a push-up position, then walk the feet toward the hands and lift the hips high.
Place the hands a little wider than the shoulders, with the head between the arms.

Do the rep

Bend the elbows and lower the head toward the floor in front of the hands.
Press back up to straight arms.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the head comes close to the floor in front of the hands and the arms return to straight, with the hips high.

One rep starts at straight arms with the hips high, lowers the head close to the floor in front of the hands, and ends at straight arms.

Breathing

Inhale as you lower; exhale as you press up.

Cues

Keep the hips high.
Lower the head in front of the hands.
Walk the feet closer to the hands when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Hips drop
What you seeThe hips sink and the rep becomes a push-up.
FixWalk the feet closer and keep the hips high.
High hips keep the load on the shoulders.
Flared elbows
What you seeThe elbows point straight out to the sides.
FixPoint the elbows partly forward.
This position puts less stress on the shoulders.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you feel dizzy.
End the set when you cannot lower the head under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Front deltoids · moderate confidence
Triceps · moderate confidence

Assisting

Chest · moderate confidence
Serratus anterior · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

A mat under the head is optional.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 2, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
The CSV lists horizontal-push. The press is overhead with the hips high, so the record uses the vertical push roles (primary_vertical_push, secondary_push) and the vertical-push pattern. Rule 2 maps by the CSV pattern; the switch-on PR must confirm this exception.
Anatomy puts the front deltoids and triceps first and moves the chest to secondary, because the press is overhead. The CSV hint lists the chest first. The assigned review tier must confirm it.
Skill tier intermediate: rule 3 names the pike push-up. The CSV says beginner.
The CSV lists a bench as optional. Hands on a bench change the angle away from an overhead press, so the record drops it.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_push_up, a bodyweight press. ex_dumbbell_shoulder_press disallows timed use; the switch-on PR must choose.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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