5 Best Shoulder Push-Ups To Build Strength & Mass

The push-up is one of the best bodyweight exercises for targeting muscles of the upper body. Similar to many other upper-body pressing exercises, push-ups recruit and train your chest, deltoid, and triceps muscle groups.

Push-ups are often thought of as a chest-building exercise, but there are many variations of push-ups that are great for targeting the shoulders.

Many people are familiar with the standard push-up, but some people want to do push-up variations that train the shoulder muscles.

This article describes the best push-ups for the shoulders, how to do them properly, and also offers some tips and techniques to build bigger and stronger shoulders at home.

What is Shoulder Push-Ups

Push-ups for Shoulder are a great bodyweight exercise for building upper body strength. Despite its name, the benefits of practising shoulder push-ups extend beyond the shoulders—this exercise helps build muscles in your triceps, glutes, and pecs.

The Shoulder Push-up is a highly effective exercise for general conditioning. It can be performed, regardless of where you are and, best of all, they are completely free—no expensive equipment or no annual gym fees required.

It’s a complete body workout because the exercise tones up the arms, shoulders and even your lower back. If you have weak upper body strength, this is the right exercise for you.

With regular practice of this exercise, you can get toned shoulders in no time.

Practicing shoulder push-ups with proper form can improve your shoulder joint health and reduce shoulder pain.

Why Shoulder Push Ups Are Important

When combined with a solid exercise routine, shoulder push-ups are a perfect way to build strength and balance throughout your body. Let’s take a look at why this is so beneficial for you.

• Shoulder push-ups are an effective exercise routine for strengthening and toning your shoulders, chest, tricep, upper back and core.
• They are also a great way to improve your posture and help prevent the onset of slouched shoulders.
• They challenge your strength and coordination to a whole new level. Push-ups not just build strength, but also work on your endurance and stamina.
• Push-ups for shoulder also strengthen your trapezoid and rear deltoid muscles. These are the two most important shoulder muscles.
• Fortunately, it does not require much effort to do shoulder push-ups at home. All you need are some chairs or a table and the ability to hold yourself with your toes off the floor.
• By doing this routine regularly, you will see results in as little as two weeks of practice.
• If you can’t perform all these exercises now, don’t worry! Read on to discover how to progress gradually towards them.

5 Best Push ups for Shoulder

1. Pike Push Up

If you’re looking for a straightforward push-up exercise to add to your shoulder workout routine, pike push-ups are a great staple exercise to get you started.

Pike Push-ups aka shoulder push up is a variation of the push-up that increases strength and stability in the shoulders and triceps. 

Performing the exercise in a more upright position will target the deltoid more than the chest.

How to do Pike Push-Ups

1. Start in a standard push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and elbows completely locked out.
2. Lift the hips up and back until your body forms an inverted V shape. Keep arms and legs as straight as possible.
3. Slowly lower the top of your head towards the ground.
4. Once your head is about to make contact with the ground, pause for a second.
5. Then slowly push back until your arms are straight, and you’re in the inverted V position.

Tips

• Make sure you maintain control throughout the movement.

2. Hindu push up

The Hindu push up is common in Indian physical culture and Indian martial arts, particularly Pehlwani. Bruce Lee also used it in his training regime.

The Hindu Push-up is a type of exercise that works on multiple joints and muscle groups at the same time. This helps to strengthen the body.

Hindu push-up is an incredible exercise to develop stronger shoulders, pectoral, arms, core, and spine.

Each repetition includes going from a downward dog position to a cobra pose, swooping by holding the head and body close to the ground.

How to do Hindu Push-Ups

1. Start in a downward dog pose, with your hands shoulder-width apart, your body in a V shape, and your feet hip-width apart.
2. Bend your elbows and lower your chest until it’s just above the floor, going into low plank pose.
3. In a scooping motion, scoop your head upward while arching your lower and upper back and go into cobra pose.
4. To return to the starting position, you do not need to reverse back through the sweeping, arching motion.
5. Simply push back into the starting position.

Tips

• Engage your core, relax the spine and neck, open the shoulders and keep the movement smooth.
• Remember to breathe correctly as you do the push-ups.

Read More: 25 Different Types Of Push Ups (Best Variations)

3. Decline Push-Up

Decline pushups are a great way to strengthen your chest muscles and train your shoulder and triceps. A decline push up is a more difficult version of a regular push-up where you put your feet higher than your hands.

It’s perfect for intermediate and pros who want to build upper body strength.

Decline push-ups primarily work your upper chest and shoulders. It is a great way to build up to the handstand push-up, which is the best bodyweight shoulder exercise.

How To Do Decline Push-Up

1. Placed your hands firmly on the floor and spaced slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Put legs on the bench or the pad roller.
3. Now raise yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and your arms. Keep your elbows close to your body.
4. Raise until your elbows are almost near to locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
5. Now lower your body under slow sustained motion, feeling the motion all the way down until your chest is very close to the ground.
6. Complete 3-4 sets of 8 to 20 repetitions.

Read More: Best Push Ups For Upper Chest To Build Size And Strength

4. Elevated pike push-up

Elevating your feet on a box, you advance these holds because you are now stabilizing a heavier percentage of your bodyweight on your arms.

Each of the setups steps from above still applies. This step allows you to make greater strength gains while also eliminating the fear of falling over.

How to do Elevated pike push-up

1. Start in a standard push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and elbows completely locked out.
2. Elevate your feet to an appropriate height for your current strength.
3. Lift the hips up and back until your body forms an inverted V shape.
4. Keep arms and legs as straight as possible.
5. Slowly lower the top of your head towards the ground.
6. Once your head is about to make contact with the ground, pause for a second.
7. Then slowly push back until your arms are straight, and you’re in the inverted V position.

Tips

• Be sure to have first mastered the pike press before trying the elevated pike press.
• Keep your back neutral and knees straight throughout the exercise.

5. Handstand Push Up

The handstand push-up, also called the vertical push-up, is one of the best push-up variants for the shoulders, since the body is positioned in a handstand.

Handstand Push-ups show tremendous power, and they mainly build up the anterior delts, which are the front part of your shoulders. It is the king of all shoulder exercises.

In addition to increasing the load on the upper body and strengthening your shoulder stabilization muscles, the one-arm push-ups are just plain cool.

It requires significant strength, as well as balance and control if performed freestanding. Handstand push-ups increase the load on the shoulder and triceps brachii muscles significantly over regular push-ups.

How to do Handstand Push-Ups

1. Place hands about 6-12 inches away from the wall and slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
2. Make sure palms are facing forward, or slightly turned out 5-10 degrees.
3. Kick up into a handstand, with your heels touching the wall.
4. Once you have kicked up, establish a strong, rigid midline position.
5. While maintaining this position, lower yourself until the top of your head touches the floor/mat.
6. Try to keep your elbows at a 45-degree angle as you lower.
7. Once your head touches the floor, press up with the same tightness you had lowering yourself, until your elbows reach full extension.

Tips

• Not to arch your back and keep contracting your abs.
• Point your toes, squeeze your glutes, and grip the ground with your fingertips for a better feeling of stability.

Training Form And Technique

• For the shoulder push-ups, begin by performing 2–3 sets of 8–15 repetitions. Choose the exercises as per your fitness levels. And also choice your sets and repetitions based on your ability to maintain good technique throughout all sets and repetitions.
• Pay extra attention to your form and emphasize quality over quantity to improve your upper-body strength
• Slow down all of your movements and really stay focused on your form.
• To see continual progress and build body strength, incorporate proper warm-ups, rest, and nutrition into your exercise program.
• Rest for 24 to 48 hours before training the same muscle groups to allow sufficient recovery.

Takeaways

Regular push-ups hit the shoulders, as well as the chest and triceps, but to really hit your shoulders hard and get bigger shoulders, consider including a few different types of push-ups into your regimen.

Proper exercise technique is essential to ensure the safety and effectiveness of push-ups, but you may need to modify each exercise to attain optimal results based on your individual needs.

Reference

• Effect of the push-up exercise at different palmar width on muscle activities
• Kinetic analysis of push-up exercises: a systematic review with practical recommendations
• Electromyographic comparison of modified push-up exercise

25 Best Types Of Push-Ups Exercises (Beginner to Advanced)