Diamond Push Up
The diamond push-up is a push-up with your hands close together under your chest, index fingers and thumbs touching to form a diamond shape. It puts more of the work on the triceps while still training the chest and the front of the shoulders, with no equipment needed.
Also called: Triangle Push Up · Equipment: bodyweight · Pattern: push
Step by step
- Kneel on the floor and place your hands under the middle of your chest, index fingers and thumbs touching to form a diamond.
- Step your feet back so your body forms one straight line from head to heels, with your arms straight.
- Brace your stomach and squeeze your glutes to hold that line.
- Bend your elbows to bring your chest towards your hands, keeping your elbows close to your sides and pointing back.
- Go down until your chest is just above your hands.
- Push the floor away to straighten your arms, keeping your hips in line with your shoulders.
- To make it easier, do the same movement with your knees on the floor or your hands on a bench.
- Thumbs and fingers form a diamond
- Elbows back, close to your sides
- One straight line, head to heels
- Chest to your hands
- Push the floor away to straight arms
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Triceps brachii: lateral head | Prime mover | B |
| Triceps brachii: medial head | Prime mover | C |
| Pectoralis major: sternocostal (mid) | Prime mover | B |
| Anterior deltoid: anterior | Secondary | C |
| Serratus anterior | Stabiliser | C |
| Rectus abdominis | Stabiliser | C |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Elbows flaring out wide
Fix: Point your elbows back and keep them close to your sides.
Hips sagging
Fix: Brace your stomach and squeeze your glutes to hold one straight line.
Hands too far forward
Fix: Place the diamond under the middle of your chest, not under your face.
Cutting the depth short
Fix: Bring your chest down until it is just above your hands on every rep.
Head leading the way down
Fix: Keep your neck long so your chest reaches your hands first.
What the research says
Muscle growthGeneral fitnessEndurance
- Muscle activity — EMG studies found a narrow hand position produced more triceps and chest activity than a wide one, and the narrow push-up ranked highest for triceps activity among the push-up variants tested. EMG measures muscle activity, not growth.
- Push-ups and bench press — Training studies found load-matched push-ups built chest and triceps size and pressing strength comparable to the bench press.
- Effort — Studies show sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of the growth benefit, and true failure adds only a small extra return.
- Progression — A common approach is to build from knee or bench-supported diamond push-ups to full ones, then add a weight vest or plate once sets of about 20 are easy.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the diamond push up in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.