Scapular push-up
In a push-up position with straight arms, let the chest sink between the shoulder blades, then push the floor away.
Strengthens the serratus anterior, which holds the shoulder blade on the ribs.
Starting dose: 3 × 10–12, resting 45 seconds between sets.
You need floor space or a wall.
No pull-up bar? See all the shoulder drills that need none.
How to do it
- Get into a push-up position with straight arms, or lean against a wall.
- Keeping the arms straight, let the chest sink so the shoulder blades come together.
- Push the floor away until the upper back is slightly rounded. That is one.
Think about
- Arms straight
- Push the floor away
- Body in one line
Watch for
- Bending the elbows
- The hips sagging
Easier: Against a wall, or on the knees.
Harder: Feet raised on a step.
What it works
See all of them on the body model →
Checking it on camera
Side-on: phone two metres to the side at about hip height, the whole of you in frame from hands to feet. See it in the filming guide.
A phone camera cannot follow this one well enough to count it, so you type in the count. Film it anyway and the movement the camera saw is kept with the set as proof.
The pain rule
- 0–3 out of 10 during the drill: fine, carry on.
- 4–5: do less — a smaller range, fewer reps, or the easier version.
- 6 or more: stop that drill for today.
- Worse the next morning than before the session: that session was too much. Step back.
- 6 or more on waking, any morning: rest the shoulder that day.
Sharp or catching pain, or pins and needles, means stop regardless of the number.
Where it is used
- Phase 2 — Own the top and the way down — Shoulder: kipping works, strict pull-ups do not