How many reps of the elevated pike push-up should you do when you are new to the exercise?

Start with 3 sets of 5-8 reps on a knee-high box, resting 60-90 seconds, and keep every rep as steep and stacked as the first one. Raise the box an inch or two once 3 sets of 10 feel controlled, rather than adding reps indefinitely at the same height.

How do you make the elevated pike push-up easier or harder?

Make it easier by using a lower box, or by stepping back down to a floor pike push-up until shoulder strength catches up. Make it harder by raising the box height, which steepens the pike and shifts even more weight onto the shoulders, or by slowing the lowering phase.

What is the elevated pike push-up good for, and who should skip it?

It is a bridge between the floor pike push-up and a true handstand push-up, ramping up vertical pressing strength. Build a solid floor pike push-up first, and never do this version on a box you have not checked for a stable, grippy surface.

Intermediate

Elevated Pike Push-Up

Raising the feet steepens the pike so a larger slice of your bodyweight settles over the shoulders, making this the natural bridge between a floor pike push-up and a true handstand push-up. The deltoids and triceps do the pressing while the upper traps keep the shoulders elevated through the range. It is the perfect ramp for building vertical pressing strength once flat pike push-ups stop challenging you but a full inversion still feels out of reach.

Equipment: Box
Body part: Shoulder
Type: Strength
Browse by muscle: Deltoid Anterior
Browse by movement: Vertical Press

How to do it

1
Set your feet on a knee-high box and walk your hands back into a tall inverted V.
2
Position your hands shoulder-width and stack your hips high over your shoulders.
3
Bend the elbows to lower the crown of your head toward the floor between your hands.
4
Lightly touch down, keeping the elbows tracking forward and the core braced.
5
Press back up to straight arms and reset the tall pike shape for the next rep.

Tips

The higher you raise the feet and the more vertical the hips, the harder and more shoulder-dominant it becomes.
Aim your head to land just in front of your hands, not behind, to keep the pressing line strong.
Keep actively pushing the floor away so your shoulders stay packed rather than collapsing at the bottom.

Variations

Common mistakes

The box gets picked too high before the shoulders are ready, so the extra height just adds instability instead of extra shoulder work.
The toes creep toward the front edge of the box as the set goes on, shrinking the base and turning a pressing drill into a balancing act.
The hips drift back down toward box height instead of staying stacked tall over the shoulders, quietly turning the rep into a shallow bob.
The box wobbles or slides slightly with every rep because it was never checked for stable, non-slip footing before the set started.

Frequently asked

How many reps of the elevated pike push-up should you do when you are new to the exercise?: Start with 3 sets of 5-8 reps on a knee-high box, resting 60-90 seconds, and keep every rep as steep and stacked as the first one. Raise the box an inch or two once 3 sets of 10 feel controlled, rather than adding reps indefinitely at the same height.
How do you make the elevated pike push-up easier or harder?: Make it easier by using a lower box, or by stepping back down to a floor pike push-up until shoulder strength catches up. Make it harder by raising the box height, which steepens the pike and shifts even more weight onto the shoulders, or by slowing the lowering phase.
What is the elevated pike push-up good for, and who should skip it?: It is a bridge between the floor pike push-up and a true handstand push-up, ramping up vertical pressing strength. Build a solid floor pike push-up first, and never do this version on a box you have not checked for a stable, grippy surface.

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