How many spiderman push-ups should you do when you are new to the exercise?

If you already own 12 to 15 clean push-ups, start with three sets of 6 to 8 per side and count the sides separately. Slow the descent to two seconds so the knee has time to travel. Add a rep per side each week, and when 12 per side feels controlled, raise the feet onto a low step rather than chasing bigger numbers.

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

Put your hands on a bench or a wall to take weight off the arms while you learn the knee drive, or let the foot brush the floor at the bottom of each rep. To make it harder, pause with the knee at the elbow for two seconds, elevate the feet, or slow the whole rep to a four-second descent. A full push-up between knee drives lengthens the set further.

What is the spiderman push-up good for?

It trains the chest and triceps while the obliques resist rotation and the hip flexors work through a long range, so it earns a place in bodyweight circuits where time is short. It is not the best pick if chest size is the goal, because the moving leg limits how hard you can press. Skip it if deep hip flexion pinches the front of your hip.

Intermediate

Spiderman Push-Up

As you lower into the push-up you pull one knee up toward the outside of the same-side elbow, so your obliques and hip flexors fire hard while your chest and triceps do the pressing. The moving leg also challenges your balance and adds a dynamic stretch through the hip. It is a great two-in-one that trains the chest while building rotational core control.

Equipment: Body Weight
Body part: Chest
Type: Functional, Strength
Browse by muscle: Pectoralis Major Sternocostal
Browse by movement: Core Brace, Horizontal Press

How to do it

1
Start in a standard push-up plank with hands under your shoulders and core braced.
2
As you bend your elbows and lower your chest, drive your right knee up toward your right elbow.
3
Touch the bottom of the rep with the knee near the elbow, keeping your foot off the floor.
4
Press back up as you return the right leg to the plank.
5
Alternate the driving knee on each rep and keep your hips from rising or twisting.

Tips

Keep the lifted foot from touching down so the oblique stays engaged through the whole rep.
Time the knee drive with the descent so both the chest and hip reach end range together.
Squeeze your glutes and keep the hips low to stop your back from arching as the leg moves.

Variations

Common mistakes

The hips hike toward the ceiling on the side the knee is driving, which shortens the reach and takes the stretch out of the hip on the planted leg.
Rushing the leg back to the plank drops the foot onto the floor and lets the trunk reset, so the oblique work that separates this from a push-up disappears.
Only one side gets a real knee drive, because reps are counted as pairs and the weaker side quietly gets a shallower version every time.
The knee tracks under the body toward the opposite elbow instead of up the outside, which is a mountain climber with a push-up attached, not this movement.
Elbows flare wide as attention goes to the leg, leaving the shoulder in the position it likes least at the bottom of a push-up.

Frequently asked

How many spiderman push-ups should you do when you are new to the exercise?: If you already own 12 to 15 clean push-ups, start with three sets of 6 to 8 per side and count the sides separately. Slow the descent to two seconds so the knee has time to travel. Add a rep per side each week, and when 12 per side feels controlled, raise the feet onto a low step rather than chasing bigger numbers.
How do you make the spiderman push-up easier or harder?: Put your hands on a bench or a wall to take weight off the arms while you learn the knee drive, or let the foot brush the floor at the bottom of each rep. To make it harder, pause with the knee at the elbow for two seconds, elevate the feet, or slow the whole rep to a four-second descent. A full push-up between knee drives lengthens the set further.
What is the spiderman push-up good for?: It trains the chest and triceps while the obliques resist rotation and the hip flexors work through a long range, so it earns a place in bodyweight circuits where time is short. It is not the best pick if chest size is the goal, because the moving leg limits how hard you can press. Skip it if deep hip flexion pinches the front of your hip.

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