Shoulders · On the floor

Scap push-ups

A push-up where your arms don't bend. You're in a plank, arms straight, and only your shoulder blades move: they squeeze together, your chest drops a few centimeters between your shoulders, then you push the floor away until your upper back rounds. The range is small, and that's normal.

In a handstand, the second half of the movement is the one that counts. Pushing the floor away, shoulders toward your ears, locks your shoulder girdle and stacks the line, and your wrists take far less load. The problem is that upside down you can barely feel what your shoulder blades are doing. Here, right way up and on the floor, you learn to feel them.

Family

Shoulders

Equipment

None

Type

Reps

Train this exercise in the app

How to do it

1. Get into a plank, hands under your shoulders, arms locked.
2. Without bending your elbows, let your shoulder blades squeeze together: your chest drops a little between your shoulders.
3. Push the floor away and round your upper back, as far as you can.
4. Come back slowly and repeat. The movement only comes from your shoulder blades.

The two mistakes that cancel it out

Bending your elbows. To get more range, your arms join in and the drill turns into a small ordinary push-up. Your shoulder blades then have nothing left to do. Keep your arms straight and accept a movement of a few centimeters.

Letting your hips sag. All your attention goes to your shoulders, and meanwhile your pelvis drops and your lower back arches. It's the same plank as usual: glutes squeezed, ribs in, pelvis tilted back.

Related exercises

PlankStraight arms, one straight line from heels to head: a horizontal handstand, and the first test before you go upside down.CoreHoldWall plankFeet on the wall at hip height: the first time your shoulders carry your weight overhead.ShouldersHoldChest-to-wall holdChest facing the wall, only the toes touching: the position where you learn the right line.ShouldersHold

All exercises: the catalog