How To Do An Archer Push Up
Updated on: June 9, 2024 By Edwin Keeshig | Fitness | Estimated Read Time 5 Minutes
Archer push-ups are great especially if you have worked out long enough and want to try something new. So the other day I asked myself what would be a good exercise to start getting into calisthenics. I came across archer push-ups and wondered if they were worth doing or if I should just stick with the regular push-ups.
After learning how to do some and trying them out, I found them to be more challenging than the normal push-ups. For this reason, they are great if you are like me and don’t want to do a lot of pushups just to reach failure during your workout.
In This Article, Here Is What You Will Learn:
In This Article, Here Is What You Will Learn:
- What Are Archer Push-Ups
- What Are The Benefits Of Archer Push-Up
- Why You Should Consider Using Them.
- How to Perform Archer Push-Ups
The Benefits I Notice While Doing Archer Push-ups Are:
- Improves your upper body mobility.
- Saves time while working out, (more challenging than normal push-ups.)
- It mainly targets the chest, triceps, shoulder, and abs.
- It works the back as well.
- It’s great if you want to change up your workout.
Just like the push-up, it works similar muscles but it is more difficult and improves your upper body mobility. It also has the additional benefit of targeting other muscles such as the back and shoulders.
So, What Are Archer Push-Ups?
Archer push-ups are a variant of the normal push-up that adds more difficulty and mainly focuses more on the Shoulders, Chest, Triceps, and Abs.
Not only does it work those muscles it also works a bit of the Back, Forearms, and Glutes. I find that the exercise targets the forearms as they were the first to give out on me. In my books, they’re good for training the forearms as well.
The archer push-up is not beginner-friendly. However, if you are a beginner and want to start archer push-ups just make sure you can do at least 30 normal push-ups.
How To Do An Archer Push-Up.
Step 1:
Go into a regular push-up position. Feet together with your back straight and your hands spaced slightly wider than your shoulders. Remember to keep your head in line with your spine.
Step 2:
Spread your hands a noticeable distance apart, approximately 2 feet on each side of your shoulders.
Step 3:
Angle your hands away from your body and go downwards towards one side of your hands while keeping your back as straight as possible, It should be like a controlled sway. After that come back to the top.
Tip: Adjust your hand placement where it is comfortable while doing this exercise. Such as leaving your one hand on the targeted side straight with your body and your other hand angled away from your body.
Step 4:
Repeat step 3 for the opposite side and you have just learned how to do an archer push-up. Remember to keep it at a controlled pace.
Additional Information About Archer Push-Ups:
While doing the anchor push-up you may want to consider warming up your wrists first by stretching, you can find more about wrist warm-ups here at myhealth.alberta.ca. If you already have wrist problems or carpel tunnel I do not recommend this exercise however, try it out and then see if it’s an exercise you can do.
For counting reps count 1 repetition on every side you do, instead of finishing both sides and counting it as 1 rep.
Ways to make this exercise easier are to do it on your knees (make sure to put a yoga mat or a towel where your knees will be touching) or to spread your legs further apart.
My personal experience with archer push-ups is to use it as a finisher such as doing archer push-ups after some kind of chest press exercise. It may help to think of them more as the dumbbell flies for calisthenic exercises.
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How To Increase Difficulty For Archer Push-Ups:
To progressively overload this exercise you may want to consider having weights on your back. This can be done by having a backpack filled with weight.
One step further is to have a bottle of water in the backpack, which will make you work more to keep strict form because of the movement of the water in the bottom. Or simply doing the exercise at a slower controlled pace.
My Conclusion About Archer Push-Ups.
Archer push-ups are great for intermediate gym goers and provide the upper body with mobility, strength, and coordination training. Archer push-ups are great for variety since they are similar to dumbbell flys. For this reason, the exercise targets the chest in different ways from conventional push-ups.
To progressively overlord with this exercise is easy with the assistance of a weighted backpack. For more difficulty weigh the backpack with a bottle filled with water to make your core work harder to keep balance. Another option is to do the exercise at a slower pace.
That is it for this article, if you have any questions about this article or other topics you would like me to consider covering in another article, please leave a comment down below. I will see you next time, have a beautiful day.
About Author
Edwin Keeshig is a fitness enthusiast with 6 years of resistance training experience and is driven to learn from and teach others about health and self-sufficiency.